It can be difficult deciding what jewellery will suit you most. From yellow gold to platinum, ruby to emerald, worrying about finding the right metal and gemstone that flatters you can mean that you struggle to find jewellery that suits your skin and your style.
In this guide, we will give you our best tips and tricks to finding your undertone and deciding what colour metal and gemstones will match your skin tone and help you to build a jewellery collection that flatters you.
What metal can you choose from for jewellery?
Typically, jewellery is made from precious metals, due to their strength and longevity. These may include:
- Platinum
- Yellow Gold
- White Gold
- Rose Gold
- Sterling Silver
Each of these metals differ slightly when it comes to strength, however they are all a good option when choosing sentimental jewellery. The main difference between these materials is their appearance; their colour and their tone.
Some of these metals, like yellow gold, are much warmer in tone, while platinum, white gold and silver pull more cool toned. Rose gold, as the name suggests, has a pinkish hue and often has more variation than other metals, meaning it can appear more warm or cool depending on the amount of copper that is added.
To decide which metal will be most flattering on your skin tone, it is helpful to identify your undertone.
How to find your undertone to help match your jewellery to your skin tone
There are some easy ways to find out what your undertone is to help you choose the best metal for your skin tone.
Look at your veins
Look at the veins on your wrist. If your veins are more blue or purple, you’ll be cool toned. If they are more green, then you are warm toned.
If it’s hard to tell, or they are a mix of blue and green, then you may have a neutral skin tone.
How does your skin react to the sun
Another way to identify if you are cool, warm or neutral toned, is to look at how your skin reacts and responds to being in the sun.
If you tend to burn and go red in the sun, you might be more cool toned. If you get tanned when exposed to sun, you’re likely more warm toned.
What is your natural hair colour?
You can also look at your natural hair colour to help identify your undertone! Ashy blond, black and mousy hair colours are on the cooler side, while ginger, strawberry blonde and honey or caramel toned browns are more warm.
Consider what other colour look good on you
What colour clothes do you gravitate to? If you tend to wear cooler colours, like blue or purple, or blue-toned reds like burgundy then you are cool-toned. If you wear more warmer tones like yellows, oranges and browns then you are warm-toned.
If you wear a wide range of colours and are unsure which suits you best, try holding a piece of pure white and cream up to your face. You should be able to see that one accentuates your skin tone, minimising any flaws and giving you an overall brighter appearance. If white brightens you, you are cool toned, and if cream makes you look your best, then you are warm toned.
Once you’ve identified your undertone you will be able to choose jewellery in the metal that best flatters your skin and overall colourings.
- If you have a cool undertone, you will suit platinum, white gold and silver most. You may also find that lighter rose golds suit you, too.
- If you have a warm undertone, yellow gold and deeper rose golds will be the most flattering on you.
- If you have a neutral undertone, all metal tones will suit you – lucky you! Why not try to mix and match your metals.
Choosing gemstones that will suit your skin tone
To enhance your jewellery even further, you might want to pair your chosen metal with gemstones that share the same tones.
Gemstones that work with gold settings
Earthy gemstones look great with warm toned gold jewellery as they bring out the golden hues of the metal.
Choose stones like citrine, amber or peridot compliment yellow gold jewellery. You may also want to consider turquoise jewellery and or a timeless pearl necklace with yellow gold detailing will also flatter warmer skin tones.
Cool-toned gemstones to compliment silver jewellery
Brightly coloured gemstones in typical ‘jewel tones’ pair perfectly with cool-toned silver, platinum and white gold.
Try red rubies or garnets, sparkling sapphires or regal amethysts. Milky mulit-coloured opals, semi-precious jade stones and pale blue aquamarine are great affordable gemstone options for silver jewellery.
What else to consider when choosing jewellery to flatter your skin tone and style
While matching your jewellery to your undertone can be the most flattering option, there are many other things to consider when choosing jewellery.
Trends
Investing in timeless, precious pieces in metals that suit your skin tone is the best way to build your jewellery collection. However, having fun, more costume-style jewellery in a variety of tones can mean you can try out different looks when they are on trend.
Season
Often, people’s skin tones change between seasons. This means you may be more tanned in the summer and choose to wear more gold jewellery in the sunnier months. Then, when winter comes around, you may want to wear more cool-toned metals, like silver.
Outfits
While you may usually gravitate to wearing certain colours, for special occasions you may want to try something new and switch up your jewellery to match.
Similarly, a new accessory may have different metal or hardware than you usually wear, like a zip on a bag or a buckle on a belt.
This presents a great opportunity for you to experiment with your jewellery and try something new in another tone.
Final thoughts
When it comes to choosing jewellery that matches your skin tone, start with finding your undertone by looking at your natural colouring, like your veins and hair colour, and what colour clothes suit you.
Whether you’re cool-toned platinum, a warm-toned yellow gold or a neutral-toned in rose gold, finding your perfect metal can help you build a cohesive jewellery collection that you’ll love to wear and will make you look and feel great!
