How to know your skin tone?
As mentioned above, your skin tone code is the color seen on the surface of your skin. These are largely determined by the amount of melanin present in your skin’s outermost layer. Your tone or complexion types can change from time to time based on exposure to sun or other factors (we’ll cover more on this later). You would have also heard the term undertone being used often. They are the subtle and natural tones under your skin’s surface and aren’t subject to any external change. There are 3 main types - cool, warm, and neutral. Your skin tone’s color palette can vary from another person with a similar skin tone simply because of the undertones.
Wash your skin thoroughly to remove any makeup or dust, wait for 15 minutes, and then find a natural light source. Try and sit by a window or balcony, or find some outdoor seating space. You might wonder why you can’t do the skin tone detector test indoors or with an artificial light source. Since different types of light give different glows, it can slightly change the tone of color on your skin under each light. Grab a mirror and notice the color on the surface, whether it is dark, light, fair, or medium skin tone. Look carefully at the skin around your jawline as this is the least susceptible to color changes. how to know your skin tone
When you are under natural light, hold your wrists up to the light and check the color of your veins. The blue, purple, or green veins skin tone can determine your skin undertones, which can help you better position yourself on the skin tones chart. If you can distinguish green veins, the skin tone or undertones will be warm. For those with blue or purple veins, the skin tone or undertones will be cool. If you can’t differentiate between blue-green veins, the skin tone or undertone is most likely neutral.
Did you notice that when we listed out skin tone names, we mentioned reactions such as sunburns or tans? These reactions are largely dependent on the level of melanin in your body, so observing how your skin reacts to the sun can help you determine how to describe skin tone. If you tan easily under sun exposure with little to no skin burns, then you have a medium or deep skin tone that often appears as darker shades of brown skin tones or on the black skin tone chart. If you tan with some skin burns, you mostly have a light skin tone color. If you don’t tan at all but rather get sunburns, then you have fair or white skin tones.