Have you ever fallen in love with a lipstick on someone else, brought it home, and wondered why it just doesn’t look the same on you? More often than not, the answer is undertone. Understanding whether your skin leans warm, cool, neutral, or olive is one of the most useful things you can know about yourself as a makeup wearer — and it’s something I walk through with almost every client I see for a makeup lesson.
Here’s how to figure out yours, and what to do with that information.
What Is an Undertone?
Your skin has two layers of color: the surface tone you see in the mirror (which changes with sun exposure, seasons, and time) and the undertone underneath, which stays constant. Even when you tan in summer or look flushed in winter, your undertone doesn’t shift. That’s what makes it such a reliable guide for choosing makeup.
There are four main types:
- Warm — a golden, peachy, or yellow base
- Cool — a pink, red, or blue base
- Neutral — a balanced mix of warm and cool
- Olive — a muted, slightly green or grayish depth that’s its own category entirely (and often misidentified)
How to Find Your Undertone
You don’t need a professional to figure this out. These four methods each give you a clue, and together they paint a pretty clear picture.
The Vein Test Flip your wrist and look at the veins in natural light. Green veins point to warm undertones; blue or purple veins suggest cool; a mix of both indicates neutral; and greenish-blue often signals olive.
The Jewelry Test Think about which metal you tend to reach for — or which one draws compliments. Gold looks luminous on warm undertones. Silver flatters cool. If both work equally well, you’re likely neutral. Olive skin often glows in muted metallics like bronze or rose gold.
The White Paper Test Hold a plain white sheet of paper next to your bare face in natural light. If your skin looks yellowish by comparison, you’re warm. Pinkish means cool. Balanced means neutral. A slightly green or muted cast often indicates olive.
The Gold vs. Silver Eyeshadow Test (my personal favorite) Swipe a stripe of gold eyeshadow on one side of your jaw and silver on the other — no other makeup on. Whichever one seems to disappear into your skin and make it look more alive is your answer. Warm undertones light up with gold; cool undertones with silver; neutral undertones work beautifully with both.
Makeup for Warm Undertones
The goal is to work with the golden warmth in your skin, not against it.
- Foundation: Look for yellow or golden bases. Pink-leaning formulas can make warm skin look ashy.
- Blush: Peach, coral, and warm pinks are your sweet spot.
- Lip color: Orange-based reds, corals, and warm nudes all sing against warm undertones.
Makeup for Cool Undertones
You want to complement the pink or rosy quality of your skin.
- Foundation: Pink or neutral beige bases tend to blend most seamlessly.
- Blush: Soft pinks, berries, and mauves look naturally flushed rather than added-on.
- Lip color: Blue-based reds, true pinks, and berry tones are stunning on cool undertones.
Makeup for Neutral Undertones
Honestly? You have the most flexibility. Most shades will work — the key is just staying in the mid-range and avoiding anything too extreme in either direction.
- Foundation: True beige, ivory, or balanced neutral shades.
- Blush: Peachy-pinks and muted roses are universally flattering here.
- Lip color: Nude, pink, peach, and soft reds all work beautifully.
Makeup for Olive Undertones
Olive is the most commonly misunderstood undertone, and some people don’t even categorize it as its own undertone at all. Many describe it as a slight green or grey cast over yellow. Honestly, the best way I can put it is that olive lives in its own category — it doesn’t fit neatly into warm, cool, or neutral.
I see this undertone most often in clients with Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, South Asian, Latin, or East Asian heritage, along with many clients of mixed heritage. It can show up in anyone, though, so I always test along the jaw and neck rather than assuming based on background alone.
Most foundation lines don’t formulate enough olive/green into their shade ranges, so a foundation that’s close in depth often still reads too pink or too yellow on olive skin. My fix is mixing a drop of Face Atelier’s Olive Adjuster into your regular foundation to add that olive cast back in, so the match actually looks like your skin instead of fighting it.
- Foundation: A buildable, skin-like formula (I love Victoria Beckham Foundation Drops or Face Atelier Foundation for this) mixed with Face Atelier’s Olive Adjuster to add the olive cast most foundations are missing
- Blush: Warm terracotta, brick, or coral tones — cool or true pink blushes tend to look ashy on olive skin
- Lip color: Warm terracotta, brick red, or a warm rosy-nude — steer clear of blue-based pinks and berries, which can clash with the green undertone
A Note on Eyeshadow
You’ll notice I didn’t include eyeshadow in the undertone breakdowns above — and that’s intentional. When it comes to eye makeup, undertone is actually less relevant than your eye color and contrast level (the relationship between your hair, eyes, and skin). I’ll be diving into contrast in a future post, because it genuinely changes the way I approach color selection for every client.
The Bigger Picture
Undertone is a starting point, not a rulebook. Once you know yours, foundation shopping gets easier, blush selection feels less like guesswork, and your lip colors start making more sense. It’s one of those foundational pieces of knowledge that quietly improves every makeup decision you make.
If you’d like help identifying your undertone in person — and walking away with a personalized shade guide — a one-on-one makeup lesson is exactly what they’re designed for. You can schedule your one-on-one makeup lesson with me by booking here.
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