April 02, 2024

How To Determine Your Skin's Undertone

One of the biggest keys to selecting the right foundation shade for yourself, is knowing what your skin undertone is. Your skin’s undertone refers to the subtle hue beneath the surface of your skin that affects the overall color of your complexion. It's different from the overtone, which is the color you see on the surface of your skin. Most women can tell if they are light, tan, or dark, but undertone can seem a little more complicated. Really though, once you know how to look for it and practice seeing it on others, it becomes easy to find undertones. 
 
The color of your skin, or it’s overtone (fair, light, medium, dark etc) doesn’t define your skin undertone. For example, you can have very light skin and have warm undertones, and you can have very dark skin and be a cool undertone.

Undertones are divided into 3 main groups; warm, cool and neutral.

1. Warm undertones have hints of golden, yellow, or peachy hues. Celebrities with warm undertones include Beyonce, Jessica Alba, Lucy Liu

2. Cool undertones will show hues of pink, red, or blue. Celebrities with cool undertones include Anne Hathaway and Adele

3. Neutral undertones exhibit a combination of both cool and warm tones, or they may appear more balanced without a strong dominance of either cool or warm colors. Olive skin tones fall under this category as well. Celebrities with neutral undertones include Sandra Bullock, Victoria Beckham, Natalie Portman, and Kerry Washington

So how do you know which of the three fit you? Here are a few ways to figure it out:

  1. Vein Test: Look at the veins on your wrist under natural light. If they appear blue or purple, you likely have cool undertones. If they appear greenish, you probably have warm undertones. If you can't determine whether they are blue or green, you may have neutral undertones.
  1. Jewelry Test:Consider which metal complements your skin tone best. If gold jewelry enhances your complexion, you likely have warm undertones. If silver jewelry looks more flattering, you probably have cool undertones. If both metals look equally good on you, you may have neutral undertones.
  1. White Fabric Test: Hold a piece of white fabric or clothing near your face in natural light. If your skin appears brighter and healthier against pure white, you likely have cool undertones. If it looks more radiant against off-white or cream-colored fabric, you probably have warm undertones. If you can't discern a significant difference, you may have neutral undertones.

  1. Consider Your Skin’s Reaction to the Sun: If you tan usually when in the sun instead of burning right away and can get golden/deeper yellow/brown then you are most likely a warm undertone. If you typically burn in the sun quicker and getting a tan is not easy, then you may be a cool undertone. You may be a neutral undertone if you burn and then tan in the sun but once you get a tan going you can build it.

Makeup that looks best on each undertone:

Warm Undertones:
Foundation: You will want to select foundation shades with more golden/yellow/peachy
Araza shades of Jojoba infused Mineral Powder Foundation we suggest would be: warm light, warm medium, and warm dark.
Araza shades of Coconut Cream Foundation would be: 120, 220, 280, 340, 380, 420, 460 and 520.
Blush: Go for warm peachy or coral shades 
Araza shades of Fresh Mineral Cheek Color would be: Blush and Rose
Araza shades of Mango Pots would be: Dusk, Rosy

Lipstick: Select warm hues such as peach, terracotta, or copper. Araza shades of Rejuvenating Coconut Lip Color would be stick would be Umber, Bliss, Polished, Heartthrob, and Vintage.

Cool Undertones:
Foundation: Look for shades with pink or rosy undertones
Araza shades of Jojoba infused Mineral Powder Foundation we suggest would be: Cool Light, Cool Medium and Cool Dark.
Araza shades of Coconut Cream Foundation would be:140, 180, 240, 300, 360, 440, 500, 540
Blush: Soft pinks, plums or berry shades
Araza shades of Fresh Mineral Cheek Color would be: Glow
Araza shades of Mango Pots would be: Wink, Fresh Pink, and Jam

Lipstick: Choose more blue/purple based colors like plum, cool pink, mauves, lavenders and cool reds like crimson or cherry. Araza shades of Rejuvenating Coconut Lip Color would be: Skinny Dip, Mesa, Merlot, Ruby Red, Dahlia, Huckleberry, Sugar Poppy, Pink Champagne. 

Neutral Undertones:
Foundation: select shades with balanced undertones, not too pink or too yellow
Araza shades of Jojoba infused Mineral Powder Foundation we suggest would be:
Neutral Light, Neutral Medium, Neutral Dark.
Araza shades of Coconut Cream Foundation would be: 100, 160, 200, 260, 320, 400, 480, 560.
Blush: Experiment with different shades try dusty rose, mauves or soft peaches
Araza shades of Fresh Mineral Cheek Color would be: Rendezvous, Glow, Rose, and Blush.
Araza shades of Mango Pots would be:Fresh Pink, Rosy, Wink, Jam and Dusk.

Lipstick: Middle of the road reds, pinks and browns. You can get away with wearing different colors but opt for balanced shades. Araza shades of Rejuvenating Coconut Lip Color would be: Merlot, Mesa, Umber, Skinny Dip, Pink Champagne, Nectar, Italian Ice, Bare, Bellini, Raspberry Glaze, Sweet Pea, Vintage and Bliss.

If you are still unsure about which undertone you are, we recommend ordering several sample sizes of our foundation in different undertones but similar shades. For example, if you know you have light/medium skin but are unsure of the undertone order samples of 240 (cool), 260 (neutral) and 280 (warm). When the sample arrives, swatch each one along your cheek/jaw line. Whichever color blends seamlessly into your skin and doesn’t look like you have makeup on is the winner! 
Written by Araza Natural Beauty

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