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Pastel Hair Colour Based on Skin Undertones

How to Choose a Pastel Hair Colour Based on Your Skin's Undertone

Apr 1 2019

Pastel hair colour is all the rage at the moment and rightly so — they're beautiful. But with so many hues ranging from iridescent to rose brown to champagne, it's hard to know where to start, particularly when it comes to deciding whether it sill suit your skin tone, undertones, eye colour, and so on. We firmly believe that you should get any hair colour your heart desires, but if you're looking for a little guidance, we've got you covered.

We tapped Christel Lundqvist, founder of London's STIL Salon, to help guide you to get the pastel hue of your dreams. She told POPSUGAR that when helping a client go pastel, she first looks at eye colour and natural hair colour. She then looks at the person's skin tone: pale, medium, or deep. Within those, she considers five different types of colouring: gold, olive, pink, cool neutral, and dark. Within that (hey, it's a process!), Lundqvist looks at two types of undertones: cool and warm.

Phew, that's a lot of colour options. Keep reading to find out which hue will suit you best to give you the confidence to go forth and pastel-ify yourself.

Image Source: Instagram

Peachy Pink - Gold Skin Tone

Lundqvist said that for those with golden undertones, finding the perfect balance between warm and cool colours is crucial to not washing you out.

Have fair skin? "Going for an ashy or very cool colour can end up washing out the complexion and colours that are too warm can end up bringing out too much yellow in the skin," she said. "The key is to have a colour which is a little more neutral such as a peachy pink."

Vibrant Rose - Gold Skin Tone

If you have a medium skin tone, "this complexion can take a more saturated colour. A slightly more vibrate pink, like rose, looks beautiful."

Acid Fuchsia - Gold Skin Tone

For darker skin tones, try a more saturated shade of pink. "An acidic fuchsia pink looks striking," she said. "Deeper skin suits hair with a stronger hue but these colours should be cool or neutral as a saturated, warm colour will highlight the golden tones in the skin making the hair loose it's dimension."

Soft Lavender - Olive Skin Tone

Lundqvist noted that olive skin tones can often have warm or cool undertones, meaning that preciseness of the shade is essential.

For pale and cool undertones, try "a warmer colour such as soft lavender," she said. "It is a beautiful contrast, where a sky blue will be a lovely compliment to the cooler tones."

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Rose Gold - Olive Skin Tone

A pastel shade can be trickier to match for the pale and warm undertone complexion. "A warm peach or rose gold works well but be careful not to go too cool as this is where pastels can start to wash you out."

Eclipse Blue - Olive Skin Tone

Medium and cool undertones suit, "richer colours like the dramatic eclipse blue look amazing on medium, olive skin tones."

Copper - Olive Skin Tone

"Tangerine orange is a fantastic, or this season's turmeric copper is incredibly flattering on an olive, warmer skin tone, it brings out the warmth but doesn't "match" the skin tone."

Fiery Orange - Olive Skin Tone

Deep and warm undertone complexion can take "strong, warm and saturated colours so the fiery orange-red is a great choice."

Plum - Olive Skin Tone

"Reds are also very flattering for olive, deep and cool undertones but unlike those with warmer tones, the red should be very rich, an aubergine or plum shade would look very luxe."

Strawberry Blond - Pink Skin Tone

For pink skin tones Lundqvist explained that finding the perfect pastel can be a little more difficult . Using a bright colour is often too much of contrast, and can end up bringing out too much pink. If you do want to go a pastel colour, using a technique such as colour-blocking is a great way to wear a bolder colour without it looking too intense against the skin tone.

Iridescent tones work to subdue pink so a strawberry blonde works really well for a more pale skin tone.

Colour Bleed - Pink Skin Tone

"An all-over pastel will probably not be very flattering to this medium and deep pink tone. The colour is too much of a contrast and brings out the underlying pink in the skin, making it look incredibly rosy. But this doesn't mean you can't get creative with your hair. A colour bleed at the end is a great way of introducing colour as it is not framing the face."

Oyster and Pink - Cool, Neutral Skin Tone

For cool, neutral skin tones, Lundqvist noted that "as we get older our skin and hair looses melanin as our bodies stop producing it as much. This can result in some skin tones having a more neutral colouring. This generally only happens to those who fall into the pale category."

Naturally warming up the more pale complexion is "key when choosing a colour, this season's corn blonde would do this giving the skin an effortless glow. If you do want to still try the pastel trend opt for an oyster shade with a touch of warm pink to bring out any underlying yellow."

Antique Gold - Dark Skin Tone

Lundqvist explained that dark complexions tend to have peachier undertones and take pastel colours beautifully. Similarly to olive, these undertones can be either cool or warm.

Antique gold, peach, wine rose shades compliment the more pale and warm tone perfectly.

Mellow Pink and Lilac - Dark Skin Tone

This seasons lilac rose is the perfect shade for those with the slightly more pale and cool colouring. "A mellow pink infused with warm lilac creates a playful shade that compliments the cool undertones without highlighting them."

Aspen Gold - Dark Skin Tone

"Those with a medium to deep and warm, peachier colouring can wear very saturated pastels starting at the medium level. This season's aspen gold is a pure and joyful colour which adds a hint of luxury to the pastel look, it's highly saturated, so great for those with very peachy, darker skin."

Aqua Blue - Dark Skin Tone

"Really saturated, cooler colours like aqua blue or royal blue work as they compliment the medium to deep cooler tones but are also very vivid. Going for a cooler colour doesn't just limit you to blues though. Colours have undertones so a cool red such as fire red would also have the same effect."

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