Skin Tone Chart: Find Your Depth and Undertone
A skin tone chart sorts skin color along two separate axes: depth, how light or deep your skin is, and undertone, the steady cast under the surface (cool, neutral, warm or olive). Find your row first by depth, then your column by undertone, and the square where they meet is your starting point for clothing, makeup and hair colors. Every depth comes in every undertone, so a deep skin tone can be cool just as a fair one can be warm.
The chart below shows 24 combinations, six depths by four undertones. It is a styling tool, not a medical or scientific measurement, and the swatches are approximations on a screen. Further down you will find how to read it in real light, why phone photos often get it wrong, how it differs from the Fitzpatrick and Monk scales, and which color seasons each area of the chart tends to point toward.
The skin tone chart: depth by undertone
| Depth | Cool | Neutral | Warm | Olive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | #F2D0C8 | #F1D1C0 | #F3D1B5 | #E8D4BE |
| Light | #DCB2A8 | #DAB49E | #DDB491 | #D0B89C |
| Medium | #BE9185 | #BD927A | #BF926B | #B19778 |
| Tan | #A17469 | #9F755D | #A1764E | #947A5B |
| Deep | #7F574E | #7D5944 | #7E5936 | #735D42 |
| Very deep | #5C3D35 | #5B3E2D | #5B3E22 | #53412C |
Read across a row and you will see the same depth shifting from pink-leaning (cool) to golden (warm), with olive showing a muted, slightly green-gray cast. Read down a column and the undertone stays the same while the depth changes. Real skin rarely matches one square exactly; most people land between two, and that is a useful result too.
About the swatches: we built each color from CIELAB values (L* for lightness, a* for red-green, b* for yellow-blue), raising lightness from deep to fair and shifting a* and b* to show each undertone. They demonstrate the pattern. They are not averages from a study, and your screen's brightness and color settings will change how they look.
How to read the chart in four steps
- Use daylight. Stand facing a window, out of direct sun, with no makeup on your jaw and neck. Warm bulbs push everything golden; cool LEDs push everything pink or gray.
- Find your depth row. Look at your jawline and neck rather than your cheeks, which flush, or your forearms, which tan. Compare against the rows and pick the closest one or the two you sit between.
- Find your undertone column. Hold plain white paper beside your jaw: golden, peachy or bronze reads warm; pink, rosy or red-wine reads cool; khaki or gray-green reads olive; no clear lean reads neutral. Our undertone guide ranks eight home tests and has a scoring checklist if you want a more careful answer.
- Write down both. For example, "medium, olive" or "deep, cool." That pair is what the color advice below uses.
What each depth usually looks like
| Depth | What you might notice | Clothing contrast that often works |
|---|---|---|
| Fair | Veins and redness show easily; very light against white paper | Light to medium colors near the face; very dark colors can overpower |
| Light | Slightly deeper than paper white, with visible pink, peach or beige | Soft mid-tones and pastels; navy instead of black |
| Medium | Clear color of its own: beige, honey, rose-beige or olive | The widest range; mid-depth colors are a reliable base |
| Tan | Golden, caramel, bronze or deep olive; contrasts clearly with white | Rich mid-to-deep colors; white and cream can look crisp |
| Deep | Chestnut, mahogany, cocoa or deep olive-brown | Deep jewel tones and clear brights; also crisp white |
| Very deep | Espresso, ebony or blue-black depth, with a red, golden or neutral cast | High-contrast pairings, saturated colors and bright white |
These contrast notes are common color-analysis conventions, not rules. Any color can be worn; if you love one that fights your face, wear it on the lower half or put a better color between it and your face.
From your square to your colors
Seasonal color analysis uses depth and undertone, plus how clear or muted your coloring is, and it also looks at hair and eyes. So the table below is a shortlist of seasons to compare, not an answer. The color palette quiz weighs all three.
| Where you land | Seasons to compare |
|---|---|
| Fair or light, cool | Light Summer, True Summer |
| Fair or light, warm | Light Spring, True Spring |
| Fair or light, neutral | Light Summer or Light Spring, decided by whether soft or clear colors look better |
| Medium, cool | True Summer, Soft Summer |
| Medium or tan, warm | True Autumn, True Spring, or Bright Spring if clear colors win |
| Medium or tan, neutral or olive | Soft Autumn, Soft Summer |
| Deep or very deep, warm or olive | Deep Autumn, True Autumn |
| Deep or very deep, cool or neutral | Deep Winter, True Winter, or Bright Winter if saturated colors win |
For hair, the hair color guide by season uses the same squares, and the hair color quiz narrows it to shades.
Using your square for makeup and jewelry
The same two coordinates help outside your closet. Keep in mind that these are common styling conventions rather than rules.
- Foundation and concealer: pick two or three shades near your depth row and swatch them side by side on your jawline, not your hand. Check them in daylight after a few minutes, since some formulas look different once they dry. The shade that seems to disappear is your match. Then use the undertone letter or word on that brand's label as your guide to its other products.
- Blush and lipstick: cool squares often suit rose, berry and blue-red; warm squares suit peach, coral and brick; olive squares often suit muted rose, terracotta and deep berry; neutral squares can wear most of these at medium intensity.
- Jewelry: silver and white gold are the usual suggestion for cool squares, yellow gold, bronze and copper for warm squares, and both for neutral squares. Olive skin can lean either way, so try both against your neck.
- Depth and contrast: the deeper your row, the more saturated and higher-contrast colors you can usually wear near your face without them looking loud. Lighter rows often look best in softer contrast.
Limits: lighting, cameras and screens
A chart is only as good as the light you read it in. Three things cause most wrong answers:
- Lighting. Indoor bulbs, overcast versus sunny days, and colored walls all change how skin looks. A 2026 study in Skin Research and Technology tested an image-based skin color measure, the individual typology angle, on photos taken in uncontrolled conditions and found it was highly sensitive to lighting and agreed poorly with dermatologists' labels.
- Cameras. Phones automatically adjust white balance and exposure, so two selfies minutes apart can disagree. Filters and beauty modes change skin color on purpose. Compare yourself to the chart in person, in a mirror, not through a photo.
- Screens and devices. Monitors differ in brightness and color. Even measuring tools disagree: a 2026 experiment in Bioengineering compared self- and observer ratings, a printed shade guide and two handheld color devices on 52 people, found discrepancies between the devices' readings, and noted there is no standard ground-truth method.
Skin itself also changes: a summer tan, a sunburn, redness from rosacea, or patches of hyperpigmentation can all shift what you see. Read the chart where your skin is most even, and recheck in a different season if your skin tans.
Other skin tone scales you may see
| Scale | What it is for | Should you use it for clothes? |
|---|---|---|
| Fitzpatrick skin types I to VI | Dermatology. Thomas Fitzpatrick described them as "sun-reactive skin types," and a 2020 Cutis paper by Ware and colleagues notes the scale was developed to assess how likely skin is to burn. | No. It describes sun response, and the same paper notes it is often misused to describe skin color and ethnicity. |
| Monk Skin Tone Scale | A 10-shade scale Google released with sociologist Dr. Ellis Monk to help test whether technology works fairly across skin tones. Google says US participants found it more representative than the previous industry standard, especially people with darker skin. | It describes depth well but has no undertone axis, so it cannot tell you warm from cool. |
| Foundation shade systems | Matching makeup within one brand. Numbers and letters usually code depth and undertone. | Useful as a clue, but labels are not consistent between brands. |
| This chart | Styling: choosing clothing, jewelry, makeup and hair colors. | Yes, as a starting point. Confirm with colors held near your face. |
Questions people ask about skin tone charts
Can my skin tone change?
Your depth can change with sun exposure and seasons. Undertone is usually described as steadier, but redness, tanning and lighting can make it harder to read. That is why daylight tests on even, untanned skin are the most reliable home approach.
What if I'm between two squares?
Most people are. Treat both as options and test colors from each. If two columns tie, you are likely neutral, and how soft or bright a color is will matter more than whether it is warm or cool.
Is olive a separate undertone or a kind of warm?
Styling sources disagree. Olive skin often reacts badly to very yellow colors and to icy cool ones alike, which is why we give it its own column.
Is there one "correct" skin tone chart?
No. Charts are built for different purposes, as the table above shows, and no chart can account for every person. A 2021 study in i-Perception notes that stylists' personal color categories are not scientifically defined; our guide to whether color analysis is scientific covers what the research does and does not support.