Finding your skin shade involves determining both your skin tone (how light or dark your skin is) and your undertone (the underlying hue beneath the surface). This is crucial for selecting the right makeup, skincare, and even clothing that complements your natural coloring.
Determining Your Skin Tone
Your skin tone is easily observed; it's the overall color of your skin. Common descriptions include:
- Fair: Very light skin, often with light-colored eyes and hair.
- Light: Light skin, possibly with light or medium colored eyes and hair.
- Medium: Skin with a moderate amount of melanin.
- Tan: Skin with a noticeable amount of melanin.
- Deep: Rich, dark skin.
- Dark: Very dark skin.
Identifying Your Undertone: The Key to Perfect Matching
Undertone is less obvious but equally important. It’s the subtle underlying color—yellow, blue, or neutral—that influences how other colors appear on your skin. Here are several methods to determine your undertone:
1. The Vein Test:
Look at the veins on your inner wrist in natural light.
- Blue or purple veins: Indicate a cool undertone.
- Green veins: Suggest a warm undertone.
- Blue-green veins: Point to a neutral undertone.
2. The White Paper Test (Maybelline Method):
Hold a white piece of paper against your face and look in the mirror.
- Skin appears yellow next to the paper: You have a warm undertone.
- Skin appears rosy or pink: You have a cool undertone.
- Neither yellow nor pink: Your undertone is likely neutral.
3. Jewelry Test:
Observe how different colored metals look against your skin:
- Gold jewelry looks better: You probably have a warm undertone.
- Silver jewelry looks better: You likely have a cool undertone.
- Both look good: You likely have a neutral undertone.
4. Sun Exposure:
How your skin reacts to the sun provides additional clues:
- Burns easily, tans minimally: You may have a cool undertone.
- Tans easily, rarely burns: You likely have a warm undertone.
- Tans gradually with minimal burning: You may have a neutral undertone.
Combining Skin Tone and Undertone
Once you've determined both your skin tone and undertone (e.g., fair skin with warm undertones, medium skin with cool undertones), you can more accurately match foundation, concealer, and other makeup products. Remember, many brands offer detailed shade charts that categorize products based on both tone and undertone.
