How To Choose Nail Polish Colours For 4 Different Skin Tones?

January 22, 2018 by puja malhotra

Pretty painted nails! That is what we all love.

Sometimes, however, the colour that looks great on someone else may look like a disaster on yours. It may look pale or completely washed out when you wear it. Or, it may look too bright and mismatched on your hands. Wearing the right shade will help you show off the colour in the best possible way.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when you paint your nails is your complexion. The easiest way to make sure the nail paint adds to your beauty is by matching it to your skin tone.

Simple Tips To Choose The Best Nail Polish Shades:

One of the most popular tips on choosing the right nail paint shade according to your skin tone is matching it exactly with your skin shade. This basically means that:

Pale skin ladies wear pale nail paints
Ladies with medium skin tone wear shades of medium darkness
Dark skinned ladies wear nail paints that are very dark.

This may be one of the easiest shade guides to follow, but the fact is that it is very restrictive. This kind of shade matching will not leave room for any contrasts or creating vibrancy in your look.

There are a few other ways that may help you get the perfect nail paint shade for your skin tone.

Best Nail Polish Colors For Different Skin Tones:

1. Dark Skin:

Deep shades will suit you the best.

Suitable Nail Polish Colors For Dark Skin:

Red
Purples
Bright orange

Colours You Should Avoid:

Avoid anything in pastel or that is too light as it can give a washed out appearance.

[ Read: 10 Best Nail Polishes For Dark Skin Women ]

2. Tan Skin:

Tan Skin or Medium skin tones can wear a number of shades with ease.

Nail Polish Colours For Tan Skin:

Light pinks, purples, blues and reds
Silver and burgundy
Peach and pale brown

Colours You Should Avoid:

Avoid shades of gold and rust

3. Fair Skin:

Those with fair skin can play around with various light shades.

Nail Polish Colours For Fair Skin:

All kinds of pastel shades
Dark red and ruby shades
Plums, burgundy, purple
Silver, white, pale pinks
Blue, orange, peach

Colours You Should Avoid:

Avoid any shade that is too dark, except reds.

4. Very Fair Skin:

Those with very fair skin often have pink undertones to their skin tone.

Nail Polish Colours For Very Fair Skin:

Try wearing shades that are in the pastel family
Very dark blue, navy blue and midnight blue shades are great if you want to wear very dark shades
In very dark shades, you can also try dark reds and pinks

Colours You Should Avoid:

Stay away from black nail paint
Try to stay away from nail paint colours that have too much of a pink undertone in them.
Avoid sheer or ‘invisible’ colours as they often have similar undertones that will completely blend in with your skin tone.

While it is very important that your nail paint complements your skin tone, it is equally important that you decide on the colours keeping in mind the occasion and what you are wearing.

In addition to this, keeping your nails clean and trimming them at regular intervals also adds to the beauty of your nails.

The above tips are helpful in letting you decide what shades will bring out the colours best as per your skin tone. You can of course choose to experiment and wear whichever shade you prefer.

puja malhotra

I am a trained nail artist and mother of 5 year and half year old girls...... I own my own nail art studio and do nail art professionally and teach nail art. I am nail polish addict.:) My nail polish obsession started since my childhood. I wont mind painting my nails every day. I love keeping myself updated with new nail art trends and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy working on it.