Determining dark skin tones and undertones

Dark skin tones from tan to bronze can be examined with the object to warmness or coolness and undertones the same way even the article “Determining your skintone and undertone”. Test your skin with silver and gold textile, and then try test with white towel. Remember about good diffused natural lighting, makeup and accessories absence to determine undertones and the “tone temperature” of your skin correctly enough. At first determine the main tone of your skin and then proceed to test your undertone.

It’s important to remember that skin tone and undertone aren’t the constant. They can change according to the health state, climate impact (sun rays, for example), even the age does matter. During the day the instability of undertone can show itself by the light surging from bluish to reddish hues within one color limit. Skin can look dull by the evening but quite fresh in the first half a day, so you’ll need some cosmetic features to correct not only one undertone.

An additional way to determine the undertone is to look at your wrist veins. Greenish veins are coming with yellow with hint of green undertone in case of dark skin tones. This cool yellow undertone often looks like olive-colored skin. Caramel, lightly brownish colored veins are coming with golden undertone. It is warm yellow with hint of red. Brownish and reddish veins are coming with red undertone in case of dark skin. Usually red undertone comes with darker skin tones. Blue undertone is quite rare and comes with deeply dark skin.

Let’s look at celebrity examples of skin color intensity from tan to bronze/ebony:

• Tan. Pale among the dark skin colors. Olive, coffee, caramel hues. Has cool yellow with hint of green or warm yellow golden undertones. For example, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Halle Berry.
• Dark tan. More intensive color skin that looks quite warm, but rarely can be ashen. Undertones can be greenish yellow (that looks ashen) and golden to red, for example, Naomi Campbell, Chanel Iman, Sara Nuru.
• Brown. Naturally beige or lightly sun-tanned skin with yellow to golden undertones. For example, India Arie, Tais Araujo, Lauryn Hill.
• Bronze and ebony. Exotically rare for blue-black undertone. Usually comes with warm red undertone. Alek Wek, Viola Davis, Jeneil Williams for example.

Now we have the skin tones and undertones charts with celebrity examples for any occasion to compare. But remember celeb’s photos are usually from formal arrangements, so we can see only celebrities with make up features on their skin. It’s quite difficult to determine somebody’s natural color by photo. Naomi Campbell can look rather cooler in real life, but her make up artists correct her tone to warm hues, so we are to be satisfied with such unpretentious information as official photos.