Deep Winter
Deep Winter (or Dark Winter) is a palette of rich, intense and cool tones. Think of the dramatic and intense beauty of a dark winter’s night.
The Deep Winter palette combines qualities from the Winter and Autumn seasons, resulting in a palette that is rich, deep, intense and cool. The overall impression of Deep Winter is intense and sultry, with colours that are both saturated and dark.
Who Falls into the Deep Winter Season?
Deep Winter’s have a dramatic, intense and sultry look. Their features will be dark with a hint of coolness.
The only way to really determine your color season is through draping, however, there tend to be certain features that Deep Winters have, but keep in mind that there are always exceptions.
Skin: The skin is typically dark to medium with cool to neutral undertones and a deep, rich quality. The skin often has a cool beige, tan or olive tone being naturally deeper.
Eyes: The eyes are deep and intense with eye colours such as dark brown, black-brown, deep blue, or dark hazel. The eyes are usually striking and vivid, with a noticeable depth.
Hair: The hair of Deep Winters will usually be between a natural level 1N and 3N with cool undertones. Think of jet black hair, soft black and a deep dark brown. Deep Winter hair often has a strong, rich appearance with little to no warmth.
Deep Winters have a naturally bold and intense appearance, and their best colours are those that mirror this depth and coolness without being too light or warm. The depth of their features calls for darker more intense colours, with lighter tones often washing them out.
How Do You Know if You're a Deep Winter?
Each season has a primary, secondary, and tertiary feature. Your primary feature is your dominant and the most obvious feature. Your secondary and tertiary features might be a little less obvious and harder to determine. Your secondary and tertiary features might be a little less obvious and harder to determine, but they are still equally as important in determining your coloring. For Deep Winters, their features are the following:
Primarily Feature: Dark. Deep Winters will have a lot of depth to their appearance, with dark hair, skin and eyes. This will be their most prominent and noticeable feature.
Secondarily Feature: Cool. Deep Winter is a neutral-cool season, meaning that they can pull off both cool and warm colours as long as the colours have enough depth. However, cooler colours will really make them shine!
Tertiarily Feature: Bright. Although they are not as bright as Bright Winter, Deep Winter colours are brighter than they are muted.
To determine if you are a Deep Winter, consider the following steps:
Depth: Are your features (hair, eyes, skin, lips) primarily light, medium or dark? If they are light or medium-light, then you can eliminate Deep WInter from your palette. A Deep Winter will have dark features - dark eyes, hair and skin (relative to their ethnicity) - and this will be their most prominent feature.
Contrast levels: Are your skin, hair and eyes all a similar depth or do you have much darker hair relative to your skin? Deep Winters will have medium-high contrast levels with most features being dark. The contrast comes from the whites of the eyes, the teeth and occasionally the skin.
Cool vs warm Do you look better in navy blues, emerald greens, dark plum purples and black or do you glow in dark browns, burgundies, and olive greens? Cooler tones, like emerald greens and plum, will harmonise with Deep Winters. If you find yourself more at home in the earthy warmer tones, then you might be a Deep Autumn.
Chroma: Are your features more bright or muted? Can you wear bright clothing or do you look better in more muted colors? Deep Winter is not as bright as Bright Winter or True Winter, but they are still on the brighter side, favouring more saturated colours over muted ones.
The best way to determine your season is to do a drape test. You can either purchase a physical drape test fan or try some digital tools online like vivaldicolor.com, Dressika, and others. Or, just find different color pieces in your wardrobe, compare them to each other and take notes!
You want to look for colors that smooth your skin out, lift your jawline and bring out your eyes, lips and eyebrows. The colors should harmonise with you, not being too overpowering and also not washing you out.
Also, take note of the colors that you really don't like on yourself. This can offer some clues to your season as well.
If you find that you look best in deep, intense, dramatic and cool shades, then you might just be a Deep Winter!
Best Colors for Deep Winter
Deep Winters have a sophisticated palette with rich, dramatic, sultry and elegant colours. Some of the most flattering colours for Deep Winters include:
Black: Deep Winter, along with the other two winter seasons, is one of the only seasons that looks great in black.
Blues: Navy, cobalt blue, midnight blue, indigo
Greens: Emerald green, deep teal, forest green
Purples: Plum, royal purple, deep violet
Pinks: Fuchsia, magenta, berry pink
Neutrals: Pure black, charcoal gray, pure white
Reds: True red, deep burgundy, cranberry
Overall, Deep Winters look stunning in midnight blue, indigo, burgundy, royal purple, emeralnd green and pure black. Colors for Deep Winter should be dark and cool, not overly warm, muted or light since those can dull the natural intensity of a Deep Winter's appearance.
Worst Colors for Deep Winter
Colours that are too warm, light, or muted can wash out the natural intensity of Deep Winter. These include:
Pastels: Soft pink, light yellow, baby blue
Warm Neutrals: Beige, camel, warm brown
Warm Reds and Oranges: Coral, peach, tomato red
Muted Tones: Dusty rose, sage green, soft lavender
As a Deep Winter, avoid colors in the Light Spring and Light Summer palettes.
Jewelry for Deep Winter
Deep Winters look amazing in dark cool-toned metals. They can also rock the natural intense jewel tones of gemstones. The best options include:
Metals: Silver, white gold, platinum, and cool-toned metals
Stones: Diamonds, black onyx, sapphires, emeralds, amethyst, garnets
Avoid warm or overly light jewellery, which can clash with the deep, cool quality of the Deep Winter palette.
Hair Colors for Deep Winter
Deep Winters will almost always have naturally deep hair in the ranges of levels 1N-3N. This dark hair provides the necessary depth and contrast to their features making them shine.
For Deep Winters considering a hair colour change, it’s important to maintain the deep and cool quality of their natural hair. Going too light or too warm can wash a Deep Winter out. For example, a honey blonde or strawberry blonde might feel really off with the rest of their deep and intense features.
Flattering hair colour choices include:
Black (levels 1-2): Jet black, blue-black, brown-black
Brown (levels 2-3): Dark espresso, deep cool brown, dark chocolate, deep brown with hints of mahogany
Red (levels 2-3): A deep cherry red can be considered
Highlights: Cool, espresso brown highlights can add dimension without overwhelming the natural colour.
Avoid warm, golden, or light shades that can contrast too sharply with the deep, cool undertones.
Read more about the Best Hair Colors for Winter Seasons and get some inspiration on Pinterest.
Makeup for Deep Winter
Deep Winters can pull off a dramatic, sultry femme fatale makeup look!
Makeup for Deep Winters should enhance their natural features with deep, cool tones.
Foundation: Choose foundations with cool or neutral undertones that match your skin.
Blush: Blush in the shade of deep berry, cool rose, and plum works well. Avoid going too heavy on the bronzer as this is more suited for warmer seasons.
Eyeshadow: A smokey eye looks amazing on Deep Winters! Shades of cool grey, deep navy, dark plum, and charcoal can make your eyes pop.
Lipstick: Deep Winters can rock a bold lip! Choose deep, cool shades like berry, true red, plum, burgundy, and deep fuchsia. Avoid lip colours that are too warm, light or muted like nude lips, brown, orange, coral or pale pink.
Eyeliner and Mascara: Deep Winters look great in black, cool dark brown, or deep navy eyeliner and mascara. Brown and gray eyeliner can be too light and not provide the necessary contrast.
Sister Season: Deep Autumn
Deep Winter's sister season is Deep Autumn. Both share the deep, rich quality but one is on the cooler side and one on the warmer side. As a Deep Winter, you may find some Deep Autumn colours flattering and occasionally borrow from the Deep Autumn palette. However, the bold, intense and cool Deep Winter palette is where your home is at!
Read more about Deep Winter vs Deep Autumn.
Deep Winter Outfits
More outfit ideas on Pinterest.
Deep Winter Celebrities
Some celebrities often classified as Deep Winters include Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder, Salma Hayek, Gal Gadot, Dua Lipa, Demi Moore, Kim Kardashian, Nina Dobrev, Monica Belluci, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sandra Bullock, Anya Chalotra, Natalie Dyer.
Male examples include Keanu Reeves, Zayn Malik, Adam Driver, Fabien Frankel, Kit Harington, Karan Gill, and Karl Urban.
It's important to note though that none of these celebrities are verified Deep Winters and it can be difficult to determine the color season of celebrities from photos alone. However, these are some people that I see have the qualities of Deep Winter and that other color analysts have also speculated might be Deep Winter.
Deep Winter Mood Board
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