Most shade mistakes are not depth mistakes. They are undertone mistakes. Get that part right and the rest gets a lot easier.
Undertone and depth are two different things
Depth is how light or deep your skin is. It shifts a little with the seasons.
Undertone is the colour underneath — warm, cool, or neutral. It stays put your whole life.
A shade that is slightly off in depth will still blend. A shade that is off in undertone reads as a mask, no matter how sheer it is. So start with undertone.
How to find your undertone
1. The vein test
Look at the inside of your wrist in daylight. Greenish veins lean warm. Blue or purple lean cool. If you genuinely cannot tell, that is a real answer and it usually means neutral.
2. The jewellery test
Think about which metal you reach for. Gold tends to flatter warm undertones, silver tends to flatter cool ones. People who look equally good in both are usually neutral.
3. The white paper test
Hold a sheet of plain white paper next to your bare face in daylight. Warm skin looks yellow, golden or peachy against it. Cool skin looks pink or slightly blue. Neutral skin looks fairly even.
Do all three. Two out of three agreeing is a reliable answer. And do them in daylight — bathroom bulbs will lie to you.
The nine shades
Our Tinted Moisturizer comes in nine shades, listed here from lightest to deepest:
- Porcelain
- Seashell
- Sandstone
- Mile Beach
- Buttercream
- Tan
- Toasted
- Maple
- Espresso
If you land between two, take the deeper one. Sheer coverage sits better slightly deep than slightly light, and a shade that is too light will grey out.
Testing without a counter
Swatch along the jawline, never the back of the hand — hands are usually a different colour from the face. Blend a small amount, then walk to a window and look again after a minute. Tint settles slightly as it warms up.
The right shade is the one you stop being able to see. If you can find the edge of it, it is the wrong one.
If shade matching still feels like a gamble, our returns are 30 days, no questions asked, even if opened. Try it on a real morning.
Prep changes the match
Dry patches grab colour and make a good shade look wrong. Cleanse with Cleansing Oil, then Oil-Free Daily Moisturizer, and let it settle for a minute before the tint goes on.
Still deciding whether a tint is what you want at all? Tinted moisturizer vs foundation covers where each one earns its place.
The quiet takeaway
Undertone first, depth second, jawline as the judge. That is the whole method.
Build Your Routine if you want help placing the tint in a morning that already works.
This is everyday cosmetic guidance, not medical advice.