Best Nail Polish Colors for Tan Skin Tones-Summer & Fall Ideas

Choosing the best nail polish for tan skin tones can be quite tricky especially if you’re not sure of your undertones.In this article, discover how to unveil your undertones and ideas on finding the perfect matching nail colors for both summer and fall.

Choosing Nail Polish for Tan Skin

If your skin resembles the skin tone of Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry, Eva Mendez, or Nicole Scherzinger, you most probably have a tan (or tanned) skin tone. Tanned skin tones can be further divided in golden, red, or green undertones with a choice of complementary colors for each undertone.

Checking if you are Tanned

If you are unsure of your tanned skin undertones, go out in natural sunlight to check the color of your veins. If they have a red purpling tint, you have red undertones, if they look blue-ish green you have green undertones, and if you don’t see any obvious vein colors or your veins look like a pale warm red, you most probably have golden undertones.

Nevertheless, some shades of nail polish will look good on tan skin regardless of your undertones like for example bronze brows, dark teals, and plums and magentas.

Best Nail Polish for Tan skin — Nail Polish on Tan skin

Best nail polish colors for tan skin

The best shades for tan skin are:

Rich Golds and bronzes

Zoya Nail Polish in shade ZP483 Goldie Gold. A rich glamourous warm golden shade with a lasting opaque finish.
Chanel Le Vernis In Peridot. A balanced true golden shade that’s perfect alone or in nail art designs.
Revlon in Chameleon. A holographic warm gold shade with teal reflections when light hits your nails.

Revlon Chroma for Tan skin — Revlon Chroma

Deep Plum and berry shades

Zoya Nail Lacquer in ZP628/Monica Purple Plum. A deep plum shade with a professional grade easy to glide formula and a glossy finish.
Sally Hansen in Plum Luck. A rich plum purple with neutral to cool undertones, perfect for fall or the winter season
Opi in Honk If you Love OPI. A very dark plum shade that resembles the color of eggplant and looks classy and elegant on tanned skin tones with golden or red undertones.

Dark, rich blues

Sonia Kashuk in Taunting Teal. This a dark teal/denim blue shade that’s a must have for winter, fall, or summer.
Dior in Tuxedo. A luxurious deep royal blue shade with a subtle sparkling finish
Butter London in Bluey. An impressive blue-green teal shade with a golden duo-chrome finish that reminds you of sea and golden sand.

Wine Reds

Models Own in Red Red Wine. A rich wine red with neutral undertones perfect for any tanned skin tone and any occasion.
Essie in Bordeaux. An all-time classic Bordeaux shade that goes opaque in just 1-2 strokes and has natural semi-glossy finish
Nars in shade Jungle Red. A deep oxblood red shade with subtle brown undertones.
NYX in red wine. A true red wine shade that’s not too dark not too light and looks opaque after a couple of strokes.

Fall Nail Polish Colors for Tan Skin

Most fall shades like natural greens, purples, golden oranges, and deep reds will look great on tanned skin and you don’t need to worry too much of the perfect fall shade to compliment your skin tone.

These shades however will look especially good on tan skin during fall:

Rich golden greens like:

Zoya in Yara. A deep olive green shade with fine golden glitters and smooth glossy finish and formula.
Butter London in Wallis. A rich gold with a greenish tint that looks prefect for fall and winter.
Deborah Lippman in shade Billionaire. A deep natural green shade that resembles the green color found in roulette table clothes.

Orange-y chocolate browns shades like:

OPI Nail Lacquer in Suzi Loves Cowboys. A rich deep chocolate brown shade with neutral undertones
Zoya Nail Polish in Louise. A milk chocolate brown shade with neutral to warm undertones and glossy professional finish.
Essie Nail Polish in Chocolate Cakes. A medium rich chocolate shade in-between the shades mentioned above that resembles the color of a milk chocolate cake.
Color Club Nail Polish in Killer Curves. A dark chocolate shade with neutral to cool plum undertones.

Summer Nail Polish colors for Tan Skin

Nail varnish for summer-Tan skin — Orange during summer

If you want to brighten up your tanned skin and nails for summer, here are some nail polish hues that will create an interesting contrast with your tanned skin:

Bright medium teals like:

Butter London in Slapper. A medium teal shade with just the right amount of brightness to suit any tanned skin tone.
Mac Nail Lacquer In Salad Dressed. Another medium teal shade that resembles the color of a pool.
China Glaze in Atlantis. If you want to turn heads and receive compliments for your nail polish color, this shade is a must. This is basically a rich glittery and holographic shade with golden, green, and blue pigments.

Coral orange shades like:

American Apparel in Neon Coral. A true neon coral shade perfect for summer holidays. On the downside, some people complain that the formula of this doesn’t apply evenly but this is easily fixed once you apply a second or a third top coat.
Models Own Hedonist neon coral orange. Another neon coral orange shade with a vinyl semi-matte finish.
Essie in Coral reef. A true coral red shade that brightens up your nails in instant.

Bright cool-toned berry pinks and purples like:

OPI Ate Berries in The Canaries. A true purple-pink berry shade with a natural glossy finish and a formula that lasts up to a week.
Orly in Purple Crush. A hot neon pink with purple berry undertones. This has a glossy finish and lasts more than 5 days with a top coat.
Essie’s Perky Purple. If you are not a fan of glossy shades during summer and want to stand out, this shade is bright and matte at the same time.

If you are not a fan of bright eye-catching colors some additional shades that may look on you on summer are sandy nudes, bronzes, and pale purples. It’s best to avoid any pale peachy pinks or bright yellows and greens as this will make your skin tone look flat.