Ever wonder if there is some science behind your favorite lipstick or a certain sweater looking so fabulous on you? There is!

It’s not about whether you are light or dark skinned, but it's all about your skin’s undertone. This little detail will assist you not only in beauty, but also in fashion.

Most people fall into 3 categories: cool, warm and neutral!

You may have noticed that foundation shades are often placed into those 3 categories, to help you choose which is right for you, but lip colors are not usually split up into undertones, just nudes, pinks, reds, etc.

The key is not just to identify your skin's undertone, but to find out if the undertones in your lip colors are cool, warm, or neutral. 

In the neutral category, it means that the lip color has equal amounts of cool and warm colored pigments. Think of mixing a golden peach pigment with a cool pink pigment - you will end up with a shade that looks good on everyone.

If you already know your skin’s undertone, you can skip this part and move on to the lip color choices. If not, give this a try:

How to identify your skin’s undertone:

COOL UNDERTONE:                       

ANNE HATHAWAY IS A COOL TONE 

• Your skin tends to have a pink, red or bluish hue to it.
• The veins on your wrist appear to be more blue or purple, than green.
• Your hair – no matter if dark or light, has ashy tones to it. Brassiness is usually not a problem. Grey hair tends to look silver rather than yellowish.
• Your irises, or the speckles in them are aqua, green or gray.
• Silver jewelry tends to look better on you than gold.
• Think of wearing a simple shirt or T-shirt. If you look better in crisp white than warm Ivory, or black rather than brown, you are a cool.

WARM UNDERTONE:   

NICOLE KIDMAN IS A WARM TONE

• Your skin has more of a yellow, peach or golden hue to it.
• The veins on your wrists appear to be green, rather than blue.
• Warm tones usually have reddish tones in their hair, strawberry blonde, golden brown, or a warm black. When bleaching a warm-toned person’s hair, you are always fighting brassiness, and a yellow cast when graying.
• Your irises, or the speckles in them are amber, hazel, gold or brown.
• Gold jewelry tends to look better on you than silver.
• In a plain shirt or T-shirt, you look better in off-white/ivory rather than snowy crisp white, and in brown rather than black.

NEUTRAL UNDERTONE:

RUNWAY ROGUE FOUNDER, PATRICIA HARTMANN IS A NEUTRAL

• First of all, if you have a really hard time figuring out which one you are from the statements above, you are probably a neutral.
• Your skin is neither golden or red, but somewhere in between.
• Looking at the veins on your wrist, you have a hard time telling if they are more blue or green.
• If your hair looks cool toned in regular light, but only has hints of warmth and red when the sun hits it, you are a neutral.
• Your irises, or the speckles in them, have neither or both of the warm or cool tones above.
• You look amazing in silver and in gold jewelry.
• Crisp white or off white shirts both look great, so do black and brown.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS:

COOL UNDERTONES:
Go with blue or purple hues!
If you have a cool undertone to your skin, you will look amazing in nudes that have more pink than peach, berry-toned reds, and purple shades that lean toward plum rather than red. We recommend our gorgeous Runway Rogue Satin finish lipstick in 'Fashionista', which will brighten your complexion without washing you out.

WARM UNDERTONES:
Go with red or orange hues!
If you have a warm undertone to your skin, think earthy nudes, peachy pinks, coral-based reds and bright, warm purples. We recommend our Pearl Glam long wear liquid lipstick in 'Day Rate', a beautiful soft, warm and earthy red with gold shimmer, that will pick up the golden tones in your skin and make you glow.

NEUTRAL UNDERTONES:
A wide spectrum of colors work!
If you have a neutral undertone to your skin, luckily a wide variety of colors are complementary to you! For fair skin we like pink hues, for medium skin we like mauve shades and for deep skin we like berry colors. We recommend our Pearl Glam long wear liquid lipstick in 'Callback', a beautiful earthy berry bronze with silver and gold shimmer.

At the end of the day there are always exceptions, and these are just helpful general guidelines. If your skin’s undertone is cool, but you look amazing in a bright coral red, stop looking at charts and just go for it! One thing is for sure, life is YOUR Runway, and whatever makes you feel beautiful is right for you!

XOXO,

TEAM RUNWAY