Last updated on June 1st, 2024 at 10:43 am

Why should you match your nail polish to your skin tone? Well, has this ever happened to you:

You’re out with a girlfriend and you’re admiring her nail polish color and you make sure that you get the name of the brand and the shade.  You stop at the store (maybe even on your way home) to make sure you have that exact color for your next DIY manicure. Then the day comes and you do your nails and when you’re done you say “That doesn’t look even half as good on me as it did on her!”

If you’ve ever thought that, you’re not crazy.  Believe it or not, there’s a reason for this.  It’s your skin tone. The same color polish can take on a different look on different skin tones. Have you noticed that a certain polish will look better when you’re tanned than when you’re not? It’s all related.

If you follow us on social media, you may have seen the picture below.  But did you notice the difference in our skin tones?  Jen’s skin tone is more of a  warm/medium tone while my tone is more of a light/pink tone.  And while you’re probably familiar with matching your foundation and blush to your skin tone, you can do the same with your nail polish color to give yourself the perfect looking manicure.  

First need to determine what your skin tone is?  We recommend this great “how-to” article from WikiHow.

**Please Note: This post contains affiliate links and we will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on our links. However, we only recommend products that we truly love.

How to Match Your Nail Polish To Your Skin Tone

Here’s the information we curated from multiple expert sources on how to match your nail polish to your skin tone:

Light/Fair Skin Tones:  

Light and fair skin tones should select nudes colors that have a hint of pink.  Pastels and nudes in general work well for both light and fair skin tones.  Fair skin tones are typically a little cooler than light tones so they can go a little deeper in their color palette, but should still stick to colors with blue undertones. Gray polishes are flattering on almost everyone but they really shine on paler skins. For reds, again, you want these in more of the blue-red tones and avoid more of the bright and orange-y reds. Avoid dark colors in general that will create too much contrast.  

Medium skin tones:  

Medium skin tones look beautiful in sheer white.  Rather than wash them out, the contrast makes their skin look more tan and their nails more bright.  Nude nail shades should be in the beige/neutral family. Because medium tones tend to have more of an olive or neutral tone, they can really wear any shade of gray.  Medium skin tones are also perfect for wearing the classic red polish and should look for reds with orange undertones. Corals, peaches and oranges are also great colors for this skin tone.  Colors to avoid include dark purples and navy blues.

Dark Skin Tones: 

Nudes on dark skin tones should be more mocha in color.  The grays for dark skin tones should have a hint of a purple undertone.  Reds should be more “wine red” with blue undertones like pale and fair skin, but darker skin tones have options for much darker, richer colors.  Also great for dark skin tones are midnight blues, purples and dark green.  Avoid brighter shades like white and orange or anything too pink for it will make dark skin seem more dull and aged.

If you are looking for more shades to pick from, Essie has an amazing color picker/slider on their website. You pick the shade category and then move the slider from light to deep to pick the shade you want to try. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like – it’s so fun!

The Nail Polish Experiment

Jen and I decided to do a little experimenting to see if the skin tone theory holds water. In the picture below, we are both wearing “In the Time Zone” by Essie’s Expressie line. It’s somewhat subtle, but you can how the color seems to “match” my skin tone just a little bit better than it does Jen. There’s more of a natural flow from my fingers to my polish.

Then we decided to pick our favorite color, according to our skin tone.  Here are our picks:

Jen decided to go with a gray. In general, she prefers more neutrals, so the gray choice was perfect to go with the color of clothes she wears most often. Her original choice was “Serene Slate” by Essie which has since been discontinued. However, “On Mute” is a great replacement. As mentioned above, medium skin tones can wear pretty much any shade of gray and the one she selected is very flattering for her.

I typically prefer a pop of color, especially during the dreary winters here in Michigan. So I chose “Cherry on Top“, also by Essie (also no longer available, but “Forever Yummy” is very similar). I intentionally looked for a blue-toned red to match my light skin and I love how it turned out.

We had fun with this little “experiment” and we hope this helps the next time you go shopping for nail polish. For a great tutorial on how to give yourself a manicure, check out Jen’s post on “The Best DIY Nails at Home.”  

How did we do? Do you currently select your nail polish according to your skin tone?  Let us know in the comments below.