Skin Tone

[labelleetlafete]

Hullo ladies,
Wondering if anyone could identify my skin's undertones. I didn't feel comfortable putting a picture of me up, (too shy!) but I need some advice. I always feel like I'm picking the wrong makeup colours! HELP!!

 

[tats]

It is difficult to say what skin tone you have from a picture. Try to look at your skin in natural light and figure out what undertone it has. Another way is to look at your veins, if they are green you have yellow undertone if they are blue you have pink undertone, but it's all individual really as you could have both yellow and pink undertones.

Just look at your skin everywhere. For instance, I'm very yellow, but my face has some pink in it, and I try to cancel that with yellow foundation to match my body..

I wouldn't always trust a sales assistant at the counter though, they have always missmatched me.. literally every time..

Do you have Boots in Ireland? Their new No7 system apparently matches you to a perfect foundation shade, maybe you should try that?
Good luck anyway..

 

[labelleetlafete]

We have boots in Ireland, only I've not been able to find a proper shade with the new No. 7 system --- they don't make a colour light enough for my skin. I was just hoping to get some advice as to what my undertones might be, cause I always feel my base looks odd, and occasionally blushers will change colour on me even if I'm wearing primer...

 

[tats]

Do you mean blushes don't come the same colour on the face as in the pan? I think it's normal for some blushes, I found the only blushes that come out true to colour in the pan are Illamasqua blushes.

Did you have any luck trying to figure out what undertone you have??
There are 3 options, pink, which is obvious as your skin will have a pink tone to it, the same with yellow, it will look slightly yellowy in natural light, a neutral one I guess doesn't look either more pink or yellow.

I think L'oreal has a foundation called true match and each shade has 3 undertones, yellow, neutral and pink, maybe try and put all 3 shades on your jawline and have a look in natural light to see which one suits you better?

If you are very pale, I think Illamasqua has a very pale foundation shade and generally their Skin Base range has a lot of shades.

 

[labelleetlafete]

I suppose it's not as obvious with my skin what the undertones are. I know most people say to look at the veins on your inner wrist, but mine are mostly blue with a hint of green. I've yet to find a shade of orange I can wear without looking poorly, but most pastels look pretty dreadful on me as well.
I always thought I was cool-toned, but recently I've had multiple people (on separate occasions) say that my skin was not very pink and I always assumed it was, and all this reassessment is driving me mental!

 

[felicialazaar]

I had the same problem and wasn't able to determine my skin tone for ages... I know now that I am definitely cool-toned, that is have skin with pinkish undertone (NW in MAC). But I think this is sometimes very difficult to see (even on your own skin) - I would never say my skin looks pink at all. I did a lot of research online before I found out...

One way to tell is whether you sometimes have redness on your skin? This is how you can tell the pink, cool undertone.

If your veins are both blue and green, you might be neutral though. Its easier to see this as well when you skin is not tanned (i.e. in winter). Do you have any friends with a warm undertone that you could compare to? Many Asians types have a warm, olive undertone, where you can clearly see the yellow undertone, which makes the veins looks more green. Its easier to see that way whether your veins are more blue-ish in comparison.

You could also try out holding some clothes underneath your face. Cool toned skin will look better in navy,blue-toned purples, bluish greens. Warm toned skin will look better in more orangy colours, like warm browns, yellow-based reds, yellowish greens. If you say orange eyeshadow doesn't suit you, then you might be cool-toned indeed. Don't be too strict with what clothing colour suits you though, because there are also differences in light versus dark and also hair colour plays a role. This is just to get a feeling for cool versus warm.

The tricky bit is that the colours that make our eyes pop are not always the colours that suits us well (orange helps blue eyes pop, but might not be the best colour for cool toned skin), so its about trying out different shades of that colour (for example an orange brown, which is not too warm) to find the perfect match.

Hopefully this helps a little bit!
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Have a look at the following video, it summarizes everything and it also explains that different cosmetic brands means different things when they say "warm" and "cool"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwrel&v=wbjplEiSncY&NR=1

And this video is about colour theory, so which colours complement each other or balance each other out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBb3mtQKhgM

 

[labelleetlafete]

Thank you so much!
I was able to convince one of my Asian friends to compare vein colours (she was quite perplexed), and I've determined that I've cool-toned skin. Now I just need to find some colours that work with that, black hair, and green eyes!

 

[felicialazaar]

Thank you so much!
I was able to convince one of my Asian friends to compare vein colours (she was quite perplexed), and I've determined that I've cool-toned skin. Now I just need to find some colours that work with that, black hair, and green eyes!

haha, that must have been funny Glad this helped, now its all about trying out many different things. If you go to MAC (another place where they have professional makeup artists, who can advise you), you can ask them to try out different eyeshadows or lipsticks and what they think might suit you. The good thing is that there is a shade of every colour for everyone, one just needs to find the right one (light vs dark, bold versus muted, warmer versus cooler...). Have fun!