Skin Tone Myths
If you’ve ever attempted a DIY color analysis (or just gone shopping for makeup) you’ve likely asked yourself “what’s my skin tone?”.
If you’re unsure, you might type this question into google and read a handful of articles sharing “easy” tips and tricks for determining your undertone. Maybe you find the advice you need and your journey ends here. OR maybe you feel even more confused. If you fall in that second bucket, don’t worry! You’re not alone.
With billions of people on the planet, analyzing your skin tone will never be boiled down to a simple formula. Even as a professional Color Analyst, I can tell you that it’s challenging! We see many of our Color Analysis clients coming to us with preconceived notions about their skin tone whether it’s based on their ethnicity, something their mother once told them (you’d be surprised how often this comes up! haha), or using free online resources.
As much as we wish we could give you a “one size fits all” approach, we just can’t. BUT, we can debunk the many skin tone myths we come across.
Before we dive in, let’s clarify some key terms here so we’re all on the same page:
Surface tone: often referred to as the “face value” appearance of your skin, or its color Someone’s surface tone might be described as fair, medium, tan, deep, olive, pink, golden.
Undertone: the subtle hue beneath the surface of skin. Everyone’s undertone sits on a spectrum from Warm → Cool with the majority of people sitting in a more neutral position between. Your undertone is what determines whether your skin harmonizes (or clashes) with warm, cool, or neutral colors. In color analysis, when we say your “skin tone,” we’re referring to your undertones, as this (not surface tone) is what determines the colors that best highlight you.
Myth #1: Pale/light skin means you have a cool skin tone and tan/dark skin means you have a warm skin tone.
Not true! Someone’s undertones (warm → cool) are not always correlated to the depth of their surface tones (pale → tan). You can have any combination of undertones and depths of surface tone together. See some examples below:
Myth #2: If you tan, you have a warm skin tone and if you burn, you have a cool skin tone.
False! This is similar to the statement above. Many assume pale skin, that burns is cool, while skin that tans easily is warm. However, someone’s ability to tan isn’t related to their undertone. You’ll see people who tan with warm, neutral, or cool undertones and people who burn with warm, neutral, or cool undertones. Any combination can exist.
Myth #3: An olive complexion means you have a warm skin tone.
Not necessarily. This topic is a controversial one, and you’ll find many contradicting thoughts online. Some assume that the presence of olive or golden surface tones signifies a “warm skin tone”. At Created Colorful, we’ve analyzed the color-draped selfies of over 20.000 clients of various ethnicities, wearing warm and cool colors. What have we observed? That among those with olive skin, some are best flattered by warm colors, others neutral, and others cool colors.
Each individual sits along a spectrum from cool to warm, and it’s impossible to create hard and fast rules that will apply to everyone. This is why our team determines someone’s undertones based on photo evidence of how their skin responds to warm, neutral, and cool colors (along with bright vs faded, and light vs dark colors). Regardless of how someone’s skin appears, testing it against colors is the only way to gain full clarity on how their skin tone leans.
Myth #4: If you’re a Person of Color, you have a warm skin tone.
False! Again, a person’s undertones are not reliably predicted by their surface tones (aka the face value appearance and color of their skin). Sometimes Black, Hispanic, Indian, and AAPI women are told that having a brown, golden, or yellow SURFACE TONE means they have a warm undertone, but this isn’t true. There are many POC who have cool undertones despite having their skin having warmth on the surface.
Myth #5: If you have freckles, it means you have a warm skin tone
Another misconception. As a Color Analyst, it is more COMMON to see people with freckles have a warm undertone, but it’s not true 100% of the time. Someone with freckles can have warm, neutral or cool skin tones. Here are some examples of celebrities with freckles who are believed to have neutral-cool to cool undertones:
AND FOR THE BIGGEST MYTH……
Myth #6: The vein test is a reliable way to determine your skin’s undertone
Definitely not! If you haven’t heard of the vein test, it’s one of the most commonly recommended DIY methods for determining your undertones. Supposedly you can figure out your undertones by simply looking at the color of your veins. If your veins appear green, it is said to signal a warm skin tone and if your veins appear blue, it supposedly signals a cool skin tone. If you see a combination of the two, you might have a neutral skin tone.
I don’t know about you, but even with a trained eye, I couldn’t tell you what color my veins are with 100% confidence. Trying to distinguish between two very similar shades of green and blue isn’t easy for most people. This method caters to White people and those with fairer complexions and is even more inaccurate for those with deeper complexions and POC. Overall, we recommend skipping the vein test. It’s a headache and not reliable!
SO… how do I determine my undertone?
As I mentioned before, any DIY method that doesn’t involve seeing how your skin reacts when draped next to actual, real life colors, in natural light, is unreliable. The end goal of determining your season is to know which colors you look good in, right? What better way than to put on colors from different categories (warm vs cool, light vs dark, bright vs faded), take selfies in them, and compare to see which highlight you and which wash you out? If you have the time and resources, we recommend getting a professional color analysis. Having an unbiased professional with a trained eye will give you clarity that no trick, filter, or online test will.
Along with learning about the kind of skin tone you have, a good Color Analysis will also explain which kinds of colors highlight and brighten your skin tone and features. As someone who is currently dealing with hormone issues and the inevitable impacts on my skin, I can tell you that knowing the right colors to wear can have an ENORMOUS impact on your complexion and is one of my favorite ways to ensure my skin looks as good as possible.
After getting a color analysis, you’ll have a set of coordinating colors you can refer to when deciding on clothing, jewelry, makeup, and accessories, both when shopping and getting dressed. And with a Created Colorful color analysis, at least, you’ll also gain a facebook community of hundreds of women who look good in the same colors as you, who share links, color knowledge and encouragement in our client facebook groups by palette. The confidence, support, and clarity that come from having your colors done by an experienced professional are priceless.
Here for your color journey!
Tori, Lead Consultant and Director of Operations at Created Colorful
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