Shade matching
Shade matching at home: find your exact match in five minutes
6 min read · July 16, 2026 · Aura Studio
Undertone, depth and oxidation explained — plus the jawline test that beats guessing from a screen.
Depth first, undertone second
Depth is how light or deep your skin is; undertone is the colour running underneath. Get depth right and a slightly off undertone still blends. Get undertone right with the wrong depth and it reads like a mask.
Check depth in daylight against a white surface — hold your forearm next to plain white paper and see how far it sits from it.
The three-swipe jawline test
Swipe three neighbouring shades along the jaw, running from cheek to neck. Wait five minutes for oxidation, then look in natural light. The one that disappears is your match — the neck, not the hand, is the reference point.
If two shades both vanish, take the deeper one for summer and the lighter for winter, or mix them.
Reading undertone without guesswork
Cool skin flushes pink and looks best beside silver. Warm skin leans golden or peach and glows beside gold. Neutral skin sits between the two and suits both metals.
For blush, cool undertones love berry and rose; warm undertones love coral, terracotta and peach. Neutral can wear a soft mauve almost universally.