How to Find Skin Undertone: Cool, Neutral or Warm

5 Simple Tips to Establish if Your Skin Is Cool, Neutral or Warm

To achieve a flawless, natural-looking foundation, getting your skin undertone right is essential.

What Is a Skin Undertone?

Your skin undertone is the permanent, underlying colour that your skin casts. It falls into one of three categories
cool, warm, or neutral.

This is different from your skin tone, which is the surface colour you see such as fair, light, medium, olive, or deep.

For a seamless foundation finish, both tone and undertone must be considered. When undertones are mismatched, foundation can appear ashy, grey, too yellow, or overly orange.

One of the most common foundation mistakes is assuming that fair skin always means a cool undertone, or that deeper skin tones are automatically warm.

The Three Main Skin Undertones

Cool Undertones

Fair skin with pink or bluish hues
Deeper skin with red or purple hues

Warm Undertones

Fair skin with yellow hues
Deeper skin with peachy or golden hues

Above: Warm skin tone

Neutral Undertones

A balanced mix of both cool and warm tones

How to Identify Your Skin Undertone

1. Check the Veins on Your Wrist

Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist:

Blue or purple veins suggest a cool undertone
Green veins suggest a warm undertone

A mix of both blue and green suggests a neutral undertone

This test is easiest to see on lighter skin tones and may be less reliable on deeper skin.

2. Jewellery Test

Consider which jewellery flatters you most:

Silver jewellery often suits cool undertones
Gold jewellery tends to complement warm undertones
Rose gold or a mix of gold and silver usually suits neutral undertones

Keep in mind that personal style, trends, and budget can influence jewellery choices.

3. Wear White

Try wearing a crisp white top:

If your skin looks slightly rosy, you may be cool-toned
If your skin looks more yellow or golden, you may be warm-toned
If there is little noticeable change, you are likely neutral

4. Sun Reaction Test

Pay attention to how your skin reacts in the sun:

Burning easily or turning pink suggests a cool undertone
Tanning easily and turning golden suggests a warm undertone
Burning slightly but tanning as well suggests a neutral undertone

5. Colours That Flatter You

Think about the colours you naturally gravitate toward:

Earth tones like yellow, orange, red, and olive green often suit warm undertones
Jewel tones like blue, emerald, purple, and deep teal often suit cool undertones

Personal preference also plays a role, but patterns often emerge.

Still Unsure?

If you’re still unsure about your undertone, don’t stress. Adorn Cosmetics offers foundation samples and a personalised colour matching service to help you find your perfect shade with confidence or check out our online foundation match quiz.

Choosing the right undertone makes all the difference to how your foundation looks, feels, and wears on your skin.