Matching Your Jewellery to Your Skin Tone
There are generally accepted guidelines that you can follow if you need help choosing jewellery for yourself or someone else. They can be useful in choosing a gemstone colour or to pick between silver and gold. However, these should only be used as a rough guide rather than an absolute rule. If you have a personal preference or attraction towards a certain colour or material we recommend you follow your instinct.
We typically look for accessories that will complement our natural colouring in order to achieve a certain balance and harmony in our appearence. It is usually recommended that those with cooler skin tones wear cool toned metals like silver and white gold, and gemstones like Moonstone, Sapphire and Tanzanite. For those on the other side of the spectrum metals like yellow gold and warm gemstones like Golden Citrine, Emeralds and Peridots would be recommended.
Cool, Warm, or Neutral Skin Tone?
If you don’t now whether you or the person you want to gift jewellery to has a warm or cool skin undertone, try and think about whether their complexion tends to appear more peachy, golden and yellowy, or whether they show hints of blue, red, and pink.
Usually those with warm undertones will have more visible green veins on their wrists in natural light, while those with cool undertones will have more visible blue veins in their wrists in natural light.
It is also said that those with cooler skin tend to burn more easily in the sun than the warmer counterparts. There is a large spectrum between being cool and warm toned, and you could also fall right in between. If you find that it is not easy to tell whether you are one or the other, it is likely that you have neutral undertones and many colours will compliment your skin tone.
Lastly, it is likely that if you have fair skin, light hair and eye colour, you will have cooler undertones than if you have a darker complexion, brown hair and eyes. This is not necessarily true for all individuals, but it is generally the case.
Jewellery that Compliments Warm Skin Tones
If you have decided you are looking for warm tones, you might want to consider going for yellow gold pieces. Because a warm skin tone has hints of gold and peach, yellow gold jewellery will complement this feature and blend in beautifully with the warm complexion. You might want to opt for gemstones that are in line with these colours such as yellows, warm reds, yellow tinted greens, and warm pinks. Some gemstones that fall into this category would be golden Citrine, Peridot, orange and yellow Sapphire, Emeralds, and Amethyst.
Above is an example of warm-toned gemstones/metals. Yellow gold and Emerald, Sterling silver with Golden Citrine, and a yellow gold band.
Jewellery that Compliments Cool Skin Tones
If you are looking for cooler tones, you might want to go for silver, white gold, or platinum. These silver toned metals will complement cool skin tones beautifully and will balance out nicely with your overall look. Together with these metals you can pair gemstones that fall into the cool toned category such as deep red, blue, and violet coloured gems. Some gemstones with cooler tones are blue Sapphires, dark Amethyst, Tanzanite, Ruby, Green Tourmaline, pink Sapphire (tends to have blue hues), and more.
Above are examples of cool toned gemstones and metals. All three rings feature Sterling silver as the base metal, together with blue Sapphire, Amethyst and Tanzanite.
Jewellery that Compliments Neutral Skin Tones
If you or the person you want to buy jewellery for has more of a neutral skin tone, you are less likely to regret your metal or gemstone choice. If you have a colour in mind that you like to wear, it is safe to choose something similar to wear in your jewellery. At the same time, if you are unsure as to which colour to choose you might want to pick a gemstone with great transparency and low colour saturation, for example a pink Sapphire or sky blue Topaz. Lastly the obvious choice are clear/white gemstones like Diamonds, white Sapphires and white Topaz.
Above are Sterling silver rings featuring a range of gemstones, from bright reds to clear.
All things considered, if there is any particular piece or gemstone that you feel especially attracted to, it is likely that you will love to wear it, too. If you are looking to gift someone jewellery, you can always opt for the most sought after gemstones such as Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire, which would make anyone happy. If you need further assistance in choosing a gemstone or metal for yourself or somebody else, don’t hesitate to contact us.
