Cool-toned make-up is, somewhat unsurprisingly, make-up that contains cooler tones. Unlike warm-toned make-up based on hues of orange, yellow and gold, cool-toned make-up is based on pink, blue, purple and grey colours.

For example, while it’s perfectly possible to have a warm-toned pink (underpinned by tones of gold and peach), it’s also perfectly possible to have a cool-toned pink, with a base in purple, blue or silver. 

Your skin’s undertone tends to be the best gauge of which type of make-up will suit you best. If you’re naturally warm-toned, warmer-coloured products will blend more seamlessly and help skin look healthy and glowing. If you’re naturally cool-toned, those same products could make you look sallow. 

“Warm make-up tones show up as yellow, peach and even golden tones on the skin. You can decide your undertone by assessing your veins. If they appear more blue or purple, you likely have a cool undertone. If your veins appear more green or olive, then you probably have a warm undertone. If you have a mixture of them all, you likely have a neutral undertone,” explains Aimee Connolly, a make-up artist and founder of Sculpted by Aimee.    

Make-up artist and founder of Vesta London Beauty Vesta Boateng has two more practical tips for identifying your undertone: “Although a product may look like it’s neutral or cool, you won’t really know until you try it on your skin or complexion,” she says. “But, the colour of your jewellery can be a great way to identify your undertone.” 

For example, if you find you naturally suit silver jewellery, you’re most likely a cool-toned person. If you suit gold more, you’re likely warm. If it’s both, odds are you’re neutral-toned. 

“Unless you have a neutral undertone, your undertone matters a lot when choosing your shades,” says Connolly. “For example, if you place a cool make-up shade onto warm skin it will appear much paler and almost leave the complexion looking washed out; it just won’t be a match. Likewise, if you put a warm foundation onto cool skin, it may show up much more yellow than expected. The best thing to do for a natural finish is to match the tones of your make-up shades, with the tones in your skin.”     

However, don’t take that as a carte blanche on avoiding cool-toned products as a warm-toned person and vice versa. Revington says there are ways to play with shades: 

“When it comes to products like blush, all rules go out the window,” she says. “A peach-tone blush can actually add a healthier perky glow to cool-toned skin, and a cool neutral blush like a rose or a bluey-pink colour will lift a warm complexion brilliantly. I think it is really important to nail your foundation shade and complexion products, then you can play with colour and have fun!”

“If a product is a cool-toned neutral, you will notice that it has hints of rose, pink, red or blue throughout. You will notice these as a hue rather than a full-on contrast of colour,” explains Connolly. 

“If a product is a warm-toned neutral, it will appear to have more golden, yellow, olive or peachy hues throughout. The best way to figure out which one suits you best, is to swatch the product on your skin and notice how it blends. If you have a cool skin tone the pinky shades should blend better, and if you are warm, the yellow/golden tones should look more flattering on your skin.”

“When it comes to complexion products, cool-toned neutral make-up tends to be marketed as neutral, so think of ivories or linens. If you are a true cool tone, you can probably get away with wearing a cool neutral foundation. However, avoid a warm neutral foundation as you could start to look sallow,” explains make-up artist Grace Revington. 

“Similarly, for warm undertones, you may be able to turn to a neutral foundation but if there’s any hint of pink in there, you can start to look ashy.

“When we look at other make-up such as eyeshadow, you’ll recognise a cool neutral product as a taupe, a grey-brown, or a contour shade. This is almost like a shadow, or a transition shade to blend in the crease. These shades can be complementary on a lot of people with cool-toned skin, and if applied carefully, golden or warm skin can also wear these shades to create shape and define features. However, applied too heavily or not blended, skin can look muddy.”

Main image: Stylist