Last updated on October 18th, 2023 at 03:27 pm
Do you have a drawer full of lipsticks that you don’t use because they “just don’t look right?” Even though that lipstick color looked great in the store or online? It might be because you’re not matching your lipstick color to your skin tone. Once you learn how to do that, that drawer should be just a little less full.
The first step in purchasing the right lipstick color for your skin tone, is, well, to figure out your skin tone. We referred to this WikiHow article when we wrote about “How to Match Your Nail Polish to Your Skin Tone” . We think it offers a great step-by-step process to determine your skin tone if you don’t already know.
**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. Amazon prices are as of 7/28/23.
How to Determine Your Skin Tone
We will cover the basics of how to determine your skin tone below. You probably already have a good feel for what “looks good on you”, but figuring out your skin tone can only help make your overall makeup selections even better.
Whether your skin is pale or very dark, it still has undertones. There are three undertones:
Cool Undertones
Cool undertones have a red, pink or bluish hue
When you look at the skin on your wrist, if the veins on your wrist look blue you have a cool undertone.
Other indicators: If silver jewelry complements your skin or if your skin tends to burn in the sun before getting a tan.
When you do tan, cool undertones will tan like this:
- Lighter skin tones tan more rosy than golden
- Light to medium skin tones tan more of a deep cinnamon
- Deeper or richer skin tones tan more reddish
Warm Undertones
Warm undertones have an olive, golden or yellow hues
You can tell if your undertone is warm if when looking at your wrist, your veins appear green (versus blue for cool undertones).
Other indicators: If gold jewelry compliments your skin or if you tend to tan easily.
Warm undertones will tan as follows:
- Light skin tones tan more peach
- Light to medium skin tones tan more golden
- Deeper or richer skin tones tan more caramel
Neutral Undertones
Neutral undertones have a mix of warm and cool undertones.
You are considered neutral-toned if you have a mix of pink and yellow in the base of your skin.
Other indicators: If both gold and silver jewelry looks good on you, and you can burn or tan. With neutral undertones, the skin has no predominant shade.
Celebrity Undertones to Compare to Yours
Here are photos of well-known celebrities who have these skin tones. I think it can help to visualize these skin tone and see if they look similar to what you’ve determined is your own skin tone.
COOL SKIN TONES
Left to Right: Nicole Kidman, Adele, Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling
WARM SKIN TONES
Left to Right: Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Alba, Beyoncé
NEUTRAL SKIN TONES
Left to Right: Jennifer Aniston, Kerry Washington, Drew Barrymore, Sandra Bullock, Selena Gomez
THE HARPER GIRLS SKIN TONES
What skin tone are we? Jen has a neutral skin tone and Dianne has a cool skin tone. So let’s see the shades we picked:
Jen’s Lipsticks:
Left: The Lipstick Journey in Winter
Center: Maybelline Super Stay Vinyl Ink Liquid Lipcolor in Cheeky
Right: MAC Matte Lipstick in Heroine
Jen’s shade on the left is no longer available. Here is a similar shade, from the same company:
Dianne’s Lipsticks:
Left: Mented in Red Carpet
Center: KVD Beauty in Shedefined
Right: Cover Girl in Bombshell Pink
Dianne’s shade in the center is no longer available. Here is a similar shade, from the same company:
Let’s Find Your Lipstick Color
COOL SKIN TONES
All these lipstick shades have bluish hues to them, so think blue-reds instead of orange-reds and more pink-beiges instead of warm beiges.
Red Lipsticks
Nude Lipsticks
Bright Lipsticks
Dark Lipsticks
WARM SKIN TONES
These are just the opposite of the cool tones, these have more golden/yellow hues. So, now we are talking about the orange-reds, coral tinted nudes and brown tones.
Red Lipsticks
Nude Lipsticks
Bright Lipsticks
Dark Lipsticks
NEUTRAL SKIN TONES
Since neutral skin tones can pretty much wear anything – they can wear both cool and warm tones, there really isn’t a lipstick color that doesn’t work for neutral skin tones. So, we just had fun and listed some shades that we really like and that would be fun to try.
Red Lipsticks
Nude Lipsticks
Bright Lipsticks
Dark Lipsticks
Online Lipstick Shade Finders
If you want to find your perfect shade but either don’t have the time or don’t want to visit the makeup counter in person, these brands offer online shade finders:
Mac Cosmetics Virtual Shade Finder
Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick Finder
Are you thinking that you don’t need new lipstick because you still have lots of lipsticks that you’ve barely worn due to the pandemic? Did you know that lipstick actually expires? Check out our post, “Should You Be Wearing That Pre-Pandemic Lipstick A Year Later?”. You may discover it’s “out with the old and in with new” time for your lipstick!
Did you get a better idea of which shades of lipstick work best for you? Let us know in the comments below!
