The vein test
Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist in daylight, never under a bulb.
- Warm
- They read green or olive.
- Cool
- They read blue or purple.
- Neutral
- You genuinely cannot tell, or you see both.
Free undertone test
What Is My Skin Undertone? Warm, Cool or Neutral
Undertone is the constant cast beneath your skin, and it decides half of which colors suit you. Four tests below will place you in about five minutes. Do all four: any single one of them is easy to misread.
Skip the guesswork, use a photoThe Four At-Home Undertone Tests
Do these in daylight, near a window, with no makeup on. Indoor bulbs are yellow and will push every result warm.
The jewelry test
Hold gold against one side of your face and silver against the other, bare skin, no makeup.
- Warm
- Gold makes your skin look lit from inside.
- Cool
- Silver looks crisp and gold looks muddy.
- Neutral
- Both look fine, neither is a revelation.
The white test
Drape a pure white fabric under your chin, then swap it for a cream or ivory one.
- Warm
- Cream flatters, pure white drains you.
- Cool
- Pure white sharpens you, cream turns you sallow.
- Neutral
- Both are wearable.
The sun test
Think about what your skin does after an hour of unprotected summer sun.
- Warm
- You tan easily and rarely burn.
- Cool
- You burn first, and tan slowly if at all.
- Neutral
- You burn a little, then tan.
Reading Your Result
Go with whichever answer came up in at least three of the four tests. If it split two and two, you are almost certainly neutral.
Warm undertone
Golden, peachy or yellow cast to the skin.
Points to Spring or Autumn.
Warm seasonsCool undertone
Pink, red or bluish cast to the skin.
Points to Summer or Winter.
Cool seasonsNeutral undertone
No dominant cast, or a mix of both.
Depth and contrast decide your season instead.
All 12 seasonsUndertone narrows twelve seasons down to about six. To get the rest of the way you need depth and contrast too, which is what the twelve-season guide walks through.
Try Your Undertone Against Real Palettes
Tap a season to see its shades. Warm undertones sit in Spring and Autumn, cool undertones in Summer and Winter.
WINTER
SPRING
AUTUMN
SUMMER
Deep
Cool
Bright
Bright
Light
Warm
Warm
Deep
Soft
Soft
Light
Cool
Palette Preview!
Click on a circle for a color palette preview
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between skin tone and skin undertone?
Skin tone is the surface color you can see, and it changes with sun, sleep and season. Undertone is the constant cast underneath it, and it does not change. Two people with very different skin tones can share an undertone, which is why a fair person and a deep person can belong to the same color season.
Can my skin undertone change over time?
No. Your surface tone shifts with sun exposure and age, but the undertone beneath it stays the same for life. If gold suddenly stops working for you, it is usually your hair color that changed rather than your undertone.
What if the tests disagree with each other?
That is the single most common outcome, and it usually means you are neutral. It can also mean the lighting was wrong: indoor bulbs are yellow and will push every result warm. Redo the tests next to a window in daylight before concluding anything.
Is a vein test accurate?
It is a useful hint and nothing more. Vein color is affected by skin thickness and depth, so it fails most often on very fair and very deep skin. Treat it as one of four signals rather than the answer.
Is undertone enough to find my color season?
No, it gets you halfway. Undertone splits the twelve seasons into warm and cool halves, but you still need depth (how light or dark your coloring is) and chroma (how bright or muted it is) to land on one of the twelve. That is what the photo analysis measures.
Still torn between warm and cool? One photo settles it
The tests above rely on your own eye in your own lighting. The AI measures undertone, depth and contrast from a single selfie and returns your exact season with the full palette.
Get my color analysis