What is my skins undertone for concealer?

 This week at Jolie Beauty, our Second Skin Concealer range has launched! We are so delighted to announce the arrival of our 24 shades of vegan & cruelty free concealer. Our brand has strived to launch a fully inclusive range of concealers, with different shades and also undertones.

One of our most frequently asked questions on the launch of the Second Skin Concealers is: How do I find out my skin's undertone for concealer? It can certainly be tricky to understand just which shade of concealer will match you best. Here are our top tips for matching your undertone.

STEP 1. Let's find out what area of the shade range you are, before looking at undertone.

Finding out the depth of the concealer you should be using is the first step to finding your perfect match. Most brands usually use a numbering system that list the shades going from light to dark in order (or reversed.) This makes it easier to navigate the range. 

For the Jolie Beauty Second Skin Concealers, our 24 shades of concealer go from 01 (lightest), to number 24 (deepest.) The shades are split into different categories 

• Light
• Light/Medium
• Medium
• Medium/Deep
• Deep 
• Deepest

By looking at the swatches on the website, you can probably guess which of these categories your skin depth falls into. However there is one more consideration you need to make.

STEP 2. Where are you using the concealer?

Are you planning on using the concealer on your face for blemishes? Or are you planning on using it underneath your eyes? To brighten and lift the face, we would always recommend that you use 2 different shades of concealer. 

For the face/blemishes, you should be aiming to match your skin tone as closely as you can. This is where working out your undertone, is more vital, as putting a shade onto a blemish that doesn't match, may make it stand out even more!

For the under eyes, it is common to use a shade lighter here than you would on the rest of the face. For instance, in the Jolie Beauty range - if you are a medium skin tone, you may use a light/medium concealer to brighten and lift this area. You may also choose to pick an undertone that counteracts discolouration underneath the eyes. A neutral, peach based undertone concealer will work under the eyes on lighter tones. As this is a shade that helps counteract any purple of blue of under eye circles. For darker skin tones, an golden yellow or orange based concealer is great for this area.

STEP 3. Undertone tips

There are a few different methods that us Makeup Artists use to finding out what undertone will suit our clients. Undertones usually fall into three different categories - cool, neutral and warm.

The vein test: For lighter skin types you can look at the veins on the wrist. If your veins look green underneath your skin, this means you probably have warmer undertones. If they look blue or purple, this means you could be cooler in tone. If you can see a little bit of both, this is neutral.

The jewellery test:

This is a more subjective test, but the colour of the jewellery you are drawn to might indicate what undertone your skin is. Warm toned skin types look best in gold jewellery, so they may be drawn to this style. Whereas, cooler skin tones look great is silver and might be drawn more to silver jewellery.

Of course, your jewellery preference could be influenced by your style icons or inheriting jewellery from family. So this isn't always the most accurate test.

Your natural features:

Your natural eye and hair color can help figure out your coloring. Customarily, cool people have blue, gray, or green eyes and blond, brown, or black hair with blue, silver, violet and ash undertones.

Conversely, warm-toned women usually have brown, amber, or hazel eyes with strawberry blond, red, brown, or black hair. Their hair tends to have gold, red, orange, or yellow undertones.

Your skin in the sun:

Do you tan easily and never burn? This means you are more likely to have warmer undertones to your skin.  Cooler undertones are more likely to burn, whereas neutral undertones, might burn first but then this will turn to a tan.

Put on a white shirt:

A white shirt gives the contrast you need to really focus on what tone your skin is. If you feel a white shirt makes your skin look yellow, this means you may have a warmer undertone. You may also feel that creamy colours suit your complexion more than white. Cool undertones may feel their skin looks pink against the  white shirt.  

We hope that these tips really helped you pick the right undertone for your concealer or any other complexion products! If you are interested in shopping our Second Skin Concealer range, then please click here.

If you'd like to know more about the formula, why not watch our video by CEO, Jolie Cash, who explains more!