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Yesterday in the comments of the first part of Discover Your Colours – Warm or Cool – this comment was left by rb:
This is such a complicated thing. I have about the pinkest skin on earth so am a cool, but I have reddish brunette hair and blue eyes with gold flecks, so I’m an autumn. (And have been typed as such by a professional.)
I do think I look better in some warm colors – wearing fuschia makes me look like I have a big red nose, while wearing a muted warmer shade calms all that pink down – but I have no idea why that’s so.
I want today to dispel the myth that pinkish looking skin is always Cool and yellowish looking skin is always Warm.
What I’m actually picking up from rb is that her skin’s overtone is pink, but from the other information: reddish brunette hair (warm), blue eyes with gold flecks (warm) and that fuschia makes her look like she has a big red nose (typical of someone who is warm), that her undertone is warm and thus is the pinkishness is calmed down by warm colours, and inflamed by cool colours. rb is definitely warm and needs warm colours not cool, despite that pinkish overtone.
I for example have a cool undertone, and warm overtone – my skin looks yellowish, not the pink we’re told that a cool person should have – but when I wear warm colours I look like I have a case of jaundice.
I’ve seen plenty of clients like rb who have that pinkish skin who are warm and they’re always surprised how warmer colours tone down their ruddy complexion, whilst the cool colours make it scream and look almost inflamed.
Now you may be more obvious and have a warm yellow or goldish undertone and overtone and therefore warm colouring, or you may have a pinkish undertone and overtone and be cool.
So how do you choose a makeup foundation – to tone with your undertone or overtone?
As foundation sits on the top of your skin, match it to your overtone and it will dissappear rather than be very obvious and change the colour of your skin. So rb’s choice will have a slight pink tint, and mine has a slight yellow tint.
When choosing foundation test as many colours as the range has, down the side of your face between ear and chin along your jawline and choose the colour that appears to ‘disappear’ as this will most closely match your skin and not create ‘tide marks’ around your chin. This is the colour that matches the overtone of your skin.
What other questions do you have about choosing colours?
Related posts:
I know i am warm cause i have peaches and cream skin, hazel eyes and mousy brown hair. I was just wondering are their any universal colours that sit outside this, that are nuetrals or colours that everyone can wear.
I am still so confused! I have very fair skin (goes translucent in winter), but I have no clue how to get the undertones of my skin. I know I look good in jewel tones, like deep purples, clear reds, maroon, dark green, browns and greys, but I don't know my warm or cool factor. I can also wear both silver and gold jewelry. Does this make me neautral?
Also, I look better on the right hand side colours of yesterday's post. Does this mean anything?
Confused too! I am blond almost strawberry. My skin is fair but not as a red hair girl, not that white, I am actually a bit yellow. Grey changing from greenish to blueish ( more green).
The other day I tried on trench coats of many colors: It was interresting. Apple green is nice on me, I look tanned,my skin looks gold.Light pinkish purple looked nice too, while dark turquoise accentuated the red spots in my face. Could it be a clue? Thanks so much I am a painter but still lost with having to find out if cold or warm…
I mean grey eyes! Sorry.
Kathrine – I did a post on universal neutrals a while back – have a look at it http://www.insideoutstyleblog.com/2009/05/finding-your-neutrals.html
Luinae – the right column is the cool, the left is warm – so if the colours on the right suit you better then it sounds like you have cool colouring. Many people can wear both gold and silver jewellery as they're not at the extreme end of warmth or coolness.
Anonymous – sounds like you're warm if apple green suits you but teal doesn't.
Okay…I posted the comment about having a yellow overtone and a bluish undertone yesterday. I tried the colors below, but I am still having trouble. I actually wear all of the top three colors (left & right) and could not tell a huge difference. The gold and silver choice at the bottom both made me look pale. I have golden dark blonde /light brown hair and light brown eyes. I tend to gravitate towards bright colors(red,pink,orange,cobalt,lime and bright yellows); icy pastels seem to wash me out. I don't know if that helps.
OK, so I have mid-gold-blonde hair, pink skin and grey-blue eyes, and seem to be prefer silver jewellery, but I'm not sure why. So I'm a warmy-cool-undertone with dusky-light-bold chromatic semi-tones?
Can I still wear all black every day?
Damn. I think I need your help.:-)
(actually, I'm discovering greys, too. But colours are still scary.)
Now more confused than ever! I seem to 'switch off' when I hear the words 'undertone', 'overtone' & anything in between!!!
I seriously need you colour consult Imogen
Really interesting – I know I'm cool because I look like I've died in warm colours, but I have a yellowish tone to my skin. This explains it (although I still don't understand whether that's over or under!)
I have two queries: as I get older my colouring is softer. I have green/hazel eyes, dark brown hair with silver streaks. I just turned 56. Would you recommend any adjustments? For example I used to look great in bright pinks, now they seem not to work so well on me.
Secondly, I'm one of those people who is a bit stuck on dark neutrals. When I wear one of "my" colours as an accent, I feel like an air hostess (no offence intended) and when I wear top to toe shades of my colours I feel like I'm going to a wedding. Any ideas?
Imogen, I have a very, yellow/peach skin. I use Bobbi Brown's Sand II makeup, which is for people with a yellow skin tone. The only colours that look good on me are cools with blue undertones. This includes makeup colours aside from the foundation. Anything peachy, yellow-browny, lime-green or yellow-creamish makes me look washed out and sick. When I had my colours done centuries ago, the lady said my skin had blue undertones and this is why I looked so good in purples, blue-pinks, winter whites, and so on. Ditto for nail polish colours. What puzzles me is that I can't see any blue undertones. My skin looks almost Asian and I have no flushing or little veins. So where is this "blue"?
I'd like to switch from wearing black to colors. I'm in my 50's with dark blonde (no gold) hair, very dark blue-grey eyes and light skin with alot of golden brown freckles and some pink. I love cool pastels but most don't look good on me. Thank you for your help!
This is very interesting! I'd always thought that because of the ruddiness in my skin, I needed yellower foundations to tone down the red. May need to rething this…
THANK YOU! From rb!
Anon – intresting – your choice of colours that you gravitate to are on the warmer end of the scale. Your description of your colouring is warm too.
LB – I think you sound like you need softer colours – though still slightly warmer.
Sany – seeing you soon!
Rosina – we never actually see the 'blue' what we see is the absence of carotene (so we see the blue blood under the skin, you know how your veins look blue). It's just described as a blueishness.
Josie Jean – without seeing you this is hard to gauge – but you sound coolish (but not really cool), and would probably suit greyed down cool colours, not bright or pastel.
Deja – next time you're in a department store, go try on heaps of different foundation colours as described, then go outside and see which colour seems to disappear.
rb – glad it works for you now!
Thank you, I think your right!
I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with this post (at least for some people — perhaps there are exceptions!). I have extremely pale skin, dark golden blonde hair, light blue eyes that can sometimes shift to aqua or green-blue depending on what I'm wearing. The majority of my best clothing colors are from the Spring pallette, though I can occasionally pull off a Winter color since my undertones are very clear. My best colors are shades like pale yellow, peach, coral, salmon, red, apple green, some purples, and any shade of teal/turquoise/blue-green. Neutrals, muted colors, and cool pinks are all horrible on me.
However, I do have pink overtones (my face in particular always seems to have a pink flush, and my skin turns pink very easily when irritated!). Like RB, fushia clothing just makes my nose look big and red and emphasizes any imperfections in my skin! Makeup artists always tried to tell me I was cool, but the pink-toned foundations they gave me always looked very fake and mask-like. When I finally tried a foundation that matched my undertones (Aromaleigh's Voile in 1W — it has peach and yellow undertones) it was *perfect*! It cancels out the pink flush in my skin, matches my neck, and people told me that it looked like I wasn't even wearing makeup at all
So I encourage everyone to at least try a foundation that matches their undertone, too!
Hello, I really need help in determining my colors. Can you help me?
I have mousy brown hair, no blue undertones.
Grey green blue eyes, some yellow flecks. No definite color in my eye stands out unless I use certain eye shadows.
My skin is opaque, not clear. I think my undertones are more yellow, my cheeks are slightly rosy pink.
I find I lean towards more golden eye shadows though, they seem to perk me up, blues seem to make me look tired.
Thanks!
I look a bit like the commenter — very pink cheeks, brown hair with subtle red and gold highlights, blue-grey eyes flecked with gold. And, yes, the undertones of my skin are extremely yellow.
I couldn’t see it until one day I put my wrist next to my husband’s wrist — if you looked at us you’d think I’m the pink one and he’s the yellow one (ghost-white skin, brown hair with striking gold highlights (used to be white-blond), very blue eyes) — but if you actually look at our skin side-by-side, his looks pink, mine looks yellow. I don’t have a great eye for color, but it’s not even a little bit subtle.
Thanks Andromeda, it’s interesting isn’t it, undertone and overtone can be so different.
Hi Imogen. I’m totally confused. I am mixed (East Indian, Black, a trace of Scottish) and I thought that I should be a warm (Autumn). I used to have distinctly green veins but now they are mostly blue with some areas looking green. I also have a reddish look to my skin along with yellow. I look good in both silver and gold jewellery I think.. although I may look a bit better in gold. Honestly, I’m quite confused. Would a picture help you tell? Thanks so much.
if pictures help then: https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/75839_177924015551449_100000015542487_610528_3088895_n.jpg and https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/58504_156864007657450_100000015542487_497221_1340101_n.jpg and https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/215499_215692165107967_100000015542487_860407_2758070_n.jpg
Regina. I’m thinking my Opulent group would suit you. Deep and Warm but not too warm. Which is why both gold and silver jewellery work.