Questions, answered.

From my work as a makeup artist, I determined undertone is the main thing that matters when it comes to color harmony.

You don't always have to pursue color harmony. You can wear shades just because you like them, because they contrast and pop against your skin tone, or because you want to have a certain look. The choice is yours.

Color theory is highly complex. The ToneMatch Method is designed to be a simplified system so you don't have to stress about every variable that exists in color.

Use this as your starting point to find shades you love (or don't), and go from there.

I get it. Sometimes determining your undertone takes longer than you'd like because it's a process instead of a simple 'hack'.

Make sure you are not falling into the 'old undertone myths' of thinking yellow skin = warm and red skin = cool, or looking to see what your vein color is. You need to follow the guidance in Step 1 of the ToneMatch Method.

Once you've learned what to look for in Step 1, you probably need to train your eye to see undertone more…and test some products.

To train your eye: Comparison is your best friend. Find several foundation brands that label their undertones and start to look at their swatches—preferably next to each other so you can spot the lean in each swatch. Looking at shades side by side really makes the lean more apparent. The more you do this and pay attention to the differences in shades, the more you will start to automatically see those differences and where your own skin tone might lean.

To test products: Once you have even a mild hypothesis about your own undertone, use Step 2 of the ToneMatch Method to test out some makeup products that have that same undertone. If you are correct, you should notice that the shades you chose look nice and harmonious. The wrong shades, however, will often transform before your eyes. A cool skin tone that puts on a product that is warm might immediately think 'Wow! This looks so orangey!' whereas a warm skin tone that puts on something cool might say 'This color turned purple on me'. Clues like these can be signs that point you in the right direction.

Technically the two are not related, but both systems do analyze your skin's undertone.

In seasonal color analysis, the seasons are organized according to more factors than undertone, making it more complex and often requiring professional guidance.

The ToneMatch Method is a simplified system that allows you to analyze yourself and any makeup products you want to buy all on your own.

It absolutely can. Our most harmonious colors do indeed align with our skin's undertone whether that's in makeup, hair, or beyond.

If finding what looks best on you really matters to you, I highly suggest you try to wear some of the shades that are in your undertone to see if you adjust. I myself found that I was uncomfortable wearing certain clothing colors initially, but then realized how great they looked and gradually began to love them. It never hurts to try new things! If, in the end, you decide you just want to wear whatever colors you enjoy most—that's fine, too.