Skin Tone

Thanks to a comic I saw on Dry Bar Comedy, I was inspired to find my actual skin color. If I remember correctly, he went to the store and got paint sample cards and figured out that he was the color “Chocolate Decadence”.

So of course I went to the store and grabbed some paint sample cards. It was a little awkward holding my arm up in front of the display case, but I grabbed some of the closest shades I saw and now I get to share the results with you.

One of the problems I encountered was that I did that in February, which in Michigan is the season of least melanin as it’s near the end of winter. I decided then to wait on the results until after I could redo this experiment after summer sun exposure.

Another problem I encountered was that my arms have two skin tones – the top side that gets more exposure to sunlight and the under side that stays lighter.

Another problem I encountered was that my skin is not an even tone. There are all sorts of variations and freckles and such, so this is kind of a subjective eyeballing result.

Final problem is that this was not a controlled experiment. For example, the winter paint samples were from Lowes but the summer paint samples were from Home Depot. And the winter photos were taken with an iPhone 5 but the summer photos were taken with an iPhone 7.

First up: winter arm top:

image of my skin tone compared to paint sample cards

Photos aren’t clear, so it’s hard to read the names. But in this case it looks like the closest to my skin tone is Quaint Peche. Or maybe Mellow Coral.


Next up: winter arm bottom:

image of my skin tone compared to paint sample cards

I’d say my palm is Indulgent Peach and my forearm is either Coral Perfection or Pink Glamour. I like the sound of Coral Perfection better, but if I had to narrow down the colors to the one best option, it would be Pink Glamour.


Next up: summer arm top:

image of my skin tone compared to paint sample cards

My vote on this one is Terra Cotta Clay.


Next up: summer arm bottom:

image of my skin tone compared to paint sample cards

I liked the color of Sunset Drive but it was too bright. I thought Nairobi Dusk had the right feel to it but was too dark. So what I’d like to do is mix 50/50 Nairobi Dusk and Sunset Drive.


I’m not sure how to conclude this blog post, other than maybe since there are so many colors I am, I think I can just pick the one I like best, or make one up, or just say “it depends”.

What color am I? I self-identify as Coral Peach Salmon.

My beloved is dazzling and reddish, Outstanding among ten thousand.

Song of Solomon 5:10

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This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 11:11 pm and has been carefully placed in the Ponder category.

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