What Is Seasonal Color Analysis? Your Ultimate Guide to Finding Your Color Season

Apr 18

Have you ever tried on a color and instantly felt brighter, more alive, and put-together? That effortless glow might not be a coincidence — it could be your perfect seasonal color palette at work. Seasonal Color Analysis is the process of identifying the group of colors that naturally complements your skin tone, eye color, and hair shade. Once you know your color season, choosing outfits, makeup, and accessories becomes a whole lot easier (and more fun!).

What is Seasonal Color Analysis?

Seasonal Color Analysis is based on color theory and the natural undertones found in your skin, eyes, and hair. It divides people into four main color seasons — Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter — and then further into 12 sub-seasons like Soft Autumn or Bright Spring. Each season has its own color palette with hues that harmonize beautifully with that person's natural coloring.

The concept was first introduced in the 1980s and has since been refined into a more nuanced system. Think of it like your personal color blueprint: once you know your season, you'll have a guide to which shades bring out your best features.

Why It Matters

Wearing the right colors for your season can:

Brighten your complexion
Make your eyes pop
Minimize the look of dark circles, redness, or dullness
Help you build a more cohesive, flattering wardrobe

On the flip side, wearing colors outside of your palette can sometimes make you look washed out, tired, or overly harsh.

The 4 Main Color Seasons

Spring: Warm and light. Think golden undertones, light hair, and bright eyes. The palette is full of cheerful, sunny shades.

Summer: Cool and soft. Often includes ash-blonde hair and soft blue or grey eyes. The palette leans toward pastels and soft neutrals.

Autumn: Warm and muted. Think redheads, brunettes with golden tones, and hazel or green eyes. The palette includes earthy, rich tones.

Winter: Cool and deep. Often includes dark hair, striking contrast between features, and cool undertones. The palette is bold, crisp, and icy.

The 12 Sub-Seasons

For a more personalized match, the four main seasons are broken down into 12 subcategories based on the exact balance of hue (cool vs warm), value (light vs dark), and chroma (soft vs clear).

For example:

Bright Spring: Clear and warm
Soft Summer: Cool and muted
Deep Autumn: Dark and warm
True Winter: Cool and highly contrasted

These sub-seasons help fine-tune your palette and give you a more precise roadmap for shopping, dressing, and styling.

How to Find Your Color Season

We do this by evaluating your natural coloring along three color dimensions: Hue, Value, and Chroma. Each person has a unique mix of these elements, and identifying your settings on each scale helps determine your color season.

Finding your color season with hue, value and chroma scales

I. Hue (Warm vs Cool)

Hue refers to the temperature of color. The more yellow in a color, the warmer it is. The more blue, the cooler it becomes.

Ask yourself: Do you look better in warm tones (like coral, camel, or golden brown) or cool tones (like blue, pink, or icy grey)?

If your undertones lean golden, peachy, or yellow, and you tend to lean toward gold jewelry, you likely suit warm hues.
If your undertones are pink, rosy, or bluish, and you tend to lean toward sliver jewelry, then cool hues will flatter you more.
If your undertones seem balanced — not obviously pink or golden — and you can wear both gold and silver jewelry without one looking significantly better, you likely have neutral undertones. This means you may suit neutral-warm or neutral-cool colors depending on your other features like value and chroma, and you won’t be a “True” season.

Your hue will be one of the first clues in placing you into a seasonal category.

II. Value & Contrast (Light vs Dark)

Value refers to how light or dark a color is while contrast refers to the difference in depth between your features (skin, eyes, and hair).

If you have light eyes, light hair, and fair skin, your value is light and your contrast is low.
If you have deeper skin, rich dark hair tones, or darker eyes, you lean dark in value but still low to medium in contrast.
If you have a mix — for example, fair skin and dark hair — you likely have medium to high contrast.

III. Chroma (Bright vs Soft)

Chroma measures the intensity or clarity of a color. Bright (or clear) colors are pure, vibrant, and full of life. Soft (or muted) colors are toned down with grey.

If your natural coloring has little grey and high clarity (sparkly eyes, glowing skin), you likely suit bright colors.
If your features are more blended and your tones are gentle, you likely suit soft, muted colors.

Putting It All Together: The Color Aspects

Each person falls somewhere along each of the three color scales. From those, we determine your primary, secondary, and tertiary aspects:

Primary Aspect — the most defining trait of your coloring. This will be at one end of a color scale (e.g., very warm, very bright, or very light). These extremes are where your best colors live.
Secondary Aspect — this strongly influences your palette but sits somewhere between the extreme and the middle of a spectrum (e.g., medium-bright, neutral-warm).
Tertiary Aspect — this plays a smaller role and usually lands near the neutral center. It can be either value or chroma, but not hue.

Your Color Season = Your Color Settings

Once you've identified your hue, value, and chroma, you can match those to the color season that shares the same balance. That season will contain the colors that reflect and enhance your natural beauty, helping your wardrobe feel cohesive, flattering, and aligned with who you are.

Use the descriptions below to find your seasonal match, then explore the linked guides for a full breakdown of your best colors, wardrobe ideas, and styling tips.

Spring Family

Light Spring

Undertone: Warm-neutral
Value: Light
Chroma: Bright and delicate
Overall Look: Soft, warm, and radiant
Best for those who glow in light peach, mint, and golden pastels

Learn more

True Spring

Undertone: Warm
Value: Medium-light
Chroma: Clear and vibrant
Overall Look: Golden, fresh, and energetic
Best for those who shine in coral, turquoise, and marigold

Learn more

Bright Spring

Undertone: Warm-neutral
Value: Medium
Chroma: Very bright and high contrast
Overall Look: Bold, clear, and electric
Best for those who wear vivid colors like bright pink, lime, and aqua effortlessly

Learn more