Your colors, found

Warm or cool, deep or light, clear or muted — the three axes of personal coloring, and the two-minute tests that place you.

4 min read · free, like the whole base

Some colors make a face look rested and some make the same face look tired — that difference is personal coloring, and it runs on three simple axes, not on magic.

Warm or cool

The undertone axis. Gold jewelry, ivory and olive tones loving your skin points warm; silver, pure white and blue-based colors pointing cool. The two-minute test: hold gold then silver fabric (or foil) under your chin in daylight — one calms your skin, the other greys it.

Light or deep

The contrast axis. Light coloring (fair hair, soft contrast between hair, skin and eyes) shines in soft, lighter shades and drowns in black; deep coloring carries black, espresso and jewel tones without being worn BY them. Your hair-to-skin contrast in a grey-scale photo is the honest read.

Clear or muted

The saturation axis. Clear types light up in saturated primaries; muted types look most alive in dusty, greyed shades — sage over kelly green, rose over fuchsia. If bright colors feel like they enter the room first, you are probably muted.

Use it as a filter, not a cage

Three axes give you a palette direction, not a permission slip. Any color can sit AWAY from the face — in trousers, shoes, a bag — where undertone barely matters. The Color Lab below pairs any color you own; this lesson tells you which ones to put next to your skin.