Did you know that discovering your skin undertone can help you choose the right shade of foundation, the ideal color of dye for your hair, clothes, accessories and makeup that suit you best? In this article, Image consultants Helena Valentim and Thais Bendicto clear up some doubts on the subject. Check out!
What is skin undertone
According to Image Consultant Helena Valentim, “undertone is the skin temperature defined by the amount of carotene (warm) and hemoglobin (cold)”. Thais Bendicto explains that “it is a characteristic that we have on the skin, when reflected in the light”.
To further elucidate this feature of the skin, Thais Bendicto explains that “when you remove the cuticle, the skin that comes out is transparent and it is this particularity of melanin that makes the light reading of a skin in the face of light be colder or warmer. ”.
What are skin undertones
Thais Bendicto explains that “there are several types of skin undertones, but 3 of them are the most common: warm, cold and neutral”. To understand a little more about it, she checks the characteristics of each one:
- Warm undertone: Warmer skin is one that has a higher amount of carotene (one of the pigments responsible for skin color). Thus, people with this temperature combine with shades of yellow, red, orange and gold.
- Cool undertone: A cooler skin is one that has more hemoglobin than carotene. It becomes more harmonious with pink, purple and bluish colors. Therefore, those who have cold skin combine with paints with more gray tones, as well as silver accessories;
- Neutral undertone: It is the junction of warm and cold, resulting in brown, beige, gray and green tones. Contrary to what it seems, the neutral tone is not the middle ground between warm and cold, as it can be neutral-cold or neutral-warm. After all, the skin will always have a little more carotene or hemoglobin;
Thais also advises that “at a neutral temperature, both cold tones with the influence of warm tones and warm tones with the influence of cold tones can help to enhance your skin undertone”. And he adds that “for hair, natural tones may work best; As for the accessories, the neutral skin matches both golden and silver”.
As for black skin tones, Thais says that “the cool undertone, which is usually more pink, is not common. However, it can still happen that this skin has a more bluish undertone. So it’s important to test to be sure. On the other hand, oriental women usually have a yellowish undertone, while indigenous women have a reddish undertone”.
If you are interested in the subject and want to know if you can identify your skin undertone at home, read the following topic and see what experts say about it.
Is it possible to identify the skin undertone at home?
Identifying your skin’s undertone is essential to choose the colors that most value your beauty. This also goes for hair dyes, makeup, accessories and even clothes.
Thus, the only assertive way to discover your skin undertone is by consulting a qualified professional. An image consultant or makeup artist specializing in colorimetry will perform a test with specific fabrics, developed especially for this analysis.
Thaís explains that “the personal coloring test is an analysis performed through the light that hits the fabric and reflects on the face. It’s pure physics. If the fabric has an undertone within your skin’s undertone, it will reflect illuminating your face, smoothing out imperfections and fine lines. Otherwise, it will highlight these imperfections making your face look more tired and aged.”
Although there are some methods you can do at home, experts point out that sometimes it can go wrong. Helena explains that “when carrying out this analysis, it is necessary to consider 3 dimensions of the skin: depth (darker or lighter colors), intensity (more vibrant or softer colors) and temperature (hot or cold)”. Therefore, “the person has to have knowledge about these dimensions to be able to discover the undertone, remembering that the fiber that the fabric is made of also influences the test result, as well as the ambient light”.
Helena Valentim also warns against internet methods and tips such as looking at the color of the veins, analyzing the tanning and others. “Looking at the color of the veins is one of the biggest myths about undertone, besides not being assertive. That’s because there are people with different shades of veins.” The tanning test, which consists of analyzing whether your skin turns golden or red after exposure to the sun, doesn’t work either. After all, bronze interferes with the tone (light, medium and dark) and not with the undertone (warm or cold) of the skin”, concludes the consultant.
Thais Bendicto also does not indicate any homemade method. For her, “to find out what her undertone is, it’s best to experiment. There are colors that will rejuvenate and others that will mark the lines of expression. There is no test that can be sure, except personal coloring. However, looking at what looks best on the skin, such as a more yellowish or pinker foundation, despite not being conclusive, is already an indication of what may work better”.
But if you are a curious person and still want to do simple tests just to know the basics, check out the tutorials below.
How to identify skin undertone
As the experts said, home tests may not always be effective. But to satisfy your curiosity, the following videos can help you in this mission:
How to find your skin undertone
In the video, the Style Consultant explains how the personal color test works to find out the temperature and undertone of the skin. She watch the video and discover some characteristics of each undertone.
Personal color analysis for black skin
Discovered your skin undertone and now you don’t know what to do with this information? Preta She also talks to Style Consultant Naylah Campos and explains how personal coloring works on black skins. In addition, she gives tips for selecting the colors that best match your skin undertone.
Personal coloring test in practice
Image consultant Amanda Moretti analyzes the personal coloring of influencer Jessica Flores. In this video, you also learn about color palettes and how they work on skin undertones.
Discovering your skin undertone can be key to making some choices and combinations. If you want to learn how to use them to your advantage, how about getting to know a little more about colorimetry, a technique that helps you discover which colors suit you best.