I thought that of the cool seasons, summer was more muted than winter because winters can wear stronger, more vibrant versions of the cool colours. A lot of this video made good sense though. Too often they consider eye and hair colour when it's the complexion that matters. Sadly, even hair dressers and cosmetitcians can't be trusted to know this very well. It's no wonder people are confused.
yes. You can consider hair colour and eyes once you're determined undertone and the season, and are going through the palettes to determine if the correct season is a sub category.
For me, the problem is I never get to tell when something "looks better on me", even though I can with others. I think Im neutral just because some people around insists I'm warm, and I "feel more comfortable" with cool colors. For some people like me it's is really tough to understand..
Hi Maria, you could try watching my draping video. I feel like the hardest person to color/body type is always yourself! So you're definitely not the only one.
I think she's using a different system for summer and winter than the other season system people are used to where summer is muted and winter is bright.
Interesting video. This topic gets tricky for people because many times, a person's skin tone doesn't lean very obviously warm or cool. As you approach a neutral skin tone, it gets more difficult to determine whether you learn warm or cool because these differences are so subtle. People also expect certain colors to look incredible on them and certain colors to look terrible, when many people can pull off a lot of colors. It's just a matter of which ones look the best, but that doesn't mean the ones that aren't your best automatically make you look dead.
I'm trying to understand your point, but I don't. The way I see it, yes it's basically impossible for someone to be smack dead in the middle and thus neutral. However, at the same time, it's also nearly impossible for someone to fall smack dead in the warm or cool either. My theory has always been that it's about what your skin tone falls closer to. In retrospect, to the middle (neutral side) my skin leans slightly in the warm side, but overall, my skin tone is closer to the middle than the warm. If my skin tone was a ph (and the ph of 1 is warm. 7 is neutral and 14 is cool) I would fall into about a 6. That's why I personally consider myself neutral with a touch of warmth.
The ph thing is a good example. If something is pH 7, we call it neutral. If something is pH 1, we call it extremely acidic. But everything between 1 and 7 is acidic. pH of 3 is also acidic. So, anything between warmest and neutral is also warm, just a bit less warm. The way you describe your skin, "pH of 6", sure you can call it 'neutral with a touch of warmth', but that is still warm. It would be warm and muted in this case, so you'd look great in beiges, creams, and peaches.
On paper that works, but I always find myself looking more tired when I wear colors like that. I only have one picture of me wearing a muted color and I had to wear a lot of undereye concealor, color correctors and a make up look that was more muted just so I would not look dead. I usually get complimented on saturated colors. I don't understand why people automatically assume that skin has to be muted if it is not super warm or cool even though real life colors don't work like that.
Oh! No of course people can be bright undertones. Not everyone is muted that's not what I'm saying. You are probably a bright undertone if you look best in saturated colors. This is only the neutral skin tones. Do you look better in yellow or blue?
"Do you look better in yellow or blue". Tbh I don't know. My guess is yellow, but I look good in both. I've asked people what my undertone is and I've been called everything from warm to cool to neutral to olive to whatever. The only thing that makes me think I have a bit of warmth is because my skin under my eyes is clearly warm. The rest of my skin is ambiguous to me. That's why I think I might be a neutral.
A personal skin overtone and undertone makes us unique. There is no perfect neutral warm cool. This is my theory WE ARE LIKE THERMOMETERS HOW COOL OR WARM ARE WE?? YOU HAVE A UNIQUENESS ABOUT YOU THATS WHAT MAKES US ALL SPECIAL... THERE PROBABLY ARE ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES OF A PERSONAL PALLETT BUT SOME DAY WHEN THIS COLOR THEORY IS MORE ADVANCED THAT WILL HAPPEN. this Munsell theory has been known since the 1800s.The dinosaur age was the mid 1970s late 80s Beauty for all seasons was ahead of thier time. Then now 2018 it's more ahead. But still has more to go.. It's just getting these personal production of these unique palettes into existence. I'm 55 maybe when I'm 95 that will come about. Lol.. I have been doing color analysis for 35 years. They still have a long way to go. Think of your self like a thermometer.
I tried draping yellow and blue and I honestly can't tell what looks better. The blue made my skin look more olive, and the yellow made it more peachy. I prefer the color blue over yellow, so I'm biased to think it looks better even if that might not be true... The blue definitely made my eyes and hair pop more though! I have black hair and really dark eyes.
@@leahalcantara5949 it's cause there's another balance: red and green You can be warm and have some red in your skin tone giving a peach skin color An dyou can be cool but be olive/green (no red in your skin) an dmaje you look "yellowish" but that's just the lack of redness on your skintone
@@AnHeC the thing is my am neutral . The thang with me if that my undertone can be warm & sometimes can appear cool . Also I’m Brown skin & I still look good with cooler color too .
I'm extremely interested in this whole topic. What makes the most sense to me is the ColorBreeze system. By that system, Angelina is a toasted soft summer (a deeper summer with a hint of warmth, but primarily cool, which means she'd look best in darker, muted and primarily cool colors) and I'm a sunlit soft summer (which is primarily cool with a bit of warmth, light and muted). There are muted types in each season. And usually it's hard to see which undertone those muted types have because it's not too obvious. That's also why muted colors (which are often called neutral) look better on them. I used to ditch the whole color typing thing for a long time because I look awful in typical summer colors, spring colors wash me out, autumn colors make me look sick and winter colors are simply just overpowering on me. Muted summer colors in the lighter spectrum look great on me. By your theory I would be a winter, right? My haircolor is medium ash blonde, skin (overtone) is yellowy but with a distinct blue undertone which, in certain lighting, makes it appear green, my eyecolor is grey-blue with yellow specs which can make it look like a mint green depending on lighting and what I wear. I prefer picking up the colors of my natural coloring and wearing variations of them. That's the easiest way for me to shop for my complexion. I look awful in true blue and true orange. I look washed out in true red and true green. I look awkward in yellow or turquoise (gives me an ugly "color-beard" if you know what I mean). Blues are a struggle (I know which ones suit me, but I can barely find them in store), soft pinks are easy, soft greens as well, purple shades work but not all of them. Some colors work only when I wear makeup others work amazingly without makeup (such as the soft pinks and greens). I don't want to say your theory is wrong because the colors you picked for those two examples where absolutely fine, it just doesn't suit my perception of the 4 seasons. You would probably also find the right colors for most other people. So actually it doesn't really matter as long as the result is alright. To me there's no such thing as going by "you're bright so you are this season - you're muted so you are that season" and also no such thing as a neutral undertone. Maybe when you pick a foundation color, but not when it's about deciding what season you are. There's light muted, light bright, dark muted and dark bright. It's all about contrast, clarity and depth. And this is so damn interesting, I could talk about it all day long xD
Undertones aren't just about finding the colors that work for you; they're also about finding foundation tones that work. Foundation companies use the term 'neutral' for skin tones that are not close to either the warm or cool end of the spectrum. It helps create a more inclusive set of available colors. I was never able to find a foundation that worked until I explored neutrals. It's a way to describe the skin, and it works, as skin undertones are varied and need further analysis than just "cool" or "warm".
5UNNYR4Y3 keep in mind that “ neutral”surface color does not mean neutral undertone! Surface color and undertone are two totally separate things. You can two women who exactly match the same foundation or skin surface color and yet one will have cool and the other warm undertones. Women at makeup counters rarely have a clue about undertones.
Well I found my exact foundation shade out of sheer luck. I mean I just wanted to get the borjois foundation because the packaging was cute and now here I am buying only that shade of foundation
actually no. Foundation is the exception. For foundation you have to match your overtones e.g. olive skin, and consider things like ruddiness etc that need correction. For everything else you match undertones.
the hair and eye colour tests are super inaccurate considering it only works on caucasians. coloured people all have dark hair and eyes but there definitely are undertone differences..
Also non whites tend to have medium or dark skin and look good in more colors. Also I do think people are “neutral” if they can pull off both warm and cool colors,
There are dark black/brown skinned people with plenty of cold tones in the undertone and light/pale skinned people with plenty of hot tones in the undertone
I believe the girl below. If neutral green and red can exist so can neutral skin colour. I've seen people with neutral skin aswell. And yes I understand how colour works I'm an artist and a makeup artist.
I so like your approach to colour theory. This makes so much sense to me especially as I am coming from a background of painting and photography. I would have said that there is a theoretical possibility for a neutral undertone but the probability is infinitesimally small :-) I really don't need the seasonal reference, it is way easier with just sticking to warm and cool. Great job!
This is helpful but it seems like in real life a 3% difference leaning cooler or warmer or even a 40/60 split would still make you appear more or less neutral and allow you a greater range of cooler/warmer you can pull off, perhaps leaning a bit more one way or the other. I tend to find that muted blues, pinks, greens and yellows, especially muted pastels, look good on me but also bright yellows and blues as well as pure black and white so I really don't know what that makes me!
I can pull off cool AND warm colors. I think it’s more a matter of my style and preference because I look good in both. I have light/medium skin so look for medium saturated colors . Like true red , true blue even true orange look great. Also almost any bright color works even neons. So I’m pretty sure I’m close enough to neutral because people have told me I look great BOTH in orange and fuchsia
Update: I now realize that I am actually cool toned with some olive and that’s why I was confused. I think some yellows work for me probably because of my personal preference in that they soften y appearance by essentially making me look a bit dulled out. So sorry to those I confused with my own confusion 💖
This makes the most sense of any system I have seen for practical application in matching colors to skintones. I can tell you're actually thinking it through for logical consistency rather than taking someone else's word as gospel. A lot of people are super attached to whatever "rules" they read first, but I always felt the various ways of looking at color types I've seen on blogs and youtube have gaps or contradictions that this system does away with. Yes, primary red is a "warm" color in art, but it's clearly a neutral in terms of the skin color blue-yellow spectrum and what colors actually look good on existing skintones. Very good video
It's really hard to compare dresses, unless you take out other contributing factors. The cameo green dress is much darker than the "blush" one (honestly it looks even like a pastel icy pink on my screen, not muted either). Plus, some people are going for harmony, others for contrast... I'm just more confused than ever and have decided to try wearing stuff all day (instead of briefly holding them up against my face). I'll probably know instinctively if the color is working or not. It seems that there are no rules for olive tones and you have to assess each color individually. And I feel that eye and lip color DO play a role as well, which is why I look good in a muted petrol blue or a cooler dusty rose even though I am generally more warm...
Understandable--it was popularized that way. But I called winter cool and muted because the colors of winter are grays/cool, while the colors of summer are cool and bright (bright summer sky).
The original naming of winter was for the high contrast of the shadows ie black and white. Nothing to do with colors since a winter landscape is ice and snow. This swiching is just confusing.
@@merriamstyle The old school colour analysis theory describes winter as cool and bright. It's all cool, jewel tones and high contrast. Summer colours are often more greyed and the summer person's appearance is more muted.
Absolutely correct! How in the world can a colour expert call a Winter muted??? I've seen a lot of inaccurate colour theories, but this definition is staggeringly wrong. Spring is warm and bright. Autumn is warm and muted. Winter is cool and bright. Summer is cool and muted. I agree with her that there are only 4 seasons, but she's really in error with 2 of them.
I like your system and your explanations. Somehow, my mind can more easily follow this. I only get into trouble if I start thinking...Oh! I am a winter! and suddenly find myself thinking of the 12 color system, rather than focusing on cool and muted. If you keep making videos with all your awesome examples (love, love, love your focus on ethnicities) I think it will help. Your work is really important in this field. So keep emphasizing warm vs. cool and chroma... And then we will come to understand an AL winter is something different... Thank you!!
Love lots of your videos. As someone with blue/yellow eyes and both cool pink and warm yellow undertones as well as purple blue and green veins ... (constantly fluctuating between cool and warm based on the season aka how much sun I have seen) ... if I don't call myself neutral ... what do I call myself? :)
Both bright blue and bright yellow looks good on me. Muted blue isn't as good. But Muted pinks, purple and dark red tones does. Both warm and cool. I have a neutral foundation. Slightly warm make me look like a lemon and Slightly cool make me gray. I have been diagnosed as al 4 seasons by different experts. So I don't know
I know what your saying however I am the opposite, every other colour apart from lemon or brown looks great on me, lemon makes my skin seem sallow brown is the same but the rest of the palettes look amazing including black I have never understood this I can even wear mustard, rust etc, however never dark brown, tan or muted orange on the other hand neon orange and pillar box red looks spectacular on me or so people have commented.
When we talk about color theory tea, it exists a "cool" yellow, but in personal color analysis that's not the case. In color theory yellow is the neutral, but here green is the neutral, so in personal color analysis there's not such a thing a school yellows, but warm greens And those colors look better in warm people, cool skin tones look grayish tbh But, if you're cool and you really want to wear yellow then of course eyou should pick the "coolest" yellow As you see the naming of the colors (in terms of temperature and "neutral") changes if we talk about color theory used in graphic design and personal coloring used by stylists Also consider that there will always exist colors from the opposite temperature that don't look bad at all, but its definitely not the bets of the best as your own colors
This helps so much! I've been very confused, because my hair is a very dark cool brown. My eyebrows are almost black. However, I have warm olive eyes and light warm skin. Taking the hair and eye factor out, I now know that I am warm and muted. I think a huge problem with a lot of autumn palettes you see on the internet is that the colors can sometimes be represented as very bright, which is ok sometimes, but if I'm wearing a yellow for example- I can't pull that super bright mustard. It has to be more of a pale golden. Copper and rose gold look better on me than yellow gold. I'm still not 100% at ease with my natural hair color, but this absolutely helps me understand where I was having the trouble.
Thank you. I always thought I had warm undertones...but then I just found out I look neutral - and than I an olive. Although I look neutral, my overtone is yellow and undertones are cool - so they mix and overall I look neutral. So I agree that undertone itself isn't neutral.
here's what i don't understand - i look best in the most vivid colors, but i can't tell if my undertones are warm or cool. blue looks better than yellow (though not by much), but orange and purple look equally good. muted versions of the colors are okay, but not as good. i feel like this goes against your theory!
🤯 I have been trying to figure out my skin undertone for a loooong time now. The more research I did, the more confused I became 😅 your no such thing as neutral video and your color draping video gave me the right tools to finally figure out what works best for me. Cool muted colors for the win!!! I know it sounds silly to want to live by a personlized set of fashion rules. But for me, I am the kind of girl who wants a simple life. One less decision I have to make during the day with a curated capsule wardrobe. 💟Love all your videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
I found this video interesting, but I have to disagree. I do have a neutral skin tone. I don't look good in either of the extremes of warm and cool colours but suit those that are 3 steps either side of the neutral colour and my best lipstick colour is a pinky bronze. Any thoughts?
I would say you're most likely warm and delicate. warm and delicate is often placed into cool even by color analysts simply because they tend to look good in cool and muted colors, but warm colors can become too much. another thing with being warm is that cool colors look ok, but vice versa isn't true--cool undertones really can't handle warm colors. forgive me if you already are aware of what I'm about to say--when warm wears cool, they can look more golden because of simultaneous contrast, but when cool wears warm, they look more gray or more blue, which is almost never desired. in this sense, WD can wear both cool and warm colors so long as they're muted, just like you're saying. Most people who think they're neutral are actually WD because of this. And I guess in practice, 'neutral' lends well to the colors that WD can wear. But technically, WD is still ever so slightly warm. In practice though, they can wear cool so they say they're neutral, which isn't an unfair assessment for practicality. I have a video called golden overtones with cool undertones that you could check out where I show examples of warm and delicate, and see if that resonates.
@@merriamstyle Thanks for your reply which I found most interesting. I will definitely check out the video you recommended. I have taken the Kibbe test which shows me to be a classic. This in itself doesn't surprise me as I tend to dress the recommended way anyway. However, what did surprise me is that Classics are supposed to have some height and I am only 61 inches tall.
@@merriamstyle you did SUCH a great job of explaining this. I'm going to watch the other video about golden overtones, cool undertones but I think you are right. I must be a warm delicate. That makes sense for the first time. You explained the gold jewelry and everything. I literally tan and burn easily. It has more to do with sun exposure for me. So I had a hard time figuring it out.. I really LOVE the way you explained the blue and yellow in our skin. The part about the red and green and the possibility of truly being neutral. This video is for every person who can't figure out their skin tone. You did phenomenal with this. Maybe make a video explaining the warm delicate. That might help more people figure out what they are.
I know this comment is very old now, but in case you are still looking for input, I too thought I was neutral. Only neutral makeup ever worked for me, I've never had a preference for white or cream, and I had a hard time seeing which tones my skin looked "better" in with the naked eye. In the last few DAYS, I have discovered I'm warm and delicate. My advice would be to 1. Watch the video she recommended if you haven't yet. 2. Take a photo of yourself in natural light with a blue draped shirt, then a khaki green (in the same value if you can). Take it without makeup on if possible. My eyes couldn't see a major difference, but the camera was able to give me a direct contrast and confirmed that I'm warm and delicate.
I have very fair olive skin so blue and yellow both look awful on me 🤣 I really struggle with finding my colours because I think I sit in autumn but I cannot wear anything with too much yellow or blue because it brings out the green/grey in my skin. I'm baffled!!
What if you look best in muted strong colours? So basically brights that are slightly muted. Like you'd look best in mustard but not beige or bright yellow. I get your point on this but I don't know if it works for me. I still consider myself neutral because I can pull off cool and warm colours though I favour warm. The only colour I look ghostly in is bright blues, grey lilac and light greens. I look amazing in bright red, muted browns/ rust, dark grey, gold, copper, yellow, dark green, muted blues, bright pink, mauve, dark purple, midnight blue, black and cream.
I missed out this but the reason I feel neutral is that I look my best in colours that are in betweens. That you can't tell if it's one or another colour and a mix of cool and warmth.
@@pryvacy1392 this is just like met, you listed the same exact colours! i never know what i am, i also think i am neutral, maybe slightly warm. or slightly cool? it's so hard to find the right foundation because it's always looks too strong, too bright.i think i am slightly warm, but i do look great i muted blues. however, in very specific shades, it can quite easily get too blue or too green
@@pryvacy1392 I'm a true autumn, and this describes me. It usually means that you have a lower chroma, or lower contrast between your skin and hair. I love muted, warmer toned colors. I can go for gray, but ideally a warm gray.
Is it possible you have an olive undertone? Sounds a lot like my issues, and I'm definitely olive (though of course olives have their own range of warm to cool).
More than being neutral I think it's about skin's tolerance towards our "non colors". Generally warm skin is less affected by its worst colors than cool undertones (I mean a warm skin looks "better" I their worst colors than a cool skin in their own worst). Also dark skin has more tolerance. The same happens to me, I have a clearly warm underone, medium to soft in the spectrum (my skintone is medium to light) , however I look good in navy blue, bright lilac and black, are these my best colors like rich mustard/yellow, peach and olive green? No, but my skin can tolerate those cool colors. Does it mean I'm a neutral? Absolutely not It's a fact we all fall rather in one side or another in the spectrum, but some skins are more tolerant and flexible to some colors
I've always considered myself neutral because I think I almost any color is flattering on me, muted, bright or pastel. For example red is my favorite color, yellows look great on me except for that what I call 'Easter yellow', all blues look fine on me but my best blue is a soft powder blue. I understand the mathematical analysis of statistics of warm, cool, and neutral. I think from our human visual perspective if you are close to neutral than it just makes sense (to me) to just say you're neutral... even if technically it is most likely that you lean slightly either cool or warm. this is my view on the subject if you are extremely close to neutral. but hey maybe I'm wrong. I would be interested to know what you thought of my skin tone! Hope this somewhat makes sense what I'm trying to get across. Good video! Interesting subject! (also the veins in my wrist are purple)
I understand, I am close to neutral but slightly warm. And I can pull off bright, light or muted colors. I also can wear any metal color: gold, silver and rose gold. However, rose gold looks close to my skin color. So, I do believe there is such thing as neutral. Plus, skin color is not just one color. It’s composed of the primary colors, yet one will always be a little more dominante.
Great video-- helped me understand my undertone so much! I was always confused because the gold / silver test, the daylight wrist vein test, and the white / off white test were always so indefinite. I realized recently that I'm just an autumn. Browns, muted greens, and oranges really make me look so healthy and bright, I was always so thrown off by the fact that bright colors threw off my complexion and made me look kind of sickly. This video really helped me understand why that is. Thank you!
i agree that the possibility of being completely neutral is very small, but as for the season system, i would argue that hair and eye color is VERY important.Skin tone can determine which hair/eye color looks best on someone, but the color which one wears should take their current hair/eye color into account. For example, personally, spring colors look better when I have black hair, and when I dye my hair a light brown/ginger color, Im autumn all the way.
I have to agree that there is no neutral really according to your definition. However, for those of us that fall more clearly into the tonal groups, light vs deep and bright vs muted, we can often wear colors in both temperatures. For example, myself I am most obviously deep but neutral leaning because my eye and hair color are so dark and my skin had a green undertone. I can wear rust and cool burgundy, all shades of blue, orange and purple but it depends on saturation and contrast. For me warm vs cool matters less.
Sorry if I sound annoyingly know-it-all but your 2 VS infinity doesn't work that much. Why? Because all the color between the neutral red and perfect neutral green are neutral too. And it's a infinity of color too ^^ So the chance being neutral suddenly go higher, at least mathematically
I didn't consider that thank you! I should have formalized it better. But upon further thought, I'm still evaluating the chances of seeing a neutral color in real life to be zero, even if you include the infinite number of neutral colors between neutral green and neutral red. On every slice along the neutral green-neutral red axis, there will be an infinite number of cool and warm renditions of each of those colors. For example, let's say there's a color that's 0.01% neutral red, and 99.99% neutral green--this color is neutral. However, to the left and right of it will also be an infinite number of cooler renditions of it, and an infinite number of warmer renditions just along that slice. So, that probability will also be 1/inf, just as it is for the neutral green alone, and the neutral red alone. You can then take the next slice of 0.02% neutral red, and 99.98% neutral green, and evaluate that probability to also be 1/inf, so you will sum these probabilities along the infinite number of slices, but then you're really only summing a bunch of zeros. There's something very weird about infinity as you must know. I was a physics major myself, though I'm not sure I was ever any good at it. :P
lol!! it's still fun to think about sometimes. There's this one numberphile episode (it's a youtube channel) on the different types of infinity, talking about how there is infinity between 0 and 0.1 for example, but there's also infinity between 0 and 10--which one is larger, they're both infinity after all? infinity is so weird. your comment reminded me of that numberphile episode.
This is so helpful! Thank you💖 I can wear pretty much any color, gold or silver jewelry both look fine. I've had bright blue hair for a while now and I keep wondering why I always look tired. I'm warm and delicate!
Just want to say thank you sm for helping me Finally find my undertone! I’ve watched so many other “find your undertone” videos & tried all the “tricks” (e.g comparing gold & silver) and only became more confused.. until I watched yours! So Thank you!
Thanks to you I was able to find out that I am a cool and bright undertone even though every single color analyst said that I was neutral and olive skin. Yeah, I have bright olive skin but I always found super weird that color analysis states that neutral undertones can wear gold and silver but I always thought that gold jewelry wasn't doing me justice. And that's why, it's not about being neutral, but the fact that I have very bright skin and really dark hair as I'm Asian, warm colors never look good on me, so why does gold jewelry needs to look good on me? No, it doesn't look that good. That's why I donated all my gold jewelry to my mom, who is warm and muted. At least she looks better in gold than me XD when I was buying clothes based on the neutral olive skin pallette, my fashion was all over the place, so now I'm trying to pay more attention to contrast and cool colors that make me look better.
Wow what an amazing well detailed video this is. I was 31 years old today when I finally figured out my actual under and over tone. Lol. I think we I subconsciously “Know” what we are without even realizing. For example you asked to place a bright yellow and a bright blue piece of clothing/cloth against us to try to figure things out. I kid you not I have “ZERO” piece of clothes in those colors 😆 I had to go to my daughter’s closet to find those two bright colors. I am 100% a muted Autumn, and my closet reflects that.
sadly, the pink dress looks separate from her, even with iced hair to make her appear cooler but her skin is not looking as good in pink as in green. It's difficult for people to see how good or bad they or others look in different colors, especially when talking about different skin type people. For example, I am summer, mu husband is autumn, he loves my blue but it makes him look sick and his skin sallow, accentuating all imperfections. When I directed him to aqua blue, petrol blue and any warm toned blue, he finally admitted that he looks better in those. Just because you see someone dressed well in specific colors doesn't mean that you will look good in them too. If you like the pink dress, I am guessing you are cool yourself.
I totally agree that Angelina looked amazing in the placid blue but I'm not convinced about the camo green I actually preferred the soft pink on her skin.
I don't think I'll ever figure this out. I always thought I was warm, but just recently I switched to cool, then neutral. But even if neutral does exist, I can't possibly be neutral since I look terrible in both that bright green and purest red you showed on your chart. And I can't tell if my veins are blue or green, but I do have a few smaller veins that are definitely purple, if that means anything. I don't tan easily and will burn if I'm not careful, but I can acquire a nice tan if I just take it slow. And I feel like I look good in different colors if I have a tan compared to when I don't. I just don't know...
For makeup, I wear neutral foundation but upon doing more research I have found I do have cool undertones. I think some people are just more cool or warm than others and redness or dark spots can make it harder to tell your undertone.
I'm still trying to learn, but the idea that every infinitesimal increment away from center makes you warm or cool doesn't take into consideration that our eyes literally cannot process every single "step" of color variance, so there could be a large swath of color near the center that our eyes/brains just process as "neutral".
A lot of this relies on where you live, your culture and your personality. Why? These color preference (subjective) systems (objective) are applied within a context. The context (latitude, culture, personality) bend the desire and needs of color use. High or low color contrast may be preferred dependent upon the wearer or intended audience acceptence / rejection of color combinations (harmonious, opposite). In a fusion culture seeing the person and clothes as 'one' via color choice is preferred, the person is identified as responsible, belonging to the culture. In a culture of differentiating a person who is wears colors with higher tension (colors stand apart from their skin) is accepted due to the societal preference for people who are bolder extroverted. In most of the USA wearing colors that closely match a person's tones is identified as 'invisible', 'passive', indeterminate. That same style of color use in Japan would be expected and welcome.
This is a good idea. But I disagree that it's the best test--pink and orange lipstick are cool and warm but they have red mixed into them. Why not skip the middle man and test directly--blue or yellow draping. Not to mention that some people may grab a slightly warm pink lipstick vs an orange lipstick and the whole thing would be a waste of time. But most people, no matter how inexperienced, can find a blue and a yellow somewhere around the house--much easier.
I tend to wear colors designated for "deep winter", dark cool colors but bright red or pure blue look terrific on me, and all burgundy/purpleish/reddish/brownish colors (slightly brown like the nyx velvet matte lipstick in shade charmed amazing) (pale with dark brown almost black hair), but muted yellow or muted orange doesn't look that bad but I'm more on cool colors which fits me like a glove! I thought I was neutral because of foundations. I'm cool but slightly cool so cool foundations are too pinky/cool for me so I tend to go with neutral foundations which fit me perfectly, in ivory tones (often called nude ivory, shell ivory etc).
pale yellow (lime yellow) is wearable color for cool undertones. I also can pull off a bit muted coral color which is warm. Everyone is different! Your hair and eye combination, the weather conditions and lighting also play a role. I cannot wear white in fall/winter even though I love white but in summer I look great and been told so by many people even though white is not 'my color'.
Thank you sooooo much! Ive been watching videos for weeks and this is the only one that really helped me understand the basic concept of being warm/cool undertone if u feel u r neutral !!! and finding out if you are better off wearing true colors or more toned down colors meaning if the top of your skin or "overtone" is more light/dark bright red/ or more golden but thats a little more confusing and a whole other thing is that the whole "what season are you"?! I would love to understand that part!!! But over all I have to try that trick at the end. Although you do have to understand the basic understanding of the color theory/wheel/ and colors that have more added black or white in them as far as clothing or whatever. And THEN this video brings it home. Just my opinion but it really helped :)
My skin is yellow, but my veins are both blue and green. My hair appear medium ash blonde (muted) but when The sun shines on it, it has a golden sparkle to it. My eyes are grey/light blue, with rusty jewels. I look bad in earthy colors, and very warm colors look bad. Im confused!
I find that I look better with dark but slightly bright colors: classic red, white, black, royal blue, etc. And I also look in muted colors. I struggle with finding what undertone I am. I can pull off silver, gold and rose gold metals. I have blue grey eyes, with a flick of amber in one eye, dark hair and my skin tone is light, but not fair. I am not sure if I am winter or autumn because the colors you mention look nice on me.
Mistake !!! It s winter cool and bright/ summer cool and muted !! Simply because during summer Nature colors are...muted !!! Aň in winter they re more intense and bright like....the bright snow !!!
I’m guessing when they say neutral they mean you are further away from blue or yellow. Makeup foundation have shades such as neutral w/warm, neutral w/cool much like warm delicate or cool delicate. I can wear jewel tone colors but I can also wear some cool delicate colors. It’s very difficult for me to find foundation because I’m olive skin, when I wear cool foundation it looks dull because there’s not enough yellow and with warm it’s too yellow although I think a little yellow brightens my skin. I find it confusing to be able to wear cool colors but want some yellow in my face. If I buy foundation for olive skin it usually looks a little too dark and too green.
Most people tend to think of olive skin as a darker skin tones. I have light olive so I also have a hard time finding the right foundation, I got color matched at a Estee Lauder counter and she put me at a neutral color 2N1 Desert Beige , I noticed yellow /warm foundation looks dull on me or turns orange and cool toned foundation doesn't hide my redness I have in my face or turns orange. But neutral seems to be the perfect match. That's why I always thought I a neutral. Plus I been told I'm warm Fall & I also heard that I am a cool Winter.
Wow, you explained why I can’t wear shiny metals! I’ve always loved matte finishes and I thought it was simply a preference but it must be because I’m an autumn. I used to think I was a spring because I don’t feel good in deep autumn colors but I was confused because I didn’t like the brightness of spring either. I thought spring was light and autumn was dark. I didn’t know the difference was actually bright or muted. I’ve learned that i don’t have high contrast between my hair and skin so I need soft, muted colors. I guess that means I’m an autumn. I just have to stick to medium colors. I hope I’m finally understanding this correctly!
TY. This clarifies everything. I never knew much about skin tones and such, but have always known that some colors looked good on me and others didn't. I didn't understand the whys cause I've always just been busy with life. But I find it interesting and I love colors because I like to paint. I agree with you that it's all gotten too complicated and really just a down right headache. I like your simple approach to it. The old ways are usually the best lol! My confusion about my coloring has always been that when I resist the sun I'm super white. But I have no difficulty tanning and rarely burn, and I can get pretty dark. So I assumed that being so white meant that I was cool colored. But I noticed that warm greens look fabulous against my skin, and so does antique white or vanilla. Bright colors overwhelm me terribly. To add to my confusion I have central Hetero Chromia. The inner color ring around my pupil is hazel brown that is outlined in a muted soft yellow and bleeds streaks into the outer ring of a muted grayish blue. So depending on what I wear my eyes look green. I don't know what color to consider to bring out my eyes since there are so many colors in there. I have noticed that my eyes pop a brighter blue when I wear browns, I think the warm browns look best. I tried cool browns and I look sick and pale when I wear them. So thanks again. I will try the drape test and see if I can pin this down. It would make clothes shopping so much easier and I would feel more confident in my clothes if I know the right colors are making me look good.
With this system I would be a winter. Yet grey totally washes me out (if winters are suppossed to wear greys well). Blue grey, however is one of my best colors and the only grey I can wear well. Mistake to say winters can wear grey?
Nice work and approach. I just have to ask how come you started talking about primary colors and then used a non primary red. I would like to see somebody manage to use magenta red (which is the primary red, the red shown contains a lot of yellow already) to explain skin tones and seasonal color analysis
Merriam, I legit can't tell if I'm warm or cool! I know I'm light olive and muted but I can't tell which direction! It must legitimately be so subtle a difference because I cannot tell.
Okay. So a warm skin tone is yellow based skin tone, a cool is blue based, and red and green are the only neutrals. You say a neutral is impossible with that concept. Then in the next image you say that neutral is just equal parts red, yellow, and blue. I get that even the smallest amount more one way or the other tips the scale into being warm or cool, but if that amount is so tiny for some people, couldn't they still be classified as neutral even if it isn't computerized neutral? Those very small percentages one way or another could still make someone look terrible in both cool or warm traditional color palettes and need something that leans closer to the true reds and greens. Example: Someone does all the tests for undertone, it's inconclusive. They look terrible in most yellow based and blue based colors. The closer they get to true red or true green, the better stuff looks on them. So then they try muted vs bright versions of those colors and muted doesn't look good either. Like dusty pinks or soft yellows for example looking bad. That would throw out the whole autumn or winter theory wouldn't it?
I'm only just discovering all of this because I'm looking for my undertone. I've always thou how can you have neutral foundation when really makeup companies are just mixing their warm and cool foundations? Surely they need to take colour out? Because I'm so pale (and have rosacea) I've always been told I have a rosy undertone, because foundations were so limited. If I looked for neutral undertones they were always too warm for me, and even the cool ones are too pink. I always felt my skin had a lot of cool grey in it, and not much "colour" at all, just lots of discolouration. I've been wearing a pale "neutral" foundation which isn't bad when blended out although it's still orangey, but recently I tried a sample of a foundation which had a lovely grey desaturated look, and when it was finally released it was described as olive! I love that I've finally found a foundation that suits me, so now it's time to check out more of your videos.
I’m very neutral. Maybe slightly cool, but I can wear colors from all of the palettes. Not all of them, but it’s been very frustrating trying to determine because there’s so much mid in my color, contrast, and chroma.
I'm still confused I wished you would have shown more examples. I always thought I was neutral, I'm a light olive like Lady Gaga. My ancestors are from Italy and Spain mostly. I been told i'm a warm fall than I been told I am a cool winter. I have a hard time finding the right color of foundation the yellow makes me look dull or even orange because my face has a lot of redness to it. And cool tone either washes me out or makes it look even more red. Then one lady did a color match at the Estee Lauder counter and matched me at 2N1 Desert Beige which was perfect , it toned down the redness and you can't see it on my neck and with a rose toned blush it gives me a nice healthy glow. I'm not sure if rose colors are cool or warm though. Gold jewelry blends in to my skin but silver stands out on me . So I was wondering what you think .
Your presentation is a bit rigid when it comes to disallowing neutral skin tones. I have a skin tone that goes from an almost translucent pale without sun to a light tan or reddish if I recently tanned. Here is where we can both be accurate. One can have a more neutral zone skin undertone where others are clearly warm or cool. For the neutral zone skinned, it is possible to be able to wear both warms and cools (yet not together) and it's a flattering look.
It's definitely more difficult to tell the difference between warm and cool for people who are in this 'neutral zone'--I talk exactly about that in my 'What is Chroma' video! But still, the 'neutral zone' is actually a 'muted zone', and one would either be warm muted or cool muted. You may find that these people do look better in either warm muted colors or cool muted colors.
With practically everything there is a degree to which something is true. I don't look good in very warm colors or very cool colors. I am more in the middle. I think this makes perfect sense. It's like being an introvert vs. being an extrovert - everyone sits somewhere on that range and most are not at the extreme. Anyway, I do think there is a neutral skin tone.
I am still confused....i thought all colors but black could turn into warm or cool, depending on the shade...I have seen red hair people looking amazing in a particular shade of blue, i have have seen Kate Midlenton look great in yellow and she is Summer...
You could take a look at my redhead video! Redheads can sometimes be cool too. Could you link a photo of where Kate looks good in yellow? I'd be curious to take a look.
@@merriamstyle there are 2 dresses....one litter and the other one more pastel...i like the paster better...type : Kate Middlenton Shows off Her Yellow Dress...on youtube
I'm so confused. I have an olive undertone, bright cold colours look good on me and I get lots of compliments but my skin also really glows in warm muted colours like peach and I get lots of compliments when I wear those as well. I literally CANNOT wear bright warm colours without looking sallow and sick, and soft cold coluors are ok-ish but wash me out. *Basically, summer, autumn= fantastic, winter= underwhelming and meh, spring= horrible.* I've watched so many of these videos but I still can't figure it out :/
Lexie Clement Do you know Audrey Coyne on RU-vid? She is a cool olive skin tone. I think olive skin can be cool or warm. It’s a mix of blue and yellow, but sometimes more yellow, sometimes more blue. And that’s why you can wear a little warm colors, but look better in cool tones. You have a both colors in your skin, but not really neutral, just a good mix 😉 I hope you understand what I mean, English is not my mother tongue 🙈
wow, this is the first place i find where someone says red is neutral! this is what i always felt, because i find red can look good on anyone, of course adding white, black or gray accordingly... I am cool skinned, light skin, my natural hair color is a very ashy dark blonde/light brown, eyes are very dark cool brown, almost black, sometimes reddish, and intense medium red hair just gives me life! I never could explain why if red is supposed to be a very warm color. But the red that works on me has to be in the true red category, never leaning towards orange.
Your presentation is lovely and I enjoy listening to your ideas. However, I must tell you that this is an inaccurate and simplistic analysis of color. Every hue /color has both warm and cool shades. Just adding "green" to a "blue" does not necessarily create a "cool" blue. There are cool blues and warm blues as with all colors. Color is much more complex than this. If I missed a more in depth video addressing this ,my apologies. I just see many individuals in fashion and color typing making this huge mistake, which throws everything off.
Thank you for your comment. Actually, I think the mistake is precisely thinking that there is such a thing as a warm blue or a warm purple. I have a video coming up discussing this (a lot of people come to me saying there are warm purples, not true at all, not technically, and not in terms of color analysis)! I hope you'll see what I mean. :) Adding blue to a *neutral* green does absolutely create a cool green. Adding blue to a warm green--that's a different story, if that green has more yellow even after you added the blue, it will remain warm. At the end of the day, cool/warm is nothing more than how much yellow vs how much blue a color has in total. The complications come from deeply misunderstanding that. And that led to a lot of confusion down the line that propagated all throughout color analysis.
Thank you for this video! I thought I was a neutral-cool undertone. I have both blue and green veins. I am fair-light with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. I burn easily but can also tan. I think I look better in yellow gold jewelry than silver or white gold even though I think I’m more cool than warm. Is it possible that I’m a fair-light olive undertone? I am Sicilian and was born in Sicily but previously thought I was too light to be an olive undertone.
My grandpa is from Sicily too. I thought I was neutral because I have a light olive skin I can see both green and blue veins and burn a little but tan pretty good . My hair is medium brown and my eyes are medium brown too. I think Mediterranean people do tend to be more olive tones. My ancestors are from Italy and Spain mostly. I don't look good in bright colors except true red.
Ermmm actually I'm confused... When my exposure to sunlight is very low, I can possibly wear bright yellow but not when I tanned... when I tanned, bright yellow looks horrible on me. When my exposure to sunlight is very low, bright blue looks amazing on me. When I'm tanned, I still could possibly wear bright blue but of course not when I'm at my lightest shade and at least it's not like horrible. But overall most of my hairstylist and the staffs at the cosmetic counters thought I'm warm yellow... I'm really confused...
I'm a weird case, the only color that looks awful on me is true red. I can wear bright or muted colors in blue, yellow, green, pink, orange, brown, grey, and white. I always thought I was a bright yellow or orange because I can see it immediately even though my skin tone is deep black.
Well f*ck. This is very informative and I can hear the passion so thank you for that. Unfortunately, I still have no idea what I am aside from neutral even after this and seeing the colour chart. The gold or silver test doesn't work on me... but more importantly more blue leaning FACE makeup and clothes looks better on me while my EYE makeup can tolerate more warm rather than cool. So.. I warm eyelids and cool cheeks and lips. I'm still stumped. Also I'm OBVIOUSLY also not olive. After watching this, I still can't f*cking tell. I'm tanned so I used to think I'm warm and so I got a lot of coral-y colours for makeup... and they all look bad on me. On the flipside the cool colour eye palettes looks bad on me too. I know all this because at some point I've actually learned to add colour to my makeup manually. E.g. i add pure blue colour onto my red lipstick. Autumn and winter colours all look good on me and other ppl can't help tell me if one looks better than the other is better either. Neither is "best". Nothing wrong with the video; I can see the logic. I'm just STILL frustrated.
Me too! I'm medium light complexion with warm undertone and warms colours bring out the worst of yellow in me. Blue brightens my face and looks healthy. Strange right?
I've personally found it helpful not to think of this topic in absolutes. Every person has different colors within their skin. Some people are very warm or very cool, but more of us probably fall somewhere other than one of the extremes. Based on your photo (although you're probably wearing makeup and I'm not sure if you're in natural lighting), I think you lean cool.
I am a gril from the netherlands and I have a neutral undertone, however I look very yellow/warm and gold suit me better. My hair is natural dark blonde and I have dark brown eyes. I always struggle between dark autum, dark winter and true autumn. Orange and green are my best colors but I can also wear some shades of pink. Can someone help me out?
ooof. I legit think I'm neutral, even after this video. Actually, ESPECIALLY, after this video. Because I don't like to wear blue, and I also don't like to wear yellow. My BEST colors are greens and reds (except bright red and like a highlighter green). My FAVORITE non neutral colors to wear are a muted chartreuse/ pear green, and deep magenta. is green with a bit of yellow, and magenta is red with a bit of blue... If BOTH of these are my best non netural colors... does this make me neutral?? I can wear black, brown, and navy... White tends to be too bright though. I SWEAR. I am one of the 2 in infinity neutrals. The true blue test made my skin look ashy... The true yellow made my skin look ashy also. The pale blue and pale yellow both look fine.... I tried BRIGHT red, like (when you think of a bold red lip) just to check, and my skin looks sickly green when I put it on. I unfortunately don't have any true green to try... Maybe looking sickly green in bright red means something?? nothing else gave me any drastically bad or drastically good result.
This is such a great explanation of warm and cool colors in general and I do understand what you are saying. My trouble begins when I try to match my color with my hair color, which I like warmer, because I don't like the cool blond tones or greys that come about when those tones are used on my hair. It has nothing to do with my undertones being warm or cool. I have been confused because my eyes are hazel with bright "yellow" and dark green mixed with brown. And will go much greener with some greens. They appear warm. And my hair wants to go yellow or brassy, because of the neutral undertones the dyes bring out. It is so hard to get all three, my hair, my likely cool undertone, which is very pale and has a lot of pink, and my eye color. I suspect I am cool undertone, because I don't have any yellow in my color scheme. And it is not a color I look good in. Then to figure out what color will blend with all three. It is not easy to figure all this out. This was a great video. Thanks so much. Jnetti.
Omg! I wished I'd found this video 2 years ago! I alwas thought I was cool toned. I could never figure out my undertone. I gave up and just claimed neutral. After watching this video, I am an autumn (warm and delicate). I'm so happy I could cry!!!❤
you should watch my video called golden overtones with cool undertones, and also my more recent videos on how to find your color type to confirm! lots of warm and delicate think they're cool because they look good in everything, and because silver looks better than gold. but really, they aren't warm enough for gold, so rose gold is best.
@@merriamstyle If rose gold looks really awkward on me regardless tanned or not means...? And I can never figure out gold or silver good on me but aged silver definitely looks good on me. So do black especially when I'm lighter skin tone with very little sunlight exposure. I'm really confused actually =(
@@JoanKSX you're probably cool and delicate when you have more pigment to your skin, but cool and radiant if you're light enough like anne hathaway (when black looks good). i have a video called the lightest skin tones you should check out if you actually do have a pretty light skin tone! but brushed/antique silver = cool and delicate. and if rose gold doesn't look good, you're most likely not warm and delicate.
