Beauty

[Katcat1]

Neutral for me means I can go warm (yellow) or cool (pink) but I actually look better in a pink undertone but can wear a yellow undertone. I am a fair/light. Some cosmetic cos. shades tend to start off darker. It took me a long time to find a cosmetic co. that suits my skin tone. I use Laura Mercier because she offers cool, neutral & warm. For drugstore makeup, I would go with L'Oreal True Match.

[ccassaday]

I think I am neutral. I have a Loreal lumi foundation and it is one of the neutral shades. Seems to match almost perfect to my skin.

[LTT1]

Please correct me if I am wrong... in MAC cosmetics I am a NW15 (I am very white and pink undertones is what they call "cool") Bought a pencil mistakenly once there in NC15 and it was wrong, wrong wrong! (They were nice and exchanged it for me).

On MUA, where beauty divas are busy reviewing products, everybody classifies their skin tones by the MAC system... so I got busy and tried to decide what it was.

Wondering if a true neutral only knows for sure which way to classify their tone by trial and error?

DD always wore BE "fairly light" -- wrong for me, but matched her perfectly. She has yellow undertones. MAC mistakenly sold her a NW 15 (my tone) so now she knows what those letters mean... she needs at least an NC 15, if not a little darker?

[suzyQ3]

On 3/14/2015 lovestoteach said:

Please correct me if I am wrong... in MAC cosmetics I am a NW15 (I am very white and pink undertones is what they call "cool") Bought a pencil mistakenly once there in NC15 and it was wrong, wrong wrong! (They were nice and exchanged it for me).

On MUA, where beauty divas are busy reviewing products, everybody classifies their skin tones by the MAC system... so I got busy and tried to decide what it was.

Wondering if a true neutral only knows for sure which way to classify their tone by trial and error?

DD always wore BE "fairly light" -- wrong for me, but matched her perfectly. She has yellow undertones. MAC mistakenly sold her a NW 15 (my tone) so now she knows what those letters mean... she needs at least an NC 15, if not a little darker?

You're absolutely correct. MAC uses the color wheel. So "warm" means in the red or pink family, and "cool" means more in the yellow or gold family.

As far as I know, though, most companies do just the opposite.

[LTT1]

On 3/14/2015 suzyQ3 said:

On 3/14/2015 lovestoteach said:

Please correct me if I am wrong... in MAC cosmetics I am a NW15 (I am very white and pink undertones is what they call "cool") Bought a pencil mistakenly once there in NC15 and it was wrong, wrong wrong! (They were nice and exchanged it for me).

On MUA, where beauty divas are busy reviewing products, everybody classifies their skin tones by the MAC system... so I got busy and tried to decide what it was.

Wondering if a true neutral only knows for sure which way to classify their tone by trial and error?

DD always wore BE "fairly light" -- wrong for me, but matched her perfectly. She has yellow undertones. MAC mistakenly sold her a NW 15 (my tone) so now she knows what those letters mean... she needs at least an NC 15, if not a little darker?

You're absolutely correct. MAC uses the color wheel. So "warm" means in the red or pink family, and "cool" means more in the yellow or gold family.

As far as I know, though, most companies do just the opposite.

I forgot to add that NW means "not warm" (so pink) and NC means "not cool" so yellow... thank you for your help suzyQ I was trying to explain this to DD, too and hoped I got it right!

[jaxs mom]

On 3/14/2015 Good4u said:

There is a way to tell if you truly are a neutral skin tone.

If you look in natural sunlight and flip your wrist over with your palm facing you, look at your veins on your wrist closely.

If your veins appear to be blue in coloring then you are a cool.

If your veins appear to be green in color then you are warm.

If your veins appear to be turquoise in color you are a neutral.

This really works! I am definitely a warm skin tone because my veins appear green in natural sunlight on my wrist! This has helped me tremendously in selecting correct color shades in foundations as well as clothing choices. I only wear warm shaded colors...except for black pants which is a woman's foundational clothing piece.

I've never heard the turquoise one. I always figured that any greenish tint meant I was warm, so I went with the concept of warm. But my veins always looked bluish green not actually green plus I can't wear a lot of the warm shades. Other than khaki tan or beige and oatmeal heather I never wear browns or yellows but I don't really wear white either. After a lot of looking around I decided I was deep/dark autumn. Lately I've been wondering if I'm more neutral than warm or only slightly warm. I have green eyes, brown black hair and fair skin but I'm not cool toned. I did think I was cool toned when I was in my teens.

[rac71]

If warm is too yellow and cool is to pink/red, you are a neutral. I did better with neutral foundations, and I am porcelain with cool to neutral undertones. Rosacea often adds much of a perceived cool cast to my skin but some cosmetics in the cool range can sometimes overemphasize the flush of my skin if there is too much red/pink, rather than blue-based tones. However, warm-based cosmetics clash severely with my skin. It is a fine balance. My skin color changed from adolescence to adulthood, when I became more conscious of using daily spf.

[Kathlen]

My skin tone is neutral and I'm quite fair. No yellow - no pink. You can find neutral foundations. I have sensitivity issues and there are three brands I found I can use ... Almay, Clinique and Cover Girl.

I use translucent finishing powder.

[jaxs mom]

On 3/14/2015 rac71 said: If warm is too yellow and cool is to pink/red, you are a neutral. I did better with neutral foundations, and I am porcelain with cool to neutral undertones. Rosacea often adds much of a perceived cool cast to my skin but some cosmetics in the cool range can sometimes overemphasize the flush of my skin if there is too much red/pink, rather than blue-based tones. However, warm-based cosmetics clash severely with my skin. It is a fine balance. My skin color changed from adolescence to adulthood, when I became more conscious of using daily spf.

Thanks, that's a perfect description. I posted in another thread that when I used BE mineral foundation that the 2 was too yellow, 1 was too cool and 3 was too dark so I custom mixed. Right now I'm using Urban Decay Naked 2.0 but it's not a perfect match and I think I need to test out other shades. Daily SPF use even when I'm staying inside is really changing my skin tone too.

[jaxs mom]

Hey I found this picture that shows the veins with cool, neutral and warm.

http://www.abullseyeview.com/2014/04/picking-the-best-foundation-for-your-skin-tone/

Looking at that that, mine do look like the neutral not the warm.