I was racking my brain on what to blog about today and the brilliant idea of colour came to mind. We have this outfit that is hanging from the wall of our workshop that has the most interesting blend of colours. You know the ones that you would never ever think would work together but they do because they are complementary to each other on the colour wheel. An example would be green and red, blue and orange and many more. To put this in context, it’s very possible to get away with wearing a red blouse and a green jumper….sounds weird right? And a bit like you would be clashing colours, right? Depending on how you rock complementary colours, you can create a look that is stunning, fashionable and uniquely you. However before we rock complementary colours it’s necessary to understand the different colours that work with our different skin undertones.
The colour you wear can either flatter your skin tone or wash you out making you look dull. Knowing your skin undertone will help you determine what colours to wear and which ones to avoid so that you look your best at all times J
When you wear a colour that suits your skin tone, your skin tone will appear radiant and glowing and your eyes will appear brighter and clearer. Who ever thought that colour had such an effect on appearance!
Skin undertones can be divided into three main categories – warm, cool and neutral. So, how do you go about knowing your skin undertone? There is several ways of doing this and trying out a combination of a few will give you an accurate answer to what your skin tone is. The methods below produce more accurate results when done in a well lit area preferably natural light.
1. Look at the inside of your forearms, the part of your arm that your wrist watch would lie if you are wearing one or if you wore one. What colour are your veins? Do they appear green or blue? If they are green, like most pips I know, then we can safely say you have warm undertones. If they are blue then we can say you have cool undertones. The rationale behind this goes back to the art lessons in primary school .Yellow plus blue makes green. Veins are blue but when viewed through skin with a warm (yellow) undertone they look green. See, God is quite the artist.
2. The other way you could determine this is by placing gold jewellery and silver jewellery against your skin. Which metal shines on you? Which metal makes you look more radiant? If gold looks better on you, we can say that you have warm undertones. If silver looks better on you, we can say that you have cool undertones. Ask an honest friend to help you out with deciding this. This piece of info will not only help you pick out what colours to wear but also what jewellery looks best on you.
3. Lastly, place a piece of white paper under your chin and look in the mirror. The white paper will reflect on your face, if the skin looks closer to yellow or golden, then you have a warm skin tone. If the skin looks pink with some blue undertones, then your skin tone is cool.
If you are still having problems determining your skin tone, you might just have a neutral tone. And you know what that means? You will look good in both warm and cool colours….I envy you J
Now that we have figured out your skin undertone, let’s discuss what colours work best for you.Warm undertones go best with peach, yellow, orange, olive green, bronze, brown, rust, yellowish-greens and orange based reds, generally earth tones. The colour swatches below will give you a better idea of the colours that will look great on you.
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| Warm |
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| Cool |
Cool undertones look best in jewel tones which include blues, greens, pinks, purples, blue-greens, magentas and blue-based reds and silver, white and black look great on you as well. The colour swatches above will give you a better idea of the colours that will flatter you.
Now you know what colours will flatter you most.
Feel free to give me any feedback on this blog post J
Have a colourfulflatteringious day! (Yes, I just made up a word) J
