You’d think jewelry and skin tone don’t really have all that much to do with each other, but in truth it’s crucial to align them. The right skin tone with the right metal can make you stand out, and there’s a simple way of figuring out which metal works best for you.
Keep in mind that by skin tone we don’t mean skin color – from fair to dark. We mean the bluish-pink and greenish-yellow undertones in the skin. All people have a skin tone, and that never changes, even if the skin color itself changes due to tanning or vitiligo.
In short, we’re going to help you figure out how to match your skin tone – cool, warm, neutral – with your jewelry – gold and silver. This can be applied to many other things, such as the shade of foundation you wear, the colors you dress in, even the color you dye your hair.
Jewelry and skin tone – How to match them
Jewelry and skin tone usually follow the rule of cool skin tones matching better with silver jewelry, warm skin tones matching better with gold jewelry, and neutral skin tones can wear both silver and gold and still look flattering.
It all has to do with the underlying color in your skin. All people have a tint to their skin, whether it’s pink, yellow, or somewhere in between. The right color jewelry with the right skin tone will look great, and a poor pairing will leave you looking washed out and poorly coordinated.
So how do you figure all this out ? You figure out your skin tone first.
How to check your skin tone
Your skin tone always falls on a range of colors, from bluish-pink to greenish yellow, as an undertone. There are several ways to check what skin tone you have, and knowing this will allow you to make better decisions when it comes to the colors you wear. It may sound superficial, but the colors you wear really do matter in that they either flatter or completely wash you out. Here’s how to figure out your skin tone.
Check the veins on your wrist
The first and easiest method to check your skin tone is to check the veins on the inside of your wrists. That skin is usually very, very thin and your vein should easily show up. Look at both hands.
Are your veins predominantly purple-blue ? You’ve got a cool skin tone, usually paired with colder colors like pink, blue, lilac, grey, silver, green.
Are your veins predominantly green ? You’ve got a warm skin tone, usually paired with warm colors like red, orange, yellow, copper.
Are your veins of mixed color ? There could be a few greenish and a few purplish, or maybe their overall color is hard to set into either green or purple. You’re got a neutral skin tone, meaning you’ve got equal amounts on blue and yellow in your skin. This means you won’t have to worry about the colors you wear.
We recommend following up this test with the next 2, just to get a 3 out of 3 result. It’s always better to be accurate.
Read also: Why Is Gold So Valuable ?
Check with silver and gold
Another method of checking whether you’ve got a cool, warm, or neutral skin tone is to check with a piece of jewelry. You need something silver, something gold (yellow gold) and your skin.
You can check this anywhere on your skin, though we recommend checking against the inside of your wrists again. Put the metal onto your skin, and see which compliments your skin better.
Does silver look better ? Then you’ve got a cool skin tone.
Does gold look better ? Then you’ve got a warm skin tone.
Or do both look fine ? Then you’ve got a neutral skin tone.
Check with cool or warm colors
Another method is to check with the colors you usually wear. Find something of a cool color, like blue or green. And something warm like red or orange or yellow.
Try them on and see which flatter you the most. Not the way it sits on your body, but the way it pairs with your skin. If the cooler colors make you pop better, you’ve got a cool skin tone.
And yes, if the warm colors look better you’ve got a warm skin tone.
If you can’t really tell the difference, you’ve likely got a neutral skin tone.
Alright, that’s 3 out of 3 tests, and you’re hopefully very well informed. So what do you do with this information ? Read on.
Cool skin tones with silver or white jewelry
If you’ve got a cool skin tone, you’re likely to have a pinkish hue to your skin. Don’t check your face, it may be reddened from washing it recently, you may have blemishes or rosacea. It’s not the best place to figure this out.
Check your neck for pinkish tones, and the inside of your arms. You may also have freckles and you may have a difficult time tanning. You may develop sun spots, which are easy to confuse with freckles. Your hair may have ashy-silver reflexes in it, without actually being silver or grey.
You skin tone pairs best with silver, or white jewelry. This means silver, platinum, white gold, or even rhodium plated white gold. As long as it’s not yellow and it leans heavily towards silvery-white it’s going to flatter you.
This applies to jewelry, metal accents on your clothes, shoes, bags, hats, glasses, etc. Anywhere there is a bit of silver or gold, you’ll look better with silver.
Warm skin tones with gold or yellow jewelry
Warmer skin tones usually have a yellowish cast to them that sounds odd on paper, but looks impressive in real life. That yellow tone looks kind of like an inner glow. You may have seem this category also named autumn or spring.
If you fall into this category you likely tan very beautifully and with minimal burning, your freckles may be reduced to a minimum. Your natural hair may be richly pigmented, no matter the color it is, and it may have caramel-golden reflexes.
As a warm skinned person you look best in gold, from jewelry to clothes to metal accents on accessories, anything. Of course, this means any yellow metal will likely look flattering on you.
Neutral skin tones with both silver and gold jewelry
You may find yourself right between warm and cool skin tones. That’s fine, neutral skin tones are actually blessed, since almost any color they choose to wear will look great on them. They key though is to pick an overall tone for your outfit and stick with it, except the accessories.
So for example if you’ve got a neutral skin tone and choose to wear a dark blue, cool dress you can add a gold accent without ruining the look. But adding half cool and half warm colors won’t work in your favor. Something like a warm shirt and a cool bottom won’t go together well.
To figure this out, keep in mind that the blue and yellow tone also applies to the colors you wear on clothes. There are yellowish reds, and there are bluish reds. There are yellowish shades of blue and there are very blue-purple shades of blue.
When it comes to just jewelry though, you can go with either silver or gold and you will look good.
Read also: Silver VS Gold In Jewelry
What skin tone does rose gold fit ?
Rose gold looks very flattering on cool and neutral skin tones. The pink color is usually a very cool one, so the only way a warm skin tone could wear rose gold would be if it had a bit of yellow in it. The easies way to get rose gold with a bit of yellow cast is to get 18k rose gold, as that has less pink and more yellow.
Just to be clear, rose gold is made with gold and copper, and in some cases a bit of nickel or zinc is added. This gives it a silvery-pink sheen, and it’s usually found in 14k gold. A higher carat rose gold has more pure gold in it, thus more yellow in it.
That being said, rose gold is a bit of a wild card anyway. You can try wearing it even if you’re warm skinned, some may like the bold look.
Always match your metals
Whatever kind of metal you think works best for you, try and refrain from mixing them. As in, if you look flattering with silver, then keep all your jewelry, accents, and accessories in the same color when building an outfit.
In general, mixing a silver bracelet with a gold ring and then some gold earrings with a silver necklace looks tacky and like you didn’t put much thought into it.
What if you’re neutral toned ? What if you can easily wear both silver and gold ? In that case the same rule applies, because this is about the overall look, not what goes well with your skin tone. So if you’re a neutral skin tone, plan an outfit to only include either silver or gold, not both.
Picking a color and sticking with it gives any outfit a coherent look. Having various colored metal accents will only make your look seem disorganized, rather than harmonious.
I’m the main author for jewelrymaterialguide.com. I started this site after we did tons of research before our wedding and noticed that there is information about rings, jewelry, and so on that is really hard to find on the internet.