Undertone

Two people can wear the exact same color, and one will glow while the other fades. The difference is rarely the color itself. It’s temperature: whether a color leans toward the yellow of sunlight or the blue of water, and whether that lean agrees with the skin underneath it.

Your foundation shade already knows something your closet may not: whether your skin leans cool, warm, neutral or olive. That one word is the shortest path to clothes that make you look rested, bright and like yourself.

What is color temperature?

Every color has a lean, called its undertone.

• Warm colors carry yellow. They feel like sunlight, fire and movement. Think Tangerine, Marigold and Terracotta.
• Cool colors carry blue. They feel like water, sky and shadow. Think Sky Blue, Lavender and Jade Green.

The surprising part is that every color family has both. Fire Red is a warm red; Cardinal Red is a cool one. Lime is a warm green; Emerald is a cool green. That’s why “I can’t wear green” is almost never true. Usually it means “I can’t wear that green.”

What warm and cool colors do

• Warm colors advance. They seem to move toward you and tend to wake the body up. Reach for them when you want to be seen or your energy is low.
• Cool colors recede. They create a feeling of space and tend to help the body settle. Reach for them when you feel overstimulated or need to focus.

Temperature is the first of three dials I use to read any color. The other two, value and chroma, are in Color Value.

Find your undertone

Your skin has a temperature too. Stand in daylight with a clean face and check three or four of these clues. The column you land in most is your undertone.

Undertone isn’t the same as skin depth. Every undertone shows up on light, medium and deep skin. If your foundation always looks a little ashy or a little off, olive is worth a closer look.

Every undertone at a glance

Read down a column for your own palette, or across a row to see how one hue shifts for each undertone. Numbers are my dye numbers. Tap any name to see the dye.

The pattern: cool shades lean toward blue, warm shades lean toward yellow, neutral shades sit in the middle at medium strength, and olive shades are deeper and a little earthy.

Cool undertones

Your best colors have blue in them. Rosy skin glows next to berry, sapphire and icy brights, and looks tired next to orange and golden yellow.

• Power color: bright, blue-based pinks like 141 Magenta Galactica and 145 Hot Pink.
• Neutrals: gray, navy and true black instead of brown.
• Soft and light (Summer): Sky Blue, Lavender, Celadon and Mist Gray.
• Clear and deep (Winter): Royal Blue, New Emerald Green, Magenta Galactica and New Black.
• Keep low on the body or skip: orange, camel, mustard and golden yellow.

Warm undertones

Your best colors have yellow in them. Golden, peachy skin lights up next to tangerine, marigold and turquoise, and goes gray next to icy pastels and blue-black.

• Power color: juicy, sunny oranges like 018 Tangerine, 021 Orange Crush and 015 Coral Pink.
• Neutrals: cream and brown instead of gray and black.
• Clear and bright (Spring): Tangerine, Daffodil, Kelly Green, Coral Pink and Ivory.
• Soft and earthy (Autumn): Moss Green, Golden Brown and Chocolate Brown, plus the terracottas and mustards in the olive palette.
• Keep low on the body or skip: icy pastels, blue-gray, stark white and jet black.

Neutral undertones

You can borrow from both sides, and your sweet spot is the middle of every hue. Colors that are neither icy nor golden, and neither neon nor muddy, look effortless on you.

• Power color: rosy berry pinks like 139 Peony and 143 Raspberry.
• Neutrals: soft white, taupe, mid-gray and navy.
• Find your lean: hold Lemon Yellow and Golden Yellow under your chin, then Fuchsia Red and Fire Red. If the cool pair wins both times, borrow from the cool palette. If the warm pair wins, borrow from warm.

Olive undertones

Your skin has a green-gray cast, so your best colors are medium to deep, a little earthy, and rich rather than sugary. Pastels and neon can make olive skin look gray; brick, mustard, teal and eggplant make it glow. Olive can lean warm or cool, which is why so many foundations miss.

• Power color: olive, forest and pine, like 059 Olive Drab, 071 Forest Green and 058 Muir Green.
• Neutrals: khaki, bronze and espresso.
• Warm olive: borrow Autumn’s golden browns and moss.
• Cool olive: borrow Winter’s New Emerald Green, Imperial Purple and New Black.
• Keep low on the body or skip: baby pastels, neon brights and icy grays.

Where undertone meets your season

Undertone picks the hue. Value picks how light or deep, and chroma picks how bright or soft. Put them together and you land in a season.

Contrast matters too. Look at the difference between your skin, hair and eyes. High contrast, like dark hair with fair skin, wears a dark and a light together: New Black with Silver Lining, or Navy with Ivory. Low contrast looks best in tone-on-tone pairs like Sea Glass with Sage, or Camel with Golden Brown.

Your base and your cravings

Most color systems hand you a label and stop there. But you might live comfortably in cool tones and still crave a warm orange on a gray February morning, because your body needs activation. That isn’t inconsistency. That’s intelligence.

Your undertone tells you what flatters you. Your cravings tell you what you need. The best wardrobes hold both: wear your best temperature near your face, and bring in the other temperature lower on the body or in a piece you can take off.