Cool undertone

Understanding your undertone

Think of your undertone as the quiet hue resting just beneath your skin's surface. Tanning doesn't change it, so a summer in the sun won't turn you from cool into warm.

The shade you notice on top is something else. That one can shift with sun or flushing. When someone describes skin as warm, cool or neutral, they're really pointing at this hidden base color underneath.

Signs of a cool skin undertone

Do these checks in daylight with a mirror nearby. A phone camera or indoor lighting changes how skin reads, so a selfie or a bulb overhead can point you the wrong way.

1. Look at the veins inside your wrist. Cool skin tends to show blue or purple ones.
2. Rest silver or white gold next to your skin, then compare it with yellow gold. The cooler metals light you up, while yellow gold looks out of place.
3. Bring pure white or soft white up to your face, then cream. White feels crisp on you, while cream drains you toward gray.
4. Notice how your skin reacts to sunshine. A tan comes slowly for you, and pink is usually the first thing that shows.

When most answers line up, you're likely cool. If they're mixed, you might land in neutral territory, and the site's undertone test can help you sort it out.

How a cool undertone gets misread

The surface shade of your skin and the base color underneath are 2 different things. Rosy cheeks or a flush of red can trick you into reading warm skin as cool. A golden or deep brown surface can hide a cool base too.

Olive skin trips a lot of people up. Olive is a green-gray tint, and it can sit alongside a base that's warm, cool or neutral. If you're both cool and olive, pale pastels often leave your skin looking gray, since they don't offset that green. Deeper shades like emerald or berry tend to flatter you more near your face.

Which seasons fit a cool undertone?

A cool undertone puts you in the summer or winter camp. To narrow down the 6 cool seasons, 2 more traits come into play.

Depth describes the overall lightness or darkness of your hair, skin and eyes. Clarity describes whether your coloring reads bright or soft, and which colors flatter you near your face.

Each season belongs to one family and is defined by one standout quality:

• Light Summer: summer family, all about light
• Cool Summer: summer family, all about cool
• Soft Summer: summer family, all about soft
• Deep Winter: winter family, all about depth
• Cool Winter: winter family, all about cool
• Bright Winter: winter family, all about brightness

The at-home quiz steps through all 3 traits, one question at a time: picking between the two metals, choosing whether your coloring runs light, medium or deep, and deciding if bright or soft shades flatter you near your face. Your answers land you in one of the 12 seasons and point you toward its palette.

Colors and metals that suit you

For cool skin, silver and white gold are the winning metals. As neutrals, pure white, soft white and charcoal step in where cream would leave you looking gray.

These 8 colors hint at the range a cool undertone loves:

• Pure White
• Soft White
• Lilac
• Dusty Rose
• Berry
• Emerald
• Sapphire
• Charcoal

Your own season sharpens the picture. Every season palette on the site holds 60 named colors sorted into 3 groups: neutrals, main colors and accents, along with a list of colors to stay away from.