Best colors for tan skin, by undertone
The best colors for tan skin depend on the undertone: cool, neutral or warm. Pick yours below to see the clothing colors that stand out most and the best nail colors for tan skin. Tan here means the fourth band of the skin tone chart, between intermediate and brown.
By Jane MitchellCertified color analystPublished
Pick your undertone
The colors below are worked out from the real season palettes, not picked by hand.
What is your undertone?
Not sure? Four checks you can do at home.
Tan skin, warm undertone
#A88567 · ITA° 21 (band: 10° to 28°)
On skin alone, our analysis leans to True Spring, True Autumn or Bright Spring. Your hair and eyes decide between them.
Clothing colors that stand out most against this skin
- Bright violet#651FFF
- Vivid orchid#D500F9
- True bright blue#2979FF
- Electric turquoise#00E5FF
- Bright mint#1DE9B6
- Spring green#B2FF59
- Warm violet#7E57C2
- Vivid blue#00B0FF
- Vivid green#64DD17
- Emerald#00C853
- Warm sky blue#42A5F5
- Bright lime#AEEA00
Nail colors for this skin
These come from the same three palettes, sorted into nail families by a written rule. They are not nail polish brand shades. Each family shows the colors that stand out most from the skin swatch. The nude family shows the closest first.
Berry and wine
- Warm plum#A0637C
Pink
- Hot pink#FF4081
- Warm pink#EC407A
- Clear pink#FF80AB
Nude and rose beige
- Warm mushroom#A1887F
- Peach blossom#FFCCBC
Coral and peach
- Hot coral red#FF5252
- Warm poppy#E85D4E
- Vivid coral#FF6E40
Brick and rust
- Brick red#8B3A2E
- Burnt orange#B7410E
- Terracotta#D84315
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.
- Warm mushroom#A1887F
- Warm coral clay#C97B5C
- Bronze olive#7B683F
- Mustard#B8860B
If your skin has an olive cast: our olive undertone page lists True Autumn among the seasons olive skin often lands in, and it is on this list.
Find your season from one selfie
Free for your best and worst palette. All 12 in the full report.
What colors look good on tan skin?
Tan skin is a depth, not an undertone. On the ITA° scale that dermatologists use, the tan band runs 10° to 28°. Tan skin can be cool, neutral or warm, so the colors that work change with the undertone.
Two things hold for all three in our data. The colors that stand out most against the tan swatch are clear, saturated ones, and the colors that sit nearest it, soft browns and beiges, can blend in near the face. Below, each undertone has its own list.
Colors for cool toned tan skin
Cool tan skin has a pink, rosy or red cast under the tan. The leaning palettes below are the cool summer and winter ones. Try silver first.
On the tan band, our analysis leans to True Summer, Soft Summer or Bright Winter. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:
- Bright lime#76FF03
- Vivid green#00E676
- Bright aqua#1DE9B6
- Emerald#00C853
- Deep navy#1A237E
- Electric turquoise#00E5FF
Colors for neutral toned tan skin
Neutral tan skin sits between the two, so it borrows from both. The leaning seasons below mix summer, autumn and spring palettes.
On the tan band, our analysis leans to Soft Summer, Soft Autumn or Bright Spring. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:
- Bright violet#651FFF
- Bright mint#1DE9B6
- Spring green#B2FF59
- Vivid green#64DD17
- Emerald#00C853
- Electric turquoise#00E5FF
Colors for warm toned tan skin
Warm tan skin has a golden, peachy or olive cast. The leaning palettes below are the warm spring and autumn ones. Try gold first.
On the tan band, our analysis leans to True Spring, True Autumn or Bright Spring. These colors from those palettes stand out most against the skin:
- Bright violet#651FFF
- Vivid orchid#D500F9
- True bright blue#2979FF
- Electric turquoise#00E5FF
- Bright mint#1DE9B6
- Spring green#B2FF59
Best nail colors for tan skin
One shade per family and undertone. The picker above shows up to three per family.
This list comes from the season palettes, not from nail polish brands. We took the colors of the three leaning palettes for each undertone and sorted them into six nail families with written rules on lightness, chroma and hue (see how we made this, below). Use the shade as a guide to look for in a bottle, then try it on your own nails in daylight. Each shade shown stands out most from the skin swatch in its family. The nude shown is the one closest to it.
| Nail family | Cool undertone | Neutral undertone | Warm undertone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berry and wine | Deep fuchsia#C51162 | Muted plum#8F5F6E | Warm plum#A0637C |
| Pink | Bright rose#FF4081 | Hot pink#FF4081 | Hot pink#FF4081 |
| Nude and rose beige | Soft cocoa#A88F87 | Warm rose beige#C98F7A | Warm mushroom#A1887F |
| Coral and peach | None in these palettes | Hot coral red#FF5252 | Hot coral red#FF5252 |
| Red | Electric red#FF1744 | None in these palettes | None in these palettes |
| Brick and rust | None in these palettes | Muted rust#B5654A | Brick red#8B3A2E |
Read the gaps as data. Coral and brick shades only appear in the neutral and warm palettes, and the cool palettes hold clear reds and cool berries instead. Pinks, berries and nudes work at every undertone. Your hands can be a slightly different shade from your face, so these are a starting point.
Tan skin with an olive undertone
The skin tone chart notes that many people with an olive undertone sit in the tan band. Olive is a green-grey cast over a warm or cool temperature, so it does not have a column of its own here. We do not measure olive from a swatch.
What we can say from our own data: our olive undertone page lists the seasons olive skin most often lands in. Of the three seasons each column leans to, these are on that list:
- Cool: Soft Summer
- Neutral: Soft Summer and Soft Autumn
- Warm: True Autumn
So if you think you are olive, start with the column that matches your warm or cool side, and favor the softer, greyer colors in it.
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 tan skin swatch, so a top in this color can blend in with the face. Worn lower, they are fine.
- Cool: soft cocoa, rose beige, dusty rose, soft berry
- Neutral: warm rose beige, pecan, soft terracotta, soft cocoa
- Warm: warm mushroom, warm coral clay, bronze olive, mustard
What the best colors for tan 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 or your nails. Contrast with the skin is only one reason a color works. Your hair, eyes and lips matter too, and so does the polish finish.
- 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 undertone we take the tan swatch from the skin tone chart and find the three seasons nearest to it on undertone and depth. We 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.
For nails we sort the same pooled colors by CIELAB lightness, chroma and hue. A color goes in the first family whose rule it meets, and a color that meets none (greens, blues, yellows, violets) is left out. The rules:
- Berry and wine: Pink-red hue, dark or muted: lightness under 50, or under 54 with moderate chroma (20 to 60).
- Pink: Pink-red hue, clear chroma (30 or more), lightness 50 or more.
- Nude and rose beige: Skin-like hue (345 to 75), soft chroma (6 to 30), lightness 50 to 90.
- Coral and peach: Red-orange hue (28 to 52), light enough (56 or more), clear chroma (30 to 80).
- Red: True red hue (20 to 42), strong chroma (40 or more), lightness 40 or more.
- Brick and rust: Red-orange hue (28 to 60), deeper than the coral family (lightness under 52), chroma 25 or more.
Every color is in the season palettes on this site, and the page does not hand-pick any of them. No nail polish brand is used.
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 colors look good on tan skin?
It depends on the undertone more than on the depth. For a warm undertone, the palettes our analysis leans to are True Spring, True Autumn and Bright Spring: bright violet, vivid orchid, true bright blue, electric turquoise or bright mint stand out most. For a cool undertone they are True Summer, Soft Summer and Bright Winter: bright lime, vivid green, bright aqua, emerald or deep navy. Use the picker on this page for the full list.
What nail colors look best on tan skin?
From the palettes our analysis leans to, the pink, berry and nude families work for every undertone. A warm undertone also gets coral and brick shades such as hot coral red, warm poppy or brick red. A cool undertone gets clear reds and cool berries such as deep fuchsia or cool raspberry. This list comes from the season palettes, not from nail polish brands.
Is tan skin warm or cool?
It can be either, or neutral. Tan describes how deep the skin is, and undertone is the color under the surface. Sun can make skin look warmer than it is, so test your undertone on a part of the body that sees little sun, such as the inner arm, or use the gold or silver test.
What colors should tan skin avoid?
Few colors are off limits. What we can show is which colors sit closest to the skin swatch, because those can blend in next to the face. For a cool undertone they are soft cocoa, rose beige or dusty rose, and for a warm one warm mushroom, warm coral clay or bronze olive. Worn lower, away from the face, they are fine.
Does white look good on tan skin?
It can, but no pure white or ivory sits in the three palettes our analysis leans to for any tan undertone. Try cream, oat or camel first. Hold the fabric to your face in daylight before you buy.
Is olive skin the same as tan skin?
No. Tan is a depth. Olive is an undertone: a green-grey cast over a warm or cool temperature. Many people with an olive undertone sit in the tan band, but olive can appear at other depths too. Our olive undertone page lists the seasons olive skin most often lands in.
What you can do on this page
This page has an interactive color picker for tan skin, with three undertones to choose from. For each choice a visitor sees the skin swatch, the three color seasons it leans to on skin alone, the clothing colors from those palettes that stand out most against the skin, a nail color shortlist sorted into families, and the colors closest to the skin, 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.
Keep reading
- Skin tone chartAll six depths, each in three undertones
- Best colors for dark skinThe two deepest bands, by undertone
- Warm or cool undertoneFour checks you can do at home
- Olive undertoneA green-grey cast over warm or cool
- What colors look good on me?Start from your own coloring
- All guidesEvery article on this site