Cool and Warm Skin Tones

When you’re choosing your make-up, it’s helpful to decide whether your complexion is cool or warm toned.

Your skin tone is made up of both your undertone and your surface colour. Don’t be confused and only look at your surface colour when you assess your tone. Your skin tone will change if, for example, you’ve been in the sun, but your undertones won’t.

So how do you decide?

Cool-toned skin has pink undertones, warm-toned skin has yellow undertones. Most of us are one or the other – although some lucky beauties are neutral and will look fabulous in everything.

If you’re unsure, some experts recommend that you check the veins on the inner side of your wrist. If your veins are blue or purple then you are cool-toned and if you are warm toned your veins will appear green or olive through your yellow-toned skin. Neutral undertones will appear blue/green

Another test is to hold up a white piece of paper to your cheek and look to see if your skin throws off yellowish, green or light brown for warm tones, or pink, rosy or bluish tones for cool. Those who see grey or ashy tones are neutral.

If you have brown, amber or hazel eyes, and your hair throws off brown, reds, or yellow your undertones are warm. If you have blue or grey eyes and your hair throws off blue, silver and ash shades, you are cool.

Images of Diane Lane, Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts via Pinterest.

Rageing Beauties with warm tones:

  • Jamie-Lee Curtis
  • Diane Lane

Rageing Beauties with cool tones:

  • Cate Blanchett
  • Nicole Kidman

Rageing Beauties with neutral skin tones:

  • Julianne Moore
  • Julia Roberts

Cool-toned lipsticks, for example, are colours such as pink, cherry and plum, which have a blue undertone. Rageism’s cool lippies include China Rose and Scarlett. In contrast, corals, nudes and browns are warm tones with a yellow undertone, like Guava Coral and Bloom. A great way to shake things up is to mix your cool or warm tones colours and create a new shade. Sweep some gloss over the top for some glamour and shine and you will light up the room!

In the end, as all Rageing Beauties know, cool and warm tones are just a guide. Wear what you love, fearlessly and with attitude and you will be simply fabulous!

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