The Best Gemstones for Your Skin Tone

There are many components you have to consider before purchasing a gemstone. Personal taste, value, and price are most likely all good contenders for what you look to when you select the right gemstone for your jewelry collection. However, there might be one factor you have not yet considered: skin tone.

Your skin tone and its undertones will tell you a lot about what colors look best (both in jewelry and in clothing), and what metals complement your skin the best. While you can certainly choose to purchase any gem that might strike your fancy, it does help to know which colors will give you a healthy glow and which ones will give you a sickly look.

When it comes to the colors that complement your skin tone, you first have to determine if you have warm or cool undertones. Freaking out because you don’t know if you have a warm tone or cool tone, or you’ve never even heard of undertones before? Relax!

Our goal is for you to feel gorgeous no matter what gem you’re wearing.  Plus, we love when we help our customers to make informed, educated decisions about gems and beads. So that’s why we have covered everything you need to know about the relationship between colors and skin tones.

It can be a little tricky to determine whether you are a warm or cool undertone. While some people may easily be able to determine they are one over the other, some might fall somewhere in the middle.

How you answer these three questions will help you better determine the right colors for you.

1. What color are your veins?

Look on the inside of your wrist. Can you see your veins? If so, the color they appear to be will help determine your undertone. If you see a blue or purple appearance, then you have a cool undertone. If your veins look green, then you have a warm undertone. 

1. Do you burn or tan in the sun?

When spending time outside, do you easily tan? Does it take just a small amount of sun exposure to darken your skin tone? If this is the case, then you have a warm tone. If you burn, turn red, and/or freckle, then you have a cool tone.

1. Try the gold or silver test.

Compare gold and silver jewelry against your skin. Which one looks best? Set aside your preference for this one and don’t think about which one you like best, but which hue looks better. If it’s silver, then you have a cool undertone. If gold, then you have a warm undertone.

Keep in mind that this isn’t to say you can or cannot wear a certain gemstone or bead color just because you have either cool or warm undertones. This is simply a guide to help you figure out what colors will complement your skin tone the best.

With that being said, if you have cool undertones, but just love gold―wear the metal that makes you happy! Just understand that certain color gems will look better against your skin on the gold chain than others.

Here is a general guide for which colors look best with each skin tone. Keep this in mind when picking out the gemstones you want to string along your necklace or earrings. This also applies to the beads in your bracelets and the stones in your rings.

Fair Skin Tone

• Emerald green

• Olive green

• Royal blue

• Light blue

• Charcoal gray

• Brown

• Silver

Medium to Olive Skin Tone

• Soft or mint green

• Buttery yellow

• Blush pink

• Light pink

• Coral

• Bright tones

• Gold

Dark Skin Tone

• Jade green

• Purple

• Cobalt blue

• Red

• Orange

• Soft pink

• Gold

The right jewel tones, whether strung around your neck or looped in your ears, can work like magic to brighten up your eyes! You just have to remember to select a color that either enhances or contrasts with the natural color of your irises.

Blue – If you have blue eyes, look for gemstones that have pink, deep blue, or light green to give you a stunning stare. As far as metals go, gray and silver will be those you go to.

Green – Emeralds and other deep green stones will really make green eyes look gorgeous. To help green irises really pop, look for coral, purple, and yellow stones.

Hazel – Darker shades such as burgundy and orange really make hazel eyes pop, but a light hue such as lavender does that trick just as well!

Brown – Rich blue and soft pink stones will create lovely warmth in brown eyes. Oh, and gold is your color!