Skin tone = light/fair, medium/olive, dark/brown, black
Undertone = cool (pink/blue tones), neutral, warm (yellow tones)
Now you can have any skin tone and be cool/neutral/warm in undertone...eg you can be fair with a cool undertone or fair with a warm undertone and so on.
Now here's the tricky part! How on earth can you tell what undertone you are?!! Knowing this will prove to be very useful when choosing foundations and concealers as you dont want to waste money on a cool toned foundation to find out then when you put it on properly you look ashy or grey because you in fact are warm toned!
It is very hard to differentiate between skin tones, apparently about 80% of people have warm tones to them but I beg to differ, I think everyone is unique and different and you cant think like this even if you tried. I think its important not to get so consumed by this and just find a foundation that will suit. It will get easier when youve come across lots of clients, youll become more confident in selecting suitable colours.
A really good tip of trying to narrow it down is to check your veins, as mad as it might sound, but if the veins on your hands and forearm appear more blue then you may be cool toned, if your veins are looking more green then youre probably yellow toned as your skin is making your veins appear green when in actual fact veins are blue....think of the colour wheel...yellow and blue = green!
The colour wheel is useful for so many things! It can be applied to skin/undertone tones, eyeshadows, lipsticks, clothing, colour correction, anything! So if you really want to make something pop choose a colour at the opposite end of the wheel, its as simple as that. So if you have beautiful blue eyes an orange eyeshadow or lipstick would look very striking! Or beautiful green eyes against a pink/purple eyeliner would look amazing.
Colour correcting: This is where the colour wheel come in and gets really impressive. To combat and cover purple bruises you would use a yellow concealer to counteract the purple and then the appropriate foundation on top to cover, genius! Or if you have a tattoo to cover you would use an orange concealer (as tattoos are inked in blue) and cover again with foundation! Someone with red hair would suit blue/green clothes. And so on and so forth. Its a good idea to purchase a colour wheel for your makeup kit from an art shop, they always come in really handy.
Back to undertones:
Another way to tell if you are warm or cool toned is by your skins reaction to the sun and tanning. Most people with cool skin tones will burn easily these people normally have a pink tone to the skin if they are fair or a red tone if they are darker (some people of african descent), whereas someone who goes golden, bronze or brown are people who have a yellow undertone to their skin (alot of whom are of indian and asian descent). Dont forget you can be fair with a yellow undertone, this will make your tanning colour peachy.
MAC have a system that is used but alot of people who can try to apply it to foundations of other brands, this can be very confusing:
C and NC (cool and neutral cool) foundations are for warm, yellow skin tones as it applied to counteract redness and dark circles
W and NW (warm and neutral warm) foundations are used for skintones that have cooler pink tones and are used to counteract the pinkness and bring a softer colour to the face.
So for warm skin you would use a C or NC foundation
For cool skin you would use a W or NW foundation
As for concealer you must always use the opposite! If you used a NC foundation on a client with warm skin and a C concealer you will always end up looking ashy and grey....ewwww! You need to counteract the warmness with a W concealer (something that is pinky peach based and not yellow) to brighten and lift those big beautiful eyes!
Ill be showing you lovlies the difference soon so you can see for yourselves ;)
If you find that you dont think you are either warm or cool toned then count yourself as one of the lucky ones! If you find that you can wear a white dress and ivory dress without either of them washing you out and still look gorgeous then you probably have a neutral tone to your skin. Just forget everything I just said ;)
Colours that will suit me!
This kinda refers back to the colour wheels but nontheless let's talk business!
If you are of a cool skin tone you'll find that the colours below will suit you perfectly! In clothing, makeup etc so bring out that beautiful rose porcelein skin with some bright blue eyeshadow and fushia pink lips! Think Katy Perry, Dita Von Teese, snow white, pastel colours as well as bold colours...oooh I love me some Katy Perry, unfortunately her style makeup on my warm skin tone doesnt look as bright an bold as it does on her, I still try ;)...even nail polishes of these colours look great on you girls! Again I still try with the pinks.
Now onto you girls with that lovely golden peachy kinda skin ;). You'll find that the colours to the right of the chart will suit you to a tee! Gold, bronze, ivory, peach, emerald, teals, yellows and reds will flatter your undertone the most. Like me it doesnt mean you have to stick to these colours alrightttt but you know I'm just rolling with the theory here ;) Imagine that yellow dress against that golden skin...summer has arrived ;)
And that my dears is all have to say on that (whoa *scrolling up the page*) didnt mean for an essay, but let me know how you get on!!
