Accessory Tips: How to choose the right jewellery for your skin tone
Are you a yellow gold person, or a sterling silver person? It all depends on the colour of your skin.
Determining Your Skin Tone
Before you even start to decide whether gold or silver metals suit you best, you need to figure out your skin tone! One of the easiest ways to do this is to take a look at your veins. Check out your wrists under bright lighting – if your veins have a bluish tint, you can be considered “cool toned”. Those with cooler tones are generally fair-skinned people who tend to burn under the sun instead of tan. Those with warmer skin tones tend to have veins that look greenish – they usually develop a bronze “glow” when exposed to the sun.
So, what does this mean?
Warm Versus Cool
Those with warmer tones suit “warmer colours” such as golds, yellows, reds, oranges and pinks. If you fit in the warm category, jewellery on this side of the colour wheel will look best on you. Yes, yellow gold is your ally, as well as copper and brass. Stones like garnet, citrine and carnelian will complement your tone very well.
If you’ve got a cool skin tone, you’ll want to stick with white and silvery metals, as well as gemstones that fall on the blue and green side of the spectrum. Pure silver, sterling silver, platinum, titanium, white gold and stainless steel are your best friends. Match these metals with stones such as turquoise, aquamarine and jade. White pearls can also look simply divine on people with cool skin tones.
Does skin tone really matter?
Of course, mixing metals seems to be the trend these days, and there are really no set rules when it comes to jewellery anyway. Wear what you think looks best – if you love yellow gold but you’ve got pale, cool skin, go ahead and wear yellow gold! Matching your jewellery to your skin tone is more of a guideline than anything, so you have the option to bend the rules where you see fit. Remember: your personal style matters too!
Angela Goh
Photo: Getty Images
Read more:
Brighten your Bling: How to clean your jewellery at home?
Would you wear living jewellery that grows on you?