In the world of makeup, there is an overwhelming assortment of foundations to choose from. This includes many different brands, formulations, and of course, skin tones. What if I told you on top of having to choose the correct skin tone of foundation to match yours, you also have to select the correct undertone too?
Overwhelming, I know. Let’s discuss.
What is an undertone?
According to dictionary.com, an undertone is a subdued or muted tone of sound or color. This makes a lot of sense with foundation, as it’s the quality of the foundation that runs warm, cool, golden, or neutral.
What is my undertone?
If you have a cool undertone, your skin has pink or red hues. Your skin can appear pink or blue while your veins appear blue or purple and you typically burn pretty easily.
If you have a warm undertone, your skin has yellow or olive hues. Your skin can appear yellow or olive while your veins appear green or olive. You also burn, but at the same time you tan easily.
If you have a neutral undertone, your skin is balanced between warm and cool. Your veins appear blue or green and you typically do not burn or tan easily.
If you have a golden undertone, your skin has warm red and yellow hues to it. Your skin can appear peach or red while your veins appear green or olive. You typically do not burn but you do tan easily.
How can this help me find a better foundation match?
Some brands help customers by putting “O” for olive or “R” for red in their formulas and names. This means if you know your undertone, you can more easily select the right foundation shade for you based on knowing your undertone. Then you just have to match your overall skin tone!
Overall, an easy way to start figuring out your undertone is to look at the veins inside your wrist. Once you match those to the descriptions above, see if the rest of that description matches you. If it does, you’ve found your match and you’re on your way to the best matching foundation of your life!
