Skin Tone Chart: Depth and Undertone

How to use this skin tone chart

Start with depth. Look down the rows and pick the one that seems closest to the skin along your jaw, not your hands or arms, which often catch more sun. Then choose the column that matches your undertone. If you aren’t sure about undertone yet, the section below explains a few easy checks.

The swatches are illustrative. Screens show color differently, and real skin has texture, freckles and variation that no flat swatch can capture. Use the chart to narrow things down, then confirm in daylight with a mirror or with real foundation shades on your jawline. The full chart with every name and hex code is in the table below, so you can read it without the interactive version.

Depth and undertone are two different things

Depth is how light or deep your skin is, and it can change a little with the seasons and the sun. Undertone is the color that sits underneath, and it usually stays the same your whole life. Two people can share the same depth with completely different undertones, or share an undertone at very different depths.

Mixing the two up is the most common reason a foundation looks wrong. A shade can be the right depth and still look pink, orange or gray because the undertone doesn’t match. That’s why this chart keeps depth and undertone as two separate choices, and why every depth has all four undertones.

How to find your undertone

There are a few simple checks, and they work best together. Hold pure white and soft cream fabric near your face in daylight. If pure white looks cleaner, you may lean cool. If cream looks kinder, you may lean warm. If both look fine, neutral is likely. Jewelry works the same way: silver tends to suit cool undertones, gold tends to suit warm ones, and both often look good on neutral skin.

You’ll often hear about checking the color of the veins on your wrist. Many artists find that test unreliable, because lighting and skin depth change what you see, so we’d take it as a hint rather than an answer. Your undertone is about your skin, not your veins. The most reliable check of all is foundation. If shades marked pink look ruddy on you and golden shades look natural, you probably lean warm, and the other way around for cool.

What olive skin looks like on the chart

Olive is the undertone people most often miss. It has a muted green-gray or green-gold cast, and it can appear at almost any depth. A common sign is that many foundations look either too pink or too orange, and nothing seems to match. Olive skin also tends to look a little gray in cool, pink-based shades.

On this chart, the olive column is slightly more muted than the warm one, which mirrors how olive skin often reads in real life. If you’ve always felt in between warm and neutral, try the olive swatches at your depth and see if they feel closer. Our guide to wedding makeup for olive skin goes deeper on this.

Using the skin tone chart for foundation

Once you know your depth and undertone, look for foundation shades labelled to match, often with a letter like C, N, W or O. Then swatch two or three close shades along your jawline and check them in daylight after a few minutes, because some formulas darken slightly as they settle. The right shade seems to disappear into your skin and your neck.

For events in Florida heat, longwear and transfer-resistant formulas help, and so does a good primer. Airbrush foundation is another option many brides like. Our airbrush makeup page explains how it works, and we offer airbrush or traditional at no extra charge in our bridal packages.

Blush, lips and highlighter by depth and undertone

Undertone guides the color family, while depth guides the strength. Cool undertones often suit rose and berry, warm undertones often suit peach and coral, neutral undertones suit soft versions of both, and olive undertones often suit terracotta, brick and rosewood. Lighter depths usually need only sheer layers, while deeper depths often look best with richer pigment, since very pale shades can look ashy.

Highlighter follows depth most of all. Pearl and champagne tend to suit lighter skin, soft gold suits medium depths, and gold, bronze and copper suit deeper skin. Choose a swatch on the chart to see the pointers for your exact combination.

Hair color and your skin tone

Hair color sits right next to your face, so undertone matters here too. Cool undertones often blend well with ash, cool brown and espresso tones, while warm undertones often glow with honey, caramel, copper and golden brown. Neutral undertones can wear most shades, and olive undertones often suit rich browns, mocha and soft caramel.

Depth matters as well. A very light hair color on deep skin, or a very dark color on very fair skin, creates high contrast, which can look striking or harsh depending on your features. A colorist can help you find the balance that suits you.

What a skin tone chart can’t tell you

No chart can see your skin in person. Freckles, redness, sun and the light you’re standing in all change how skin looks from day to day. The chart also can’t tell you which colors you’ll love wearing, and personal taste matters as much as any rule.

If you want to go further, the seasonal color analysis quiz adds hair, eyes and contrast to the picture, and points you to a full color palette.