How To Determine Skin Tone Color

Knowing your skin tone can help you choose the right makeup, find the most flattering clothes and improve your overall appearance. Choosing makeup and fashion to complement your skin tone makes your face glow, your eyes sparkle and even your hair shine. Determining your skin tone is a fairly easy process that can be accomplished in one afternoon. All you need to figure out your skin tone is a mirror and good lighting.

Step 1

Remove all your makeup if you're wearing any and find a comfortable position in front of a well-lighted mirror. Sunlight is ideal, but good artificial light works fine, too. Avoid fluorescent light or tinted light bulbs. Put on a plain white T-shirt or throw a plain white towel around your shoulders so there's nothing to distract from your face.

Step 2

Note the color of the skin at the bottom of your nailbed. Is it yellowish? Pink or red? Slightly blue or purple? Or more orange? If your nailbed looks yellow or orange, you have a warm skin tone. A blue or pink nailbed signals a cool skin tone.

Step 3

Look at your face in the mirror. See if it has the same undertone--yellow, pink, blue or orange--that you saw in your nailbed. If you've been in the sun and gotten a tan, look at the inside of your wrist or part of your body that's not tanned to compare the underlying color. If you see the same tones, you've figured out your skin tone.

Step 4

Hold a dark brown scarf, shirt or other item against your face and then trade it for a black one. If you still aren't sure which skin tone you have, decide which color looks better against your skin. If it's brown, your skin tone is warm. If it's black, you have a cool skin tone. If you don't see a difference between black and brown, try bright orange and bright pink. Bright orange will flatter warm skin tones, while bright pink makes cool skin tones glow.

Tips and Warnings

Choose colors for clothes and makeup that complement your skin tone. Cool skin tones look great in pinks, true reds, purples and blues, while warm skin tones glow in oranges, ambers and browns.