What is seasonal skin tone?

It's snowing
Getting Beautiful Skin Image Gallery Seasonal skin tone is a way of thinking about the colors that are most flattering on you. See more pictures of getting beautiful skin.
©iStockphoto.com/druvo

You have that shirt you love -- the one that makes your eyes pop, complements your skin and plays up your hair color. Why does that shirt seem to look better on you than some of your others? It may be due to seasonal skin tone, also known as your seasonal colors.

Seasonal skin tone doesn't refer to the actual changing of the weather -- rather, the types of skin tones have been grouped according to the names the seasons. Knowing your season can help you choose the clothes that are most flattering to you.

Advertisement

To find out your season, first figure out if your skin color is cool or warm. Look at your forearm in natural daylight -- what do the undertones look like? If they are pink or blue, and your veins look bluish, you have a cool skin tone. If you see yellow undertones with greener veins, you have a warm skin tone.

Once you've determined whether you're warm or cool, you can figure out which season fits you best:

  • Winter: If you have a cool skin tone with darker hair, you're probably a winter. Winters will have a deep contrast between their hair color, eye color and skin tone. As such, winters often look best in rich colors like blue, red and hot pink, and they should avoid neutral, earthy tones.
  • Spring: Springs are warm skin tones with lighter hair -- often blonde, red or very light brown. Spring skin tones will look best in pale, clear and bright colors. They should avoid dark colors, as well as wearing black and white, as it's too much of a contrast.
  • Summer: If your hair and skin are both light with a cool tone, you're most likely a summer. Summer skin tones should stick to pastel, muted and neutral tones while avoiding bright colors that can overpower their pale coloring.
  • Fall: Warm skin tones with hair from red to black are often falls. As one of the widest ranges of skin and hair tones, falls can also wear the largest range of clothes, particularly earthy and rich colors. However, pastels and bright colors can wash out a fall's skin tone.

No matter your season, there are colors that can look great on you. To learn more, visit the links on the following page.

Advertisement

Lots More Information

Related HowStuffWorks Articles

  • Beauty and the Bath. "Spring Color and Skin Tone." (Accessed 7/16/09) http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/Spring-Color-And-Skin-Tone.html
  • Beauty and the Bath. "Summer Color and Skin Tone." (Accessed 7/16/09) http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/Summer-Color-And-Skin-Tone.html
  • Beauty and the Bath. "Warm Autumn Color and Skin Tone, the Colors of Fall." (Accessed 7/16/09)http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/Warm-Autumn-Color-and-Skin-Tone.html
  • Beauty and the Bath. "Winter Season Hair Styles and Hair Color." (Accessed 7/16/09)http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/winter-season-hair-styles-and-hair-color.html
  • Ketteringham, Kristin. "Finding the Right Color for Your Skin Tone." Associated Content. (Accessed 7/16/09) http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/328243/wearing_the_right_color_for_your_skin.html
  • Kim, Justine. "How to Match Colors To Your Skin Tone." The Soko. (Accessed 7/16/09)http://www.thesoko.com/thesoko/article742.html

Advertisement

Loading...