Skin Tone Color Wheel: Select colors to complement your skin tone [Infographic]

Matt Stelter
Monroe and Main
Published in
4 min readMar 1, 2021

If you’re looking to freshen up your wardrobe, go for a hue that will complement your skin tone color. Choosing the wrong color can make your skin and hair appear dull, while the right colors will accentuate them, helping you look great and feel confident!

Color Me Confident
Pick The Right Temperature
Break The Rules
Starting the Color Journey
Color Combinations
Mixing It Up

Check out these tips on how to choose a color that better suits your skin tone.

Light skin tones: Cool color tones

Start by choosing the right temperature — are you better suited for a warmer or cooler tone? Light, ivory skin tones are best enhanced with cool undertones such as pink, blue, green, and purple. These colors will also make blonde, black, ash, or red hair stand out.

Jewel tones, such as emerald, are a great way to go if you’re a light-skinned woman. Pastels and a classic camel hue will also look gorgeous against pale skin with neutral undertones. Pair cool color tones with silver accessories.

Medium skin tones: Metallic color tones

Many women of envious of those with medium skin tones. They tan easily with minimal sun exposure and don’t burn easily. Even more important, their skin tones can be complemented by a variety of colors. However, if you’re a bronzed beauty, our recommendation is to go with metallic color tones.

With warm, medium skin tones, you can most likely pull off any type of metallic color, ranging anywhere from silver to copper. Shades of gray will also highlight your medium skin tone. If your skin is on the lighter end of the spectrum still, opt for a charcoal gray. If it’s a bit darker, go for a pale gray to make your natural coloring stand out.

If you’re feeling funky, go for neon. There are very few women who can pull off these highlighter hues, but ladies with a tanned tone can usually get away with it.

Dark skin tones: Warm color tones

Warm fabrics look striking on ladies with olive, golden, beige, or brown skin tones. Women who have dark brown, golden brown, red, or auburn hair will also stand out against warm colors such as red, orange, and golden yellow.

Light yellow will look radiant against a cocoa complexion, as will a deep cobalt blue. But nothing stands out against dark hair and dark skin quite like your classic ruby red. Pair warm tones with bold accessories such as a gold bangle bracelet.

Check out this article to learn more about the best colors for best skin tones.

Pops of color

Spice up any outfit with a red lip, but be sure it’s the right red. Finding the perfect color that will complement your skin tone is difficult, so here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Fair skin, pink undertones: Coral reds or matte reds with a hint of orange are best.
  • Fair skin, yellow undertones: Choose coral or brick red.
  • Medium skin, bronze undertones: True, cranberry, or pink-based reds will pop.
  • Dark skin, cool undertones: Blue-based reds such as fig or dark cherry are perfect. Avoid anything too bright.

Originally published at https://www.monroeandmain.com on March 1, 2021.

--

--

Matt Stelter
Monroe and Main

A 20-year Internet Marketing expert with a passion for building brands through content marketing, video, search marketing, SEO, CRO & UX optimization.