Clothing colors to avoid: What is my skin tone? Test + fashion guide

Imagine that you have found the perfect dress. You dreamed of it, you wanted it for so long and you finally have it in your hands! Your imagination kept spinning, envisioning you looking like a goddess in that dress. So, with trembling hands, pounding heart, full of energy and excitement, you put it on. And… It’s all wrong! It’s horrible! Why?! You see yourself and you say to yourself, “I look like a ghost” or “I’m too yellow in it” or “It doesn’t flatter my features”. And then you leave the store without the dress and you leave disappointed. Why? The answer is simple. You are not wearing the right colors for your skin. It’s as simple as that. The long answer? Let’s see together which colors of clothing to avoid and favor with a test and a guide!

Type of skin tone: how to determine your skin tone

What is my skin tone? The easiest way to tell is to look at the veins in your wrist. What color are they?

• Cool Undertones: If your veins are a mix of blue and purple, it means you have a cool undertone (cold undertone).
• Warm undertones: If your veins are green, it means your undertone is warm.
• Neutral Undertones: This category was added because some people don’t fit into the other two categories. If your veins are olive green, it means you are neutral.

Now, if you still don’t know what your undertone is, I totally agree! I’ve struggled with this myself, as sometimes my skin tone was more purple, and sometimes more green. So what to do? Here is a little test to be 100% sure! Besides, it’s only for warm and cold undertones, because they get mixed up. The neutral is easy to detect.

Skin tone test

What type of jewelry suits you best?

• Silver/Gold

If you didn’t protect your skin with SPF on a hot summer day, you would:

• Burn Fast/Tan

Which T-shirt color suits you best?

• Ivory or beige/Pure white

What clothing color you like the most?

• Violet and blue/Warm colors like red and yellow

What was the color of your hair when you were a child?

• Any shade of brown, black or ash blonde/Copper red, reddish brown, warm shades of blonde

What makeup do you like most?

• A bold eye shadow / A bronzer

And here are the results!

If most of your answers come from the left picks, then you have cool undertones! A divine ice queen that looks absolutely stunning in blue, purple, emerald, lavender, pink, and others we’ll talk about later.

If your answers were the right picks, then you have warm undertones! You are a fiery woman who looks divine in warm colors like red, yellow, gold, and peach!

What are the clothing colors to avoid according to skin tone?

Have you noticed that some shades suit you divinely well, while others wash you out… How come? Well, over the years a lot of research has been done. And do you know what the explanation was? We all have different shades. With those shades come great fashion responsibilities! Let’s say you have a great blue sweater, but you have a warm complexion. How to make it look good on you? Sometimes we just want to wear the clothes we want to wear, even if we are “warm”, “cool” or “neutral”. So I will explain in detail how to do it! Here are the clothing colors to avoid!

Cold tone

Cool undertones suggest cooler color undertones. However, here are the colors you should avoid, so as not to look pale and washed out:

• Black (yes, a classic! It’s hard to avoid wearing black. But here’s what you can do! Bet on makeup. Wear a rosy pink blush and lip gloss and for eyeshadow, opt for cool blues or greens).
• Orange (This color is fun and reminds of fall and pumpkins! But if you don’t want to look like a pumpkin yourself, I’d avoid it altogether…)
• Yellow (Yes, I know, summer, blah blah blah… If it’s your favorite color and you insist on wearing it, wear a lighter yellow, paired with pink eye makeup.)
• Bright red (No. Just, no. I know it’s sexy and bold and divine, but come on girls, you can wear something more flattering like dark green, light blue or a trendy dress in deep purple. Pretty, huh? Just stay away, you’re not Jessica Rabbit!)
• Beige and ivory (Even if your skin isn’t milky white like mine, you’ll definitely look sick in these shades. Choose light lavender or light baby blue instead.)

Neutral tone

Neutrals are more flexible. However, they should also stay away  from very bright and vibrant tones such as:

• Bright red (a brick red will do better).
• Yellow (a muted yellow can do the trick, however, but don’t go for a very bright hue).
• Neon pink
• Flashy green
• Fluorescent yellow

On the other hand, here is what will work well. Under your neutral garment color:

• White
• Taupe
•  Grey
• Sin
• Pink
• medium blue
• Jade

Warm tone

Finally, we have the warm undertones. Here are the colors of clothing to avoid:

• Ice Blue
• Bright blue
• Lavender
• Grey
• Pink
• Hot pink
• Purple
• Peach

Warm undertone: clothing color

• Amber
• Magenta
• Honey
• Olive
• Red
• Cream
• Gold
• Coral
• Orange
• Yellow
• Peacock blue