# How to find your undertone: cool, warm, neutral or olive

> Your undertone is the color under the surface of your skin: cool (pink, red or bluish), warm (golden, peachy or yellow), neutral (a mix of both) or olive (a green or gray cast). It doesn’t change with a tan. Check it in daylight with the vein, jewelry and white-paper tests, then confirm with a foundation swatch on your jaw.

## Undertone is not skin tone
Skin tone, or depth, is how light or deep your skin is: from 1 to 10 on the Monk scale. Undertone is the hue underneath. Two women with the same depth can have different undertones, which is why the same foundation can look pink on one and perfect on the other.

## Four quick tests, in daylight
- Veins: look at the inside of your wrist. Mostly blue or purple suggests cool; mostly green suggests warm; hard to tell suggests neutral.
- Jewelry: if silver makes your skin look brighter, you may be cool; if gold does, warm; if both look good, neutral.
- White or cream: hold pure white paper, then cream paper, under your chin. Skin that looks better next to white leans cool; next to cream, warm.
- Foundation swatch: stripe a pink, a neutral and a yellow shade of your depth on your jaw. The one that disappears tells you your undertone.

## What olive looks like
Olive skin has a green or gray cast and is found at every depth, from light to deep. Many warm foundations look too orange on olive skin and cool ones look gray. Look for shades labeled olive, or neutral shades with a yellow-green base.

## Why light changes everything
Warm indoor bulbs make everyone look warmer and cold LEDs make skin look cooler. Do every test facing a window in daylight, without makeup and without a filter.

## What your undertone means for makeup
- Cool: foundation with a pink or rosy base; blush in pink, rose or berry; lips in blue-reds, berries and mauves.
- Warm: foundation with a golden or peach base; blush in peach, coral or apricot; lips in orange-reds, terracotta and warm nudes.
- Neutral: a balanced base; most blush and lip colors work, so choose by your depth.
- Olive: neutral-to-yellow bases with a hint of green; blush in warm rose or terracotta; lips in brick, rosewood and warm berry.

## Questions
### Can my undertone change?
Your undertone stays the same. Your depth can change with sun and seasons, which is why your summer foundation may be a shade deeper, but the undertone under it doesn’t change.

### Is olive warm or cool?
Neither: olive is its own undertone, with a green or gray cast. It often sits close to neutral, which is why many women with olive skin find both warm and cool foundations a little off. Look for olive or neutral-yellow shades.

### Can AI find my undertone?
Yes, if the light is good. Glam Bestie checks your light first, then reads your undertone and depth from three photos and gives your shades in plain words. If the light is too yellow or too dark, it asks you to fix it first.

Start my free scan: https://glambestie.com/
Source: https://glambestie.com/guides/find-your-undertone