Guest Author - Grace D. Dooley

We all have favorite colors. There are certain colors we just can't seem to get away from no matter how hard we try. They draw us in as if by hypnosis.

What is your favorite color? Do you like warm or cool colors? Are you a bold or soft color person? What colors turn you on? What colors turn you off? What colors turn you in and what turns you out?

When it comes to make-up and cosmetics, what colors are you specifically drawn to? Which colors compliments your beauty the most? When you go shopping for clothes what's calling your name? It's all about color.

Okay. Okay. Enough with the questions you say. I know. Want to solve the mystery? Well come with me as we take a journey to find out about colors, skin tones and undertones.

Let's begin with skin tone. When we speak of skin tones we are talking the actual color or shade of your skin. First determine your skin tone. For instance I am African American. My skin tone is brown, classified as medium brown. My granddaughter is biracial. She is lightly tanned. She becomes a light to medium brown in summer. At times she appears very green, olive green. Now, people do try to figure out what she is. Is she black, white or what? She has a skin tone that is all her own and so do you.

Skin tones for multi-ethnic women usually falls into the color range of tanned to dark with many variation. Not only does the skin tone vary, but it also changes. Changes in skin tone are based on sun exposure, geographical locations, environmental conditions, certain illness and even seasonal changes. Example, in the winter time I become very pale in my medium brown color but in summer I have a tendency to burn and tan making my skin tone a deeper brown .

For those of you who are the darkest any variation to your skin tone will go almost unnoticed but know that variations still take place in your skin tone.

Whether you are African-African America, Asian-Asian American, Hispanic/Latina-Hispanic/Latina American, Native American or Mid-eastern-Mid-eastern American only you can determine your true skin tone/shade

Moving on to undertones. What are skin undertones? For those of you who are not familiar with this term let me explain. Undertones are colors that can be seen through the transparency of your natural tone under the skin. This color never changes and also comes in a wide range of colors. Undertones can be yellow, neutral, pink, blue, peach, green and the spectrum continues on.

Most ethnic women will have either yellow, orange or red based undertones. Darker ethnic women may have more bluish to purple undertones. Then there is the olive skin which is tanned skin with a greenish undertone. This is usually where biracial women undertones lay.

Again, my granddaughter is biracial. Her undertone is an olive green. Her skin tone is clear brown which allows for her undertone to show more prominently. Her skin color is almost transparent. And myself, I have a yellowish undertone which is more prominent in winter.

The best way to determine your undertone is to look at your skin under natural light, sunlight is preferrable. Make sure the skin is not flushed, tanned or burned. Look beyond the color of your skin. Your undertone is like the casting of a shadow that has a distinct color.

Now if you're mixed with multiple ethnic origins, your skin tone and undertone will take on a mixture of different color variations, but it still comes down to the basic 3 or 4 colors mentioned above.

Now, I ask again: What are your favorite colors? What colors are you attracted to? What colors say "Hey I am you"? What ever colors you are drawn to are usually the ones that compliment you the best. Our colors represent our unique beauty as ethnic women.

I hope you will visit again as I continue to explore the concept of "What’s Your Color?' in upcoming articles.