How many of you have opened your wardrobe to a wide range of colors and started to think, well, it really is going to be black jeans today, I suppose? Actually, we have all experienced wardrobe color overabundance, where our garments feel unable to be mixed and matched and do not seem to appear great on us. And here is where the seasonal color analysis comes in handy.

Generally speaking, seasonal color analysis is a methodology that takes our hair color, natural eye color, and skin tone to create the best color scheme for us, depending on those variables. It considers the undertones (hue) and value (dark vs. light) of our eyes, hair, and skin to determine the colors in which we actually look good.

How To Decide Your Seasonal Color?

In general, seasonal color analysis is divided into three major categories: Chroma: ranging from clear/bright to soft/muted.

Hue: Your color can be either warm or cool.

Value: You have either a dark or light value.

And they are typically evaluated based on your: skin tone, eye color, and hair color.

Your eye color, hair color, and skin tone will usually fall into one of the four following seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter.

In general, the base families are given the name after seasons since every season has a hue associated with it. For example, we associate spring with lush greens, summer with airy, light colors, fall with oranges and reds, and winter with pale blues and icy white.

In fact, this is not a brand-new idea. Rather than, it dates back to famous artists who were required to properly describe a seasonal scenery through the shades, hues, and tones they used. However, Carole Jackson’s book named “Color Me Beautiful” pioneered the idea of seasonal color in your own eyes, hair, and skin in the 1980s.

Does anybody else remember their mother trying to correctly classify them as a teen? No, it is just me. So, I’m going to give you a few extremely easy resources for determining your own seasonal color.

Why Is My Seasonal Color Scheme Important?

Uncovering your seasonal color could really help you fine-tune what colors appear best on you and what brand-new fresh color palettes you should incorporate into your closet. It also explains why a particular shade might not suit you.

Seasonal color analysis, in general, is a great starting point when creating your own distinctive color scheme. You can definitely expand on it and create a color scheme that is distinctively yours. This information, on the other hand, will greatly assist you in how to pick the right colors outside of your range of shades by knowing your tones and selecting colors with the appropriate undertones.

Having said that, this should not be a restricting experience but instead the establishment of a solid foundation upon which to build.

The more you teach your eyes to see color saturation and hue, the more precisely you will be able to choose color schemes for your season. Nevertheless, we will be discussing basic fundamental color schemes for all 12 seasonal color analyses in the near future.

As a result, your hue will indicate if you have cool or warm undertones. Your value (dark or light) will take into account your general coloring but will be more focused on your hair color.

Hue: Cool Vs. Warm Colors

Here are a few instances to make you know the two different hue choices.

Faces with Warm Colors

Warm-toned faces typically have less counterpoint between the color of their hair, eyes, and skin. They frequently have rich or gold undertones.

Faces with Cool Colors

Generally speaking, cool faces usually come with features with moderate to high contrast. They frequently have darker hair and paler skin. However, cool undertones could also be found in all races, and it all comes down to being able to be compared between your hair and your skin tone.

Now, those are just the first two basic categories. Basically, there are four main hue choices.

• Warm
• Neutral
• Cool
• Olive: Keep in mind that olive skin tones have a cool undertone. For those who don’t know, the overtone is green, while the undertone is blue, resulting in a yellow-olive skin tone, but we will concentrate only on the undertone here.

Seasonal Color Analysis: How To Decide Your Skin Undertone

Step 1

You may want to use one or more of the following methods to assess your accurate undertone. These experiments are effective for the majority of people, but they might cause confusion. If you don’t get a clear undertone after a particular test, try another. Also, don’t get too worked up if one experiment appears to be an exceptional case.

The Metal (Jewelry) Experiment

Putting both gold and silver jewelry on your skin is normal, natural daylight. Which one do you see is the most appealing? Which one results in more even-toned, better-looking skin? If you appear best in gold jewelry, your undertones are warm. On the other hand, your undertones are cool if you appear best in silver jewelry. With this experiment, be wary of partiality. Your basic inclination might be to choose the color of the jewelry you wear more than any other.

Vein Color Experiment

Examine the blood vessels in your inner wrist. If you see they are predominantly purple or blue, you have a cool complexion. However, if you find that they are primarily green, you are more likely warm-toned. This experiment could be highly beneficial to certain people while also being incredibly confusing to others (who might have various colored veins). So take your time with each of these experiments and see what works best for you.

The White Paper Experiment

You can also use a transparent white piece of fabric or white paper for this experiment (but just avoid off-white or ivory paper). Keep the paper or fabric up to your face in natural daylight, makeup-free. If your skin appears golden, peachy, or yellow, you tend to have warm undertones. On the other hand, you are more likely to have cool undertones if your skin appears pink, red, or blue.

Burn or Tan Experiment

If you tan quickly, you are more likely to have warm undertones. And if you burn easily or cannot tan at all, your undertones are most likely cool. However, there will always be exceptions, of course.

However, if none of the previous experiments have yielded clear results, you have two more choices. You can have a neutral complexion. Although everyone is theoretically a mix of cool and warm tones, there is generally one predominant family. There is no superiority for those with neutral skin tones, and there is an equal balance of cool and warm tones. This might explain why your experiment results vary when comparing various choices. You may have green veins, but you can appear best in gold jewelry. Alternatively, you could have both blue and green veins but tan effortlessly.

You might also perform a comparison experiment with other faces that have distinct undertones. When making comparisons of your face to others within the apparent undertone seasons, it could become clear which coloring you match best. 

Step 2

As things go, you have identified your undertone, and you could also be able to decide your color season by examining your eyes and hair to decide whether they are dark or light. Basically, there are 2 major cool seasons, including summer and winter. And the two main warm seasons are spring and fall.

So, here is how they differ when it comes to eye and hair colors.

Spring Eyes and Hair

Spring generally has warm undertones but lighter eyes and hair. They can still come with dark characteristics (such as eyes, hair, or skin), but there is not much contrast between all the three aspects, and it appears to be a mix rather than a striking contrast.

Summer Eyes and Hair

Summer typically has cool undertones but lighter eye and hair colors. Although they have a little contrast between their eyes/hair and skin tone, it is far more subdued than in the winter.

Fall Eyes and Hair

Autumn usually has warm undertones, with both dark eyes and dark hair. They don’t have too much contrast between their hair, eyes, and skin but instead a gentle mix of all three aspects.

Winter Eyes and Hair

In general, winter season, people tend to have cool undertones, bright eyes, dark hair, and a lot of contrast between their hair, eyes, and skin.

What If You Don’t Find Yourself To Be Fit Into Any of These Seasons?

As previously stated, there are four major seasons. However, the seasonal analysis does not end there. They ended up going on to break it down into 12 major seasonal analysis choices in order to enlarge all of the alternatives.

It begins with your hue or undertone (cool or warm), then moves on to value (deep or light), and finally to chroma (muted or muted).

When we consider all three groups, we have 12 major choices. This will assist you in selecting the most appealing colors for your specific season, as well as guide you toward an easy color scheme to pick from.

It does not imply that you “shouldn’t” wear specific colors. Rather than, it is more about selecting colors that have the right undertone for your skin tone to make your skin tone look better.

12 Major Seasonal Color Analysis 

In general, the circle chart will facilitate a better understanding of the appearance and colors that we are related to each of the 12 choices.

Let’s take a look at each of the 12 seasonal color schemes and see what features they have.

Color Palettes for the Winter Season

Cool Winter

Basically, cool winters will usually have the following features:

Hair: brown or ashy blond hair, silver hair ( no golden or red highlights), and black or black brown with blue undertones.

Eyes: icy hazel, light brown, violet, gray, clear brown, and blue.

Skin: tones include black (without golden hues), pale beige, very pale beige, rosy beige, and pale olive.

Best colors: pure pigments, completely saturated colors, and primary colors are always considered the best.

Colors to avoid: warm soft tones, brown and golden tones.

Chroma: more distinct

Value: medium

Hue: cool

Cold winters have a lot of contrast in their eyes, skin tone, and hair. They actually appear much better in cool and icy tones. Warm-toned colors should be avoided for the most attractive combinations. Pastels are also deliberately ignored, and in their place, more bright and colorful or medium to dark-hued colors should also be used. Darker tones, so long as they come with a cool undertone, might work perfectly for the cool winters.

Some famous people with a cool winter season: Brook Shields, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jennifer Connelly, Liv Tyler, and Marian Cotillard. 

Clear winter

In general, clear winters are distinguished by the following features:

Skin: a light olive and cool undertones skin tone.

Hair color: black or medium brown with ashy or blue undertones (no golden or red undertones).

Eyes: The clear winter is known for its remarkable (nearly jewel-like) eyes. A rich brown, clear gray hazel, green, and blue are all present.

Best colors: vibrant hues with extreme pigments, cool undertones, and icy colors.

Colors to avoid: are muted and dusty tones, as well as warmer shades.

Hues: cool tones tend to dominate the color scheme.

Value: Medium, progressing to light

Chroma: bright and clear 

Clear winters typically have a strong contrast between their hair color and skin tone, as well as bright clear eyes. They usually have darker hair, such as moderate to dark brown. However, they might also have lighter hair if it comes with a cool undertone. They actually appear best in vibrant colors with cool undertones, such as extreme pigment colors or icy colors. Muted colors, warm tones, as well as dusty tones, should also be avoided in general.

Some famous people with a clear winter season: Alexis Bledel, Courtney Cox, Lupita Nyong’o, and Zooey Deschanel. 

Deep Winter

Basically, deep winters are distinguished by the following criteria:

Skin: either deep cool undertones or olive undertones

Hair: silver gray, black, and medium to dark brown

Eyes: black, dark brown, and dark hazel

Best colors: those with rich primary colors, natural pigments, as well as high saturation.

Colors to avoid: include yellow, oranges, warm browns, warm nudes, and earthy tones.

Hue: are more likely cool

Value: tends to be deep

Chroma: tends to be clear and bright

Generally speaking, deep winters come with a high-contrast, rich sense to them. Their skin tones are not entirely cool, and they might even be regarded as neutral. This also applies to people with olive skin tones. They also usually have dark eyes and dark hair. In addition, they tend to appear best in saturated colors, pure pigments, or rich primary colors. They should stay away from yellow, oranges, warm-toned browns, warm-toned nudes, as well as earthy tones.

Some famous people with a deep winter season: Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Christina Ricci, Priyanka Chopra, and Penelope Cruz.

Color Palettes for the Summer Season

Light Summer 

Basically, light summers come with the following features:

Skin: usually neutral undertones with a rosy tinge (most probably burns effortlessly)

Hair: often light ash brown, and from light to moderate ash blonde

Eyes: light green, medium blue, as well as light gray

Best colors: typically light colors that are either chalky or dusty

Colors to avoid: warm-toned and dark overpowering colors with high saturation

Hue: cool tones dominate the color scheme.

Value: usually light

Chroma: mostly likely medium 

Usually, summers with light skin tend to feature neutral skin that quickly burns and might also have a rosy tone to it. Besides, their hair is often icy and notably light brown or blond in color. Their eyes are also light in color, such as gray, green, or blue. They typically appear best in dusty, light, or chalky colors. In general, the light colors are more likely to enhance their skin tones and do not overwhelm their striking characteristics. What’s more, they should normally avoid dark colors and warm tones with high saturation.

Some famous people with a light summer season: Amy Poehler, Cate Blanchett, Elle Fanning, Naomi Watts, and Margot Robbie. 

Soft Summer

Here are several of the basic characteristics of the soft summer:

Skin: most likely light-toned brown, light to moderate with balanced undertones

Hair: lean toward medium brown (mostly ash blond shade)

Eyes: often hazel, blue, and gray

Best Colors: most in the color family of cooler tone, muted and soft hues

Colors to avoid: rich, clear, neon color

Hue: are more likely cool

Value: often medium

Chroma: typically soft 

Summers with gentle undertones tend to come with either blue undertones or neutral undertones with a pink hue. They may also have brown skin with a balanced undertone. Besides, their hair is more likely to be light-to-medium brown in color, with ash blond hues or highlights. The distinction between the skin, hair, and eyes of soft summers is usually low. Therefore, they often appear best in muted, soft colors that are more subdued (typically lean toward the cooler color family). Generally speaking, they should ignore clear colors that are either rich or neon, as these tend to overpower the nuance of their skin tone.

Some famous people with a soft summer season: Cara Delevingne, Ellen Pompei, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rihanna, and Jennifer Aniston.

Cool Summer

These are the general features of cool summers:

Skin: mostly cool undertones that typically vary between medium beige to darker cool brown

Hair: usually ashy undertones with medium to darker brown

Eyes: slate, blue, and gray

Best Colors: most of the time, cool hues ranging from medium to darker in tone

Colors to avoid: earthy shades, warm tones, and typically warm-toned yellows

Hue: generally cool

Value: typically medium

Chroma: tends to be a little bit soft

All three attributes of cool summers come with either blue or cool undertones (eyes, hair, and skin). They frequently have neutral or cool skin tones, as well as slate, blue, or gray eyes. Besides, their hair colors are ashy and vary between medium and dark brown (but no black color). They typically appear best in cool colors that are between medium and dark in the color scheme. Warm tones, particularly warm earthy hues or yellow-toned tints, should be avoided.

Some famous people with a cool summer season: Allison Williams, Emily Deschanel, Emily Blunt, and Kate Middleton. 

Color Palette for the Spring Season

Light Spring

Here are among the most popular characteristics of light springs:

Skin: freckles, tan, and fair skin with either peach or pink undertones

Hair: most of the time, light to medium brown and gold blonde, and strawberry blonde can sometimes be seen too

Eyes: usually light soft brown, hazel, green, and blue

Best Colors: typically clear, warm, and light colors 

Colors to avoid: overwhelming and dark colors

Hue: tend to be warmer

Value: often light

Chroma: usually medium

Light springs usually come with fair skin that is either rosy or peachy and can freckle or tan. Their hair is either brown or golden blonde, and their eyes are typically hazel, green, and blue, or sometimes light brown. In general, they appear best in colors that are clear, warm, and light. They must also avoid wearing overwhelming or dark colors, which can make them look washed out.

Some famous people with a light spring season: Taylor Swift, Michelle Williams, Blake Lively, and Scarlett Johansson.

Clear Spring

These are the most prevalent features of clear springs:

Skin: usually between milky white and golden brown, porcelain, and tans effortlessly

Hair: very between golden light and dark brown, and might also include auburn or copper shades

Eyes: light brown, green, and blue, and those are usually clear and bright

Best Colors: often come in bright colors with warm-toned hues and saturated

Colors to avoid: pastels that are more dusty-muted and nudes

Hue: a little bit warm

Value: generally medium

Chroma: most likely bright and clear

Clear springs usually come with warm brown, bronze, and porcelain skin that tend to tan effortlessly (they can also be either black or brown). Their hair color ranges between medium and dark brown (and typically has golden undertones) with copper or red highlights. Generally speaking, they have topaz, green, and blue eyes that are both clear and bright. They typically appear best in warm and saturated colors. Furthermore, they should eschew dusty or muted pastels as well as nudes in general because they might wipe them out. Last but not least, clear springs tend to have high contrast to the remainder of the spring family, allowing them to quickly adopt bright colors.

Some famous people with a clear spring season: Adriana Lima, Emma Watson, Beyonce, and Emma Stone.

Warm Spring

Let’s see some common features of warm springs:

Skin: range between porcelain shades and light bronze, and warm skin tone

Hair: usually coppery red, light golden brown, golden blonde, and strawberry blonde

Eyes: include light hazel, dark green, light brown, and blue

Best Colors: most likely warm and vividly colors

Colors to avoid: darker tones or pastels with cool tones 

Hue: generally warm

Value: typically medium

Chroma: tend to be clear and bright 

The hair, skin, and eyes of warm springs are generally warm. They often have skin that ranges from warm porcelain to somewhere light bronze, with coppery red, strawberry blonde, or golden blonde hair. Besides, they typically have blue eyes. They also appear best in bright, warm colors that complement their glowy skin tones. They must also stay away from darker tones and cool-toned pastels. Last but not least, they should look great in yellows and oranges, which highlight their warm brightness.

Some famous people with a warm spring season: Jessica Chastain, Christina Hendricks, Amy Adams, Marcia Cross, and Nicole Kidman.

Color Palette for the Autumn Season 

Warm Autumn

These are several prominent features of warm autumns: 

Skin: medium brown (including all the warm undertones), light olive, and ivory

Hair: dark red, warm auburn, moderate to dark brown (mostly with golden tones)

Eyes: hazel, green, light brown, and occasionally dark brown (rich)

Best Colors: muted and rich warm tones (often rusts and think browns)

Colors to avoid: pastel brights and pastels

Hue: usually warm

Value: typically medium

Chroma: often medium 

Warm autumns typically have skin with warm undertones that ranges between ivory and medium brown. Besides, they often come with hair that ranges between medium and red (including auburn) and dark brown with golden undertones. What’s more, their eyes are often hazel, green, or light brown. They typically look fantastic in muted and rich warm tones, particularly earthy colors such as rust and brown. Pastel colors or bright pastel colors should be avoided in general because they will wash them out.

Some famous people with a warm season autumn: Julianne Moore, Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts, Kate Mara, and Jennifer Lopez

Deep Autumn

Here are just a few characteristics among the most prominent ones of deep autumns:

Skin: medium to rich brown colors (typically with warm undertones), olive (also with warm undertones), and ivory

Hair: brown-black (might come with either ginger or honey highlights), and medium to dark brown

Eyes: brown black, dark brown, hazel, dark green, and dark blue 

Best Colors: warm and bold colors (often with rich pigments)

Worst Colors: pastels and dusty colors

Hue: tends to be warmer

Value: usually deep

Chroma: typically bright and clear 

The skin, eyes, and hair of deep autumns are typically warm in tone. They usually have brown hair (often) with golden undertones that range from between medium and dark brown. Besides, their eyes are often darker and can be brown/black, dark brown, dark green, and dark blue. In addition, their skin tends to tans quickly and varies in color between warm ivory and rich chocolate. They look really fantastic in richly pigmented, warm, and bold colors. However, they should eliminate dusty colors and soft pastels in general because they will appear washed out. 

Some famous people with the deep autumn season: Halle Berry, Kendall Jenner, Mindy Kaling, Natalie Portman, Oprah, and Sofia Vergara

Soft Autumn

Below are several outstanding features of soft autumns:

Skin: light brown (including all colors with neutral or warm undertones), olive, and ivory

Hair: range between golden blonde and dark brown (might include ginger highlights) 

Eyes: light brown, blue, hazel, and green

Best Colors: blended colors and muted warm-toned colors

Colors to avoid: bright colors with high pigments, and stark colors (such as black)

Hue: tends to be warmer

Value: usually leans toward light

Chroma: typically soft

Soft autumn has little contrast between their skin and hair. In particular, their skin tone tends to have neutral undertones most of the time, but it might also have more notable warm undertones. Generally speaking, they look really good in muted colors (typically with warm undertones) that complement the color of their skin. In addition, they look perfect in a variety of colors (but not primary). Basically, they should avoid harsh colors (like black) and bright colors (typically with high pigment, such as fuchsia, etc.) since they can make them appear sallow.

Some famous people with the soft autumn season: Gisele Bundchen, Gigi Hadid, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Drew Barrymore

What Are The Advantages Of Understanding Your Season?

Fully understanding your seasonal color will greatly improve your makeup, style, and overall appearance. It will then guide your decisions on how to use color to complement your skin tone, what makeup tints to search for, and also what hair dyes should look best on you.

In addition, recognizing your seasonal colors might help you fine-tune your wardrobe and avoid purchasing items that do not augment your beauty. Colors that are appropriate for your season will also make you appear alive, fresh, and bright rather than washed-out or swallowed. 

Seasonal Color Analysis’s Pitfalls

At times, it might be hard to identify your seasonal color. So, if you are having trouble with the methods described above, or if you just can’t seem to put yourself or ask other people for assistance. Without your inherent bias, some outside point of view could really help you pin down your season.

In addition, you can take a well-lit photograph of yourself and convert it to white and black. This will assist you in determining how much direct comparison you typically have in your face. Understanding your contrast will also allow you to pin down which of the four base seasons you relate to.

Furthermore, based on the images and focus of every feature, it tends to be easier to break into further than one season, in my personal view. Innumerable famous people have been classified as one season, then only being classified as another by another expert.

Will Dying My Hair Change The Results Of My Seasonal Color Analysis?

In fact, hair coloring can influence the colors you wear. However, it is unlikely to impact your general seasonal color placement. Because hair is one of the less consistent predictors of season, just about all hair dye tweaks would not affect your overall placement.

Katie Perry, for example, is a wonderful example of this. Despite the fact that her natural hair is blonde, she looks absolutely stunning as a dark brunette. Given the new change in hair color, she still looks like a bright winter.