Every undertoneJimmy ChooLove Sling Back 85
White mesh with a dégradé of crystals. Crystals throw back whatever light is in the room, warm at golden hour and cool by a window, so they never fight a neutral undertone.
Our complexion was never the problem.
Prestige color analysis, curated for hapas.
Why The Hapa Edit
Most seasonal color systems were built for one skin type. Ours starts with yours.
Undertones, contrast and features drawn from more than one heritage. We start with half-Japanese women, because that's where Alison started: one face, two heritages, and a color system that only ever read half of it.
01
Two undertones, not one
Mixed skin often sits between warm and cool, or carries an olive cast that standard drapes misread as cool. We name it instead of forcing a side.
02
Features from both sides
Hair from one parent, eyes and lid shape from the other. Contrast gets read from your real features, not from a chart that assumes they match.
03
Read in two lights
Layered undertones shift more between north window light and golden hour. Every read uses both, and every pick in the edit is checked in both.
Context: the Fitzpatrick scale, still the best-known skin classification, began in 1975 with four types for white skin; brown and black types were added later (Wikipedia). Google's 10-tone Monk Skin Tone Scale, developed by Harvard sociologist Dr. Ellis Monk, was released in 2022 to represent a broader range of skin (Google).
The Studio
Built for all of you.
Most seasonal color systems were built for one skin type. Ours starts with yours.
Alison Jarris founded The Hapa Edit after years of being handed palettes built for one heritage at a time. As a mixed-heritage woman herself, she understood that undertones, contrast, and features drawn from more than one heritage require a different approach.
The Hapa Edit is a color-analysis and personal styling studio for women who have always been told their coloring is hard to match. We start with your skin, your features, your life, and edit everything else down to what actually works.
Read Alison's storyWhat we offer
The Edit
The Undertone Read
A free online quiz, about four minutes, that identifies your undertone: warm, cool, or neutral, read on its own terms.
Start the quizThe Palette Edit
A virtual color analysis session with Alison. You leave with a custom palette: the exact colors that work on your skin, in your life.
Book a session · 2027The Signature Aesthetic Edit
An in-person color and styling session in Los Angeles. Your undertone, contrast and features, edited into a wardrobe and beauty palette that is entirely yours.
Apply · 2027The Shop
What I bought this month.
Olive & neutralReformationAlden cashmere poncho
Fior di latte is a milky white, a step warmer than optic white. Near an olive or neutral face it reads clean instead of grey.
All skinSisley ParisSisleÿa L'Intégral Anti-Âge duo
The full-size cream with the eye and lip contour cream and its massage tool. Skincare doesn't change your undertone; it gives color a smooth surface to sit on.
High contrastSisley ParisSo Intense Mascara
Deep black matches high contrast: dark lashes and brows against lighter skin, which many half-Japanese women have. If your hair is lighter than your lashes, keep it to the top lashes.
The Edit
Notes for layered undertones.
01
Find your white first
Hold printer paper under your chin, then something ivory or cream. If pure white makes you look grey, your white is a step warmer. Olive and neutral skin usually wants milky white over optic white.
In the edit: Reformation poncho in fior di latte
02
Check every color in two lights
Take one photo by a north-facing window and one at golden hour. If a color works in both, keep it. If it only works in one, it's a "sometimes" color, not a palette color.
In the edit: Sisley mist for the reset in between
03
Olive is often misread as cool
Next to white paper, does your skin look slightly green or grey? That's olive. Standard drapes often push olive skin into a cool season; try the warmer sister season before you decide.
In the edit: Prada silver mesh for cool-olive days
04
When your undertone is neutral, add sparkle
Metallic and crystal finishes reflect the light around them instead of committing to warm or cool. They are the easiest finish for skin that reads two ways.
In the edit: Jimmy Choo Love 85 in white and crystal