How to Determine Your Skin Tone and Pick the Best-Colored Clothes to Suit it

Skin tone and clothes colors.
Knowing which colors work best for your particular skin tone can make you stand out in a crowd and glow from the inside out. (Image: Elizaveta Galitskaya via Dreamstime)

Are you planning to build your wardrobe but you’re not sure which colors will look best on you? Adding additional color to your wardrobe may initially appear daunting and nearly unattainable, but it’s actually quite simple. There are obviously no “rules” in fashion. You may practically wear any colors you please and look fantastic doing it. Nevertheless, knowing which colors work best for your particular skin tone can make you stand out in a crowd and glow from the inside out.

Knowing your skin tone can help you find the best colors that will complement your skin while avoiding those that don’t match your natural color. 

Here’s how to choose the best-colored clothes to suit your skin tone:

Determine your skin tone

Despite the wide range of skin tones that exist, there are only three types of skin undertones: warm, cool, and neutral. Cooler complexions have pink undertones, whereas warmer complexions have yellow undertones. Warm and cool undertones coexist in a neutral complexion. Your skin’s undertone won’t alter, even though the color of your skin’s surface may vary depending on how tanned you are.

If you’re unsure about your skin’s undertone or how to tell if you’re warm or cool, use the methods below to find out:

Start by examining the veins on your wrists or temples to identify your skin tone. Because the skin is thinner there, the blood vessels in those areas are frequently close to the surface. It is simpler to identify the veins’ color when the skin is light since you can frequently see the veins through the skin. 

Check to see if you have blue or green veins as you examine your veins. Veins that are blue or green indicate a cold skin tone, whereas green veins indicate a warm skin tone. You probably have a neutral skin tone if you can’t tell if you have green or blue.

Your skin tone can be determined via the color of the veins in your wrist.
Check to see if you have blue or green veins as you examine your veins. (Image: via Nspirement)

If you can’t see your veins or want extra assurance, do a white paper test on yourself. To make it easier for you to recognize the colors that stand out to you, press a white piece of paper against your skin. 

You should position a piece of paper close to your chest or throat rather than adjacent to your face. For several causes, including exposure to the sun, the face might have reddish tones, which can cause you to misinterpret your tone.

Look for the colors that stand out more visibly against the white paper by holding it up to your chest or neck. Your skin tone is cool if you see shades of pink and blue, and warm if you see shades of gold and green. A person with a neutral skin tone probably has variable skin tones based on the amount of sun exposure and the season.

Colors for cool skin tones

The coolest hues on the color wheel work well with cool skin tones. Emeralds, dark purples, lavender, pink, ice blue, and vivid blues are the best colors to wear. Extremely pale yellows, rose reds, and rubies can be used to add a warmer hue to your attire. Luminous white, gray, and blue are additional neutral hues that are appropriate.

If you want to accessorize your clothing with watches or other jewelry, use trendy metals like platinum or silver rather than gold or copper. Additionally, you should refrain from wearing orange, vivid yellow, and tomato red. You won’t look your best because these colors clash with your skin.

A ice blue shirt, with grey pants.
The coolest hues on the color wheel work well with cool skin tones. (Image: Aliia Chazova via Dreamstime)

Colors for warm skin tones

Earth tones are a great choice for people who have a warm undertone to their skin. Green, brown, mustard yellow, and warm reds are frequently the best hues for complexion tones with a warm undertone. Peach, coral, amber, and gold are additional warm skin tone-friendly colors you can use. Choose warmer hues like olive, orchid, violet-red, and moss if you wish to wear an outfit with cold tones.

Warmer skin tones often complement natural, warm colors. They go well with softer neutral hues like cream, beige, taupe, mushroom grey, and cappuccino. 

Three woolen sweats stacked on top of each other. Brown, white and mustard yellow.
Warmer skin tones often complement natural, warm colors. (Image: Tatsiana Siarheyenka via Dreamstime)

Instead of silver or platinum, choose warm metals like gold and copper for watches and other men’s jewelry. While this doesn’t restrict you from wearing platinum or silver, gold will be your go-to option because it complements your undertone well. Additionally, avoid donning hues with jewel or icy blue undertones. These hues frequently make your skin look gray and wash out the color of your skin.

Colors for all skin tones

Four colors are considered universally flattering because they look good on everyone regardless of their skin tone. These colors are Eggplant, True Red, Indian Teal, and Mellow Rose.

Just keep in mind that there are very few colors you won’t be able to wear. The trick is to figure out how to style them so they highlight your features. 

A Mellow rose colored knit.
A mellow rose knit. (Image: Ekaterina Molchanova via Dreamstime)

And now that you know what colors suit your skin tone best, it’s time to incorporate this new information into your wardrobe!

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  • Haidene Go

    Haidene Go is a reader, a speaker, and a writer based in the Philippines. She is a wonderer, a wide-eyed observer of the world, and a lover of words. She has always been fascinated of the human’s capacity to externalise their complex feelings and thoughts through language. Through her written works, she hopes to capture the beauty of being human, her own and other’s.

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