How To Find Your Undertone With Tips From The Eyeshadow Pad

There’s something uniquely frustrating about finding a stunning shade of lipstick or foundation at the drugstore, only to find out that it doesn’t look quite so flattering when you get home. This is something all makeup enthusiasts have experienced at some point or the other.

While there can be several reasons for this, including lighting differences between the store and your home, as well as skin pigmentation—the primary factor that affects how makeup looks on or matches with your skin is your undertone. This is why it’s critical to learn how to find your undertone.

What is an Undertone?

An undertone is the naturally occurring color under your skin. Think of it as a temperature scale that indicates the natural hue of your skin color.

Your undertone should not be mistaken for the bare shade of your skin before putting on foundation. Because even if you pick your foundation according to your skin color, it can still appear unnatural if you don’t match the undertones correctly. This is why it’s important to find your true skin tone.

All colors have unique undertones, which can explain why some red lipsticks, for example, might flatter your features while others don’t look right. A skin undertone test can help you figure out how to find and match your undertone to the undertone of a specific product. This will create a cohesive makeup look.

Different Kinds of Undertones

The first step to find your undertone is to distinguish how each undertone is different. While undertones are typically grouped under three categories, further bifurcations do exist—for example, olive.

Why It’s Important to Know Your Undertone

Knowing how to find the undertone of your skin through a test can make it easier to match your makeup to your natural features. This is particularly useful for finding a sheer coverage foundation or picking a colorful lipstick that’s not too overpowering.

When you find your skin tone, you can pick flattering colors that pair well with your natural features. This applies not only to your makeup, but also to the colors of your clothing and accessories. Here are a few ways how being able to find your undertone can make a difference to your appearance.

1. Look Younger

   Wearing a flattering shade of blush can brighten up your features and make your entire face look youthful and energized. On the other hand, a lipstick that washes you out might make you appear tired. By matching the undertones of your makeup products to your skin, you can create a harmonized look that brings your features to life and evokes youthful energy.

2. Enhance Your Natural Features

   If someone with brown eyes and a warm undertone wears a cool toned foundation, this can dampen the natural beauty of their warm toned features and create disjunction in their appearance. Instead, when you find your skin tone and match the undertones of your foundation to your skin, you’ll be able to create an even base that enhances, rather than overpowers, your features.

3. Look Effortlessly Put-Together

   Knowing your undertone, is a direct gateway to knowing how you can find combinations of colors that go together with your features. When colors that complement each other are placed side by side, the overall composition looks effortlessly pleasing.

   Similarly, choosing makeup that matches your skin’s undertone is a simple way to look more put-together with less effort. For example, a foundation that matches your skin will look more even, and you’ll spend less time fussing over your lipstick when it sits well with your natural undertone.

How to Find Your Undertone at Home

Conducting a skin undertone test is simple and can be done easily at home. There are several ways to do this using your body’s natural signifiers as well as accessories or products you already own.

Test 1: The Veins in Sunlight Test

This is a simple test you can conduct from the comfort of your home or wherever you are. Simply stand outside and look at the veins in your wrists in the sunlight. Those with cool undertones tend to have bluish or purple looking veins in natural light. If you have greenish looking veins then you have warm undertones. Veins that look blue-green point towards neutral undertones.

Test 2: The Jewelry Test

This test to find your skin undertone shows how most of us instinctively reach for accessories that complement our features. To conduct the jewelry test, pick out your most-worn earrings and necklaces and assess how many of them are silver or gold.

Often, we tend to gravitate towards the metal that we believe looks good on us, and in most cases, this may be in line with the metal that actually pairs well with your undertone. People with cooler undertones are more likely to find that silver or platinum looks better against their skin. Those who prefer yellow gold jewelry are likely to have warm undertones.

Test 3: The White Balance Test

Here’s how to find your undertone with a white piece of cloth. Bring the white cloth right next to your face while you’re wearing no makeup. This will help you analyze the cast your face takes on next to the stark white cloth and find your skin tone accordingly. If you notice a yellow cast to your skin, you probably have warm undertones. On the other hand, cooler undertones will appear with a bluish or pink cast to the skin.

Choosing Makeup for Your Undertone

Now that you’ve figured out how to find your skin’s undertone, you can begin choosing makeup that will complement your natural features.

Warm Undertones

Cool Undertones

Neutral Undertones

Now it’s time to conduct your own skin undertone test so you can figure out how to find makeup that matches your undertone!