Do you know your skin tone, and what does that have to do with photos? Well, figuring out your skin tone can help you choose colors that will be the most flattering on you for your photos and in everyday life. If you’re anything like me, you’ve gone down the TikTok rabbit hole trying to figure out your color season only to be frustrated and even more confused than when you started. 

So how do you determine your skin tone? There are a few tests you can try to help you figure it out. In this blog post I’m going to summarize the most popular ways to find your skin tone and at the end, I’ll link the website that finally helped me solve my own mystery.

1. The Paper Test: Hold a white piece of paper next to your face (no makeup and in good light)

• If your skin looks yellow then you have a warm skin tone
• If your skin looks pink, rosy or bluish-red you have a cool tone
• If your skin appears gray, you have a neutral skin tone

2. The Vein Test: Hold your arm out in natural light and look at your veins

• If your veins appear blue or purple, you have cool skin tones
• If you veins appear green/olive, you have warm skin tones
• If your veins appear bluish-green, you have neutral skin tones

• The Sun Test: How does your skin respond to the sun?If you burn fast, you most likely have cool tones
• If you tan easily, you probably have warm tones
• If your skin both tans and burns, you may have neutral skin tones

4. The Metal Test: When it comes to jewelry, which metal looks best on you?

• If silver looks best on you, you have cool tones
• If gold looks best on you, you have warm tones
• If either looks good on you, you have neutral tones

If you tried any or all of these tests and you still have no idea what your skin tone is, try this website: https://colorwise.me/

This site finally helped me find my skin tone and the colors that look best on me. It’s free and super easy to use. Just take a makeup-free selfie in natural light and then use the color dropper to select your hair, eye color and skin. Not only will the site tell you your skin tone, but it also shows you all the colors that look best on you as well as colors to avoid

Now that you know your skin tone, what colors will look best on you? The website above does a great job of breaking down the best colors for each color season. If you don’t want to check out the site, here is a general guide for cool, warm and neutral skin tones.

Cool skin tones

If you have cool tones (summer and winter color palettes) you will look best in colors on the cool end of the spectrum such as blue, emerald green, purple, pink and gray. You’ll want to avoid the warm colors like orange, yellow and warm red shades.

Warm skin tones

If you have warm tones (spring and autumn palettes) you will look best in colors with a warm, golden undertone such as brown, yellow, orange, green and cream. You want to avoid harsh, bright colors such as fluorescent yellow, hot pink or lime green.

Neutral skin tones

If you have neutral skin tones, you get the best of both worlds because you are a mix of cool and warm. Play around with colors to see what looks best on you. Some colors that look great with neutral tones are soft pink, medium blue, green, taupe and gray.

 No matter what skin tone you have, it’s important to try on clothes in different colors to see what works best for you. And don’t assume that one color is the best for photos. Just because a color is the IT color of the season doesn’t mean it will be the best option for you. Plan on a variety of flattering colors in your outfits for your photoshoot. You don’t want everything to be the same. Colors that pop in real life will pop in your photos too. Subdued colors will also be subdued in pictures. So think about how you want your pictures to look and feel and choose colors that express your vision.

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