How to find your undertone (vein, jewellery and white-paper tests)

You can estimate your undertone by comparing your veins, jewellery and white paper with cream beside your face in natural daylight.

These clues are guides, not definitive tests. Look for a pattern across them rather than relying on one result when choosing a hair colour.

What your undertone describes

Your undertone is the subtle overall cast beneath the visible surface colour of your skin. It is usually described as cool, warm, neutral or olive. It is not the same as whether your skin is fair, medium, deep or tan: people with any depth of skin can have different undertones.

A cool undertone may have pink, rosy or bluish hints. A warm undertone may appear more golden, peachy or yellow. Neutral generally means that neither warm nor cool cues clearly dominate. Olive can have a muted green or grey cast and may sit between, or overlap with, warm and cool characteristics.

These descriptions are broad styling terms, not strict categories. Your skin can also look different in different surroundings, and surface colour may distract from the subtler undertone. That is why it helps to compare more than one kind of clue.

Try the vein test

Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist in indirect daylight. If they appear mostly blue or purple, that can point towards a cool undertone. If they look green, that can suggest a warm undertone. If you see a mixture, or cannot tell, you may have a neutral undertone—or the test may simply be inconclusive.

The vein test is easy to try but not dependable on its own. Veins can be difficult to see, and the way their colour appears depends on the skin over them and the lighting. On some skin tones, the colour is not clear enough to sort into blue or green.

Treat your result as one clue, not a final label. Compare it with how silver and gold look against your skin, then check white paper and cream. If those tests point in different directions, do not force a single answer.

Compare gold and silver jewellery

Hold a gold-toned and a silver-toned piece of jewellery near your face, one at a time. Use similar-sized pieces if possible, so that one does not stand out simply because it is larger or brighter. Notice which metal seems to sit comfortably with your skin rather than drawing your attention away from it.

If silver looks more harmonious, that may support a cool undertone. If gold looks more harmonious, that may support a warm one. If both seem equally flattering, neutral is a possibility. Olive undertones can be harder to sort this way: gold may suit some olive complexions, while others can wear both metals.

This is a preference-based comparison, so it is easy to be influenced by which metal you wear most or like best. Compare the metals in the same light and against bare skin where practical. If you are unsure, record the result as mixed rather than choosing the answer you expected.

Compare white paper with cream

Stand near a window in indirect daylight, with no strongly coloured light falling on your face. Hold a piece of bright white paper beside your cheek, then compare it with a cream or ivory surface. Look at your face beside each one, rather than judging the paper in isolation.

Bright white can make cool or rosy undertones look clearer, while cream may appear more harmonious beside warm, golden or peachy undertones. If both look balanced, or neither seems noticeably better, your undertone may be neutral. Olive colouring can make this comparison ambiguous: the two shades may bring out different parts of the skin’s muted cast.

The contrast between the papers matters. A very stark white can look sharp next to many complexions, and a yellowish cream can make a face seem more golden by comparison. Use ordinary white and cream items and focus on which makes your overall colouring appear more balanced, not on whether your skin looks lighter or darker.

Why the tests can disagree

Each test compares something different with your skin: visible veins, metal colour or the contrast of a pale surface. Lighting, the colours around you and your own perception can change what you notice. Skin depth and muted or olive colouring can also make the usual warm-versus-cool clues less obvious.

A mixed result does not mean you have done the tests incorrectly. You could be neutral, olive, or somewhere between common descriptions. It can also mean that a particular test is not useful for your colouring. Give more weight to the clues that look consistent across comparisons, and leave uncertain clues undecided.

Use your result when choosing hair colour

Undertone can help you decide which direction to explore, but it should not dictate your hair colour. Cool undertones often pair well with cool or ash shades, while warm undertones may suit golden, copper or other warm shades. Neutral undertones can often explore either direction, depending on the effect you want.

Olive colouring does not fit neatly into a single warm-or-cool rule. If your tests are mixed, compare colour references in daylight and notice whether the shade looks balanced beside your skin. A muted or neutral option can be a useful starting point when strongly golden or strongly ashy shades seem to compete with your complexion.

Also consider the contrast you want between your hair and skin, and your existing hair colour. Undertone tests do not tell you what result a dye will produce on your hair. If you are choosing a particular shade, use its colour guidance and assess it against your own starting colour rather than relying on undertone alone.

For a practical summary, write down whether each test leaned cool, warm or mixed. A clear pattern is a helpful starting point; a split result is still useful because it suggests you can compare both warm and cool hair-colour options before deciding.