Determine Your Seasonal Palette and the Perfect Colors for You

As summer approaches, it’s the perfect chance to refresh your wardrobe and decide which clothes you truly love and which ones you’re indifferent about. If you feel like your current fashion choices aren’t really showcasing your best features, it might be time to figure out your “color season.” Doing so can help you let go of clothes that don’t flatter you and add pieces that highlight your eyes, skin, and hair wonderfully.

Understanding your color season involves analyzing your skin tone, eye color, and hair color. This doesn’t mean you’ll stop wearing the colors you like, but it will help you find the shades that suit you best. For example, if you love blue but find that royal blue doesn’t look quite right, a lighter shade like pale blue or aquamarine might be your go-to.

Your color season will indicate whether your ideal palette aligns with Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter in fashion terms.

To determine if your skin has warm or cool undertones, there are three simple tests you can try. First, examine the veins on your wrist: if they appear green, you likely have a warm skin tone; if they’re blue, you have a cool skin tone. Next, try on both gold and silver jewelry; gold tends to look better on warm skin tones, while silver suits cool skin tones. Finally, apply a pink-toned foundation to one cheek and a yellow-toned one to the other. If the pink blends well, you have a cool skin tone; if the yellow does, then your skin tone is warm. Warm undertones typically align with Spring and Autumn, while cool tones match with Summer and Winter.

Once you know your undertones, you can identify if you’re best suited to Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter palettes:

– **Spring:** Warm and light, featuring hair that is light blonde, medium brown, or strawberry blonde with gold or red undertones. Eye colors here include light brown, hazel, clear blue, or turquoise, and the skin tends to be light.

– **Summer:** Cool and light with hair ranging from light blonde to medium brown, often with ash undertones. This season’s eye colors are blue, grey, or cool light brown, with a generally cool skin tone.

– **Autumn:** Characterized by warm and rich colors, with dark brown, black, or auburn hair and rich, golden skin tones. Eyes might be medium to dark brown, hazel, or a warm green, with low contrast between hair, eyes, and skin.

– **Winter:** Features a high contrast between hair and skin, with cool or olive skin tones, and eyes that are medium to dark brown, clear blue, or cool green. Hair is typically black or ash brown with cool undertones.

Depending on your season, certain colors will naturally complement you better. For instance, if you’re a light Spring, fresh pastels and bright colors like coral and moss green look great, while khakis and warm greys are preferable to black. Light Summers shine in bright, dusty, cool tones, while dark Autumns should embrace deep forest greens and warm reds. Dark Winters can pull off dramatic contrasts like fuchsias, bubblegum pinks, and icy greys.

Discovering your color season not only enhances your fashion choices but also influences other lifestyle decisions. Once you understand the colors that best suit your skin, you’ll be better equipped to select jewelry and makeup that highlight your features seamlessly.