Most counters hand you a color that was made for someone else and hope it lands. We start the other way round: read how color behaves on your skin, then blend one shade that belongs to you. Here is the whole read — depth, undertone, contrast — in plain words, in about two minutes.
Deep · medium · fair · olive · mature lips — one read, one shade
Not one of them is a verdict. Together they are the difference between a color that sits on your face and a color that fights it.
The biggest factor there is. The same pigment does different work on a different canvas: a shade that reads soft on fair skin can read flat on deep skin, and a bright shade that sings on deep skin can take over a fair one.
This is what turns a red orange on one person and purple on the next. Two faces, one tube, two different colors — that is undertone, not the lipstick being wrong.
Deep skin carries bright and dark at the same time, because the contrast is already there. On fair skin a strong shade is a statement the moment it goes on. Neither is better — they are different amounts of distance.
Your lips already have a color. A sheer shade layers over it; an opaque one replaces it. That is why the same tube looks different on two people who both love it.
Depth carries more of the answer than anything else, so start here. Compare your jaw to a white sheet of paper in daylight — not to another person, who is a different canvas.
Rose, peach, dusty pink and soft nudes sit near your skin and read as “my lips, but better”. A true red or a deep berry is a statement — that is contrast doing its job, not the color being too much.
Brick, terracotta, warm brown, rosewood and a clear red all read as themselves. The one that fails is a nude that matches your skin exactly — describe it a shade deeper or a shade warmer and it comes back to life.
Berry, wine, true red, orange-red and deep brown all land. The common mistake is being handed a muted “safe” shade — deep skin does not need the color quietened, it needs it stated.
Olive skin carries a green cast, and green is what pushes a warm brown towards orange and a cool pink towards gray. If warm shades go orange on you and cool shades go gray, you are not stuck between two categories — you are olive, and the answer is usually a shade that is slightly deeper and slightly cooler than the one you were sold.
Rosewood, muted brick, plum-brown, a berry with some depth, and a red that leans blue rather than orange.
Peachy nudes, orange-based terracotta, anything frosted, and a warm brown described as “caramel” — the words sell it and the green cast answers back.
How to say it in a shade brief: “deeper than a caramel nude, a touch cooler, matte.” That is enough for us to blend from.
Mature lips are not a different color problem, they are a different contrast problem. Lips often thin a little and their natural color fades, so a pale, low-contrast shade that used to read as soft can start to read as washed out. The answer is not a heavier texture — it is a shade with a little more depth than the one you wore at twenty-five. Same face, new starting point.
Rosewood, soft brick, a muted berry, and a warm mid-tone brown — colors with enough body to hold their own next to a softer lip line.
Very pale nudes, frosted finishes, and a shade that matches your skin exactly — they are the ones that disappear rather than soften.
Undertone tests are a rough guide, never a verdict. Your own lips outrank any test — which is why we confirm the read with you before anything is mixed.
A shelf has to guess: one tube, forty faces, and whichever shade sells most wins. A made-to-order shade starts from your description, is blended for you, and is recorded when it is made — so a reorder is the same color, not a fresh guess. And if the first read is off, the trial shade exists so you find that out before committing to a full size.
Any color you want. We make it.
Saturated color reads at full strength on deep skin: berry, wine, true red, orange-red and deep brown all land. The usual mistake is being offered a muted “safe” nude — contrast is the variable, so the shade does not have to be quietened to work.
Go slightly deeper and slightly cooler than the warm shade you were sold. Olive skin carries a green cast, which turns a warm brown orange and a cool pink gray, so rosewood, muted brick, plum-brown and a blue-leaning red tend to read clean.
Rose, peach, dusty pink and soft nudes sit close to fair skin and read as a natural lip. A true red or a deep berry is a statement on fair skin — that is contrast, not the color being too much, and both are legitimate answers.
Often, yes — not because the rules change, but because lips thin a little and their natural color fades, so contrast drops. A shade with a touch more depth than the one you wore at twenty-five usually reads the way the old one used to.
One sentence is enough: a color name, a comparison, a HEX or RGB code, a photo in daylight, or an object in the exact color. Say where it should sit against your skin — after that we confirm the read before anything is mixed.
A trial shade exists for exactly that: test the match before you commit to a full size. If the first read is off, we are working from the same written brief — not from a shelf — so the next pass starts closer.
Made to order
Every 10 Million Shades color is blended after you order it, for one person. Shipping, timing and returns all follow from that — so here is the whole of it, in plain words.
Standard shipping $8.00 — 3 to 5 business days after dispatch. Express shipping $15.00 — 1 to 2 business days after dispatch.
Free standard shipping on orders of $70.00 and over.
Your shade is confirmed with you by email before anything is mixed, so your order does not leave us the same day it is placed. Delivery estimates are counted from dispatch, not from the moment you order.
Custom-blended shades are final sale for hygiene and safety. That is exactly why we make a trial shade — test the match before you commit to a full size.
Skin tone
Start with your email, and we will ask for your tone and undertone and reply with a starting shade. Nothing is blended until the read is confirmed with you.
Your address is used for this list only. Prefer email? hello@10millionshades.com