Dear Kathi,

I have read your article on colors on dark skin but I am sorry so say that I didn’t understand clearly. Hope you can clearly describe which colors good on warm skin tones and cool skin tones.

• dark brown/ brown
• pure olive
• medium with faint pink or no color in cheeks”—Do these colors look good on cool toned people ??

Hope I got answer as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Ramakanth

Dear Ramakath,

Color choices seem to be a challenge for many people with dark skin tones so don’t feel badly about not understanding exactly what I meant.

Perhaps it might work best if I first introduce color wheels as tools that have been created to help understand the relationship of colors to each other.

The three colors on a primary color wheel include Red, Yellow and Blue.

Secondary colors include Green, Orange and Purple.

Finally, the Tertiary color wheel includes blends of Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green.

As you can see, there are colors that are beside each other and are of similar tones and those that are across from each other.

There are also colors that are described as warm colors and those that are cool colors.  All skin tones include red so the main differentiating factor is whether they have more blue or yellow pigments. Colors with more yellow are considered warmer and colors with more blue are considered cooler. This is the same as with skin tones, some are warm and some are cool.

The most common wardrobe color theory expresses skin tones as the 4 seasons; Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

If you have a cooler skin tone, meaning more blue toned, you will look best in cooler colors. Winter and Summer are considered cool skin tones.

Spring and Autumn skin tones have an underlying yellow hue and look best while wearing yellow undertones.

Click here to read my general criteria for wardrobe choices for each season:

Winter / Summer

Fall / Spring

I hope this makes choosing clothing colors a bit easier. It is sometimes hard to tell which ‘season’ or color grouping you fall under. If in doubt, grab a friend and hold several color samples by your face in natural light and see which makes you look rested and vibrant versus which makes you look tired and peaked.

If you are still unsure, pay attention to what you are wearing when folks say you look fantastic versus when they say, you look tired (even after a good nights sleep!) These are always tell tell signs!

Best of luck finding your perfect colors and thanks for asking for more details. There is never a silly question except one that is thought of and never asked.