6 Tips to Find the Best Lipstick for Your Skin Tone

1. Know the Difference Between Skin Undertones

When it comes to your actual skin tone, light skin tones, medium skin tones, and deep skin tones can all have cool, warm, and neutral undertones. While there are endless variations within each type (because we’re all so wonderfully unique), finding which undertone type most closely matches your skin’s characteristics is an almost foolproof way to help find a lip shade you’ll love.

Cool, warm, and neutral are the three main types of skin undertones. “Technically, all skin is a warm color, but some are slightly warmer or cooler than others. So cool undertones have hints of blue, pink, and purple tones under the skin, warm undertones are on the more golden or olive side, and neutral undertones don’t lean too far in either direction,” Blunder tells us. Those of us with neutral undertones often have a combination of cool and warm undertones.

2. Look At Your Veins

“This one’s an age-old trick that you can use. If you can see your veins and they look a greenish color, you are probably warm-toned. If they are blue, you are probably cool-toned,” says Blunder. If your veins look like they’re a mixture of both blue and green, you likely have neutral undertones.

3. Go Through Your Closet

“Look into your closet and see what colors you gravitate to. Do you feel prettiest in warm or cool colors? You really don’t need to overthink it too much and the important thing is just to try a bunch of colors on (your makeup or your clothes), and really pay attention to what you think brings out the most beauty in your eye color when you wear it,” Blunder recommends. Love it!

4. Consider Your Natural Hair Color

“Redheads are almost always going to be in the warm family. If you are naturally a very icy and light blonde, you most likely have cool undertones. If you have rich auburn or dark hair, you probably fall into the warm skin category. As you change your hair color, it may seem to change the undertones in your skin too, but your natural hair color will always give you a great hint as to what category your undertones fall,” recommends Blunder.

5. Play With Color

A fun way to find what lip color works for you? “Experiment! Makeup wipes off, and that is one of the best things about it. Play and really push the envelope of what you would normally choose and really analyze yourself to see what you think works for you. You can also take pictures of yourself in different types of light (outside, inside, fluorescent, golden hour) and see if that changes the way you feel in certain shades”, Blunder says.

6. Let Your Jewelry Talk

This tried-and-true trick works almost every time. Try on some of your favorite jewelry and see which tones you tend to wear most. If you’re a gold jewelry devotee or favor gold pigments in general, and love the way it looks on you, you may tend to have warmer undertones and a medium to deeper skin tone. If you live in silver jewelry, you may be cool-toned or have a lighter skin tone. Look best in a combo of both? You’re most likely leaning towards neutral undertones with a light, medium to deeper skin tone.

The Best Lipstick Shades for Your Skin

“Cool undertones are a good match for fuchsias, bright pinks, berry shades, blue-based reds, lavender, or violet. For warm tones, all the orangey reds, coppers, corals, peachy-pinks, and warm nude lipsticks look best. For neutral undertones, a true balanced red is always stunning, as well as muted mauve, rose tones, and nudes,” recommends Blunder. Now that you’ve narrowed down your skin tone and undertone type, let’s talk lip shades. Here are some perfect pairings.

For Cool Undertones

Fair skin tones + cool undertones: Try a cherry red shade with blue-undertones like ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS Satin Lipstick in Cherry. We love how pigmented this shade was, and how it made our cupid’s bow pop.

Medium skin tones + cool undertones: A cool-toned shade of lipstick like HAUS LABORATORIES Le Monster Lip Crayon Lipstick in Fuschia Shimmer has the perfect blend of blue-ish pink and red for medium skin tones. Thanks to a mix of peptides and hyaluronic acid spheres (natural moisturizers), it’ll keep your lips looking plump and hydrated and works as a lip liner too.

Deep skin tones + cool undertones: A fine berry wine like DITO Ice Cream Liquid Lipstick in Baneberry is the perfect complement for darker skin tones with a creamy, matte finish that lasts for hours.

For Warm Undertones

Fair skin tones + warm undertones: If you’re looking for a non-flaky matte lipstick, PAT McGRATH LABS MatteTrance Lipstick in Candy Flip is the one. It’s long-lasting, hydrating, and coral-toned.

Medium skin tones + warm undertones: Swipe SHADES BY SHAN Lipstick in Dubai for a light pink-meets-peach treat that won’t wash out your complexion, no matter what the season. It’s chock full of skin-loving moisturizers like jojoba seed wax that keeps our lips soft and juicy.

Deep skin tones + warm undertones: Consider an orangey-red lip your BFF. BITE BEAUTY Outburst Long wearing Lip Stain in Orange Fizz is the perfect shade to complement dark skin tones and it's versatile enough to work for any occasion.

For Neutral Undertones

Fair skin tones + neutral undertones: IL MAKIAGE TALK DIRTY Matte Lip Color in Ariadna is a flattering rosy-mauve shade that we fell in love with at first swatch.

Medium skin tones + Neutral undertones: A mix of pink and coral with soft yellow makes this formula the perfect match for skin with neutral undertones. MAC COSMETICS Cremesheen Lipstick in Fanfare is a mid-tone yellow-pink that smoothes on like a balm with a shimmery, pigmented finish.

Deep skin tones + neutral undertones: If you need a break from your go-to lipstick or lip gloss, this pigmented lip oil is everything. E.L.F Glow Reviver Tinted Lip Oil in Jam Session is super glossy, hydrating, and has a high-shine finish with a deep berry-mauve hue that’s flattering on a wide range of skin tones.

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