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Best colors for dark skin, by undertone

The best colors for dark skin depend on the undertone: cool, neutral or warm. Pick your depth and undertone below to see the colors that stand out most, and the ones that can blend in. Dark skin here means the two deepest bands of the skin tone chart, with the most focus on the darkest.

By Jane MitchellCertified color analystPublished

Pick your depth and undertone

The colors below are worked out from the real season palettes, not picked by hand.

1. How deep is your skin?

2. What is your undertone?

Dark skin, warm undertone

#5A4839 · ITA° -56 (band: -30° or less)

On skin alone, our analysis leans to Deep Autumn, True Autumn or Soft Autumn. Your hair and eyes decide between them.

Colors that stand out most against this skin

  • Wheat#D6BC7E
  • Soft peach beige#DCC0A8
  • Goldenrod#DAA520
  • Antique gold#C9A227
  • Amber#D9A066
  • Soft gold#C4A76A
  • Rosewood#C1A192
  • Dusty blue#7E9AA5
  • Salmon#D98A76
  • Soft plum rose#B58F9E
  • Moss gold#A89B5C
  • Warm rose beige#C98F7A

Colors closest to this skin

Next to your face, these sit closest to the skin swatch in color. Worn as a top, they can blend in with the skin. Worn lower, away from the face, they are fine.

  • Coffee brown#5D4037
  • Chestnut#7C4D3A
  • Cinnamon#8A5A44
  • Bronze olive#7B683F
Our example face against the Deep Autumn palette
Example face, not yours

Find your season from one selfie

Get free analysis

Free for your best and worst palette. All 12 in the full report.

Folded silk swatches in emerald, cobalt, fuchsia, marigold, deep plum and white on a dark wooden table
An illustration made with an image model, not a photo of real fabric. The colors in the picker above are the computed ones.

Black skin tones and undertones

Skin has two parts. Depth is how light or deep it is. Undertone is the color under the surface, cool, neutral or warm. Dark skin is a wide range of depths, and every depth comes in all three undertones.

Dermatologists measure depth with the Individual Typology Angle (ITA°). On that scale, the two deepest bands are brown (-30° to 10°) and dark (-30° or less). On the deepest band, the undertone shows most in the jaw and the lips, not the wrist.

Skin toneAlso calledITA°Cool, neutral, warm
Brownmedium brown, caramel-30° to 10°
Darkdeep, deep brown-30° or less

How to find your undertone on dark skin

Veins are often hard to see on dark skin, so the vein test is the weakest check here. Try these instead, in daylight and with no makeup.

  1. 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.
  2. Hold a white sheet and an off-white one (cream or ivory) next to your face. See which one looks cleaner and which one looks harsh.
  3. Look at your jaw and your lips. On deep skin the undertone shows most there, more than on the wrist. A red, blue or plum cast points cool. A golden, orange or olive cast points warm.
  4. If the veins on your wrist do show, the vein test is a fourth check. Do not rely on it alone.

If two checks agree, that is your undertone. If they split, you are probably neutral. Our undertone guide has the full set.

Colors for cool toned dark skin

Cool toned black skin is real. Cool dark skin has a red, blue or plum cast, and the leaning palettes below are the cool winter ones. Try silver first.

On the dark band, our analysis leans to Deep Winter, True Winter or Bright Winter. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:

  • Bright lime#76FF03
  • Vivid green#00E676
  • Bright aqua#1DE9B6
  • Lemon yellow#FFEA00
  • Electric turquoise#00E5FF
  • Icy blue#B3E5FC

Colors for neutral toned dark skin

Neutral dark skin sits between the two, so it borrows from both. The leaning seasons below mix winter and autumn palettes.

On the dark band, our analysis leans to Deep Winter, Deep Autumn or Bright Winter. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:

  • Bright lime#76FF03
  • Vivid green#00E676
  • Bright aqua#1DE9B6
  • Lemon yellow#FFEA00
  • Electric turquoise#00E5FF
  • Icy blue#B3E5FC

Colors for warm toned dark skin

Warm dark skin has a golden, orange or olive cast. The leaning palettes below are the warm autumn ones. Try gold first.

On the dark band, our analysis leans to Deep Autumn, True Autumn or Soft Autumn. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:

  • Wheat#D6BC7E
  • Soft peach beige#DCC0A8
  • Goldenrod#DAA520
  • Antique gold#C9A227
  • Amber#D9A066
  • Soft gold#C4A76A

Colors to be careful with

This is a computed list, not a rule. These are the colors in the leaning palettes that sit closest to the dark skin swatch, so a top in this color can blend in with the face. Worn lower, they are fine.

  • Cool: cool espresso, ruby, deep crimson, true red
  • Neutral: coffee brown, cool espresso, cinnamon, deep terracotta
  • Warm: coffee brown, chestnut, cinnamon, bronze olive

What the best colors for dark skin 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. That is why our analysis corrects each photo for the light. How it works and how often it is right.

How we made this

For each depth and undertone we take the skin swatch from the skin tone chart and find the three seasons nearest to it on undertone and depth. We then pool their palettes, drop repeated names, and rank every color by its CIEDE2000 distance from the skin 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, and the page does not hand-pick any of them.

How this is different from other color analysis tools

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

How the photo analysis works, step by step

Questions

What colors look good on dark skin?

It depends on the undertone more than on the depth. For a warm undertone, the palettes our analysis leans to are Deep Autumn, True Autumn and Soft Autumn: wheat, soft peach beige, goldenrod, antique gold or amber stand out most. For a cool undertone they are the winter palettes: bright lime, vivid green, bright aqua, lemon yellow or electric turquoise. Use the picker on this page for the full list.

What colors should dark skin avoid?

Few colors are off limits. What we can show from the data is which colors sit closest to the skin swatch, because those can blend in next to the face. For the dark band they are cool espresso, ruby or deep crimson for a cool undertone and coffee brown, chestnut or cinnamon for a warm one. Worn lower, away from the face, they are fine.

How do I know my undertone if I have dark skin?

Veins are often hard to see on dark skin, so the vein test is the weakest of the checks. Use the gold or silver test, hold white and off-white fabric next to your face in daylight, and look at your jaw and lips, where the undertone shows most. If two checks agree, that is your undertone.

Can black skin have cool undertones?

Yes. Dark skin comes in all three undertones: cool, neutral and warm. A cool undertone on dark skin often shows as a red, blue or plum cast, most easily on the lips and the jaw. Warm is the one people assume, but it is not the only one.

Does white look good on dark skin?

It can. A near-white shows up in the palettes only for the cool leaning (icy lavender white). The warm and neutral leanings hold no white at all, so for those undertones try cream, ivory or camel first, and hold the fabric to your face before you buy.

What you can do on this page

This page has an interactive color picker for dark skin: two depths (brown and dark) by three undertones. For each choice a visitor sees the skin swatch, 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, all with names and hex codes. 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.

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