Glossary · Overtone
Color science
Overtone
The surface colour of your skin — how light or deep it appears — separate from the undertone underneath.
What it means
Overtone is what people see first: the immediate surface tone of your skin. It can shift with sun exposure, season and lifestyle. Two people can share an overtone (both look 'medium beige') but have different undertones underneath, which is why two friends can look very different in the same shirt. Useful color advice always separates these two.
How it shows up in your Better in Style analysis
We use overtone mostly to estimate value — how light or deep your overall colouring reads — and we use undertone separately to set warm or cool. Treating them as one variable is the most common mistake amateur 'season quizzes' make.