Beige skin tone: warm, neutral or cool beige
A beige skin tone is light medium skin, deeper than fair and lighter than tan. Beige comes in three undertones: warm, neutral and cool. Pick yours below to see the swatch and the colors that stand out most on it. It is the “intermediate” row of the skin tone chart.
By Jane MitchellCertified color analystPublished
Pick your beige
Nine beige swatches, worked out from the skin tone chart. The colors are computed from the real season palettes, not picked by hand.
1. Which beige looks like you?
2. How deep is it?
Classic beige, neutral undertone
#C8967A · ITA° 36 (band: 28° to 41°)
Our analysis reads this swatch as neutral (+0.02 on a scale from -1 cool to +1 warm).
On skin alone, our analysis leans to Bright Spring, Soft Autumn or Soft Summer. Your hair and eyes decide between them.
Colors that stand out most against this beige
- Bright violet#651FFF
- Bright mint#1DE9B6
- Emerald#00C853
- Vivid green#64DD17
- Vivid orchid#D500F9
- Spring green#B2FF59
- True bright blue#2979FF
- Electric turquoise#00E5FF
- Bright lime#AEEA00
- Vivid blue#00B0FF
- Bright jade#00BFA5
- Muted forest#5E7A6B
Colors closest to this beige
Next to your face, these sit closest to the skin swatch. Worn as a top, they can blend in with the skin. Worn lower, away from the face, they are fine.
- Warm rose beige#C98F7A
- Rosewood#C1A192
- Rose beige#C9A99B
- Salmon#D98A76
Find your season from one selfie
Free for your best and worst palette. All 12 in the full report.
What is a beige skin tone?
Beige is a word people use for skin that is not fair and not tan. Makeup counters, paint charts and clothing all use it. The research name for the same depth is intermediate.
They measure depth with the Individual Typology Angle (ITA°). It needs two numbers from the skin color: how light it is and how yellow it is. A higher angle is lighter skin. Beige is the band from 28° to 41°. Below the table you can see what sits on each side of it.
| Band | Also called | ITA° | Cool, neutral, warm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | fair, ivory | 41° to 55° | |
| Intermediate (beige) | light medium, beige | 28° to 41° | |
| Tan | medium, golden, olive-looking | 10° to 28° |
Beige skin is a band, not one color. The nine swatches in the picker are three steps of depth inside it (lighter beige, classic beige, deeper beige), each in three undertones. Beige also is not the same as the olive undertone, which is a green-grey cast that can appear at this depth too. Read what olive skin means if neither warm nor cool fits you. For the other everyday words, see skin color names.
Warm, neutral or cool beige: how to tell
Beige is the depth. The undertone is the part that decides which colors suit you.
- Stand by a window in daylight with no makeup. Indoor bulbs make every skin look warmer or greener than it is.
- Try the gold or silver test. Hold a gold and a silver piece against your jaw. The one that makes your skin look clearer is a hint.
- Look at the veins on your wrist. Green points warm, blue or purple points cool, both points neutral. The vein test has the details.
- Hold a white sheet and a cream one next to your face. See which one looks clean and which one looks harsh.
If two checks agree, that is your undertone. If they split, you are probably neutral. The undertone guide has the full set. If you would rather not guess, the skin tone quiz asks a few questions and the free analysis measures it from a selfie.
Warm beige skin tone
Warm beige has a golden, yellow or peachy cast. Gold jewelry tends to look better on it than silver, and the veins at the wrist can look green.
On skin alone, a classic warm beige (#BF997A, ITA° 36) leans to True Spring, Bright Spring or Light Spring. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:
- Bright violet#651FFF
- Vivid orchid#D500F9
- True bright blue#2979FF
- Warm violet#7E57C2
- Electric turquoise#00E5FF
- Bright mint#1DE9B6
Closest to this skin, and so the ones that can blend in at the face: warm mushroom, apricot, peach, wheat. More on warm undertones.
Neutral beige skin tone
Neutral beige sits between the two. Gold and silver both work, and the veins can look blue and green at once.
On skin alone, a classic neutral beige (#C8967A, ITA° 36) leans to Bright Spring, Soft Autumn or Soft Summer. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:
- Bright violet#651FFF
- Bright mint#1DE9B6
- Emerald#00C853
- Vivid green#64DD17
- Vivid orchid#D500F9
- Spring green#B2FF59
Closest to this skin, and so the ones that can blend in at the face: warm rose beige, rosewood, rose beige, salmon. More on neutral undertones.
Neutral skin has no strong lean, so its three seasons come from both sides of the chart. That is normal for a neutral reading.
Cool beige skin tone
Cool beige has a pink, rosy or slightly red cast. Silver tends to look better on it than gold, and the veins at the wrist can look blue or purple.
On skin alone, a classic cool beige (#D2917A, ITA° 36) leans to True Summer, Light Summer or Soft Summer. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:
- Teal blue#4A8FA8
- Cool blue#3F6FA8
- Sea glass#9CC8D6
- Cool aubergine#5D4E6D
- Soft emerald#6E9E8A
- Cool mint#8FBFAE
Closest to this skin, and so the ones that can blend in at the face: soft cocoa, rose beige, mauve, dusty rose. More on cool undertones.
What this page cannot tell you
- It cannot give your color season. Skin gives undertone and part of depth. Hair and eyes decide the rest, which is why each choice above shows three seasons, never one.
- It cannot see your face. Contrast with the skin is only one reason a color works. Your hair, eyes and lips matter too.
- A screen changes colors, and so does the room. The same swatch looks warmer on one phone and cooler on another. That is why our analysis corrects each photo for the light. How it works and how often it is right.
How we made this
Each swatch is a color we computed, not a photo. Beige is the intermediate row of our skin tone chart. We took that row and moved its lightness up a little and down a little, which gives the three steps of depth. For each step we set the hue to the angle our analysis reads as cool, neutral or warm, and we read the swatch back with the same engine, which is where the ITA° and the cool-to-warm reading on the card come from.
For each swatch we then find the three seasons nearest to it on undertone and depth, pool their palettes, drop repeated names, and rank every color by its CIEDE2000 distance from the swatch, a standard measure of how different two colors look. The top of the list is what stands out most. The bottom is what sits closest to the skin. Every color is in the season palettes on this site.
How this is different from other color analysis tools
- 01
Your photo stays on your device
Many photo apps upload your selfie and read it on their server (see our comparison). Ours measures it in your browser. There is no upload.
- 02
The result is free
Your season and palette, with no account and no email. At least one app in our comparison takes payment before you see any result.
- 03
A close call says so
Every result names the runner-up season and how close the call was. Borderline is a result we print.
- 04
We publish our accuracy
We tuned the method on faces that experts had labelled by season, then tested it on 410 celebrity photos we collected. The results, misses included.
Questions
What is a beige skin tone?
Beige is an everyday word for light medium skin: deeper than fair, lighter than tan. In skin research this depth is called intermediate, with an ITA° (Individual Typology Angle) from 28° to 41°. Beige says how light the skin is. It does not say whether the skin is warm or cool.
Is beige a warm or cool skin tone?
Neither on its own. Beige is a depth, and every depth comes in a cool, neutral and warm undertone. So there is warm beige, neutral beige and cool beige. The three look close in a photo, and the way to tell them apart is the undertone checks further down this page.
What is a warm beige skin tone?
Warm beige is light medium skin with a golden, yellow or peachy undertone. On skin alone, our analysis leans to True Spring, Bright Spring or Light Spring for a classic warm beige. Hair and eyes decide between them.
What colors look good on beige skin?
It depends on the undertone more than on the beige. Colors that stand out most against a warm beige include bright violet, vivid orchid, true bright blue or warm violet. For a cool beige they include teal blue, cool blue, sea glass or cool aubergine. Use the picker at the top of this page for the full list of each.
What colors should beige skin be careful with?
Few colors are off limits. What the data shows is which colors sit closest to the skin swatch, because those can blend in next to the face. For classic cool beige they are soft cocoa, rose beige or mauve, and for classic warm beige warm mushroom, apricot or peach. Worn lower, away from the face, they are fine.
Is beige skin fair or tan?
Neither, it sits between them on the skin tone chart. Fair skin is the two lightest bands (an ITA° of more than 41°). Tan is the band below beige (10° to 28°). Beige is the band in the middle (28° to 41°). People near an edge often say both words about themselves.
How do I know if my beige skin is warm, neutral or cool?
Do the checks in daylight with no makeup. Hold gold and silver against your jaw. Look at the veins on your wrist. Hold a white sheet and a cream sheet next to your face. If two checks agree, that is your undertone. If they split, you are probably neutral. The free analysis measures it from one selfie, corrected for the light in the room.
What you can do on this page
This page has an interactive beige picker: three undertones (cool, neutral, warm) by three depths of beige, nine computed swatches. For each choice a visitor sees the swatch with its hex code and ITA° angle, how our analysis reads its undertone, the three color seasons it leans to on skin alone, the colors from those palettes that stand out most against the skin, and the colors closest to it. The page then offers the free photo analysis, which measures undertone, depth and clarity from one selfie in the browser, with no upload and no account.
Keep reading
- Skin tone chartAll six depths, each in three undertones
- Skin color names30 everyday words, each with a swatch
- What skin tone am I?A short quiz for your depth and undertone
- Warm undertoneSigns, and the colors that suit it
- Neutral undertoneWhen gold and silver both work
- Cool undertoneSigns, and the colors that suit it
- Fair skinThe band just lighter than beige
- All guidesEvery article on this site