Warm, cool, or neutral undertone

Undertone is the warm or cool cast underneath your skin's surface colour. It is the single most useful thing to know about your colouring, because it decides whether warm or cool colours flatter you.

Undertone vs surface tone

Surface tone is the colour you see — fair, medium, deep. Undertone is the cast underneath it. Two people with the same surface tone can have opposite undertones, which is why the classic tests look past the surface.

Four tests and what each is worth

The white-paper test. Hold a plain white paper against your face. If your skin looks yellow or golden next to it, you are warm; if it looks pink or blue, you are cool. This is one of the more reliable tests.

The jewellery test. Hold gold and silver against your skin. If gold flatters you, you are warm; if silver does, you are cool. Useful, but lighting and personal taste can interfere.

The vein test. Green veins suggest warm, blue veins suggest cool. A good first clue, but unreliable on deep skin and in poor light.

The white-shirt test. Compare a warm white and a cool white against your face. The one that makes your skin look clearer is your side.

Why deep skin tones are badly served by the vein test

On deep skin the veins are often not visible enough to read, and the undertone shows as a golden or red glow (warm) or a blue or berry cast (cool) rather than in the veins. Use the white-paper and jewellery tests instead — they work on every skin tone.

Can you be neutral?

Yes. Many people are warm-neutral or cool-neutral — warm or cool, but not strongly. The twelve-season system has a place for that, and the quiz's options include it.

Take the quiz to place your undertone on the twelve-season continuum.