When it comes to finding the perfect outfit, we may think about matching colors, accessories, and shoes – but how about finding the right shade to complement your skin tone? This is something that’s often overlooked and yet can play a huge role in pulling off your look successfully.
What Skin Tone Do I Have?
To get started, we need to first ascertain exactly the type of skin tone we have. There are four main skin tones:
Fair – this type of skin is very light in color and tends to burn easily.
Light – your skin is fairly light in color but with more yellow and beige undertones than present in fair skin.
Medium – this skin tone often has olive undertones.
Dark – this type of skin is dark in color and with a deep complexion.
We can now move on to finding the colors of clothing and accessories that will work best with your skin tone.
Choosing Colors
If you have a fair skin tone, the colors likely to work best for you are neutrals such as greys and browns. It’s best to avoid black, as this can make for too harsh a contrast against very pale skin or white, which can create a washed-out look. Greens – including bright emerald shades – vibrant purples, and ruby reds can also look fantastic.
For those with a light skin tone, choose an outfit in blue, pink, purple, or green to best complement your complexion. Pastel shades can also look great with this type of skin. If you’re adding jewelry to your look, then pieces in silver look fabulous against fair and light-colored skin.
Medium skin tones love primary and bold colors, so be brave when you’re picking out clothes for your new look! Orange-yellows, deep browns, olive greens, and purples work well, too, although it’s best to avoid pastel shades, white and black. When it comes to jewelry, traditional, yellow-colored-gold looks beautiful against medium skin tones, so select, for example, a gold name necklace – have a look at the range here https://www.onecklace.com/gold-name-necklaces/ or opt for a simple gold ankle chain or pendant necklace. The warm tones of this precious metal help to make medium skin tones glow and look radiantly healthy.
Those with dark skin tones can usually wear any color. Bright and vibrant shades, such as cobalt, tend to look particularly fabulous, and pastels work equally well. For jewelry, choose rose gold or pieces featuring warm-colored gemstones like citrine, garnet, and carnelian.
Which Colors Work Well Together?
Your best friend in this regard is a color wheel. Have a look online for printable wheels.
When you’re putting your outfit together, unless you’re wearing one block color (that includes the shades of your accessories), then you’re going to need to know which colors work best together in order to pull off your look as magnificently as you want to.
In general, you have two options: you can go for tones that are on the opposing sides of the color wheel, or you can select different parts of your outfit based on what colors are neighbors on the wheel.
For the first option, to identify complementary shades, take your color wheel and find, for example, the color of the dress you have chosen. Let’s say you’ve gone for a mid-blue. Looking at the shades opposite this on the wheel, we find a range of oranges; therefore, to make your blue dress pop, you could consider shoes, accessories, even make-up in this shade.
If you prefer a more subtle look, then go for analogous colors on the wheel; in this case, this would mean teaming the same blue dress with purple or turquoise accessories for a put-together, elegant ensemble.
Matching Jewelry To Skin Tone
We’ve already mentioned above that, in general, silver jewelry looks best on lighter skin tones, while yellow-gold is fabulous against warmer tones. Let’s dig a bit deeper now.
As well as silver, white gold, and platinum metals look lovely worn on pale or light-colored skin. When it comes to gemstones, topaz, emerald, green tourmaline, garnet, and amethyst are likely to work well, too.
Medium and dark skin tones look great wearing rose gold, copper, and brass, as well as traditional yellow-gold. For gemstones, opt for pieces that incorporate peridot, imperial topaz, citrine, and brown zircon.
And we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief when I tell you that diamonds suit every skin tone perfectly.
Don’t Overlook the Accessories
When matching your outfit to your skin tone, don’t forget to consider the colors of your accessories in your ensemble. As well as making sure your jewelry, shoes, and handbag are all working beautifully together, don’t forget these often overlooked items that can still have a significant effect on the overall aesthetic of your outfit:
Glasses – use the color wheel to help you match the color of your frames to the rest of your clothing and accessories choices.
Cell Phone Case – little things like this can make a big difference. That blue dress we were talking about earlier? Why not find a new case in a color that matches or complements it?
Hair Clips – either choose grips that blend with your hair color or go for a more striking clip that picks up on the other tones in your outfit.
Umbrella – and for the ultimate ‘put together’ look, make sure the color of your umbrella’s working for you, too.
Set the Tone
It’s tempting, when it comes to choosing an outfit, to pick the colors that we like rather than the ones that work best for our skin tone. Use this guide to help you find the shades instead that will bring out the beauty of your coloring and work wonderfully together to create the perfect ensemble.
