What all Summers share is coolness with softness. The three types are each pulled by light, cool or soft — the palettes are set side by side here so you can tell which is yours.
Scan first if you are not sure you are a Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter — the tool places you on all three axes before naming a season.
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Summer colouring looks like it is seen through a thin veil. The undertone is pink or neutral, contrast between the features is low, and the overall impression is gentle. Hard contrast is what hurts a Summer: black against white on a Summer, and the first thing you see is the edge of the garment rather than the person.
The three Summer types
Each palette below is the full set for that type, with the colours named — the point of a palette is to be able to shop from it.
Light Summer
Light and cool, with soft contrast between your features. Colours that look like they have a thin veil over them suit you; hard contrast overwhelms the face.
Your darkSoft NavyYour lightSoft WhiteMetal Silver
Colours to avoid
Pure BlackRustOliveChocolate
What to wear: Rose pink, powder blue, lavender, sea foam. Soft navy where you would reach for black, soft white rather than optic white.
Makeup direction: Rose, muted berry and cool pinks. Grey-brown liner, and nothing warm-orange.
True Summer
Cool is the leading characteristic and your value sits mid-range. The cool colours that suit you have a little grey worked into them rather than being at full strength.
Your darkCharcoal NavyYour lightSoft WhiteMetal Silver
Colours to avoid
Bright OrangeBright GoldenRustPure Black
What to wear: Raspberry, cool blue, denim, cool plum. Grey-blue and sage make excellent everyday neutrals.
Makeup direction: Rose, raspberry and cool berry lips. Gold jewellery reads out of place; silver sits right.
Soft Summer
Softness is your leading characteristic, coolness the second. Colours want a little grey in them before they become yours; anything too clean or too saturated makes your features read faint.
Your palette
Dusty RoseMauveBlue GreySage GreenSoft PlumWarm GreySlate BlueFog BlueTaupeSoft BurgundyEucalyptusAsh Rose
Your darkSoft CharcoalYour lightOysterMetal Silver
Colours to avoid
Hot FuchsiaPure BlackBright GoldenBright Emerald
What to wear: Dusty rose, mauve, blue-grey, sage — the colours that are hard to name. Tonal dressing beats colour-blocking.
Makeup direction: Muted rose and dusty berry. Avoid hot pink and anything that reads neon.
Telling them apart
The question that actually matters is not which family you are in but which of the three you are. These are the distinctions that decide it.
Light Summer vs True Summer
Look at overall value. A Light Summer is light throughout and gets overwhelmed by darks; a True Summer sits mid-range with a more definite cool cast and can carry denim and raspberry at strength.
True Summer vs Soft Summer
Look at chroma. Soft Summer needs one more step toward grey, and clean cool colours make the features read faint. True Summer holds clearer cool colours. These two are the easiest pair in the whole system to confuse.
Soft Summer vs Soft Autumn
Both are soft; the difference is temperature. Soft Summer is dusty rose, blue-grey and sage; Soft Autumn is camel, terracotta and moss. Hold both next to the face — whichever one puts colour back in your skin is the answer.
The family this gets confused with
Summer is most often mistaken for Winter, since both are cool. The tell is intensity: Winter carries pure black and saturated true blue, Summer gets flattened by them. If black makes you look drawn but navy suits you, you are a Summer, not a Winter.
All three wear silver and white gold. Yellow gold fights the cool undertone, brassy gold most of all.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Summer and Winter are both cool — how do I tell them apart?
By intensity. Winter carries pure black and saturated true blue and cool fuchsia; Summer is flattened by them, so the garment glows and the person sits behind it. The single most useful test is pure black: if it makes you look drawn you are a Summer, if it sharpens your features you are a Winter.
What separates Soft Summer from True Summer?
One step of chroma. True Summer wears clear cool colours like denim and raspberry; Soft Summer needs those same colours pushed further toward grey, otherwise the features read faint. It is the easiest pair in the system to confuse, and measuring the chroma axis is more reliable than judging by eye.
What hair colour suits a Summer?
Go cool: ash brown, cool brown and ashy blonde all work; avoid warm gold and copper. Also resist going much darker than your natural colour — a Summer's advantage is gentle contrast, and darkening the hair destroys it.
