Colour guide How colour works on you.
The words the Colour Finder uses, in short. None of it is a rule: your skin undertone does not stop you wearing any product undertone, and every colour family stays in the finder’s results.
Skin depth
How light or deep your skin is, on the same twelve depths as Beautler’s foundation shade finders. Here it only changes how a colour reads on you: close to your skin depth reads natural, much lighter or deeper reads as contrast.
Skin undertone
The colour beneath the surface of your skin: cool, neutral, warm or olive. It is separate from depth. Your skin undertone does not stop you wearing any product undertone.
How to tell your undertone
Undertone is the colour beneath the surface of your skin. It is separate from depth: deep skin can be cool, and fair skin can be warm or olive.
Vein test
Veins on the inside of your wrist, in daylight.
| What you see | Undertone |
|---|---|
| Blue or purple | Cool |
| Green | Warm |
| Blue-green, or hard to tell | Neutral |
| Green with a grey or ashy cast | Olive |
Sun test
How your skin reacts to the sun.
| What you see | Undertone |
|---|---|
| Burns easily, rarely tans, goes pink | Cool |
| Tans easily, rarely burns, goes golden | Warm |
| Burns a little, then tans | Neutral |
| Tans quickly to a greenish or grey tan | Olive |
- Fabric. Hold white, then cream, fabric against your face. White flatters cool, cream flatters warm, both look right on neutral.
- Jewellery. Silver flatters cool, gold flatters warm, both look right on neutral.
If the signs disagree, choose Neutral, or choose Not sure to match on skin depth alone.
Product undertone
The lean of the product’s own colour. A cool red leans blue, a warm red leans orange, a neutral red sits between. Any skin undertone can wear any of them.
- CoolBlue-based red
- NeutralBalanced red
- WarmOrange-based red
Harmony, contrast and bold
Three ways a colour can sit with your skin. None is a rule; the finder uses them only to order suggestions, and every colour family stays in the results.
- Harmony
- A product undertone or colour depth close to your skin’s. Reads soft and natural.
- Contrast
- A deliberate difference in undertone or depth. Reads more noticeable.
- Bold
- A strong, bright or very deep colour. Reads as a statement whatever your skin.
Natural lip colour
Your lips’ own colour shows through sheer and buildable products, so the same shade can look different on different lips. Opaque products cover it.
- Pale pink
- Rosy pink
- Pink-brown
- Mauve
- Brown
- Deeply pigmented
- Uneven or two-toned
Finish and opacity
Finish is how much the product shines; opacity is how much of your natural lip it covers.
- Matte.
- No shine. Colour reads flatter and often stronger.
- Satin.
- A soft sheen between matte and cream.
- Cream.
- Smooth with a moist look and gentle shine.
- Glossy.
- Wet-look shine.
- High shine.
- Mirror-like shine; light reflects strongly.
- Shimmer.
- Fine reflective particles.
- Metallic.
- Foil-like reflect.
- Sheer tint.
- A wash of colour with the lip showing through.
- Sheer.
- Your natural lip colour shows through and changes the result.
- Buildable.
- Sheer in one layer, stronger with more.
- Opaque.
- Covers the natural lip; the colour looks closest to the swatch.
Colour families
The colour groups used by the finder, the filters and every lip product page.
- NudeClose to a natural lip or skin colour: beige, pink-beige, caramel, cocoa.
- PinkClear pinks, from pale baby pink to bright fuchsia.
- RoseMuted, dusty pinks with a touch of brown.
- RedTrue reds, from blue-based cherry to orange-based tomato.
- CoralPink-orange.
- PeachSoft, light orange-pink.
- OrangeClear oranges and orange-reds.
- BerryDeep pink-reds and wine colours.
- MauvePink-purple with grey or brown.
- PlumDeep purple-reds and burgundy.
- BrownBrowns from cinnamon to espresso.
- PurpleViolet and lilac.
- ClearNo colour of its own; adds shine over the lip or a lipstick.
- OtherBlack, white, blue, green and other statement colours.