True Summer
The True Summer palette is delicate, gentle and elegant. Think of the blues of summer skies, long summer nights, lakes and the soft pinks and purples of long summer sunsets. True Summer is the epitome of the summer palettes, embodying the qualities of summer with a slight hint of the crispness of winter.
Who Falls into the True Summer Season?
True Summers often have a delicate and pure appearance, with a gentle, subdued beauty that is best complemented by colours that are cool, light and soft. There will be an obvious coolness to the appearance of a True Summer with their hair, skin and eyes having cool undertones.
The only way to really determine your color season is through draping, however, there tend to be certain features that True Summers have, but keep in mind that there are always exceptions.
Skin: The skin color can range from light to medium and will have a cool undertone. It may have a pink, blueish, yellowish or olive overtones, and it often looks a little bit muted, and soft, lacking any obvious warmth or golden tones.
Eyes: The eyes of True Summers can be blue, gray, a cool soft green or cool hazel. The eye colour tends to be soft and muted rather than bright and piercing. Regardless of the eye color, there is often a soft grey undertone to the eyes. Blue-gray, green-gray or cool hazel eyes are common.
Hair: The hair of True Summers will usually be between a natural level 4N and 7N with cool ashy undertones. Think of cool frosted browns, ash brown, and mushroom brown. The hair lacks warm, golden, or red tones and instead appears ashy with hints of violet or gray.
How Do You Know if You're a True Summer?
Each season has a primary, secondary, and tertiary feature in seasonal color analysis. Your primary feature is your dominant and the most obvious one. 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 True Summers, their features are the following:
Primarily Feature: Cool True Summers have an obvious coolness to their appearance - the first thing you’ll notice is their coolness. Their skin, hair, eyes and lips will clearly be cool and they will shine in cool blues, pinks and purples, whereas very warm colours like orange will look off.
Secondarily Feature: Light True Summers features are much lighter than they are dark - something that separates them from True Winters. They'll look better with colors that are on the lighter end of the spectrum rather than dark colors.
Tertiarily Feature: Muted There is a softness and dustiness about the appearance of True Summers. None of their features stand out too much and their eyes, skin and hair all blend together harmoniously.
To determine if you are a True Summer, consider the following steps:
Cool vs Warm Do you look better in cool blues, cool pinks, mauves, violets, blue-greens and taupe (cool)? Or do you come alive in colours like orange, yellow, coral, apple green, warm browns, cream, and olive green (warm)? Try to compare several options and see which you lean more towards.
Depth: Are your features (hair, eyes, skin, lips) primarily light, medium or dark? Do you gravitate more towards lighter colors or darker colors in your outfits? If they are very dark or very light then you can eliminate True Summer from your palette as you’ll most likely be looking at either the Light or Deep seasons. If your features are light or medium or medium-light, then you might be a True Summer.
Contrast levels: Are your skin, hair and eyes all a similar depth or do you have much darker hair relative to your skin? True Summers typically have some contrast to their appearance but not as much as the Winter season. However, they are the most contrasted out of the Summer seasons. They will usually have hair that is noticeably darker than their skin and eyes. The combination of cool medium brown hair, blue eyes and light skin, is quite typical.
Chroma: Are your features more bright or muted? Can you wear bright clothing or do you look better in more muted colors? True Summer will have soft, and slightly muted features but not overly so, which would fall more into the domain of Soft Summer or soft autumn.
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 amazing in cool, gentle, medium-light and slightly soft and muted shades, then you might be a True Summer!
Best Colors for True Summer
True Summers have an amazing elegant, gentle, cool and feminine palette to work with. All of the colors in the True Summer palette have an element of gray mixed into them, giving it that softness.
Some colours that will really make a True Summer glow are:
Blues: Soft navy, powder blue, steel blue
Greens: Sage, mint, seafoam
Purples: Lavender, mauve, soft plum
Pinks: Rose, blush, dusty pink
Grays: Cool grays, silver, dove gray
Neutrals: Cool beige, soft white (not stark white), taupe
Overall, True Summers look stunning in different types of blues, greens, soft pinks, mauves and taupes. Colors for True Summers should be cool and soft, not overly bright, warm or dark since those can overwhelm a True Summer's natural coloring.
Jewelry for True Summer
As a cool seasons, True Summers are the quintessential silver girlies! They look dazzling in pure silver, white gold and cool-toned gemstones! The best options include:
Metals: Silver, white gold, platinum
Stones: Pearls, diamonds, aquamarine, blue topaz, sapphire, amethyst
Avoid heavy gold and gemstones that are too dark and warm-toned and stick to jewelry that is more delicate and cool-toned.
Hair Colors for True Summer
The natural hair colour for True Summer typically falls in the ranges of medium to light browns to dark blondes, from around 4N to 7N. The hair will have a soft ashy quality that really harmonises with the overall appearance of the palette. These are the types of hair colors that used to be called "mousy brown", however, on a True Summer these colors are harmonious and gorgeous!
It is pretty common for True Summers to have blonde hair as a child which then later darkens and turns an ash brown color. Since many True Summers have been told that their natural hair color is "mousy" then they may continue dying their hair blonde. However, dyed blonde hair can easily turn yellow and brassy, and the warm tones can look off on a True Summer. If you do dye your hair blonde, make sure to stick to ashier blondes and avoid overly warm or golden tones. Embracing their natural hair color really works well for True Summers.
Some flattering hair color choices for True Summers include:
Blonde (level 7): Dark ash blonde, ashy old money blonde, dark sandy blonde
Brown (levels 4-6): Cool light brown, light to medium ash brown, cool medium brown, mushroom brown, iced brown, frosty brown, milk tea brown
Highlights: Ashy blonde highlights can look amazing on True Summers
Gray: True Summers often look very good with grey hair and they are a season that can rock natural grey hair later in life!
Read more about the Best Hair Colors for Summer Seasons and get some inspiration on Pinterest.
Makeup for True Summer
True Summer makeup should be gentle, elegant, cool-toned and soft, enhancing the natural complexion. Think of the appearance of “English Rose”. Some makeup tips include:
Foundation: Choose a foundation with cool or neutral undertones to match your skin tone. This can sometimes be tricky, as makeup brands typically have more warm undertones.
Blush: True Summers look great in soft pinks, cool mauves, and gentle plum blushes. Avoid bronzers and instead opt for cool-toned blushes.
Eyeshadow: Shades of cool taupe, grey, soft lavender, and cool blues can really make your eyes pop.
Lipstick: Cool pinks, rose, soft plum, mauve and berry tones are the lipsticks for you. Avoid warm, orange or brown-based lip colours and stick to lipsticks that are cool-toned and around the tone of your natural lip colour for a harmonious look.
Eyeliner and Mascara: Black eyeliner and mascara can look a bit harsh against the features of True Summer, whereas charcoal, cool taupe, or navy are softer.
Sister Season: True Winter
True Summer's sister season is True Winter. Both seasons are primarily cool with coolness being their most obvious feature. True Winters, however, are darker, brighter and more intense. As a True Summer, you may find that some colours from the True Winter palette work well for you and you can borrow some colours from this palette. However, the softness of the True Summer palette is where your home is at!
Read more about True Summer vs True Winter.
Oufits for True Summer
More outfit ideas on Pinterest.
True Summer Celebrities
Some celebrities that have qualities of the True Summer season include Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Allison Williams, Dakota Johnson, Olivia Wilde, Barbara Palvin, Claire Foy, Emily DiDonato, Bella Heathcote, Margaret Qualley, Caitriona Balfe, Ruth Wilson.
Male examples include Matt Bomer, Henry Cavill, Cillian Murphy, Matthew Bell, Jesse Williams, Hugh Grant.
It's important to note though that none of these celebrities are verified True Summers 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 True Summer and that other color analysts have also speculated might be True Summers.
True Summer Mood Board
