How to tell if your undertone is warm or cool

Updated October 18, 2026. 4 min read.

Undertone is the color beneath the surface of your skin. It stays the same whether you are tanned or pale, and it is the first thing to figure out before you choose a color type. These four checks each give you a clue. None of them is decisive on its own, so do all four and look for the answer that comes up most.

Do them in daylight near a window, with clean skin. Indoor bulbs and screens shift colors and make everyone look warmer or greener than they are.

The vein test

Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist.

  • Mostly blue or purple suggests a cool undertone.
  • Mostly green or olive suggests a warm undertone.
  • A mix you cannot call is common, and suggests neutral.

This test is the most popular and the least reliable. Vein color depends on how deep the veins sit and how thick your skin is, not only on undertone. Use it as one vote out of four.

The jewelry test

Hold something gold and something silver against your bare wrist or under your chin.

  • If silver makes your skin look clearer and brighter, that points to cool.
  • If gold does, that points to warm.
  • If both look fine, you may be neutral.

The white-paper test

Hold a sheet of plain white printer paper next to your bare face in a mirror.

  • If your skin looks pink, rosy or bluish against the white, that points to cool.
  • If it looks yellow, golden or peachy, that points to warm.
  • If it looks olive or greenish, you likely have a neutral-to-warm undertone with an olive cast.

How your skin reacts to sun

Think about what happens without sunscreen.

  • Burning easily and turning pink points to cool.
  • Tanning easily to a golden brown points to warm.

This one is less useful for deeper skin tones, which often tan easily regardless of undertone.

What to do next

Undertone gives you half the picture. The other half is how light or deep your coloring is and how clear or soft it is. Those decide which of the three types in your season fits best.

The color type quiz takes your undertone and those two other qualities and suggests a type. The drape test lets you compare colors against your own face, on your own phone.