How I Discovered My Skin Tone Is Warm (Which I Always Thought Was Cool)

How I Discovered My Skin Tone Is Warm (Which I Always Thought Was Cool)



      I'm not very good with colours. I can't see undertones and have always been terrible at matching shades of makeup to my skin tone. For this very reason I really wanted to know whether my skin tone is cool or warm -- I knew this would help me in choosing makeup and clothing colours.
        Now, all the skin-tone advice on the internet wasn't helpful to me. I squinted at my veins, trying to figure out whether they are more blue or green. And my hair -- I swear the undertones change with the light. I held up pink and orange fabric to my face, and couldnt decide which of these two colours I dislike more (I don't "do" pink or orange, my wardrobe is basically all red, white and blue, with touches of violet, green and grey.) In the end I decided my skin tone is cool, because of the undeniable pinkish cast to it.
         Then one day I found out I wasn't cool at all --- it was the visible capillaries that made my face look pink. The rest of the skin is slightly yellowish. Moral: ignore the redness around your nose and cheeks, and look for capillary-free skin (temples, jaw line) when determining your shade.

      And how did I discover my skin tone? I wanted to buy mineral foundation, and got several samples from Lumiere Cosmetics. Every shade of their foundation comes in cool, warm, golden (very warm) as well as neutral and beige (both are between cool and warm, with beige being much more saturated). My skin tone is somewhere between beige and warm. Both tones suit me but I prefer warm because it cancels the redness a bit.
    I really recommend trying out makeup samples if you want to determine your skin tone. I choose Lumiere because their samples are dirt cheap (0.05$ for five), and they have easy-to understand names like "medium beige" and "medium warm". Also, under every foundation colour is a list of matching blush and lip shades --- I ordered those too and almost all look really good on me. Since then, I've become better at picking out makeup shades for me, yay! Another thing I learned: there is such a thing as a neutral skin tone.

       My patented way to test out mineral foundation samples: 

     Swatch all of them on your cheeks or forehead (paint short stripes) -- I prefer the forehead because its less likely to have visible capillaries. The foundation shade that blends in the most (is least visible) will be the best one for you. If you cannot decide between two shades, do each half of your face with a different shade and see which side you like best -- or ask a friend for her opinion!


       Are you cool or warm or in-between? Can you intuitively pick out colours that make you look great, or is it a trial-and-error thing?


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