A letter about the fourth undertone. The most Indian one of all.
You have probably taken the undertone quiz. You held your wrist up to the light. You stared at your veins and felt no wiser. The quiz told you warm or cool and you bought the foundation and it still looked off.
It is not your fault. The system was built for three undertones: warm, cool, neutral. And it was built mostly for lighter skin. If you are Indian, that system is probably missing the one that matters most to you.
There are four undertones.
Most people are only told about three.
Which one sounds like you?
Yellow, golden, peachy beneath the surface. The sun is kind to your skin. Most South and West Indian skin tones live here. Look for W or Y in the shade name.
Pink, rose, or blueish beneath the surface. You might flush easily. More common in North Indian skin with a distinctly pink surface tone. Look for C or P in the shade name.
A balance of warm and cool. Neither pulls strongly. You can wear both metals. Foundations labelled N are usually your starting point.
A green-grey cast beneath the surface. Warm foundations go orange on you. Cool foundations go grey. Neither gold nor silver feels quite right. This is the most uniquely Indian undertone, and most shade tools pretend it doesn’t exist.
Look at the veins on your inner wrist in natural light.
Blue-purple = Cool · Green = Warm · Blue-green = Neutral or Olive
For medium, tan and deep Indian skin: melanin makes veins look blue-green regardless of undertone. If the result is unclear, trust the other tests more.
Blue veins: test works ✓
Looks blue-green: unclear ✗
Veins barely visible: fails ✗
If you’ve ever felt like no foundation is quite right, not orange, not grey, but somehow never quite you, olive undertone is likely why. HerShade specifically accounts for olive in every recommendation.
Most global shade tools don’t have a category for olive. HerShade does.
Dear Brown Girl, your undertone was never a mystery. It was just never properly named for you.
With love,
HerShade