Color · Skin tone

Skin tone hex finder.

Enter a hex code, or tap one of the ten Monk Skin Tone Scale swatches. You get the nearest Monk swatch, a depth number from 1 to 10 and a warm, neutral, cool or olive undertone to compare against foundation shade names. It runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

Swatches: Monk Skin Tone Scale, read October 1, 2026

Inputs

Sample swatches

Result

Enter a hex code or tap a swatch.

How the match is worked out

The Monk Skin Tone Scale is ten reference skin tones, numbered 1 (lightest) to 10 (deepest). Google published them at skintone.google with Dr. Ellis Monk. This tool holds those ten colors and finds which one your color is closest to.

The steps

Read the hex. A 3 digit code is expanded (#abc becomes #aabbcc) and the red, green and blue values are read as sRGB.
Convert to CIELAB. sRGB is linearised, converted to CIE XYZ with the D65 white point, then to L* (lightness), a* (green to red) and b* (blue to yellow).
Measure distance with CIEDE2000. The color is compared with each of the ten swatches using the CIEDE2000 formula (CIE 142-2001, ISO/CIE 11664-6). The smallest distance wins. The implementation is checked against the published Sharma, Wu and Dalal test pairs.
Depth. The depth number is the number of the nearest swatch. 1 to 3 is called light, 4 to 6 medium and 7 to 10 deep. L* is shown as a second reading.
Undertone. The hue angle of your color in CIELAB is compared with the hue angle of the nearest swatch. Below -6 degrees (pinker or redder) is cool, from -6 to under 6 is neutral, 6 to under 14 (yellower) is warm and 14 or more (strongly yellow-green) is olive. A chroma under 6 is too little color to call and is shown as neutral.

The ten swatches

These are the values the site publishes as HSL, converted to hex:

1: #f6ede4
2: #f3e7db
3: #f7ead0
4: #eadaba
5: #d7bd96
6: #a07e56
7: #825c43
8: #604134
9: #3a312a
10: #292420

Using it for foundation

Brands name and number shades their own way and this tool holds no brand data. What it gives you is the depth (how light or deep to look) and the undertone family (which to try first). Pick two or three shades near that depth in that family, test them along the jawline in daylight and choose the one that disappears. Shade names such as “golden”, “rosy” or “olive” usually line up with warm, cool and olive here, but check the brand’s own chart.

Limits of this tool

A hex from a photo or screen depends on the lighting, the camera and the display. It is a rough guide to depth, not a measurement of skin.
The undertone label is a TNAADO rule of thumb based on hue, not a published standard, and it cannot replace trying shades in person.
A distance above 10 means your color is not close to any of the ten swatches. The result then says so.
This page is independent. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google or Dr. Ellis Monk.

Sources

Monk Skin Tone Scale, skintone.google (Google Research with Dr. Ellis Monk; the ten swatch colors are the values in the site’s stylesheet, read October 1, 2026).
CIE 142-2001, Improvement to industrial colour-difference evaluation, and ISO/CIE 11664-6: the CIEDE2000 formula.
Sharma, Wu and Dalal, “The CIEDE2000 color-difference formula”, Color Research and Application, 2005: the implementation notes and test data used to check this page.
sRGB, IEC 61966-2-1 and CIE 15 for the XYZ and CIELAB conversions (D65 white point).

Cite this page: TNAADO Tools, “Skin Tone Hex Finder: Monk Scale, Depth and Undertone,” tools.tnaado.ca/color/skin-tone-hex-to-monk-scale/, swatches from skintone.google read October 1, 2026.

Skin tone hex FAQ

What is the Monk Skin Tone Scale?

A 10-step scale of skin tones, from 1 (lightest) to 10 (deepest), developed by Dr. Ellis Monk and published by Google at skintone.google. This tool compares your hex code with the ten published swatch colors and returns the closest one.

What is the hex code for each Monk skin tone?

From 1 to 10: #f6ede4, #f3e7db, #f7ead0, #eadaba, #d7bd96, #a07e56, #825c43, #604134, #3a312a, #292420. They are listed in the swatch grid above, and you can click any of them to run it through the tool.

How do I find my skin tone hex code?

Sample a pixel from a photo taken in even daylight with an eyedropper or color picker, then paste the hex here. Screens, cameras and lighting all shift color, so the hex is a rough guide to your depth, not a measurement of your skin. This page does not accept photos; the sampling is done in your own picker.

Can I use the result to pick a foundation shade?

Use it to narrow the search, not to pick the exact bottle. The depth number tells you roughly how light or deep to look for, and the undertone label tells you which family to try first. Brands name and number their shades differently and this tool carries no brand data, so test two or three candidates along the jawline in daylight.

How is the undertone worked out?

The page converts your color to CIELAB, finds its hue angle and compares it with the hue angle of the nearest Monk swatch. Pinker than that swatch reads as cool, close to it as neutral, yellower as warm and strongly yellow-green as olive. This is a TNAADO rule of thumb, not a published standard, and it cannot see veins, jewelry tests or how you tan.

Is the color I enter sent anywhere?

No. The matching runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored, and the page makes no network request for it.

What this does, and what it does not

This tool finds the closest of ten published reference colors to a hex code you enter. It does not measure skin, diagnose anything or know any brand’s shade range. Use the result to narrow a search and then test in person.