During my work, I use a colorimeter to determine color depth and undertone. But what is a colorimeter and what does it do?
The colorimeter scans your skin. I draw an imaginary line from the corner of your eye and mouth, arriving at an area on your cheek. That is where we perform the scan. This spot is used because it is considered your true color. This area of your face is often the least damaged. Most people have a super smooth patch of skin somewhere in that area. Your forehead is often darker, and further up on your cheeks, your pores are larger and you often have more skin damage. However, should you have more skin issues around that area on your cheek or have a beard, there are other spots I can use. Don't worry, everyone I see gets a scan 😉
The colorimeter takes a measurement of your pigmentation level L (color depth) and measures the amount of yellow (B) and pink (A) pigment you have. The data tells you not only what your undertone is, but also how warm, neutral, or cool you are.
- Between 4.5 and 5.5, you have a neutral undertone.
- Anything below 4.5 is cool.
- Anything above 5.5 is warm.
So, within the undertones, you also have different gradations.
Warm undertone
In my work, I see people with an undertone around 6, but also around 11. If you have an undertone between 5.5 and 6.5, you will often find that warm foundations are too warm (this varies slightly by brand). If a brand also has an olive line, that will often work best for you. After all, your undertone is not warm enough for a warm foundation.
Neutral undertone
With an undertone between 4.5 and 5.5, you have it fairly easy when it comes to foundation. If you are below 5, you will notice that N shades are sometimes a bit too warm. When it comes to clothing, hair, and jewelry, it is trickier. With a neutral undertone, you always tend towards the warm or the cool, but that is really person-dependent. Little can be said about that beforehand.
Cool undertone
If you have a cool undertone below 2.5, you can use a cool foundation. If you are above that, you will quickly notice that cool shades are too cool, while neutral alone is too yellow. In those cases, you will always have to mix foundation, unfortunately.
Color depth
Your color depth is a useful factor for me to help you choose a foundation. Thanks to my work as a Make-up Artist, I am familiar with many brands and can often give advice on which shade suits you best within each brand. Finally, a foundation that really matches this data well 🙂 With this little device, you gain precise knowledge about your color depth and undertone, making buying foundation so much easier.
