How Stained works

Setup is four short steps. First your skin tone: tap the Monk Scale swatch closest to your skin, answer a question about sun response, or use a photo. Then your undertone, the look you want, and optional budget and skin details. You can redo setup any time from your results or profile.

For photos, an in-browser face model finds clean cheek and forehead patches, corrects for your lighting, and averages the skin color. Whichever way you set your tone, undertone is estimated from the warm-to-cool axis of the color and depth from how light or dark it is. If you tell us your undertone, your answer replaces the estimate.

• Photo, analyzed in your browser
• Monk Scale swatch
• Sun-response question

Each shade is scored against your profile using CIEDE2000, a standard measure of how different two colors look to the human eye. It also weighs undertone and depth, and any skin conditions you set.

You choose a look (everyday, contrast, harmony, or statement) and a way to rank: best overall, closest color, undertone first, or your taste. Every recommendation comes with a short reason.

• CIEDE2000 color distance
• Undertone and depth fit
• Four looks, four ways to rank

Color science narrows the field, and your eye picks the winner. Choose between two shades, or swipe through a deck. A rating system similar to chess ratings turns each choice into a score with a confidence level.

It spreads what it learns to similar shades, so you do not have to rate everything. Older choices count for less over time, so your results can change as your taste does.

• Pick one of two
• Swipe
• Ratings with a confidence level

There is no server to send your face to. The face model, the fonts, the color math, and the ranking all run in your browser. Photos never leave the page.

There are no accounts, no tracking, no cookies, and no third-party requests. Your skin profile, taste ratings, and saved shades live in local storage. You can export, restore, or erase them from the Profile page at any time.

• No analytics
• On-device photo analysis
• Export or delete your data

Stained covers 1,125 shades across 35 brands, from drugstore to luxury. 973 shades use the color from the brand's own catalog. 152 shades have a color we estimated, and those are labeled "Approximate color" wherever they appear.

Every shade links to the brand's product page, and 415 show a product photo that we host ourselves. Screens vary, so treat any swatch as a close guide and check in person when you can. Current sources: 973 makeup-api, 152 curated.

• 35 brands
• 1,125 shades
• 86% catalog color
• 37% with product photos
• 1,125 product links