Best beach blonde hair for your skin undertone
Are you planning to go on vacation and take amazing photos of you at the destination? Then you also need amazing hair for those stunning pictures. And what can be better than the sun kissed beach blonde hair perfect for any vacation, whether it’s a boat trip or a road trip.
But how do you get a perfect sun-kissed look without sun before your vacation? It’s all about getting those sun-kissed hair highlights that can be achieved thanks to balayage technique (free-hand hair colouring technique for sun-kissed highlights creating a natural-looking effect).
But before getting sun-kissed balayage highlights, you should determine which blonde is most flattering for you based on your skin undertone (the hue or tone present within the skin). Beach blonde (balayage) can be both cool or warm, and as a general rule, tones which are in contrast with your skin undertone tend to stand out more than those which are in harmony with your skin undertone. For example, if your skin has a warm undertone (including yellow, red or peachy hues), then you should opt for a cool beach blonde balayage, while if your skin has a cool undertone (rose pink, purple or bluish hues), then you should opt for a warm beach blonde balayage. If neither of these matches you, you probably have a neutral undertone that works well with any shade of blonde.
The secret here is to know what effect you would like to achieve: a beach blonde that emphasizes your skin undertone (warm skin undertone and warm beach blonde) or a beach blonde that is in contrast with your skin undertone (warm skin undertone with cool beach blonde). As mentioned above, we think that you should opt for the blonde that is in contrast with your skin undertone.
But how to determine what is your skin undertone, if you are not sure?
While skin tones range from very fair to very deep in colour, skin undertones refer to the shade that is within that colour. Skin tone is the overall surface colour you see at a glance, while skin undertone is the subtle, muted colour beneath your skin. There are many ways to determine if your skin undertone is warm or cool, but let’s try to see what exactly is your skin undertone. For this, there is a Cloth Test that will help you.
Cloth Test
Grab a white cloth and hold it next to your bare face in the mirror. Don’t forget to cover your hair with a white towel. Examine what your skin looks like against true white. If your skin has a warm undertone, it will appear yellowish, warm read or peachy, and if you have a cool undertone it will appear bluish, purple or rose pink. You can get one of the following undertones:
Warm skin undertones:
- red
- warm pink (hue leans toward orange including salmon pink, light peach)
- orange
- orange yellow (hue is similar to amber, located halfway between yellow and orange on the colour wheel)
- yellow
- olive (yellow green)
Cool skin undertones:
- blue
- purple
- cool pink (hue leans toward violet including rose pink)
If you do not see an undertone at all, you probably have a neutral undertone.
Now, in order to check if you correctly determined your undertone, picture yourself in a shirt with the tone you think is your skin undertone (or better yet, actually put it on). How do you look?
- Amazing!
- Not so great. I blended in with the shirt.
If you don’t look great and blended in with the shirt, then you correctly determined your undertone. For example, if you determined that your skin undertone is yellow, and you pictured yourself in a yellow shirt (or put it on) and you blended in with the shirt, then your skin undertone is yellow. A bright colour such as yellow overpowers yellow skin and washes you out, so it’s better to avoid it as much as possible. Our opinion is that every colour you wear should help create a contrast with your skin. Of course, there may be other opinions and if you feel amazing in a particular colour, then go for it!
Now that you know what is your skin undertone, you can go further and see what beach blonde highlights will suit your skin undertone. As you already know, if you have a warm skin undertone, then cool tones that clearly contrast with your skin undertone will suit you better and the opposite. But how to choose between all those warm beach blonde or cool beach blonde shades? The colour wheel, which shows the relationship between colours, will help you.
Let’s take a look at the colour wheel picture, see where is your skin undertone and notice which is the opposite colour on the colour wheel. In this case, opposites attract resulting is a high-contrast colour combination. Moreover, colours which are opposite to each other neutralize each other. If for example you have a yellow skin undertone (warm skin undertone) and you want to neutralize this undertone, you should opt for purple blonde hair highlights (yellow and purple are on the opposite sides of the colour wheel and neutralize each other). The opposite works for cool skin undertones. If you want to neutralize a purple skin undertone (cool skin undertone), you should opt for golden blonde hair highlights. Take a look at the girl in the first photo and see how beautifully her ash blonde balayage highlights contrast with her peach skin undertone. To achieve the sun-kissed effect thanks to balayage, choose a shade that is 2-4 shades lighter than your natural hair colour and keep your base shade as close to your natural colour as possible. Opt for a cruelty-free hair dye that has not been tested on animals. Find below which blonde hair highlights suit you based on your skin undertone (opposite colour on the colour wheel).
Skins with warm undertones
Green (Matte) for skins with red undertone
- Light Ash Matte (green) Blonde
- Dark Ash Matte (green) Blonde
Ash (Blue/green) for skins with warm pink undertone (hue leans toward orange including salmon pink, light peach)
- Light Ash Blonde
- Medium Ash Blonde
- Ash Blonde
- Dark Ash Blonde
Blue for skins with orange undertone
- Platinum Blue Ash Blonde
- Light Blue Ash Blonde
- Medium Blue Ash Blonde
- Dark Blue Ash Blonde
Blue purple (violet) for skins with orange yellow undertone (hue is similar to amber, located halfway between yellow and orange on the colour wheel)
- Extra Light Violet Ash Blonde
- Very Light Violet Ash Blonde
- Light Violet Ash Blonde
- Medium Violet Ash Blonde
Purple (violet) for skin with yellow undertone
- Lightest Violet Blonde
- Very Light Violet Blonde
Red purple (violet) for skins with olive (yellow green) undertone
- Light Red Mahogany Blonde
- Dark Red Mahogany Blonde
- Dark Mahogany Blonde
- Medium Blonde Red Violet
Skins with cool undertones
Orange (copper) for skins with blue undertone
- Light Golden Copper Blonde
- Dark Golden Copper Blonde
- Light Copper Blonde
- Medium Copper Blonde
- Dark Copper Blonde
Yellow (gold) for skins with purple undertone
- Very light Golden Blonde
- Light Golden Blonde
- Golden Blonde
- Medium Golden Blonde
- Dark Golden Blonde
Lime green for skins with cool pink undertone (hue leans toward violet including rose pink)
- Very Light Lime Blonde
- Light Lime Blonde
We hope you that you determined your skin undertone and identified which sun kissed beach blonde highlights suit your skin undertone based on the colour wheel. We would like to mention that this is our personal opinion based on the combination of colours, contrast creation and neutralization, but there may be opinions that are different from ours. Please, note that this only applies to balayage when your cool or warm skin undertone is very noticeable, and you want to add some warmth or coolness. For an overall hair colour, it is important to stay in the same cool or warm category so as not to create disharmony with the complexion.
If you want to know what clothing colours will look best on you, you can take our Seasonal Colour Analysis Quiz and find out what is your season type.
We also offer you a free Online Personal Colour Analysis as a gift upon purchase of a tour in Italy or Spain of at least 1,000 €.
Enjoy your vacation with your new sun kissed beach blonde hair!