Soft Autumn
Soft Autumn, along with Soft Summer is one of the most popular and common seasons. Soft Autumn sits on the cusp of Autumn and Summer, resulting in a palette that is gentle, earthy, warm, and subdued.
The overall impression of Soft Autumn is earthy, subdued and gentle with colours that are both warm and muted. Think of a day in early September when the weather is just starting to turn.
Who Falls into the Soft Autumn Seasons?
Soft Autumns have an obvious softness to their appearance with their hair, skin and eyes all being close in colour. There is also a hint of warmth and some golden tones.
The only way to really determine your color season is through draping, however, there tend to be certain features that Soft Autumns have, but keep in mind that there are always exceptions.
Soft Autumns typically have:
Skin: Warm undertones with a soft, muted quality. The skin often has a beige, warm olive, or golden undertone, giving a gentle and natural sun-kissed look.
Eyes: The eyes are usually soft and muted and the colors can range from hazel, olive green, light brown, or muted amber. The eyes are usually warm and gentle, with a subtle depth. It can often be difficult to tell the exact color of a Soft Autumn's eyes since they'll be a blend of many different colors and might look different depending on the lighting.
Hair: The natural hair color is usually between a 4N-7N with subtle hints of gold, red or copper. The hair color can range from dark blonde to medium auburn or medium golden brown and it often has a warm, muted quality without strong contrasts. The hair color of Soft Autumns is typically around the same range as their skin and eye color.
All features of a Soft Autumn usually blend together and no feature stands out too much from the rest. The hair, eyes and skin are often of equal depth.
Soft Autumns have a naturally soft and warm appearance, and their best colours are those that reflect this softness and warmth without being too bright or intense. Bright colours can really overwhelm the subtle colouring of the Soft Autumn.
How Do You Know if You're a Soft Autumn?
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 Soft Autumns, their features are the following:
Primarily Feature: Muted (chroma). Soft Autumns are primarily muted - a feature they share with Soft Summers. The features of people from this season will appear desaturated and gentle - nothing will stick out too much and the features blend well together.
Secondarily Feature: Warm (temperature). Soft Autumn is a neutral-warm season and hence they can pull off both cool and warm tones, however, warm tones will look more harmonious. There will also be a slight goldenness to their overall appearance.
Tertiarily Feature: Deep (value). Although Soft Autumns are the lightest of the three Autumn seasons, they are still a deep season, compared to Summer and Spring. Hence, they look better in colours that are not too light.
To determine if you are a Soft Autumn, consider the following steps:
Contrast levels: Are your skin, hair and eyes all a similar depth or do you have much darker hair relative to your skin? Soft Autumns will usually have features that are all quite similar in terms of depth. For example, they can have medium beige skin, dark blonde hair and hazel eyes or olive skin, golden brown hair and brown eyes.
Chroma: Are your features more bright or muted? Can you wear bright clothing or do you look better in more muted colors? Soft Autumns will be overpowered by bright colours and look far more harmonious in muted tones. Most other seasons will look washed out by the mutedness of Soft Autumn colors, however on a Soft Autumn those colors will be perfect and make them glow!
Cool vs Warm: Soft Autumns are a neutral season meaning they can wear both cool and warm colours as long as the colours are muted, however, they will look best in colors that are slightly warmer. If you look better in colors that are slightly cool, then you might be a Soft Summer.
Depth: Are your features (hair, eyes, skin, lips) primarily light, medium or dark? If they are very dark or very light then you can eliminate Soft Autumn from your palette as you’ll most likely be looking at either the light or deep seasons. Soft Autumns will usually be medium or medium-dark.
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 colors that are gentle, earthy, muted, neutral and warm, then you might just be a Soft Autumn!
Best Colors for Soft Autumn
Soft Autumns have a beautiful gentle, warm, earthy and sophisticated palette to work with. Neutral tones are currently in style, which is great for Soft Autumns who shine in beiges, taupes and browns!
All of the colors of Soft Autumn have an element of gray and golden brown mixed into them, which gives the palette its soft, muted and earthy vibe.
Some of the most flattering colours for Soft Autumns include:
Blues: Dusty blue, soft teal, warm slate
Greens: Sage green, muted olive, soft moss
Purples: Lavender, muted plum, soft mauve
Pinks: Warm blush, dusty rose, soft coral
Neutrals: Warm beige, soft taupe, muted brown
Yellows: Soft mustard, warm ochre, soft mustard
Reds: Warm brick red, soft rust, terracotta, deep coral
Overall, Soft Autumns glow in different types of beiges, neutrals, muted greens, terracottas and mauves. Colors for Soft Autumns should be muted and warm, not overly bright, cool or light since those can clash with a Soft Autumn's natural coloring.
Worst Colors for Soft Autumn
Colours that are too bright, cool, or harsh can overpower the natural softness of Soft Autumn. These include:
Pastels: Baby pink, icy blue, light lavender
Cool Neutrals: Cool grey, pure white, icy beige
Cool Reds and Blues: Fuchsia, cobalt blue, cool red
Bright Tones: Neon colors, bright primary colours
Jewelry for Soft Autumn
Soft Autumns look wonderful in soft gold and warm-toned gemstones that bring out their golden glow. The best options include:
Metals: Gold, bronze, copper, and warm-toned metals
Stones: Amber, warm jade, soft brown topaz, light turquoise
Avoid cool or overly bright jewellery, which can clash with the soft, warm quality of the Soft Autumn palette.
Hair Colors for Soft Autumn
The natural hair color for Soft Autumns is usually around a 4N-7N, not too light or and not too dark. Soft Autumns should maintain softness in their hair colour and can look amazing in golden highlights. Colours that are too bright or contrasted (like black or platinum blonde) can look harsh and overpowering on the gentle features of a Soft Autumn
Flattering hair color choices include:
Blonde (level 7): Dark golden blonde, dark honey blonde, old money blonde, dark blonde, bronde
Brown (levels 4-6): Light to medium brown with warm undertones, caramel brown
Red (levels 4-7): Soft auburn, muted copper
Highlights: Warm, soft golden blonde highlights can add dimension without overwhelming the natural color.
Avoid cool, ashy, or overly bright shades that can contrast too sharply with the warm, muted undertones.
Read more about Hair Colors for Autumn Seasons and view ideas on Pinterest.
Makeup for Soft Autumn
Makeup for Soft Autumns should be warm, gentle, soft and earthy with hints of gold. Soft Autumns will look much better in the natural “clean-girl” makeup over full glam. They can pull off the "no make-up make-up look" like no other!
Key makeup tips include:
Foundation: Choose foundations with warm or neutral undertones that match your skin. You can opt for a bronzer for that sun-kissed look that will suit you well.
Blush: Warm peach, soft coral, and muted rose blush shades work well. You can also use a subtle bronzer to bring some more warmth to your complexion.
Eyeshadow: Shades of warm taupe, soft brown, muted green, and warm plum harmonise with your coloring.
Lipstick: Choose warm, muted shades like terracotta, soft coral, warm rose, and deep peach. Avoid cool or overly bright lip colors. A nude lip and anything close to your natural lip colour will look fantastic!
Eyeliner and Mascara: Warm dark brown, bronze, or muted green rather than cool black.
Sister Season: Soft Summer
Soft Autumn's sister season is Soft Summer. Both are soft and muted. Soft Summer, however, is on the cooler and lighter side, whereas Soft Autumn is warmer and darker. Soft Summers have a more dusty appearance about them, whereas Soft Autumns have a subtle golden glow. As a Soft Autumn, you may find that you look good in some of the Soft Summer colors and can easily borrow some of those colours. However, you really shine in the earthy, muted and golden tones of Soft Autumn!
Read more about Soft Autumn vs Soft Summer.
Soft Autumn Outfits
More outfit ideas on Pinterest.
Soft Autumn Celebrities
Some Soft Autumn celebrities include Florence Pugh, Gigi Hadid, Emma Chamberlain, Ashley Olsen, Drew Barrymore, Adele, Jodi Comer, Kate Moss, Gisele Bündchen, Angelina Jolie, Jessica Biel, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Toni Colette, Karli Kloss, Mariah Carey, Victoria Pedretti, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kate Winslet, Millie Bobbi Brown.
Male examples include Tom Hardy, Chris Pratt, Matt Damon, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, and Harrison Ford.
*It's important to note though that none of these celebrities are verified Soft Autumns 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 Soft Autumn and that other color analysts have also speculated might be Soft Autumns.
Soft Autumn Mood Board
