How to Find Your Skin Undertone (Indian Skin)

Your skin undertone is the soft colour that sits under the surface of your skin: warm (golden or peachy), cool (pink or rosy) or neutral (a mix of both). You can find it with three simple checks: a jewellery test, a white-versus-cream test and a look at how your skin reacts to sun. Use all three together, because no single test is reliable on its own.

What is a skin undertone?

Skin tone is how light or deep your skin is. Undertone is a separate thing. Two people can have the same depth of skin and sit on opposite sides of the undertone range, which is why one colour can look fresh on a friend and tired on you.

Many people with Indian skin tones read as warm or olive-leaning, but cool and neutral undertones are common too. Describing skin as fair, wheatish, dusky or deep says how dark it is. It does not tell you the undertone.

Test 1: the gold and silver jewellery test

Sit by a window in daylight. Hold a gold bangle against the inside of your wrist, then a silver one. If gold makes your skin look healthier and warmer, you lean warm. If silver does, you lean cool. If both look good, you are probably neutral.

This is a rule of thumb, not a measurement, but it is the easiest test to repeat and compare.

Test 2: the white and cream cloth test

Wash off any makeup. Hold a pure white cloth under your chin, then an off-white or cream one. Notice which makes your face look cleaner and more rested. Pure white tends to suit cooler undertones. Cream and ivory tend to suit warmer ones. If neither stands out, or both look fine, that points to neutral.

Test 3: how your skin reacts to the sun

Skin that goes golden or bronze with sun often leans warm. Skin that turns pink or red first often leans cool. Treat this as a clue only, since skin care, tanning habits and sun protection all change the result.

Does the vein test work?

The usual advice says green veins mean warm and blue veins mean cool. It sounds tidy, but it depends on lighting, how deep your skin is and how close the veins sit to the surface. On deeper skin the veins are often hard to see at all. Use it as one more clue, never as the deciding one.

What if my results are mixed?

Mixed results usually mean neutral, and that is good news. You can wear a wider range of colours than people at either end. The best colours for you are often the middle ones, such as soft teal, dusty rose, sage, true red and charcoal.

What to do with your undertone

• Mostly warm: earthy shades such as rust, mustard, olive and warm brown tend to work.
• Mostly cool: jewel shades such as navy, emerald, berry and cool pink tend to work.
• Neutral or unsure: pick colours by how you feel in them, and test them near your face.

Whatever the result, the mirror has the final say. If a colour you love looks dull next to your face, wear it lower down, as trousers, a skirt or a bag, and put a better colour near your face.

What is an olive undertone?

Olive describes a skin that has a slightly greenish or grey-gold cast over a warm or neutral base. It is often described on South Asian and Mediterranean skin. Olive skin can look dull next to very orange or very pink colours, and tends to do well with deep greens, teal, burgundy, mustard and warm cream. If you keep getting mixed results from the tests, olive is worth considering.

Can your foundation shade help?

If you wear makeup, the shade that disappears on your jawline can be a clue. Foundations labelled warm or golden usually have a yellow base, cool or rosy ones a pink base, and neutral ones sit between. Brands name their shades differently, so treat the label as a hint and judge by how it blends in daylight.

What mistakes give the wrong answer?

• Testing under yellow indoor bulbs. Always test in daylight, near a window.
• Testing with makeup, tan or a fresh facial. Use clean, even skin.
• Mixing up depth and undertone. A deep skin tone can be cool and a light one can be warm.
• Trusting one test. Use at least three and look for the answer they agree on.
• Wearing the test colour on your body instead of next to your face.

A ten minute routine you can repeat

• Wash your face and sit by a window in daylight with a mirror.
• Hold gold and silver jewellery against your wrist and note which looks better.
• Hold a white cloth, then a cream one, under your chin and compare.
• Try one warm colour (rust) and one cool colour (berry) near your face.
• Write down your result for each test, then pick the answer that appears most.

Build your Style Identity and get colours chosen for your undertone