11 Signs You’re Warm-Toned
- 23 hours ago
- 4 min read
Have you ever noticed that certain colors make your skin look radiant and healthy, while others leave you looking sallow or dull? Do you prefer gold jewelry to silver, yellow and orange to blue and purple? If so, you might be warm-toned and fall into a Warm season like True Spring or True Autumn.
What Does it Mean to Be Warm-Toned?
Being "warm-toned" refers to the underlying hue of your skin, hair, and eyes. Warm undertones typically manifest as golden, yellow, or peachy tints in the skin, golden or reddish highlights in the hair, and warm shades in the eyes. Conversely, cool undertones have pink, red, or blue hues.Â
However, in the 12-season color analysis system, warm-toned might not mean the same as it does for makeup, for example. What we’re looking for is the undertone, not overtone. Makeup like foundation typically relies on the overtone. Hence, don’t rely too much on what your foundation bottle says when determining your undertone for color analysis.
In the 12-season color analysis system, seasons can either be fully-warm, fully-cool or neutral-warm and neutral-cool. For neutral seasons, temperature (warm vs cool) can be a bit tricky to determine. Whereas, if you’re fully warm or cool, it should be a little more obvious. Read more about temperature (warm vs cool) here.
The fully warm seasons are True (Warm) Spring and True (Warm) Autumn. In this article, we’ll look at the subtle signs that you're warm-toned and fall into the True Spring or True Autumn season.Â
1. Cool-Toned Colors Make You Look Dull or Shadowed
The first sign is perhaps obvious, but cool-toned colors make your skin look dull and shadowed and just look off. Cool colors include blue-based tones like:
Cobalt blue
Icy blue
Silver
Cool pink
Icy purple
If someone has fully warm undertones, cool colors will make the skin appear grey, ashy, or slightly green; dark circles or shadows become more noticeable; and the overall complexion will just look less even.
2. Warm Colors Instantly Improve Your Complexion
Conversely, warm colors will instantly improve your complexion, make the skin look even and vibrant, and make your features pop. Warm colors include yellow-based tones like:
Orange
Tomato red
Olive green
Mustard yellow
Butterscotch yellow
Gold
Notice the effect these colors have on your appearance vs the cool tones.
3. Stark Black and Icy White Aren’t Ideal
Extreme cool neutrals like pure black and optic white, are often less flattering on warm seasons. Black can look too severe or disconnected. White can appear glaring or artificial. Better options for warm seasons include dark brown, deep olive or warm navy instead of black. Cream, ivory, beige or off-white instead of white.
4. Gold Jewelry Is More Flattering Than Silver
This is a classic diagnostic tool for discovering your undertone. If you’re a warm season, gold tends to blend seamlessly with your skin making your skin look healthy and radiant. Whereas, silver can look stark, cold, or slightly off and make your skin appear dull, grayish, or even a bit sickly.Â
This doesn’t require you to avoid silver entirely, but if gold consistently looks more natural and cohesive, it strongly suggests a warm undertone.
5. You’re A Natural Redhead
If you’re a natural redhead, you can be pretty sure that you’re at least warm-toned, meaning a Spring or an Autumn. Many natural redheads will also fall into a fully-warm season like Warm Spring or Warm Autumn, depending on their other features. This is because red hair is inherently warm and would clash with cooler coloring.Â
6. Your Hair Has Gold or Auburn Undertones
Redheads are rare, though, so most people falling into the warm seasons will have other natural hair colors. Nevertheless, there will usually be a warm tint to these colors and a golden, auburn or chestnut glow. Think of colors like:
Golden Blonde
Strawberry Blonde
Golden Brown
CaramelÂ
ChestnutÂ
Deep Auburn
Warm Rich Chocolate
Mahogany
7. Cool Makeup Looks Unnatural
How does silver eyeshadow or cool pink lipstick look on you? What about a cool pink blush and black or gray eyeliner? If you find that this type of makeup looks artificial, stark and disconnected on you, you might lean warm.
8. You Can Rock Bronzer and Peachy Blush
Cool seasons can find bronzer too muddying but for warm seasons, bronzer works beautifully and looks entirely natural. The same goes for peachy, coral blushes.Â
9. Warm-Toned Lipstick Looks Great
How do warm-toned lipsticks like coral, terracotta, tomato red or even orange look on you? Do they harmonise with your coloring?
10. You Have a Golden Glow to You
Fully warm seasons like Warm Spring or Warm Autumn often have a golden glow to them.
11. You Look Like A Warm-Toned Celebrity
True Autumn celebrities
True Spring celebrities
Common Myths
Green veins - there is a popular theory that you can tell your undertone from your veins - if they’re green, you’re warm-toned, and if they’re blue, you’re cool-toned. In reality, it isn’t that simple, and this method is not always accurate.Â
Tan and never burn. Another popular myth is that if you’re warm-toned, you’ll always tan well and never burn. This is not true. While many warm-toned people do tan well, it’s also possible for someone to be cool-toned and tan well or for someone to be warm-toned and not tan well. Tanning has more to do with the Fitzpatrick skin scale rather than undertone. There are plenty of Springs, for example, who do not tan well and have very pale skin. Likewise, there are plenty of Summers and Winters who tan very well and have darker skin.Â
Use yellow-based foundations. Foundation is based on your undertone. It’s possible to have a yellow undertone and use yellow-toned foundations but still be cool-toned. Likewise, it’s possible to use pink-based foundations and be warm-toned.Â
Have darker, more tan skin. Having darker skin does not mean you’re warm-toned. Depth vs lightness has more to do with Value and being a dark or light season. You can have dark skin and be completely cool-toned. Likewise, you can have very fair skin and be totally warm-toned.