how do you work out whether you're cool toned or warm toned?

[manandbeast]

Ok riddle me this:
Auburn / chestnut hair
Pale blue / green eyes
Yellow undertone to skin - but pale
Burn easily but can tan eventually
Blue and green veins on inside of wrist
Have rosacea so redness in face and flushing

Am 35 and really should have figured this out by now.

Want to buy a bright lipstick but don't know whether to buy one for a cool or warm toned person...

Any ideas?!?

[JeffsanArsehole]

I'm quite Ivory of face but with mousey brown hair and brown/green eyes

I think gold looks dirty on me but occasionally I put it on and think it's ok

And it's not that silver looks strikingly better either

[WhyDoesGastonBark]

Despite everyone going on about how amazing HOC and all those are I generally think its a load of shit. I am most definitely warm toned in my skin but I have blue eyes and a very very dark ash blonde hair, I can dye my hair any colour or tone - any colour, believe me I have had them all... I think I look shit in salmon and olive which are recommended for me and mostly wear bright blues, greens and black or navy. I can wear gold or silver jewellery and I match it to my outfit not my skin colour.... So as for buying my foundation I buy warm, or neutral warm but for anything else I wear what I think looks nice not what warm toned people should wear... Same goes with eyeshadow, I wear whatever colours I want, just blend them in properly and they look ok except maybe one or two colours... Lipsticks I can wear any colour as long as its the right shade, even mac navy works with my skin...

Wear what you like, life is to short!

[goodasitgets]

afghanda that's interesting
Few more pics if they help! I was v v bright orange hair but it's fading with age. Eyes are green and I struggle getting foundation that's pale enough without it looking orange

[HopefulAnxiety]

Gaston sounds like you're neutral (olive tones often look warm even when they're neutral). This is a more difficult skintone to match - HOC I think doesn't cater for neutrals but other colour analyses do. Sounds like you're a bright Spring which wouldn't mean salmon and olive. I would definitely say Spring if you can wear bright greens (like a leaf green). Also I don't think HOC takes hair colour into account, or strictly goes by eye colour.

[HopefulAnxiety]

Also tbh I don't think wrists are a very accurate guide. What colours you look good in is much more accurate.

[Hopefully]

anxiety is 95% right - we don't judge on hair colour or eye colour (or wrist colour). But we do cater for people who are more neutral - I am one, and the system works for me! Like every 12/16 colour system, we have different types of each season, depending on where a person falls on the spectrum.

[HopefulAnxiety]

Right, I meant more that there's not a 'neutral season' but that makes sense! I am neutral and a Winter (not been professionally analysed yet, just spent a lot of time draping myself and it's pretty obvious that I'm a Winter given that royal blue and black look so good, and I can wear hard-to-wear cool-toned bright lipsticks like Candy Yum Yum ). Lips are mauve.

I am absolutely evangelical about using terms like 'olive skin' properly - people use it to mean darker-skinned white people but it specifically has a green undertone, and you can be ultra pale and olive-skinned just as you can be ultra pale and yellow-toned. My best friend has skin the colour of a magnolia wall - still warm (she is a Spring).

[Hopefully]

It's fascinating how many different skin tones there are, and how they can so often surprise you with their season - every time I think I'm going to be able to get a client really easily, inevitably they're the ones that turn out to be something unusual for their colouring. It's good for making me develop a bit of humility

[CreviceImp]

Personally I know I don't fit into any sci/art -colour analysis category. I am very neutral in terms of my colouring, can wear gold or silver, brown or black,cream or white etc. My skintone is neutral, my eyes are a mix of blue and brown and my hair has a cool mid brown base but with natural chestnut streaks. The only thing that looks crap is pale pink lipstick, otherwise I enjoy experimenting.

Lately I have settled on a wardrobe of neutrals(beige,camel,charcoal,black,chocolate,navy, mink,taupe,ginger and tan) which is my personal style preference but one that has cool,neutral and warm tones in. They compliment each other beautifully I feel.

I think the categories are too narrow and restrictive within colour analysis for a lot of people. Some would be better served identifying a few of their favourite/flattering colours and building a capsule around those. You get the structure that a lot of people find helpful but not the shoehorning into a season stuff. I think the Vivienne files are a great resource.

[Hopefully]

I love black and tan.

[Hopefully]

Not on me though, I hasten to add - I look like a freshly dug corpse in black.

[mayum1]

In my case, I am a very cool-toned Asian. Everything warm or neutral looks horrible on me.

[HopefulAnxiety]

Black and tan can work! I think some colour analysis schemes are better and less restrictive than others, and allow for people who border two seasons.

Some people (like me) are very obviously one season. Some are not but I think some good colour analysis programmes allow for that, for example HOC has Blue Autumns and other ways of allowing for people on the cusps of seasons or more unusual colouring in other ways. And no I don't work for HOC - I just find their colour analysis more comprehensive than say CMB.

[HopefulAnxiety]

(and add me as one who can't wear black and tan - unless the tan is shoes or a handbag kept away from my face)

[mayum1]

Oh, sorry, I meant stark white and black work for me. But the other neutrals (like brown, ivory, off-white, bronze, gold, etc) don't. Nude can work in footwear if it's exactly the same colour as my skin, which is a light flesh colour. Otherwise nude shades make my skin look sallow/sickly.

[HopefulAnxiety]

mayum are you East Asian or South Asian (or South-East Asian)? I find Korean companies make foundations in my skintone (which because I'm so pale is basically a very pale beige but with a sort of ashy/greyish undertone) so much more often than Western companies! Cool/neutral-cool skin doesn't mean pink necessarily but it's a nightmare finding any foundation that matches. I'd imagine that darker pink-based skintones have similar issues.

[mayum1]

Hi HopefulAnxiety, I'm South East Asian by descent but I'm always mistaken for East Asian because of my skin colour. Chinese and Koreans always think I'm Chinese or Korean! Nobody has ever guessed my roots from looking at me alone. lol. Even those from my own country.

For foundations, etc I use The Face Shop CC Cream in 01. Chanel, I'm B10 in Vitalumiere Aqua.

[mayum1]

I have not used the cool-toned foundation of Chanel though so not sure if that's better for me. But makeup-wise (blush, lipsticks, etc), everything should be cool-toned otherwise I look weird.

[Floisme]

Can I ask, providng you can tell what colours flatter you, why does it matter?

I can see why it's helpful if you can't tell but it sounds like at least some posters already know what suits them.

[mayum1]

In my case, it saves time and money. If I want a lipstick I can google for cool toned pinks, for example, and I'd have less to choose from. I wasted money on coral lipsticks and blush that I really wanted to work for me but looked horrible.

[scatterthenuns]

Can somebody tell me?

I'm pale - wear an ivory foundation.
Have naturally very dark brown hair, that is ash in tone. I dye it warmer colours, but am planning on going ash blonde at my next app.
My eyes are blue/green/grey.

[mayum1]

scatterthenuns - could you post a face pic? thanks

[scatterthenuns]

No! Sorry.

[mayum1]

scatterthenuns - alright! :)

[scatterthenuns]

Sorry - that was a bit blunt! Just don't want my face to out me!