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Finding Your Color Season
A few months ago, I ordered a beautiful pastel purple sweater from an online boutique. The color was soft and pretty, and it looked absolutely amazing on the model. After a week of waiting (not-so-patiently) for my purchase, it arrived on my doorstep. I eagerly took it out of the package, tried it on, looked in the mirror, and was filled with an overwhelming sense of... disappointment. I looked washed out and tired; it was hard to believe that the same thing that had highlighted all of the model's features made all of mine look dull. I tossed the sweater in a drawer, and I haven't worn it since.
Sound familiar?
Why do certain colors look beautiful on some people and boring on others? As we all know, shopping through an overwhelming array of products in innumerable colors and trying to decide which one to buy is not an easy task. Choosing colors that will flatter your complexion can make you feel like you're playing a game of roulette; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and there's no way of knowing why. Luckily, picking out a flattering color doesn't have to be based on luck. You can rig the game so you win every time.
Finding flattering colors is especially important when shopping for hats or scarves; colors become more important as they move closer to your face. Think about it; practically everyone can wear a nude shoe and still feel amazing, but the same cannot be said for a nude dress. This is because the dress is closer to your facial features. In terms of clothing, headwear is about as close as you can come to the face. This may seem daunting, but don't worry. Finding colors is much easier than it seems. We'll help you figure out which colors will keep you looking fabulous, fearless and flawless. How? By finding your color season. Color seasons are basically sets of colors that are specifically curated for an individual based on her features. Let's get started.
Step One: Determining your Undertones
To determine your color season, first you need to determine if your features have warm or cool undertones. The features we're considering are eyes, hair, and skin. If you have already lost your hair, don't worry; simply use your natural hair color or your preferred wig color to complete the following steps.
Step Two: Tally Up
Count the number of warm and cool features you have.
For example, my eyes and hair are warm while my skin is cool. This means I have 2 warm features and one cool feature. Tally up your results and keep them in mind. You will either be cool leaning (2 cool features and 1 warm feature), warm leaning (2 warm features and 1 cool feature), completely warm (3 warm features), or completely cool (3 cool features).
If you have one warm feature, one cool feature, and neutral skin, you need to take it one step further. Does your skin have more characteristics of warm skin or of cool skin? Comparing with friends can be very helpful. If your skin has more cool characteristics, count your skin as a cool feature; if you have more warm characteristics, count your skin as a warm feature. If you are having a hard time deciding, count your skin as a warm feature.
Step Three: High Contrast or Low Contrast
Note: If you are completely warm or completely cool, you can skip this step.
Step Four: Determining your color season
Use what you learned above to follow the flowchart and find your color season.
ATTENTION REDHEADS! You might be an exception to the rules; even if you have cool skin, you may still fit into the warm family because red hair is an overwhelmingly warm feature. Check colors from the palettes below for warm spring and warm autumn color seasons and compare them to the color palette of the season you were placed in by the chart.
Step 5: Look at your color palette!
As you may have noticed in the chart, there are six color season families: The Warm Family, The Cool Family, The Clear Family, The Deep Family, The Soft Family, and The Light Family. Each family consists of two sisters. Just like real life sisters, the season sisters share clothes. For example, if you are a Warm Autumn, you are in the Warm Family and your sister season is Warm Spring; while the Warm Autumn color palette contains your main colors, you can also wear some colors from the Warm Spring palette. Experiment with colors from both palettes to decide which look best on you.
It's important to remember that your color palette is simply a starting point. Because everyone is different, you still need to experiment to find your most flattering shades. For example, you may want to hold up clothing of different colors to your face and have a friend tell you which colors make you “pop.” I hope that this article has helped to make shopping for hats (and all clothes) a little easier. No matter what, always remember that the most flattering thing you can wear is confidence! Happy shopping, everyone!
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Comments, Questions & Ratings
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Thank you, finding the right tone is not as easy as most people think (Posted on 02/18/2024)
I have been researching for hours....this is follow the arrows. We all have some idea what we look good in...we get compliments. This buttons down any fuzzy areas. I wish I could find a manufacture of clothing that kept these principals in mind. It is better to by one good classic garment quarterly than junk once a month trying to make something fit. Spend the little extra and with care it will last. (Posted on 01/27/2024)
I am always trying to figure out what colours look best especially when online shopping. Thank you so much! (Posted on 12/23/2023)
I heard about color seasons in a YouTube video and was curious as to what mine was. I always figured I had cool undertone skin as I’m pretty fair with dark, ash blonde hair. But, I really do have warm toned skin! I’m so happy I came across this as that makes a huge difference in makeup selection! I ended up being a light summer. That definitely makes me happy as they are ,for the most part, my favorite colors! Also, very well written, concise and helpful article! Thank you so much! (Posted on 12/17/2023)
I already took a lot of test myself and came to a conclusion that i might be a Deep Autumn. But i always have thoughts because i might be a Deep Winter?? But your Chart really helped me and really made it clear for me. Thank you ??? (Posted on 11/20/2023)
Thank you so much, it really help me me. (Posted on 11/09/2023)
Your chart leading to your season is spot on. I couldn't understand why I was a summer being so fair but everything you indicated is absolutely spot on. Thank you! (Posted on 11/08/2023)
This was really validating for me as I found out that I am a deep autumn, which happens to include most of the colors that I already wear. It was also fun to plug characters in and find their color palettes. (Posted on 11/07/2023)
I never thought I'll be able to know what season I am but this guide was so easy! Thanks a lot :) (Posted on 11/02/2023)
i've tried loads of websites but this is the only one that makes me confident in my colour season kudos (Posted on 10/31/2023)
interesting ! (Posted on 08/24/2023)
Thank you... Learnt something new.. Absolutely amazinv (Posted on 08/24/2023)
Thank you for this help! My result is soft summer and I think it is really accurate for me. Great article! (Posted on 08/12/2023)
Brilliant Thank you You made that easier to understand (Posted on 07/03/2023)
This has been a very insightful article on finding the colour palette! Thank you for writing it out in such detail! (Posted on 05/17/2023)
I have been previously diagnosed as a warm autumn and a t one point as a summer. However the colours that get me the most compliments and that i feel the best in are the really bright warm colours like orange red and chartrues (Posted on 04/25/2023)
This is what i was looking for. A perfect article indeed (Posted on 04/24/2023)
Hi! I need your help. I would love to figure out my colors. Am I a Warm Autumn or a Deep Autumn? I have brown hair with red and golden highlights. I have olive green eyes. I have fair skin that sunburns easily. I am happy to send you a photo of myself if this could help. Warmly, Christina (Posted on 04/20/2023)
Your chart makes me stumble at the eye section. Nowhere else do you mention "bright jewel toned" eyes. Are these warm, cool neither? I haze hazel eyes, I have not idea if they are considered jewel toned since amber and such are used as jewels. Mine are more blue-green-brown (they change). (Posted on 04/14/2023)
I really likes your article it's simplifies a lot and makes it a lot easier to find your seasonal colors, I also love the simple steps to find it. (Posted on 04/05/2023)
Amazing (Posted on 01/05/2023)
This is the most helpful article on colours I’ve found in 10 years of considering it. Thank you! (Posted on 12/21/2022)
I found my color in minutes 100% recommend (Posted on 12/20/2022)
'Sort of' dificult to follow, but in comparison to others I've done, this was the easiest (and most accurate!). 4/5 Would recommend. ;] (Posted on 12/17/2022)
I have been trying to figure out my color season for months and this is the most helpful article by far. Figured out that I'm nearly the opposite of what I thought I was. (Posted on 12/04/2022)
I'm in the clear and deep family by answering the question. When I seen the colors for them, they are a lot of the colors I choose. You helped my confirm I have warm tones. (Posted on 11/06/2022)
i ended up with soft autumn which i really liked! this was more for fun and too learn more about myself than really apply it if I’m being honest. it helped me realize that lots of the colors i already wear actually fit this description! I’d like to embrace that part of myself more by applying it more so in my style. (Posted on 10/23/2022)
Finally! A comprehensible guide to color seasons! Thank you! (Posted on 10/11/2022)
Warm Autumn (Posted on 09/22/2022)
OMG this was simply the easiest way to determine your season. I’ve been really into color seasons for months… I’ve watched way too many YouTube videos, fell down a rabbit hole in Instagram and read all the blogs. Even had a color consultant recently. Man I wish I came across your guide earlier, it would have saved me hundreds of dollars. (Posted on 09/02/2022)
I've tried to figure out my season more than once, and this is the first time I feel confident that I was able to determine everything accurately and come up with the correct season. Kudos (Posted on 09/01/2022)
This was extremely helpful, I've been struggling with finding colors that fit me for years! This makes so much sense ???? (Posted on 08/24/2022)
Thanks (Posted on 08/21/2022)
Thanks for the amazing article! It helped me a lot :) (Posted on 08/01/2022)
the results made sense for me and definitely helped figure out some other colors that would look good on me! (Posted on 07/31/2022)
I already knew I was a winter, didn't know there was different winters, so cool winter I am (Posted on 07/02/2022)