A Step-by-Step Guide to Determining Your Color Season
Figuring out your color season can be a bit tricky but it's also super fun! There are several ways that you can make this process easier and more systematic.
I've broked it down into a few steps that help you assess your temperature, value, chroma, contrast levels and primary features.
Step 1: Determine Your Temperature (Cool vs. Warm)
The first step is figuring out whether you have cool or warm undertones. This will rule out half of the seasons, narrowing down your options.
Cool Undertones: If you have cool undertones, your skin has a bluish, pink, or rosy hue. You might find that silver jewelry looks better on you than gold, and your skin might appear better in blue-based colors like blues, purples, and pinks.
Warm Undertones: If you have warm undertones, your skin has a golden, yellow, or peachy hue. Gold jewelry tends to look better on you than silver, and you likely glow in yellow-based colors like oranges, yellows, and earthy tones.
Paper Test: Place a sheet of white paper next to your skin in natural lighting and see whether your skin appears more yellow (warm) or pinkish/blueish or grayish (cool).
Jewelry Test: Hold a piece of silver fabric or jewelry (cool) and a piece of gold fabric (warm) or jewelry next to your face. Which one makes your skin look more vibrant and healthy? This will give you a clue to whether you are warm or cool.
Draping: Try on different colors to see which suit you better. Some great colors to compare are:
Orange (warm) vs blue (cool): Orange is the only color that is completely warm and uniquely suited to warm seasons. People who have cool undertones can struggle to pull it off, whereas someone with warm undertones will look vibrant in it. Similarly, blue is a very cool color that will look fabulous on someone who is cool-toned but can be draining for someone who is warm-toned.
Yellow (warm) vs purple (cool): Yellow is also a hard color to pull off if you’re not warm-toned. Likewise, a cool purple will be better suited for someone who’s cool-toned.
Results:
If you lean cool, you belong to one of the following seasons: Winter or Summer.
If you lean warm, you belong to one of the following seasons: Spring or Autumn.
Below is an image of a True Spring (top left), True Autumn (bottom left), True Winter (top right) and True Summer (bottom right). See how the colors on the left have more yellow added to them and the colors on the right have more blue in them?
If you’re still unsure, then you can read more about cool vs warm undertones here.
Sometimes it can be hard to determine if you’re cool or warm, this is especially the case for some of the neutral seasons, where temperature is not the primary characteristic. In that case, you can still move on to the next steps and come back to the cool vs warm topic after you’ve determined your other characteristics and narrowed down the potential seasons.
Step 2: Evaluate Your Value (Depth vs. Lightness)
Next, assess whether your overall coloring is light or deep (dark). This will help you further narrow down your season.
Light Value: If your hair, skin, and eyes are generally light (think blonde hair, light blue or green eyes, and fair skin), you have a light value. People with a lighter value will look best in colors that mirror that lightness. Colors that are too dark will weight them down.
Deep Value: If your features are generally darker (think dark brown or black hair, deep brown eyes, and medium to dark skin tones), you have a deep value. People will a darker value will harmonise better with colors that have a similar level of depth. Lighter colors might wash them out.
Read more about depth here.
Results:
If you are cool and light, you probably fall into the Summer seasons.
If you are cool and deep, you probably fall into the Winter seasons.
If you are warm and light, you probably fall into the Spring seasons.
If you are warm and deep, you probably fall into the Autumn seasons.
If you find that your appearance is very light or very dark, then this might be your primary characteristic. Seasons who have value as their primary characteristic include Light Summer, Light Spring, Deep Autumn, Deep Winter.
Below is an image of a Light Spring (top left), Light Summer (bottom left), Deep Autumn (top right) and Deep Winter (bottom left). All of these seasons have "value" as their primary characteristic. The colors on the left are all very light, whereas the ones on the right have depth.
Step 3: Assess Your Chroma (Bright vs. Muted)
Chroma refers to the brightness or softness (muted) of your coloring. This can be a little tricky to figure out at first glance since it's related to the saturation and vividness of colors.
Bright Chroma: People with bright chroma have features that are vivid and saturated. There’s a noticeable clarity in their appearance, for example, they might have bright blue eyes and a sharp contrast between hair and skin). The strongest hint that you might have bright chroma, is being able to pull off bright colors. Most people are overwhelmed by bold and bright colors, however, on a person with bright chroma, these colors will look natural and harmonious.
Muted Chroma: People with muted chroma have features that are softer, less saturated and more blended. There’s less contrast in your coloring and the eyes, skin and hair all seem to be similar in color blending together. A hint that you might be more muted in chroma, is if you come alive in soft and muted colors - ones that might be too dull for someone who doesn't have a muted chroma. Likewise, brighter colors will be overpowering for people with a muted chroma.
Read more about chroma here.
Results:
If you are cool, and bright, you probably fall in the Winter seasons.
If you are cool, and muted, you probably fall in the Summer seasons.
If you are warm and bright, you probably fall in the Spring seasons.
If you are warm, and muted, you probably fall in the Autumn seasons.
Compare these results to Step 2 to see if they match.
If you find that your appearance is really noticably bright or really muted, then this may be your primary characteristic. Seasons whose primary characteristic includes their chroma include Bright Winter, Bright Spring, Soft Summer and Soft Autumn.
Below is an image of a Bright Winter (top left), Bright Spring (bottom left), Soft Summer (top right) and Soft Autumn (bottom left). All of these seasons have "chroma" as their primary characteristic. The ones on the left have vivid and saturated colors found in their appearance, whereas the ones on the right have much more gray added to their coloring making it softer and less saturated.
Step 4: Consider Your Contrast Levels
Contrast refers to the difference between your skin, hair, and eye colors. High contrast usually means a noticeable difference (like dark hair with light skin), while low contrast means your features blend more seamlessly (like light hair with light skin).
To assess your contrast level, take a photo of yourself with no makeup and put it into black and white. This will show you the difference in depth between your hair, eyes, and skin.
High Contrast: If you have dark hair and light skin or another strong difference in your features, you probably have high contrast.
Low Contrast: If your features are similar in tone (like medium brown hair with medium brown eyes and medium skin), you most likely have low contrast.
Read more in-depth about contrast levels here.
Results:
High Contrast: If you have high contrast and fall into the cool category, you are likely a Winter. If warm, you might be a Spring.
Low Contrast: If you have low contrast and are cool, you may belong to Summer. If warm, you might be Autumn.
Your contrast level can offer another indication of whether you're on the right path in terms of fighting out your season.
Step 5: Determine Your Primary Feature
Now that you've evaluated temperature, value, chroma, and contrast, you should have narrowed down your options to just a few seasons. Most likely you’ve figured out your main season (winter, summer, spring, autumn) and will be looking at your sub-season. Your sub-season will be guided by your primary feature - either temperature, value or chroma.
Which features stand out the most for you? Which are the most noticeable and obvious features about your appearance? Is it your coolness, or perhaps your depth, or brightness?
Here is a guide to the primary characteristics of each season.
Temperature:
Warm: True Spring, True Autumn
Cool: True Summer, True Winter
Value:
Light: Light Summer, Light Spring
Dark: Deep Winter, Deep Autumn
Chroma:
Muted: Soft Summer, Soft Autumn
Bright: Bright Winter, Bright Spring
You will share your primary feature with another season - your sister season. However, the difference will lie in your secondary feature. For example, Soft Autumn and Soft Summer are both muted seasons with that being their primary feature. However, Soft Autumn leans warm, whereas Soft Summer leads cool.
Step 6: Experiment With Your Most Likely Seasons
If you’ve narrowed down your options to one or two (or even three) potential seasons, then experiment with them and see how you feel! Do these colors enhance your features? Do you feel confident in them? Are you getting more compliments? Do you feel like yourself in the suggested makeup and jewelry?
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Finding your color season takes a bit of patience and observation, but the payoff is worth it. Once you know your season, you can confidently choose colors that enhance your natural beauty, making shopping for clothes and makeup so much easier.
Remember, the goal is to find colors that harmonize with your unique coloring, making you look and feel your best!
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