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How-To: suss out your skintone to match your makeup

Fri, 19 August 2011 5:04PM

Ever wondered why your best friend can rock gold nail polish like it’s nobodies business, but on you, it only leaves your skin looking washed out? It all gets down to your skintone, Primpettes. And once you have it nutted out, it makes deciding on makeup and hair colour choices, a piece of cake.

The Vein Test

Trying to work out your skintone by comparing it against a white or yellow piece of paper are a little too subjective. In my opinion, the easiest test by far is the vein test. All you need to do is head outside in the natural light and look at the colour of the veins on your inner wrist. If they’ve got a green-tint, your skin is warm, or if they’re more blue, consider it cool.

Random, but great tip: The same applies for jewellery: if your skintone is warm, gold is the way to go, while silver pops on cool skintones.

So, now that you have your skintone sorted, you can work out what colours suit you best. Here’s a little guide for you to keep in mind. 

Warm skintones

Jessica Alba

The Eyes: Stick with earthy tones, like gold, copper, bronze, taupe, brown, coffee, caramel and chocolate for the eyes.

The Cheeks: Avoid straight up pink powders and cremes and opt for almond or honey-hued bronzers, or a coral number instead.

Cool Skintones

Cameron Diaz

The Eyes: You guessed it, you want to steer clear of the warm tones like the ones listed above and opt for icy shadows, like soft blues and silver as well as purple shades, like mauve, lavender and plum. You can also dabble in a little green, but stick to emerald tones, not flat bottle green.

The Cheeks: Pink all the way. Take baby steps with a soft number, or try blending a warmer pink with a peach for a fresh twist.

Tell me Primpettes,


Do you know your skintone?

Have you tried the vein test?

Have you got any other tips for working out your skintone?

Do you play by the colour rules, or are you confident that you can pull off any colour?

 

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26 Comments

  • Posted by: tegania11 Master Fan // Fri, 19 August 2011 05:57pm

    i am cool toned, I am so pale!! bronze eyes are my favourite make up look though

  • Posted by: SydneyRose Master Fan // Fri, 19 August 2011 06:48pm

    Good tip! I must try this out.

    I wear a number of eye shadow colours and lipstick colours. So for my cheeks I wear a blusher colour that looks good with the eye shadow colour and lipstick colour that I’m wearing on the day.

  • Posted by: Bridals // Fri, 19 August 2011 09:23pm

    I will have to wait fr the Sun to show it’s face again (anyone have any idea when that might be? Summer where ar you?) but a good little test I’m keen to try!

  • Posted by: beautybee1 Master Fan // Fri, 19 August 2011 10:08pm

    I’ve never heard of this test before. I must be cool toned which makes sense because I always feel I look better in blues, greens and pinks and a bit muddy in browns.

  • Posted by: xKMS Master Fan // Fri, 19 August 2011 11:19pm

    hmmm im pale but think bronzey/gold eyeshadow looks best on me.. though i do like experimenting with blues and purples!! :) would you possibly be able to do one of these except with hair colours? thanks!! :)

  • Posted by: Tina-1291133452 Master Fan // Sat, 20 August 2011 05:11am

    i am warm toned :) i love bronze and browns fo eyeshadow, and i prefer bronzer over blush!

  • Posted by: Kylie // Sat, 20 August 2011 08:01am

    I am cool toned. When I was a young teen with no interest in makeup my Mum took me to have my colours done. It has stuck with me. It gives me somewhere to start with makeup choices and I know what colours suit me in clothing. I am not a fan of shopping, so I love that I can scan a shop and see what colours they have. If there is nothing there that suits, I leave. :-)

  • Posted by: Louise-1295043242 Master Fan // Sat, 20 August 2011 09:23am

    I think i am cool toned, i go for silver jewellery and stick to pinks for the cheeks too!

    I definately figured out that bronze was not a shade for my cool toned face.. bronze eyeshadowwas a make up disaster (so dissappointing as I loved loved loved the colour in the palette…)

  • Posted by: PrettyPrincess Master Fan // Sat, 20 August 2011 10:21am

    I’m cool skin toned.
    I agree with the rules to a certain point, however with different hair colour and eye colour does give a little flexibility and creative direction.

  • Posted by: Fashionista8P Master Fan // Sat, 20 August 2011 12:09pm

    its the worst when someone wears a different colour makeup to their skin tone…

  • Posted by: DebstarDesigns Master Fan // Sun, 21 August 2011 07:54am

    My Aunt once did some sort of colour course where she learnt all about how to determine which colours suited what people so I learnt long ago that I have a cool skintone and avoid the colours mentioned above like the plague!

  • Posted by: Roxymisha // Sun, 21 August 2011 11:16am

    The vein test has been a saviour for me for a while now. I am a warm tone but I don’t necessarily stick with the colours suggested for warm tones.

  • Posted by: laura_ Devotee // Sun, 21 August 2011 11:17am

    I have cool toned skin and only like to wear silver jewellery and some of the colours you mention for makeup but not all those colours suit my eye colour.
    I wil alsol never wear pink blush, it doesn’t suit my skin as I already have such pink undertones.
    I don’t believe you should always wear cool colours if you have cool skin, you should try and warm it up a bit.
    Although I have cool skin I love wearing peach on my cheeks and lips and bronzed smokey eyes etc.

  • Posted by: Bantam Master Fan // Sun, 21 August 2011 10:25pm

    Haha I think my veins look grayish…like in between green and blue lol. Anyway, I think I understand how to choose colours now – if’s you’re warm then choose warm coloured makeup and same for cool skin tones. Thanks for the article Eliza, it’s very informative!

  • Posted by: Coconal Master Fan // Mon, 22 August 2011 09:42am

    I’m definitely warm, I heard about the vein trick a while ago but I don’t always rely on it …I do find that earthy colours look best on my skin but I do wear a lot of silver, purple, greens and peach as well. :)

  • Posted by: sumaya Master Fan // Mon, 22 August 2011 11:16am

    My skin tone is cool, i have very fair skin. Thanks for the tips :)

  • Posted by: Ellie101 Enthusiast // Mon, 22 August 2011 12:53pm

    Thanks for this! I now know that I am cool toned. One question though – does your skin tone determine whether you should use pink or yellow toned foundation?

  • Posted by: bluebird Master Fan // Mon, 22 August 2011 01:20pm

    I think I’m warm but am relatively fair and I prefer silver jewellery. I also like purples, blues and greens on me and blush looks better than bronzer.

    Interesting and helpful article though!

  • Posted by: manhattangirl // Mon, 22 August 2011 02:22pm

    i literally have green AND blue veins. how weird is that!
    love my brown eye shadows though – i’ll stick with them ; )

  • Posted by: Miriam // Mon, 22 August 2011 06:40pm

    Skin-wise, I’m definitely warm, but sadly quite pale too (sallow-looking, much?). However, I don’t always stick to the rules. My hair is a cool light ash brown, so I find I can carry silver jewellery just as well as gold, but I generally stick to warmer colours in terms of clothing and makeup. The one exception is with blush– I try to go for a more natural look, and wear a dusky pink colour which matches the colour my cheeks are when flushed.

    As a general guide, though, the rules are great! I always cringe seeing girls wear colours which just clash with their skin tone, when they’d look stunning in something which complements their tone.

  • Posted by: Louise-1295043242 Master Fan // Tue, 23 August 2011 08:51am

    I am going to have to use this test to sort out my bronzer colour… methinks I’ve been using a bronzer more suited to a warm tone lately, rather than one for cool skin tones like my skin is… which makes me look a shade too orange for my liking!!

  • Posted by: GorgeousEmeralds Master Fan // Tue, 23 August 2011 11:39am

    This is a new test for me. I had a go and I would say that my veins are aqua-ish, therefore somewhere between cool and warm? I might have fair skin but there is also a slighly yellow undertone.
    I love to wear gold and bronze eye-shadow is not a no-no but I also see bronzer as a no-no for me.

  • Posted by: Becca Master Fan // Tue, 23 August 2011 12:52pm

    I haven’s sussed out my skintone yet although I feel like I can use both cool & warm makeup:)

  • Posted by: Karen-1298334769 Master Fan // Thu, 25 August 2011 03:23pm

    I am definitely cool toned, my veins are very noticeable blue especially on my forehead :(

  • Posted by: bella // Mon, 5 September 2011 11:16am

    This test reveals that i have warm toned skin – but both silver and gold look good on my skin. Weird?

    Is it really bad to wear colours that are for cool toned if you have warm toned skin??

  • Posted by: Alishes Enthusiast // Mon, 19 September 2011 06:17pm

    I am definitely cool toned, but both gold and silver jewellery look good with my skin.

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