Choosing Jewellery for Your Skin Tone

Metal colour interacts with skin. The same ring can look radiant on one person and washed out on another. Understanding your undertone makes choosing easier, though it is a guide and not a rule.

Skin tone and undertone

Skin tone is the visible colour of your skin, fair, medium, olive, brown or deep. Undertone is the subtle hue beneath, generally warm, cool or neutral. Two people with the same skin tone can have different undertones.

How to find your undertone

• The vein test: look at the veins on your inner wrist in natural light. Greenish veins suggest a warm undertone. Bluish or purple veins suggest a cool one. If you cannot tell, you may be neutral.
• The white paper test: hold a sheet of white paper next to your face. If your skin looks yellowish against it, you are probably warm. If it looks pinkish or rosy, you are probably cool.
• The metal test: hold a yellow gold piece and a white metal piece against your skin in daylight. Notice which makes your skin look healthier.

None of these is exact, and your own eye is the best judge.

Warm undertones

Yellow gold tends to flatter warm undertones, picking up the golden glow of the skin. Rose gold also works well. White metals can look slightly stark on some warm skin.

Cool undertones

White gold and platinum often suit cool undertones, with a crisp, bright contrast. Rose gold can also look lovely, with its pink tint. Yellow gold can look strong on some cool skin, though many people wear it happily.

Neutral undertones

You can wear almost anything. Choose by outfit and by taste.

Deeper skin tones

Rich yellow gold looks beautiful on deeper skin tones, and so do rose gold and diamonds. White metals offer a strong contrast that many love. The best approach is to try each.

Fair skin tones

Rose gold and white metals are often flattering, and delicate yellow gold works too. Very bright yellow can look heavy on very fair skin.

What about diamonds?

Diamonds look good against any skin tone. The setting changes their look: a white metal makes them look cooler and a yellow metal makes them look warmer. See diamond colour grades D to Z.

Other factors

• Hair colour: golden or brown hair pairs with yellow and rose gold, and silver or dark hair with white metals.
• Clothing colours: you may choose a metal to match what you wear most.
• Existing jewellery: consider what you already own. See mixing metals: gold, white gold and platinum.

Common questions

Do I have to follow my undertone? No. These are guides. Wear what you like.

Can I mix metals if I am not sure? Yes, and it is a good way to find out what you prefer.

Is rose gold for everyone? It suits many skin tones, which is why it is popular.

Lighting changes everything

Shop lights are often warm or very bright, and both can change how metals look. If you can, check a piece near a window in daylight, and then under evening light, since your jewellery will be seen in both. A metal that looks good in all of them is a safe choice.

Try before you decide

Colour looks different in a shop than in daylight. Book an appointment and try yellow, white and rose gold side by side, or see rose gold, white gold and yellow gold: how to choose.