How to Find the Best Lipstick for Your Skin Tone, According to Color Analysis (2024)

If you're wondering how to find the best lipstick for your skin tone—and dreading the process of trying dozens of options to figure it out—I have great news. There is a much better way to identify which shades work best with your complexion, and it's called color analysis, a stylist-approved technique for identifying your seasonal color palette.

I discovered this method six months ago, when a video on Jenna Ortega's color contrast happened upon my Instagram Explore page. I had never thought about color contrast and how it could impact the color combinations I should wear, let alone the ones I put on my face. But when I thought about it in terms of Ortega, it dawned on me: The actor's high color contrast is part of why she makes such a good Wednesday. She truly shines in black and white, and cool-toned makeup like the infamous Wednesday lipstick.

I forwarded the video to my best friend and my sister, vowed to change my makeup and wardrobe, and smashed that “follow” button faster than ever before. Now I've convinced the creator behind said video, certified image consultant and color analyst Nathalia Eugenio Vaz, to share color analysis beauty secrets for Glamour.

What are seasonal color palettes?

Before we get into lipstick, let's get you up to speed. You might recognize color analysis or seasonal color palettes from the viral TikTok effect Armocromia by @aida.creator, which users have utilized to find their “seasons” (more on that below). But as is the case with many TikTok trends, the concept isn't exactly new: Much of contemporary color season theory stems from Carole Jackson's Color Me Beautiful, a style book published in 1987. Nearly 40 years later, color analysis is a full-fledged industry (and TikTok trend), and professional image consultants and color analysts are regularly hired to help individuals dress and feel their best through color.

“Seasonal color analysis is a technique [used] to identify your color palette and determine the group of colors that harmonize with your complexion,” Vaz tells Glamour, explaining that each person is classified by season based on the characteristics of their features.

There are 12 seasons total, divided into spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and then into subsections of each: light, true, bright, and deep. The full list of seasons is light spring, bright spring, true spring, true summer, soft summer, light summer, true autumn, soft autumn, deep autumn, true winter, bright winter, and deep winter.

In order to find your own season, you need to analyze three color dimensions: value, which examines whether your skin is light or dark; chroma, which analyzes whether it's muted or bright; and undertone, which is whether you are warm, cool, or neutral-toned. Or, ideally, have an expert do this for you.

How do I know whether I have a warm or cool undertone?

It's best to have your color analyzed by a professional, but if you can't—or are patiently waiting on Vaz's waiting list like me—there are techniques to uncovering your undertones that can help you find suitable lipstick colors for your skin's temperature. “How to find the undertone is the question I receive the most,” Vaz says, since it's obviously useful when it comes to finding face makeup but essential for finding your color palette.

Why is that? Well, temperature is the primary feature of several palettes. For example, the true winter palette, an example of which is Anne Hathaway, and true summer, as is Emily Blunt, have cool undertones. On the other side of the temperature spectrum is true autumn (Beyoncé) and true spring (Jessica Chastain), which have warm undertones.

If this seems confusing, don't worry: It becomes much easier to understand once you have visuals (something I've learned from intently following Vaz for the past few months). Examples of celebrities with warm undertones include Beyoncé, Jennifer Lawrence, Zendaya, and Jennifer Lopez—you'll notice they look their most balanced while wearing warm colors like orange, yellow, and/or cherry red.

Celebs with cool undertones, on the other hand, include Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Elle Fanning, who dazzle in cool tones like blue, purple, and green—or, in Rihanna's case, deep purple shades of lipstick.

When someone's temperature is not the principal feature of their palette, they will have a “neutral” undertone, which is then categorized as either neutral-cool or neutral-warm. “This means that the value—light or deep—or the intensity—bright or soft—will be the first color dimension,” Vaz says, pointing to bright spring, light spring, soft autumn, and deep autumn (think Glamour Woman of the Year Angela Bassett and Emily Ratajkowski) as palettes with neutral-warm undertones. The bright winter, deep winter, soft summer, and light summer palettes (Elle Fanning is an example) have neutral cool undertones.

As for how to figure out which you are? “You can do the lipstick test; when the undertone is incorrect, you can feel the lipstick will look off on you,” Vaz says. “Try lipsticks with more blueish shades with cool undertones, like MAC's Ruby You, and lipsticks with more yellowish shades and warm undertones like MAC's Chili's Crew and Frienda.”

Another tip? Try wearing overly warm color tones like orange, both in your makeup and clothing. “There isn't a cool tone of orange, so if you like to wear orange tones, you most likely have a warm or neutral-warm undertone rather than cool,” Vaz explains. If you are still unsure, you can always invest in shades that are universally balancing, i.e., not too warm or too cool. “That is the case of navy blue, emerald green, teal, and wine-red burgundy colors,” she says.

Translation? If you're totally lost, a wine-red burgundy lip shade is a good place to start. Why else would Clinique's iconic Black Honey be so universally adored? If you want something a little more pigmented, try Pat McGrath's MatteTrance Lipstick in Full Blooded.

How do I know whether I’m high, low, or medium contrast?

If you can't pinpoint your undertones, you can still find the best lipstick for your skin tone by identifying your level of color contrast. “Color contrast is one of the key elements of color analysis,” Vaz says. “It's all about how intense the difference between the lightest and darkest elements of your complexion—eyes, skin tone, hair color—is. Understanding your color contrast can help you determine the most effective ways to incorporate colors from your palette and decide on appropriate shades.”

As for what this means? “Individuals with significant contrast between their skin tone and hair color, such as those with dark hair and light skin or vice versa, have a high-contrast beauty,” Vaz says. “In these cases, color combinations that create a strong contrast with their skin tone can accentuate their features beautifully.”

Basically, if you are high-contrast, darker colors that mimic the contrast between your skin and hair will balance your look. Some high-contrast celebrities include Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Alexandra Daddario, Jenna Ortega, and Jennie Kim. See the stark difference between their hair and features and skin, and the fact that they're often wearing black and white (which mimics said contrast).

If you're low-contrast, lighter pigments are often the way to go. Some low-contrast celebrities include Taylor Swift, Viola Davis, Sydney Sweeney, and Jennifer Lopez—there is very little contrast between their skin, hair, and feature colors.

There is also “medium contrast,” which falls somewhere in the middle. Zendaya, Emma Stone, Angela Bassett, and Emily Blunt fall under this category. To find yours, simply turn some selfies black-and-white and see how much of a difference there is between your skin, hair, and features.

“Knowing your color contrast can be a great tool to harmonize the color tones, especially if you don't know your color palette yet,” Vaz says. If you want to know more, she made a live video on the subject on her Instagram.

The Best Lipstick Color for Each Color Palette

Now for what you've all been waiting for: the best lipstick color for each color palette! If you still don't know yours, you're in luck. I asked Vaz to list (what she believes to be) some of our favorite celebrities’ color palettes, as well as which lipsticks work for them. So if someone's value, chroma, and undertones look similar to yours, you just might share a palette.

Spring

The spring family has light and medium tones with warm undertones and a bright appearance. For visual reference of each subtype, Taylor Swift is a light spring, Kerry Washington a bright spring, and celebrities like Jamie Chung and Jessica Chastain are true springs.

For this palette, Vaz recommends midtone pinks and corals as well as tomato reds, like MAC's Lady Bug (which, unsurprisingly, looks just like the Taylor Swift red shade of Red fame).

Summer

The summer family has light and medium tones with cool undertones and a soft appearance. For visual reference of each subtype, Emily Blunt is a true summer, Rihanna a soft summer, and Elle Fanning and Jung Chae-yeon are light summers.

Vaz recommends blue-pinks and cranberry shades for summer palettes.

Autumn

The autumn family is made up of medium and deep tones with warm undertones and a soft appearance. Beyoncé and Zendaya are true autumn, Gigi Hadid and Hailey Bieber are soft autumn, and Jenna Ortega and Emily Ratajkowski are deep autumns.

Vaz suggests blushed nude and brick red lipsticks for this color family.

Winter

Winter palettes have medium and deep tones with cool undertones and a bright appearance. For examples of a true winter, see Lupita Nyong'o and Liv Tyler. Lily Collins and Krysten Ritter are bright winters, while quite a few celebrities are deep winter: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Viola Davis, Kim Kardashian, Lucy Liu, and Selena Gomez are all believed to be deep winters.

For this color family, Vaz suggests deep berry and plum shades with blue undertones and vivid blue-reds.

And if you're still stuck? Your best bet is simply to go with whichever shade you like best, since that's really all that matters.

Danielle Sinay is the associate beauty editor atGlamour.Follow her on Instagram@daniellesinay.