A skin tone chart from fair to deep, with the names, the undertones and what to check next. Find your row, then see which palettes fit. Every tone included.
By Lisa Routa
You’re standing at the bathroom mirror, a new foundation sample on your wrist.
The label says “medium.” Your wrist says nothing of the kind.
So you grab your phone and type “skin tone chart.” Six squares appear, from cream to deep brown, each with a name. You hold your wrist against the screen. Which one are you?
Pink on the screen.
Golden by the window.
Gray-green under the vanity bulb.
Same wrist, three answers.
Nothing is wrong with your skin. The chart is only half a map.
A skin tone chart sorts skin by depth. How light is it, how deep is it, and where do you sit between the two ends? That’s your skin tone: the color of the surface.
Undertone is something else. It’s read as warm, cool or neutral. Neutral-warm and neutral-cool sit in between. Olive is a reading of its own: a green or gray-gold cast that can sit at any depth.
Two people can share a skin tone and differ in undertone. Two others can share an undertone and sit far apart in depth. A chart that stops at depth gets you only halfway to a palette.
The surface also moves. Sun, a flush, a yellow bulb, a phone filter or a layer of foundation can all change it. That’s why the second step matters: you read an undertone through colors held near your face, not from a glance at the skin.
In my view, a skin tone chart is a useful first map and a poor judge. For the undertone side, warm vs cool undertone lays out six tests and where each one fails.
Here is a chart of descriptive labels. The names say what you see on the surface, nothing more. I left out hex codes on purpose, because a screen shifts any skin swatch. Words hold up better.
| Label | What you notice | What to check next |
|---|---|---|
| Fair | Very light skin. It may flush easily, or read ivory, porcelain or lightly golden. | Hold a white and a cream near your face in daylight. See which one evens out your skin. |
| Light | Light skin with a little more color: pink, peach or golden. | Look at your jaw and neck, not only your cheeks, where redness can mislead you. |
| Medium | Between light and deep. It can read beige, golden or rosy. | Compare a rosy pink and a peachy coral under your chin. Watch which one smooths you. |
| Olive | A green or gray-gold cast. It can look tan and can sit at any depth. | Check by a window only. A yellow bulb warms everything, olive included. |
| Brown | A rich medium-to-deep brown: golden, red-brown or neutral. | Try a gold-toned and a cool-toned fabric near your face. Look for the one that gives a glow. |
| Deep | Deep brown to very deep. The undertone can be warm, cool or neutral. | Hold a pure white and a cream. Notice whether your skin looks luminous or turns gray. |
You may sit between two rows. That’s fine. The chart is a spectrum with names attached.
A tan belongs to the surface, not to a row. Check an area that sees less sun, like the inside of your arm, and read the chart from there.
You may have noticed what the table leaves out. Food and drink names like caramel, honey or mocha sound friendly, but they say nothing about undertone. Two skins called caramel can sit on opposite sides of warm and cool.
“Fair skin is cool. Deep skin is warm.” People say it with total confidence.
It isn’t a rule. Depth and undertone are two separate dials. Depth tells you how much color sits in the surface. Undertone tells you which way that color leans underneath.
Turn one and the other doesn’t move.
Fair and golden. Medium and cool. Deep and neutral. Olive at any depth. All real.
Don’t read an undertone off a row. A fair skin can lean rosy, golden, neutral or olive. A deep skin can lean red, golden, neutral or cool. The row gives you the depth. Only the colors near your face tell you the rest.
So where do you look? At your face, with colors held near it. Use the same window on two different days and note which colors smooth your skin both times. A single glance in the mirror proves little.
The chart works the same way for men. Swap the foundation question for a shirt collar. Hold two collar colors under your chin, one warm and one cool, and watch what your skin does.
Start with the setting. Then the colors.
Sit by a window, bare face, hair under a neutral cloth. Find your row first with the table above. Then hold a peach under your chin, then a powder pink, one at a time. Watch your face, not the color in your hand.
When a color suits you, your skin evens out, dark circles soften and your eyes brighten. When it doesn’t, a shadow settles under your chin and your skin turns gray or yellow. The color arrives before you do.
Redo it another day, in the same window. A color that smooths you twice in a row is pointing somewhere. The full routine for holding colors near your face is in color draping at home.
Sometimes every pair looks fine, or every pair looks off. That can mean you sit between warm and cool, or that you’re olive. Olive skin tone colors explains how to read an olive undertone and which colors tend to work.
Spread your tries over several days, and rest your eyes between pairs. Tired eyes misread color.
Skin tone alone doesn’t pick a palette. Three things do: temperature (warm, cool or neutral), lightness (how light or deep your whole coloring reads) and intensity (how soft or bright it looks). Hair and eyes count as much as skin.
The three axes are laid out on the seasonal color analysis page. Here are six readings, each with a few shades taken from the palette of its sub-season.
| One example of a coloring | Sub-season it can point to | A few palette colors |
|---|---|---|
| Slightly warm, very light | Light Spring | Peach, Light Coral, Butter Yellow |
| Slightly cool, very light | Light Summer | Powder Pink, Lavender, Sky Blue |
| Neutral to warm, very soft | Soft Autumn | Sage Green, Light Terracotta, Caramel |
| Neutral to cool, very soft | Soft Summer | Dusty Rose, Slate Blue, Cool Sage |
| Neutral to warm, dark and rich | Deep Autumn | Warm Burgundy, Brick Red, Spruce Green |
| Neutral to cool, dark and saturated | Deep Winter | Cool Burgundy, Plum, Midnight Blue |
Bright palettes follow the same logic. Bright Spring brings Bright Coral and Turquoise. Bright Winter brings Shocking Pink and Electric Blue.
Two neighbors show how fine the differences get. Light Spring and Light Summer are both very light. Temperature separates them: slightly warm for one, slightly cool for the other. Peach belongs to the first, Powder Pink to the second.
Two sub-seasons can share a temperature and still differ. Soft Autumn and Deep Autumn are both neutral to warm, but one is medium and soft, the other dark and rich. They are not interchangeable, because depth and intensity count as much as temperature.
Now look at what the table leaves out: fair, olive, brown, deep. That’s deliberate.
Each skin tone turns up in all four seasons. What sorts people is the temperature, depth and intensity of the whole coloring, hair and eyes included. The rows above are colorings, not skin tones.
You can browse all twelve sub-seasons and compare palettes with what you saw in the mirror.
Watch for these traps when you use a chart.
A skin tone quiz or an app can point you toward a row. It can’t watch two colors change your face. You can, with a window and some patience.
My advice: use the chart to name your depth, then let the colors near your face settle the rest. If you want a full routine, finding your color season at home walks through undertone, depth, clarity and drapes.
Start with depth: fair, light, medium, brown or deep. Then add the undertone: warm, cool, neutral or olive. Check both by a window with no makeup, using your inner arm rather than a tanned hand. Two colors held near your face will show which direction your skin prefers.
That label describes a region, not a color. People from that region range from fair to olive to deep brown, with warm, cool and neutral undertones. For choosing colors, drop the label. Name your depth and your undertone instead, then test two colors near your face.
Sometimes. Your sub-season decides, not olive alone. Black near the face drains some colorings and suits others. In pants or shoes it costs you nothing either way. Test it under your chin in daylight, then swap in a softer dark neutral. Olive skin tone colors goes further.
No color is banned. Watch for any color that turns your skin gray or yellow, or makes dark circles stand out, when you hold it under your chin. That list changes with your sub-season. Sit by a window, cover your hair, hold the color still, then rest your eyes and look again.
Yes. Olive describes a cast in the skin, a hint of green or gray-gold, and it can sit at any depth, fair included. On fair skin it’s easy to miss, and a wrong color near the face can make it look like a tired day.
Olive doesn’t pick a hair color for you. Your sub-season does. A Deep Autumn looks good in chocolate brown or deep auburn. A Soft Summer does better in ash brown with blended highlights. A Deep Winter suits cool dark brown or black. Cover your hair first and see which direction your skin prefers.
Next time you’re by a window in daylight, tie your hair back and hold a camel sweater under your chin. Then a cool gray. Write down which one smooths your skin. Repeat on another day and see whether the same one wins.
Then try the free color analysis quiz. There’s nothing to sign up for, and it points to a season you can set against what your face just showed you.
Your face will answer. Give it two colors and a window.
With all my heart and passion, Lisa
Keep reading
Seasons mentioned in this article
Take the free quiz for a first hint of your season, then explore the 12 seasons to see your palette.
