How to choose a nail colour for your skin undertone
Why one red glows on you and another falls flat comes down to undertone. A simple method for finding yours and choosing shades that flatter it.
Colour
Undertones, colour harmony and a palette for every season.
Colour is where nails become personal. This rubric gives you the tools designers use: how to read your undertone, how the colour wheel turns a handful of shades into a harmonious set and how palettes move through the year. Every article connects to our interactive colour tools, so you can try a combination before you paint it.
Colour harmony for nail art: a designer’s guide
How the colour wheel, a few classic harmony rules and a sense of proportion help you combine shades across ten small canvases.
A nail colour calendar: shades for every season
From spring pastels to deep winter berry: a designer’s guide to seasonal nail colours, the finishes that change their mood and the shades that bridge the year.
Try it yourself
Colour Harmony Lab
Pick one shade and get complementary, analogous and triadic nail palettes in seconds.
Keep exploring
More rubrics
- Nail ArtTechniques, French tips and the quiet power of negative space.
- ManicureGel, BIAB, extensions and a home manicure that looks professional.
- Nail CareStrong nails, healthy cuticles and the myths worth leaving behind.
- Shapes & StylesAlmond or square, chrome or milky: the shapes and finishes of the moment.
- Salon GuideHygiene, etiquette and what a really good appointment feels like.
- History & CultureFrom ancient pigments to modern nail art, a small canvas with a long story.