Foundation Undertone & Shade-Matching Chart

Your undertone — the hue beneath the surface of your skin — decides which foundation looks like skin and which looks like a mask. It never changes, even when you tan. Three checks below, then a chart to act on the answer.

Three 30-second checks

Check	Warm	Cool	Neutral
Veins at your wrist (daylight)	Look greenish	Look blue/purple	Hard to call — both
Jewellery that flatters	Gold	Silver	Both work equally
White vs cream shirt	Cream looks better	Pure white looks better	No difference

Two out of three pointing the same way is your answer. If it's genuinely mixed, you're neutral — the easiest to shop for.

Reading foundation shade names

Undertone	Shade-name letters/words to look for	Avoid
Warm	W, G (golden), warm, honey, golden, caramel	Shades named rose, porcelain, cool
Cool	C, R (rose), cool, rose, porcelain, cocoa	Shades named golden, honey, warm
Neutral	N, neutral, buff, nude	Extremes of either direction
Olive	Olive lines where offered; otherwise neutral-warm	Pink-leaning shades (turn ashy)

Matching in practice

• Test on the jawline, not the hand — the right shade disappears into both face and neck.
• Check in daylight. Store lighting flatters everything.
• If between two shades, go slightly lighter in winter, slightly deeper in summer — or own both and blend.
• Oxidation is real: some foundations darken 30 minutes after application. Judge the match after half an hour, not immediately.

Armed with your undertone, browse foundation, concealer, tinted moisturisers and BB & CC creams — or take the two-minute undertone quiz if you'd rather be asked.