How to know your skin tone: Warm or Cool

I believe that there should be no rules when it comes to makeup and fashion as both are expressions of one’s creativity and personal choice. But have you ever experienced that aha! moment when you look incredibly good in certain hues and bland in some? Many times I did, and it has something to do with what flatters your skin tone. Knowing your skin tone is as easy as reciting ABC and it may help solve your endless search for that perfect color combination, whether in cosmetics or clothes.

People with warm skin tone look best in earthy tones such as brown, beige, bronze, gold, orange, cream, yellow; while those with cool skin tone in blue, purple, red, black, green, pink .

So are you warm or cool? Here are some quick ways to know your skin tone:

1. The Fist. In daylight, form a fist. If your veins appear to be green, you have warm skin tone. If they’re blue, then you fall under cool skin tone.

Yay, I’m warm- my veins are green.

2. Gold or Silver Glow. Wear your gold and silver jewelries one at a time and look in the mirror. If you glow (meaning looking good) wearing silver jewelries, you are cool; warm if you look best in gold. To eliminate personal bias, ask at least three people which jewelries flatter you best without explaining the reason why.

3. White towel. Without any makeup on, wrap a white towel around your shoulder and look in the mirror. If you appear yellowish, you are warm; cool if you’re bluish.

What if your veins are greenish-blue, you look good in both gold and silver, and you can’t seem to decipher whether you are yellowish and bluish against a white towel? Congratulations! You are blessed with neutral tone– you look great in any palette!

Consider your skin tone when buying makeups:

If you have warm skin tone like me, choose foundations that are yellow-based; If you have cool skin tone, buy those with blue or pink undertone.
For eye makeups, bronze, brown, gold flatter warm skin tone; blue, green, black accentuates cool skin tone.
For lipsticks, coral, salmon and bronze compliment those with warm skin tone; pastel pink and deep red for cool skin tones.

So what happened to freedom of expression? Does this mean color boycott? Absolutely not. In the end, I go by the adage “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. But you’d be seeing me rocking colors that suit my skin tone once in a while…