4 Ways to Determine Your Skin Undertones to Find Your Foundation Match

With the “clean” aesthetic continuing to increase in popularity, especially as we near the hotter months when lighter everything is preferred, the natural, glowy makeup trend isn’t going anywhere anytime soon — and we’re all for it.

A huge part of perfecting the “no makeup” makeup look means using products that look exactly like your skin. Doing so requires nailing your foundation match, which starts with identifying 1) your skin tone and 2) your undertone.

While skin tone is a bit easier to identify on a spectrum from fair to dark (light and medium falling in the middle), undertones are a bit trickier to determine. These are typically categorized as cool (red or pink tones), warm (golden, peachy, yellow or olive tones) and neutral (a balance of both cool and warm).

Since looking at your skin is often not enough to accurately pinpoint your skin undertone, we’re here to help. Try these four tricks to identify yours so you can be on your way to perfecting your effortless summer makeup.

Discover Your Undertone

TRICK 1: Check the color of the veins on the inside of your wrists.

Cool: Blue or purple veins

Neutral: Colorless

Warm: Green veins

TRICK 2: Think about how your skin reacts to sun exposure.

Cool: Burn more easily

Neutral: Can tan but can burn with too much sun exposure

Warm: Tan more easily

TRICK 3: Determine which jewelry is more flattering on you.

Cool: Silver

Neutral: Silver or gold

Warm: Gold

TRICK 4: Conduct a white test by holding a piece of stark white paper up to your face.

Cool: Skin looks more pink or red

Neutral: Skin doesn’t look pink, red or yellow

Warm: Skin looks more yellow

Find Your Foundation Match

After you’ve tried a combination of the tricks above, you’re ready to choose the foundation shade that’s right for you. “Figuring out your true undertone can help you achieve the most natural-looking, flawless makeup application,” Perricone MD Director of Education and Licensed Makeup Artist, Rosalba Martone, shares. “Once you know what tones to work with, and what tones flatter you, it will take your makeup look to the next level.”

When it comes to No Makeup Foundation Serum — our skin-improving serum foundation that creates a semi-matte finish with buildable coverage — we specifically formulated it with a fairly neutral base for increased versatility amongst each of the eight different shades. This makes each shade, whether it’s a true neutral or sways slightly warmer or slightly cooler, very forgiving for an easier match.

Shade: Porcelain

Tone: Fair

Undertone: Cool

Shade: Ivory

Tone: Fair-Light

Undertone: Neutral

Shade: Nude

Tone: Light

Undertone: Neutral

Shade: Buff

Tone: Light

Undertone: Warm

Shade: Beige

Tone: Light-Medium

Undertone: Neutral

Shade: Golden

Tone: Medium

Undertone: Warm

Shade: Tan

Tone: Medium-Deep

Undertone: Neutral

Shade: Rich

Tone: Deep

Undertone: Neutral

Naturally, we’re all different and our complexions are, too. So, to find the shade that camouflages perfectly with your skin, you may have to do a little experimenting. If you’re shopping in store, always swatch along the jawline for the most accurate match. Once you’ve found the one that virtually disappears on your skin, you’ll have laid the perfect foundation for effortless radiance.