Confessions of a Make up Blogger – Part 2 : The mystery of my skin undertone


Writing this blog has been a major learning experience for me. I confess that my technique and my knowledge has widely improved because of it. Nevertheless, there was a time when I was total rookie. (Sometimes I feel that I still am, there is so much to learn..)
And I have made some major bloopers, like:
For the longest time I thought my skin had a warm undertone, and neutral at best. 
Why? 
Coz my veins appear green, both yellow and pink look equally good, both gold and silver rock on me, though white does look better than cream (in which I look like I have got jaundice).
Confused to the core I picked warm and explained the pink ruddiness in my cheeks as high hemoglobin levels.
That dictated my entire make up choices – but none of the lipsticks (corals, beiges, brownish pinks, peaches, browns) I would choose looked good on me. They all made me look muddy at best, washed out and dead at their worst.
Until one day by some divine intervention I applied a cool toned fuchsia pink to my lips, and lo and behold –  My face lit up, skin looked clearer. That is when it struck me – I have a cool undertone.
I analyzed my nail paint choices and realized that browns, peaches and warm reds did my hands no favours. But bring out a cool dark blue, or a fuchsia pink or cool toned red my manicure looked perfect.
And that also explained why bronzers looked so horrible on me. I would look like I was sunburnt – because they would all be warm toned. I envied those who could carry it off and wondered what the fuss was all about.
But when I got Colorbar’s Plum Brown Blush (Plum is a cool color) – it looked like the perfect bronzer on my skin. I looked sunkissed and glowed.
I think I made this mistake – because as Indians have a yellow (warm) overtone to our skin – thanks to our genetics (Asians are often known as yellow skins) as well as the sun, I think all women have some vestiges of sun tan, and therefore melanin on the skin – which makes it look slightly yellow.  
I have, btw, grey green eyes and dark brown hair – all pointers of cool skin , as I leant much later
Btw, this is just my theory, not validated by any expert.
Now I just need to figure out what to do with all that warm toned make up I have.  
What is your skin undertone? And how did you figure it out?
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Comments

  1. That would have been quite a revelation for you no?

    I am not too sure if anything can be done about the warm toned makeup you already have. Maybe a make up expert can advice you on that. If not, you can swap it for cool toned makeup with someone who wants it :-)

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  2. @Poornima: It was, all the signs were pointing towards it, but I just ignored them :P

    Mostly the stash consists of lipsticks, an eyeshadow and blush palette so meant for warm toned people. Finally figured why the VOV eyeshadow palette that everyone raves about looks so crappy on me. :D

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  3. You know recently Diya mirza tweeted that most of us don't know about our skin tone and the kind of skin which we have and it is always better to visit a skin care expert.

    I am wheatish in my complexion and i always though brown is the color for me but after years i realized that its pink and red which suits me .I always thought that pink is for fair people but for me it worked just write.

    I visited a skin expert and she cleared all my myth.

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  4. @Anamika: I think both Dia & u are right. i shd visit a makeup artist and get all my doubts cleared. Thks for the tip.

    Now I only gotta hunt for a good artist :D

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  5. Hey Tanveer ,

    Sadly I am amongst the many ppl who dont know their skin tone :( I know it must be sounding so foolish to hear that :(

    What is the method of knowing that and also knowing whether the the cosmetic you are checking out is cool toned or warm toned??

    HD

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  6. I think I am cool toned- hav green veins, can carry off both gold n silver & pink n yellow (I think i can), so I repeat I THINK I am cool toned- do buy lippies with pinkish tones- they look way better on me than brown (I think)!!

    Gr8 fun post!!!

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  7. That's one of the cutest posts I have come across in so may days. :) *Hugggsss*

    I always knew one thing that I am NOT coll tones. I went to Estee Lauder and they helped me a lot about my skintone. Inglot MUA helped me with my choice of lipstick shades and MAC with my foundations. Seriously this blog writing has been quite an experience for me as well. :)

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  8. @HD: Where did u disappear all these days! :D

    Actually No. There is nothing wrong in not knowing your skin undertone. Look at me! I went around thinking I was warm - when I was cool all along (or so I think now) LOL..

    If you google for "how to find skin undertones" you will get lots of sites. But personally I find it super confusing. I can just suggest to you what I did:

    1. How does fuchsia pink look on you - FYI Fuchsia pink is bright, almost florescent pink, very cool toned. Can you carry off such lip colors or nail paints? I could - because I was cool toned

    2. How does peach look on you? It looks just horrible on me, I cannot wear peach blushes, peach or coral lipsticks, and even peach clothes. It all just makes me look sick. Peach suits those who are warm toned.

    3. How does brownish pink lipstick look on you? Beige? - If it makes you look ill, you are cool undertoned.

    As far as cosmetics are concerned, some people suggest that you try them on a piece of white paper - to figure out if they are cool or warm. Like a cool red lipstick will have blue undertones, but a warm red one will have orange undertones. But am yet to figure out a fool proof method myself :P

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  9. @Simran: Thks :D... It can be so confusing na! Sometimes I think we should visit MAC or some big store just to get our basics cleared :D

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  10. @Rati: Thks :D :D..

    & thks for the gr8 tips. I had no idea that these SAs were so helpful. I will def ask them for tips :)

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  11. I think determining one's undertone is the hardest for most people. I used to think I was warm too n applied brownish n bronze-ish lippies >.< eew!

    Now I know for sure that I'm a cool leaning towards neutral

    ♥xx♥

    ReplyDelete

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