The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (2024)

The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (1)

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ByClaire Williams/Updated: April 13, 2023 4:37 pm EST

You sometimes hear people talk about how blue is "their" color, or how they look awful in peach. What causes people to have flattering and clashing colors for their skin tone, and how do you determine which colors are best for you? We'll tell you how in just a moment, but try to remember that these rules aren't set in stone. If you love a color that isn't the best for you, that doesn't mean you have to stop wearing it! Consider using it as an accent color with a belt, scarf, shoes, or handbag instead of wearing it head-to-toe.

Getting ready to test

To figure out your true skin tone, you need to look more than skin-deep. While the surface color of your skin can change with sun exposure, reactions to medication, or medical conditions like rosacea, your skin tone is actually determined by the undertones that come through. This confusion about undertones versus surface color is why sometimes we pick out foundation or powder that looks great in the tube but clashes horribly once we try it.

First, make sure your skin is clean and free of any cosmetics or lotions, which could affect the results. If you just washed your face, wait about 15-30 minutes until any redness from scrubbing fades. Make sure you use natural daylight to examine your skin tone, as artificial lighting can change the appearance of your skin's undertones.

Determining your skin tone

The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (3)

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The simplest test uses a plain white piece of paper. Hold the paper up to your face and compare how your skin looks in contrast to the paper. If your skin looks yellowish, greenish, or light brown, then you likely have a warm skin tone. If your skin looks pink, rosy, or blue, then you have a cool skin tone. If your skin looks gray or ashen, then you are a neutral skin tone. If you have a skin condition like acne, rosacea, or if you are extremely tanned, ask a friend to use the paper test on the crease behind your ear instead, which is less likely to be affected by these variables.

Next, flip your hand palm up and take a peek at your veins in the hand and wrist. If your veins appear to be blue or purple, you have cool skin. If they appear green, then you have warm skin. If it's hard to tell one way or the other what color they favor, then you have neutral skin.

How does your skin react to the sun? People who tan easily instead of burn usually have warm skin tones. People who burn rather than tan usually have cool skin tones, although sometimes women with dark ebony skin that doesn't burn can also have cool undertones. People who are neutral may fall into either group with regards to tanning or burning, but neutrals will not have any obvious appearance of olive, yellow, or ruddy skin.

Colors for warm skin tones

The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (4)

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If you've got warm skin tones, you join the likes of Claire Danes, Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé. For you, the best colors are rich reflections of nature. On the warm side of the color wheel, you should turn to red, peach, coral, orange, amber, gold, and yellow. You also should look great when you wear "warmer" versions of cool colors, like olive, moss, orchid, and violet-red. Neutrals that are best for you include taupe, cappuccino, cream, and mushroom gray. Avoid chilly colors like icy blues or jewel tones like sapphire or amethyst because they can wash you out and make your skin look gray.

Colors for cool skin tones

The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (5)

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If you have cool skin, your celebrity look-a-likes include Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Mindy Kaling, and Lupita Nyong'o. Your best colors are on the cool end of the spectrum and are inspired by both the depths of the ocean and the depths of winter. Bright blues, emeralds, and deep purples will look great, along with frosty shades of lavender, ice blue, or pink. On the warm side, you can turn to ruby, bright rosy red, or super-pale yellows. With neutrals, you can rock cool gray, bright white, and navy. Try to avoid orange, tomato red, and strong yellows, which can clash with your skin completely.

Colors for neutral skin tones

The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (6)

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Your neutral coloring puts you in an exclusive club with Julianne Moore, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, and Kerry Washington. As a neutral, you can wear anything on the color wheel — but it's typically best to go for softened or muted versions of a color instead of the brighter ones. Choose colors like dusty pink, jade green, cornsilk yellow, or lagoon blue. For neutral colors, turn to off-whites, coffee, mid-range grays, and black. Oversaturated colors like electric blue and magenta can overwhelm your neutral skin tone, but there's one big exception to this: never be afraid to wear a bright, true red — you will look amazing.

Colors for everyone

The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (7)

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There's a handful of colors that will look great on any skin tone because they provide a perfect balance of warm and cool that won't clash with your skin. Pure white goes great with everyone's skin. If you find that a white garment doesn't look quite right on you, take a look at it in natural light and make sure it doesn't actually have cool or warm undertones that might not have been as obvious on the rack. Light blush pink brightens any skin tone and brings out the natural glow of your face. Teal with a perfect mix of blue and green can be worn by anyone and is a great summer or winter shade. If you want to go dark, try eggplant purple, which acts like a neutral and accentuates your skin without overpowering it.

The Best Clothing Colors For Your Skin Tone - The List (2024)

FAQs

What are the best colors to wear for my skin tone? ›

The general rule of thumb is that skin with cool undertones look best with greys, browns, blues, greens and purples. Skin with warm undertones look best with either bright or light colors. And skin with neutral undertones looks great in bold, bright colors.

What colors look good on Mexican skin? ›

Most olive-skinned Latinas have cool undertones, Diaz writes, and look best in the colors of Paprika, chili pepper and saffron. Fairer Latinas look good in mustard yellow, pumpkin and olive green.

What are the 4 colors for skin tones? ›

While all skin tones are different, a blend of the colors red, yellow, brown, and white will result in a suitable foundation color. Some skin tones will require more red, while others will require more white and so on. But for most subjects, a mixture of these four colors works nicely.

What color background for skin tone? ›

Black and white backdrops are good for models with different skin tones, features, hair color, and eye color. They are more diverse and can even help your headshots to look sharper and more defined.

What is the most attractive skin color for a woman? ›

Tan is 'In': Study Finds Light Brown More Attractive than Pale or Dark Skin – Missouri School of Journalism.

What skin tone does black compliment? ›

Cooler skin tones, like Winters, are safer wearing black next to their faces. Summers, while also considered cool skin toned, cannot wear black next to the face without ageing themselves.

What skin color is most attractive to guys? ›

Researchers have found that men are subconsciously attracted to fairer skin due to its association with purity, innocence, modesty and goodness, while women feel that darker complexions are associated with sex, virility and danger.

What are the 5 skin colors? ›

Skin Complexions Types In India
  • Skin Tone Type 1 - Extremely fair skin. ...
  • Skin Tone Type 2 - Fair skin. ...
  • Skin Tone Type 3 - Medium skin. ...
  • Skin Tone Type 4 - Olive skin. ...
  • Skin Tone Type 5 - Brown skin. ...
  • Skin Undertones.
Feb 24, 2022

What is the rarest skin color? ›

The rarest skin color in the world is believed to be the white from albinism, a genetic mutation that causes a lack of melanin production in the human body. Albinism affects 1 in every 3,000 to 20,000 people. What is this? People with albinism usually have very pale or colorless skin, hair, and eyes.

What colors look best on warm skin tones? ›

Colors for Warm Tones

The best colors for warm-toned skin reflect nature. Consider warmer shades, such as peach, orange, red, coral, gold, amber, and yellow. You may also look great in warmer shades of cool colors, such as moss, violet-red, olive, or orchid.

Should I wear warm or cool colors? ›

There's no denying that certain colors will make you look better regardless of your skin's undertone. Warm-toned girls should lean toward yellows, oranges, browns, yellow-greens, ivories, and warm reds, while cool-toned girls should wear blues, greens, pinks, purples, blue-greens, magentas, and true “blue-based” reds.

Which colors should I wear? ›

Wear clothes that match your skin tone

Winter: wear clothes with blue or pink undertones, or sharp colors like white, black, and navy blue. Spring: wear clothes with yellow and orange undertones like peach, ochre, and coral. Autumn: wear warm, deep colors like coffee, caramel, beige, tomato red, and green.

Who has the most beautiful skin? ›

Celebrities with the Most Beautiful Skin
  • Kim Kardashian. She has the type of creamy skin complexion that makes people jealous. ...
  • Nicole Kidman. Kidman may be one of the best role models in Hollywood for judicious use of sunscreen. ...
  • Jennifer Aniston. ...
  • Natalie Portman. ...
  • Beyonce Knowles.
Jan 19, 2023

What is the most common skin color in the world? ›

The most frequent skin color coded was white with pink undertones, which comprised 42.3% of the anatomical images.

What's the most attractive color on someone? ›

According to research by the University of Rochester, women find men wearing the colour red more sexually attractive than other colours. The colour's charm ultimately lies in its ability to make men appear more powerful.

What colors wash you out? ›

Colours to avoid: Yellow and orange, as well as any pastel shades or soft colours as they will only wash you out.

What skin tone does purple look good on? ›

Bluish purples and ashy lilacs usually work well on deep and cool skin tones. On the other hand, warm skin tones look great with violet, orchid, and magenta shades.

Does white clothes make you look darker? ›

Even though you might think that white clothing could make your pale skin look darker, we're here to tell you that it won't work like that, unfortunately. White colors are not enough of a contrast to pale skin tones, making you look sick or tired — just like with clothing in your skin tone or pastels.

What skin tone is African? ›

Most people associate Africans with dark skin. But different groups of people in Africa have almost every skin color on the planet, from deepest black in the Dinka of South Sudan to beige in the San of South Africa. Now, researchers have discovered a handful of new gene variants responsible for this palette of tones.

Can I wear black with my skin tone? ›

Black, while extremely dark, is a solid option so don't feel like you should avoid it. In fact, it's one of those rare “colours” where even if it is close to your skin tone, wearing an all-black outfit can still look great.

How do I know my color palette? ›

The color of your veins can help you determine your undertone. Simply lift your wrist to eye level in natural light and inspect the vein on the inside of your wrist. If they're green or greenish-blue, you have a warm undertone. If they're blue or purple, you have cool undertones.

How do I know my skin undertones? ›

White Cloth Test: Put a white cloth next to your bare face and observe what cast your skin takes on. Skin with warm undertones will appear yellowish, while skin with cool undertones will seem blueish or pinkish.

How do I choose a color palette for my personal brand? ›

How to choose your brand colors
  1. Establish your brand identity.
  2. Explore color meanings.
  3. Search for inspiration.
  4. Pick your primary color.
  5. Choose your secondary colors.
  6. Select neutral colors.
  7. Test your brand colors.
Jan 22, 2022

How do I find my tone and undertones? ›

Grab a pure white piece of clothing or even just a piece of white paper. In bright, natural light, hold the item up to your face. If your skin looks pink or rosy by comparison, you're cool toned. If your face looks more yellow, your undertone is warm.

How do I know if my skin tone is warm or cool? ›

Finding your undertone: The colour of your veins

Take a look at the veins on the inside of your wrist. Do they appear more blue or green? If your veins appear more blue, you're cool-toned but if you see more green, you're warm-toned. If you see a fair amount of both both green and blue, you have a neutral undertone.

How do you tell if gold or silver looks better on you? ›

That depends on the undertone of your skin. If you have a cold undertone, you will look your best in silver and white gold. If you have a warm undertone, your best choice will be yellow gold. If your skin undertone is olive or neutral, you are lucky, you can equally look great in yellow gold, and white gold or silver.

What is the coolest color to wear? ›

After white, the colours that keep the body cool are none other than yellow, grey, and — surprise — red, still considered in the collective imagination as a 'warm' colour. Purple is in the middle of the ranking, so it can be worn during hot weather if it is your favourite colour.

Is grey a cool or warm color? ›

If you're about to start decorating, you might find it helpful to take a look at a colour wheel first. You'll notice that the wheel is roughly divided between two colour groups: warm hues and cool hues. Reds, yellows, oranges and beige/creamy colours are warm, while the blues, greens and greys are cool.

What color is the hottest to wear? ›

Light colored clothing reflects most of the visible wavelengths which, in turn, absorbs less heat. On the contrary, darker or black clothing absorbs more wavelengths, absorbing more heat, hence making the clothing warmer to wear.

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