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Best Bikini Colors to Flatter Your Skin Tone

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We acknowledge that after having read the title of this post, you may still be cringing. For most of us, the last thing we want to even begin thinking about right now is putting on a swimsuit. Maybe you’re still beating a hasty retreat to the gym to work off the last of the holidays. Maybe your skin is so dry it’s flaking off. Or maybe it’s just so darn cold where you live that you have a challenging enough time trying to stay warm while changing out of your jammies in the morning.

No matter what the reason, we sympathize. So, consider this guide to swimsuit colors a wee seed that we’re offering for future reference. Read it, bookmark it, and read it again in a few months.

From Light to Dark Skin — The Best Bikini Colors for Your Skin

Deep breath, hold your nose, and jump!

Very Light Skin with Light Blond or Red Hair

Soft colors tend to work best. If you go with something really bold, you’ll make a statement for sure, but you may end up showing off your pale side. Try soft pinks, blues and beiges. Greens and blacks are hit or miss, depending on the shade and whether your skin is on the warm side or cooler.

Redheads tend to look amazing in white (yes, white!) and cobalt blue.

The colors you should avoid are orange and yellow.

Collage of light skinned women wearing bathing suits

Creamy Light Skin with Dark Hair

You, Snow White, have a natural contrast with your dark hair and fair skin. Your best bet will be any color in the blue family. Reach for navy, turquoise, baby blue as well as emerald, fuchsia and plum. It’s a good idea to leave the orange and white suits on the rack.

Collage of medium skinned women wearing bathing suits

Medium-light Skin with Brown Hair

Play up your warmer side with rich earthy tones and deep reds. Stay away from fleshy peach and beige tones, as these will likely wash you out a bit. And very dark colors like black and grey can have a similar effect.

Collage of women with medium-light skin tone wearing bathing suits

Olive or Light Brown Skin with Medium Brown or Dark Hair

You lucky girl! You have a range of swimsuit color options. For one, black swimsuits look fabulous on you. Blues will also be stunning. For something different, try army greens or burnt oranges. You can also wear a bold and colorful print with some white in it to enhance the depth of your skin color.

Collage of three women with olive skin wearing bathing suits

You’ll miss if you reach for swimwear that’s smack in the middle between soft and bold. Colors like brown and gray are just too blah for you.

Light Black Skin with Dark Brown or Black Hair

You get to have fun with color. Bright yellows and jewel-toned pinks and purples will look marvelous on you. Those bright or dramatic colors will create contrast and really pop.

Yellow Polka Dot - Magenta

Stay away from any color that’s too close to your skin color. Beige, olive green, medium-brown and even gold aren’t the right choice for you.

Caramel Skin with Brown or Black Hair

Caramel-skinned beauty, you have a built-in glow that you can play up or down with the right suit. Deep oranges, for example, will bring out the golden character of your skin tone, as will a warmer purple or teal. But cool aquas and mint greens and even a navy also look stunning on you.

Collage of women with caramel skin wearing bathing suits

The colors to steer clear of are olive green and yellows.

Very Dark Skin and Dark Hair

Pastels will look marvelous on you! Baby blues, minty greens, soft pinks and pale yellows as well as light grey will be your best choices when it comes to choosing swimwear. As for orange, white and brown, unless the suit is the most perfect fitting piece of lycra you’ve ever put on your body, leave it behind in search of most sorbet-oriented colors.

There, that wasn’t so terrible, was it? While bathing suit shopping may be low on your Favorite Things To Do list, at least we can all agree on one thing: summer is an absolutely lovely time of year and if you have a swimsuit that makes you feel like a million bucks, the season will be that much more enjoyable.

Need more inspiration? Take a look at our guide to budget swimsuit brands.

Combat sports world

Tuesday 24th of November 2020

Great website always good information

GirlyPick.com

Thursday 2nd of November 2017

Nice Collection. suggest sumthing for fair skin person also.

Regards

Helen hague

Friday 9th of June 2017

It was really very interesting to read this and was also very informative post. Well, knowing the right bikini colors according to your skin tone can ensure that whatever bikini style you may carry, you would look good in the swimwear. Though there are no hard and fast rules for picking up bikini colors but there are some colors that will look good on your skin. I guess, knowing your undertones as well as skin tone will help to pick the right bikini color for you (I generally prefer this rule while selecting). There are many shops online like https://www.dollboxx.com.au/, amazon, etc. having a large range of bikinis available in solid colors like blue, pink, yellow, etc and in prints. And with this guide above one can shop for a perfect bikini too.

Lingerie Online

Monday 15th of May 2017

Heyy really nice and some sexy lingeries i must say ... you can give a really nice as a gift to someone special

Stop White-Washing

Monday 13th of June 2016

As a black female this was not helpful at all. It's outrageous how articles like these will include so many slight variations of light more eurocentric skin colors, yet exclude or even lump all Black skin into one category. Come on, there's more to the world than white/light skin!

Look somewhere else

Tuesday 11th of April 2017

Don't like it, go find another article. Problem solved.

I'm Black And I Exist

Saturday 1st of April 2017

AGREED! What editor approved this!?!?