Guide To Choosing Colorful Jewelry For Your Skin Tone
“Jewelry tells a story without even a single word – a non-verbal communication of style.” – Michael, Rosey West
Putting on your jewelry is always a matter of choice. You look for items that you like to wear and that also match your outfit. You might want to make a statement or you might like to make a considered choice such as a pair of blue sapphire earrings that complement the blue of your eyes.
Sometimes you buy a piece of jewelry because you love it or you saw how good it looks on your BFF, yet it doesn’t seem to have the same effect on you. No matter the type, style, or color, no piece of jewelry looks the same on every person.
This is because there are various criteria that can influence how jewelry looks on you. The clothes you wear it with and eye and hair color matter. Size plays its part as does color theory as indicated by the color wheel but did you know that skin tone can also impact the aesthetic of your accessories?
Your jewelry collection is likely made up of fine jewelry with precious metals and gemstones as well as costume and fun pieces. There’s so much variety that one of the best and most fun aspects of having a wide range is being able to make the right choices every time for every outfit and every occasion.
From white gold to yellow gold to rose gold and beyond, the trick to figuring out which gemstone and which of the white and yellow metals or otherwise will suit you best is very much down to your skin tone and skin undertone. Complexions play a huge part in dictating which piece of jewelry is the right jewelry for you.
How to Find Your Skin Tone
Before you even get to selecting jewelry, you have to make sure that you know what your skin tone is!
Tone is classified as overtone and undertone.
Your overtone is the skin type and skin color that you were born with, and this can be affected over time by your environment because it is the utmost surface layer of the skin. Sunburn, for example, can have an impact on a person’s skin tone.
Your undertone, on the other hand, is something that never, ever changes. This is because the undertone relates to a person’s ethnicity, genetics and biological makeup, and how much pigmentation and melanin are present in the body.
Your skin tone will fall into one of three quite broad categories, and these are :
- cool skin tones
- warm skin tones
- neutral skin tones.
An easy way to figure out your skin tone is to bend your wrist outwards and look at the color of your veins in natural light.
- If your veins look green(ish), then you have what are regarded as a warm skin tone.
- If your veins look blue or purple, then you have what is regarded as a cool skin tone.
- If it is difficult to distinguish a distinct color from green to purple/blue in your veins, then you fall into the realm of neutral skin tone.
Tones are also interlinked with eye color and hair color. If you have green, brown or hazel eyes, you’ll likely have a warm skin tone. Cool undertones usually come with green, blue and gray eyes. It usually follows that the lighter the color of your hair, the cooler your skin undertone will be. So if you have blonde hair and blue eyes, you’ll be at the coolest end of the spectrum.
Which Metal Best Matches Your Skin Tone?
When it comes to fine jewelry, it’s a case of matching precious metals and gemstones to your skin tone. The general guidelines are as follows:
- Cooler Skin Tones
The best option for cool undertones is to opt for white metals. These are white gold, platinum, titanium and palladium. Also, silver looks just as good.
- Warm Undertones
Those with warmer skin are more suited to colors on the yellow to brown spectrum, which includes things like yellow gold and rose gold. Suitable non-precious metals are copper and brass.
- Neutral Undertones
If you have a neutral skin tone, then you are very much in luck! Neutral tone complexions are the most versatile and are pretty much able to accommodate any type/color of metal.
Which Gemstones Best Match Your Skin Tone?
The guidance for gemstones is as follows:
- Cooler Skin Tones
Bright colored stones look the best on cool tones because they add more brightness. The best stones include pearls, amethyst (purple), blue sapphire, tanzanite (blue/purple), opal, emerald (green), ruby (red) and aquamarine (blue-green).
- Warm Undertones
Earthy colors suit warm tones which means anything close to red, orange, yellow, peach, brown and green. The ideal gemstones for you are morganite (pinkish-purple), alexandrite (various), peridot (green/yellow), garnet (pinkish red), citrine (yellow/brown/orange), Imperial topaz (brownish) and yellow diamonds.
- Neutral Undertones
As with the metal choice, neutral complexions can wear any color they wish. it does pay to note though that even neutral skin tones may have a leaning towards either warm or cool so you still need to pay some attention to how a color looks on your skin.
Recommendations
Ultimately, the joy of jewelry is all about expressing yourself and reflecting your personality in your accessory choices, so if you happen to be a person with cool tones that prefers yellow gold, then who are we to stop you from wearing your favorite metal!?
Features like hair color and eye color can also be used to judge which jewelry options suit you and which do not, but you can always change those features with things like hair dye and contact lenses if you really want to!
To get you started on your journey with matching pieces to your complexion, here are some of our current favorites. Based on everything that you have learned about yourself above, see if any of our choices might be the perfect pick for you!
Jewelry for Cool skin Tones
Jewelry for Warm skin Tones
Jewelry for Neutral Skin Tones
Our last piece of advice - if in any doubt go for diamonds! Diamonds look stunning on any skin tone and the focus is always on the brilliance and fire of the diamond itself with the metal holding it playing second fiddle.
