Free undertone test
Am I warm or cool toned?
Your undertone is the color beneath the surface of your skin, and a tan doesn't change it. Answer six questions in daylight to find out if yours is warm, cool, neutral or olive, and what that means for the colors you wear.
Question 1 of 6
Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist in daylight. What color are they?
Question 2 of 6
Which metal makes your skin look healthier?
Question 3 of 6
Hold a sheet of white paper under your chin. Next to it, your skin looks:
Question 4 of 6
After a day in the sun without sunscreen, you usually:
Question 5 of 6
Which colors get you the most compliments?
Question 6 of 6
How do pale pastels, like baby pink or mint, look on you?
Think of a top or scarf close to your face.
The basics
Undertone vs. skin tone
Skin tone is the surface color you notice first: fair, light, medium, tan or deep. It darkens with sun and fades in winter. Undertone is the hue underneath, warm, cool, neutral or olive, and it stays with you for life.
The two are independent. Fair skin can be warm, deep skin can be cool, and olive shows up at every depth. That is why two people who wear the same foundation shade can look their best in completely different colors.
At home
Four undertone checks you can do in five minutes
The wrist check
Sit by a window and look at the veins on the inside of your wrist. Green or olive veins lean warm, because you see them through golden skin. Blue or purple veins lean cool. If you honestly can’t decide, that is a sign of a neutral undertone.
The metal check
Hold something gold and something silver against your cheek, one at a time. Watch your skin, not the metal: the one that makes it look even and awake is your side. If both look fine, you are likely neutral.
The white check
Put a sheet of plain white paper under your chin in daylight. Against pure white, warm skin looks golden or peachy, cool skin looks pink or rosy, and olive skin shows a faint green or gray cast.
The sun check
Think about your skin after a day outside without sunscreen. Tanning to gold or bronze leans warm; turning pink and rarely tanning leans cool. On its own this is the weakest check, because the depth of your skin matters as much as its undertone.
What doesn't work: your eye color, your hair dye or the shade name on your foundation. Indoor light misleads too, since warm bulbs make everyone look golden. Use a window, skip the makeup, and trust the checks that agree with each other.
In between
Neutral and olive undertones
Neutral means warm and cool are close to balanced. Gold and silver both work, and so do most whites. With warmth out of the way, the traits that choose your colors are depth and softness, so neutral people often land in Soft Summer, Soft Autumn or one of the Bright seasons.
Olive is its own case: a khaki, green-gold cast that is easiest to spot in medium and deep skin. It is often mistaken for cool because olive skin can look ashen in bright colors, but it usually behaves neutral-warm. Deep, earthy and muted shades suit it, as in Deep Autumn, while a cooler olive with high contrast can be a Deep Winter.
Your colors
What your undertone means for what you wear
| Undertone | Best neutrals | Colors to try | Metals | Season families |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm | Cream, camel, chocolate | Coral, olive, rust, golden yellow, warm teal | Gold, brass, copper | Spring and Autumn |
| Cool | Crisp white, navy, charcoal | Raspberry, emerald, cobalt, lavender, icy pink | Silver, platinum, white gold | Summer and Winter |
| Neutral | Soft white, taupe, stone | Dusty rose, jade, soft teal, medium blue | Both, or mixed metals | Soft and Bright seasons |
| Olive | Ecru, khaki, espresso | Sage, terracotta, plum, deep teal, mustard | Gold, antique gold, bronze | Autumn, sometimes Deep Winter |
Undertone is the first step. To narrow it down to one of the twelve seasons, take the color analysis quiz or read the color analysis guide.
Questions
Undertone FAQ
How do I know if I’m warm or cool toned?
Compare gold with silver and cream with pure white next to your face, in daylight. If gold and cream make your skin look even and healthy, you are warm; if silver and bright white do, you are cool. Green wrist veins also lean warm and blue ones cool. When the checks disagree, you are probably neutral.
Can your undertone change?
No. Your undertone comes from the pigments in your skin and stays the same throughout your life. A tan, a sunburn, redness or aging changes the surface color, which is your skin tone. Check your undertone in daylight when your skin is at its usual shade, not right after a beach week.
Is olive undertone warm or cool?
Olive is usually treated as neutral to warm. It has a green or khaki cast from a mix of yellow and gray pigment, which is why olive skin can look sallow in pastels and gray in stark white. Earthy, muted and deep colors flatter it most, though some olive complexions lean cool.
What does it mean if my veins look both blue and green?
It usually means a neutral undertone. Many people see a mix, especially with medium skin. Use the metal and white checks to break the tie: if neither gold nor silver clearly wins, you can wear both, and your depth and contrast matter more than warmth when you choose colors.
Does my undertone decide my color season?
It decides half of it. Warm undertones point to the Spring and Autumn families, cool ones to Summer and Winter. Which of the three seasons in the family you are depends on how light or deep and how soft or bright your coloring is, and the full season quiz measures both.
Avarobe
See your undertone and season from one selfie.
Avarobe reads your undertone, depth and contrast from one photo, names your season out of the twelve and dresses your avatar in your palette.
3 looks free · No credit card