Nail Color 101: How to Choose the Best Match for Your Skin Tone

The right nail polish color can take your manicure from meh to magic. In this post, I’m gonna show you how to match nail polish colors to your skin tone.

Here are two handy skin tone nail polish color matching charts I made.

Ready to find your perfect match?

Let’s dive in.

Table of contents:

Why should you match nail polish to your skin tone?

How do I know what my skin tone is?

How can I find my skin’s undertone?  – 10 simple tests to try.

How to match nail polish colors to your skin tone:

• Best nail polish colors for fair cool skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for fair warm skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for fair neutral skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for medium cool skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for medium warm skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for medium neutral skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for warm olive skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for dark cool skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for dark warm skin tones.
• Best nail polish colors for dark neutral skin tones.

Final thoughts: tips for choosing the best polish for your skin tone.

Why should you match nail polish to your skin tone?

Before we learn how to match nail polish colors to your skin tone, let’s talk about what the perfect shade of polish can do for you.

The right shade can make your hands look younger, make your skin look more tanned, make your nails look longer, or even make your fingers look slimmer!

Choose a polish color that doesn’t work for your skin tone and you could end up with a washed-out or dull mani that contrasts too much or too little with your complexion.

It might look ok, but it won’t have that wow factor that gets the compliments rollin’ in.

Before we get too deep into it, I also wanna say that I don’t want to put anyone in a box!

This is a guide.

Yes, you should totally find the colors that compliment your skin tone well, but I wanna encourage you to also test the boundaries and experiment with whatever works for your personal style.

There are no rules people, only guidance, you do you!

How do I know what my skin tone is?

You can’t find the perfect polish for your skin tone if you don’t know what skin tone you’re rocking!

If you already know your skin tone, skip this section, if you don’t – here’s how to figure it out.

Nailing your skin tone might seem complicated, but it’s actually really simple once you break it down.

There are basically 2 parts to it:

1. How light or dark your skin is.
2. What undertones you have.

For the first part, you need to know which of these 4 main categories you fall into.

So check out the descriptions below and see which one best fits you:

Fair skin.

Do you often complain about looking like a ghost? Do you burn easily but find it hard to tan?

If so, you might be a fair-skinned beauty.

Fair or pale skin is the lightest category of the 4.

If you have fair skin, you may also have freckles, be prone to redness or have sensitive skin.

Celebrities with fair skin:

• Nicole Kidman
• Liv Tyler
• Cate Blanchett
• Christina Hendricks
• Dita Von Teese
• Amanda Seyfried
• Emma Stone
• Gwen Stefani
• Elle Fanning

Medium skin.

If your skin isn’t super-light or dark/tanned then you’re probably a medium.

Medium-skinned beauties tan better than their fair-skinned friends but they can still burn easily.

Sometimes olive skin and medium skin get lumped together – meaning you might find fashion or make-up articles that give the same tip for both skin types.

This is because medium skin and olive skin can look very similar in terms of how light or dark they are.

There is definitely some overlap between medium and olive-toned skin.

But olive skin is distinct from medium because olive skin has strong warm (green, yellow, or golden) undertones (more on those soon).

Celebrities with medium skin:

• Jessica Alba
• Victoria Justice
• Kourtney Kardashian
• Priyanka Chopra
• Shay Mitchell
• Meghan Markle
• Vanessa Hudgens
• Adriana Lima
• Hannah Simone
• Chrissy Teigan

Olive skin.

If you have that year-round mediterranean glow and your skin tans like a dream, then chances are that you are an olive-skinned beauty.

Olive skin can be anywhere between light to moderate brown.

It usually tans really easily and has strong golden, green, or yellowish undertones.

If you’re not sure whether you are a medium or an olive, don’t worry, I’ll show you how to check your undertones in the next section.

Celebrities with olive skin:

• Penelope Cruz
• Lily Allen
• Paz Vega
• Zoe Saldana
• Padma Lakshmi
• Zoe Kravitz
• Mariacarla Boscano
• Mila Kunis
• Jada Pinkett Smith

Dark skin.

Are “bronze” and “ebony” words you might use to describe your skin?

If your skin is darker than olive and your complexion is deep then you are a dark beauty.

This is the darkest of the 4 main skin tone categories.

Dark skin can be anything from tan on the lighter end of the spectrum to ebony on the darker end.

Dark beauties have the most choice when it comes to color, but they may have to deal with dryness or dullness.

Celebrities with dark skin:

• Alek Wek
• Viola Davis
• Jeneil Williams
• India Arie
• Tais Araujo
• Lauryn Hill
• Naomi Campbell
• Chanel Iman
• Sara Nuru

How can I find my skin’s undertone?

Ok, hopefully, you have chosen your main skintone category from the four options above (fair, medium, olive, or dark).

We’re halfway there!

The next thing you need to do is to find out what undertones you’re rocking.

There are only 3 possibilities, cool, warm or neutral.

Here are a few simple tests you can try to find your undertone.

For the best results, try out each of these tests and see which answer pops up the most – that will be your undertone:

1.    Look at the veins in your wrist.

You must do this test in natural light for it to work. So sit by the window or go outside.

Take a look at the veins in your wrist.

What color are they?

• Bluey purple veins mean your undertone is cool.
• Green or yellowish looking veins means you have a warm undertone.
• And if it’s hard to tell between blue and green you have a neutral skin tone.

2.    How do you tan?

Another key thing when learning how to match nail polish colors to your skin tone is how your skin handles sun exposure.

How your skin tans can be a key indicator of its undertone.

• If you don’t tan at all, or you go red / burn before you turn brown then chances are you have a cool undertone.
• If you become a bronze goddess with little effort, you’re probably warm toned.
• Neutrals may tan fairly well, but might have to control their exposure and do it gradually.

3.    Do the white test.

Here’s a simple test you can do with a sheet of white paper or a white t-shirt.

First, wash your face – you wanna make sure your skin is clean and free of make-up.

Hold a sheet of white paper up to your face or throw on a white t-shirt.

Have a look at the skin on your neck and chest – how does it look against a pure white?

Choose an answer:

1. Good – my skin looks rosy / pinkish or bluish red.
2. Bad – my skin looks dull and yellow or gray.
3. Um – I can’t really see any pink or yellow?

If you chose a – you’re cool.

If you chose b – you’re warm.

If you chose c – you’re neutral.

4. Gold or silver jewelry?

Another good way to test your undertone is to take a look at your jewelry collection.

Do you tend to prefer gold or silver?

Without realising, you’ll go for jewelry that best suits your complexion.

Silver jewelry looks best on skin with cool undertones. So, if your bling collection is mostly silver – you might be cool toned.

Gold jewelry makes warm skin tones shine – so if you like to wear gold – you’re probably warm toned.

If both gold and silver jewellry are flattering – you are most likely neutral.

If you’re still not sure, try laying a gold and silver bracelet or necklace across your wrist – which one looks better?

You can also get a sheet of gold and silver foil and hold it up against your skin to see which one makes your complexion glow.

5. Check behind your ears.

Acne and other skin conditions can cause redness and make it hard to see your true understone.

This trick is super useful for anyone with a skin condition that gets in the way of some of the other tests.

You will need a friend to help you out for this one.

Get someone to take a look at the skin just behind your ear.

They need to look at the skin that’s just behind the crease, so hold your ear forward a bit so they can see.

Get them to tell you if the skin behind your ear looks yellow or pink.

• Pink means cool undertones.
• Yellow means warm.
• No clear pink or yellow color means neutral.

6. Look into your eyes.

Your eye color can also give you a clue about your undertone.

The lighter your eyes the more likely you are to be cool-toned.

So, if you have blue, gray or light brown peepers that usually means cool.

If you have honey brown to dark brown eyes, or you have gold flecks in them then you’re warm.

7. What’s your natural hair color?

Is your hair medium brown to black with no undertones of red? Then you’re a medium to dark cool.

If your natural hair colour is blonde to light brown with no red tones then you’re a medium to fair cool.

Rocking brown hair with auburn, copper or red tones in it? That makes you a medium to dark warm.

If your hair is strawberry or golden blonde then you’re a medium to fair warm.

8. How intense is your blush?

Do you go red as a beetroot when you blush?

If so, your undertone is cool.

Hard to tell when you’re blushing? You’re warm.

9. What neutrals suit you?

Think about the basic clothes you have that go with everything.

Do you tend to wear a lot of black, navy and stark pure white?

Or do you go for light tans, beiges and creamy off whites instead?

Cool tones look best in pure white, navy and gray whereas warm toned beauties will shine in light browns, camels and creams.

10. What colors suit you best?

A little peek in your wardrobe can help you suss out your skin tone.

What are your favourite colors to wear?

Earthy colours with a warm base like red, yellow or orange compliment warm toned skin.

Think brown, peach, ivory, coral, amber, gold, cream and olive green.

Cool skin pops in jewel tones of cool based colours like blue and purple.

Think sky blue, cobalt, plum, violet, turquoise, rose pink, charcoal and emerald green.

How to match nail polish colors to your skin tone.

Confident you’ve got your skin tone down?

Great – onto the fun part!

Let’s find out which nail polish colors will look best on you!

Best nail polish colors for fair cool skin tones.

Pastel colors with cool tones look amazing on fair cools.

Here’s a list of nail colors that work well for fair cool skin:

• Cool grays (check prices)

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• Pastel blues (check prices)

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• Lavender purples (check prices)

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• Baby pinks (check prices)

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• Seafoamy greens (check prices)

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• Cool greens (check prices)

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• Rose pinks (check prices)

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Best nail polish colors for fair warm skin tones.

Fair warms need to avoid harsh strong colors and opt for a delicate palette.

Here are some of the most flattering nail polish colors for fair skin with warm undertones:

• Bright peaches and corals (check prices)

Examples:

• Pale baby pinks and warm pinks (check prices)

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• Corals (check prices)

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• Blush (check prices)

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• Reddish purples (check prices)

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• Light teals (check prices)

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• Soft yellows (check prices)

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• Creamy ivory shades (check prices)

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Best nail polish colors for fair neutral skin tones.

If you are fair and neutral, you have a bigger palette to play with.

You should be able to wear most of the nail colors listed above for either cool or warm fair skin.

You may find that some colors seem to work slightly better than others, depending on your specific tone, so feel free to experiment with all of the colors and see which ones you like best.

Also, you should check out the colors listed under medium neutral as many of those will work for you too!

Lucky you!

Best nail polish colors for medium cool skin tones.

Jewel tones are great for medium cools.

Here’s a list of nail polish shades that should flatter:

• Silver (check prices)

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• Bluish Grays (check prices)

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• Magenta (check prices)

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• Amethyst (check prices)

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• Emerald greens (check prices)

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• Sapphire blues (check prices)

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• Violet shades (check prices)

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• Ruby reds (check prices)

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Best nail polish colors for medium warm skin tones.

Medium warm skin matches best with rich earthy tones that are not too vibrant.

Here’s a list of nail polish colors that will compliment your medium warm skin tone:

• Light to mid browns (check prices)

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• Tan shades (check prices)

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• Ivory (check prices)

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• Lime Greens (check prices)

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• Chartreuse (check prices)

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• Golds (check prices)

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• Corals (check prices)

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• Ambers (check prices)

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• Olive tones (check prices)

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• Peach (check prices)

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• Oranges (check prices)

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• Coppers (check prices)

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• Yellows (check prices)

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Best nail polish colors for medium neutral skin tones.

If you are medium and neutral – lucky you!

You can carry off a very wide range of nail polish shades.

But for that perfect match you’ll want to look for nail polish colors that are vibrant without being overpowering.

Here are your best nail polish color matches:

• Mauve (check prices)

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• Dusty blush (check prices)

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• Champagne (check prices)

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• Mint (check prices)

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• Taupe (check prices)

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• Chocolate browns (check prices)

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• Creams (check prices)

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• Light peaches (check prices)

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• Soft Rose (check prices)

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• Jade green (check prices)

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• Vanilla (check prices)

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Best nail polish colors for warm olive skin tones.

Most olive skin has warm undertones.

If you’re a warm olive, here are your best nail polish shades:

• Amber (check prices)

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• Apricots (check prices)

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• Golds (check prices)

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• Fuschia (check prices)

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• Burgundy (check prices)

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• Maroons

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• Brick reds (check prices)

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• Wine (check prices)

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• Creamy peaches (check prices)

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• Sandy beiges (chec prices)

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• Salmon (check prices)

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• Burnt orange (check prices)

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• Dark teal (check prices)

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Best nail polish colors for dark and cool skin tones.

Bright jewel tones are a dark cool’s best friend.

Here’s a list of nail polish colors that should slay:

• Stark white (check prices)

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• Royal blue (check prices)

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• Indigo (check prices)

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• Deep purple (check prices)

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• Fuchsia (check prices)

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• Emerald green (check prices)

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• Turquoise (check prices)

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• Carnation red/pink (check prices)

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• Violet (check prices)

Examples:

Best nail polish colors for dark warm skin tones.

You can enhance your dark warm complexion with rich earthy colors.

Here’s a list of colors that should match your skin:

• Brown (check prices)

Examples:

• Gold (check prices)

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• Olive green (check prices)

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• Cream (check prices)

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• Forest green (check prices)

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• Mustard (check prices)

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• Cranberry reds (check prices)

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• Bronze (check prices)

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• Copper (check prices)

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• Yellow (check prices)

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Best nail polish colors for dark neutral skin tones.

If you are dark and neutral that means you should be able to carry off most of the colors for either dark cools or dark warms.

So have a play and choose your favs!

Also, you should check out the colors listed under medium neutral as many of those will work for you too!

Final thoughts: tips for choosing the right nail polish for your skin tone.

I hope that this article has given you a good idea of how to match nail polish colors to your skin tone.

Finding the right nail polish color for your skin tone involves first figuring out how light or dark the surface color of your skin is.

Once you know if you are fair, medium, olive or dark then you need to test whether your undertone is cool, warm or neutral.

The list of nail polish colors in this post will give you a great choice of shades but it is by no means exhaustive.

So the best tip that I can give you is to try to train your eye to tell the difference between warm and cool-toned colours.

As a general rule, warm-toned colors have a lot of yellow in them, while cool colors have a lot of blue.

Look at charts showing the difference between warm and cool shades of as many different colors as you can.

The more you look at these charts the more you will begin to notice the differences.

Then you can spot the right nail polishes for you quickly and easily!

Thanks for reading and happy painting!

More awesome posts:

What color nail polish goes with a black dress? Full Guide.

What color nail polish goes with a green dress?

Best acrylic nail brands: the most popular brands for acrylic nails.

5 Awesome Gel Nail Kits to Create Beautiful Nails at Home.

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