Is the True Summer Color Season Your Best?
Have you ever worn warm earthy tones like mustard or rust and felt they made you look dull? Or tried on a cool pastel blue and found it made your skin glow? If your natural coloring is cool, soft, and muted, you might be best suited to True Summer!
True Summer belongs to the 16-season color analysis system and is one of the coolest seasons, sitting between Soft Summer and Cool Summer. This guide will help you determine if the True Summer palette is your best, which colors suit you best, and how to style your palette effortlessly.
How to Know If the True Summer Palette is for You
A True Summer has cool undertones, medium depth, and a softly blended appearance. If you resonate with the following characteristics, this may be your best season!
Key Characteristics
While characteristics don’t fully determine which of the 16-season color palettes may be your best, they can give clues that help narrow it down. If you have any of the following characteristics (you don’t have to have them all!), the True Summer palette may be the best for you:
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Skin Tone |
Cool undertones with a rosy or blueish tint Skin may range from fair to deep, but always leans cool Sometimes burns before tanning, but tans to a soft, cool beige or ashy tone. This is generally more true for lighter skin tones |
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Hair Color |
Ash blonde, cool brown, or deep ash brunette Hair naturally has cool or ashy undertones, with no warmth or golden highlights |
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Eye Color |
Soft blue, gray-blue, gray-green, or cool hazel Eyes often have a soft, blended look with cool, grayish undertones |
✅ Quick Color Analysis Quiz: Is True Summer Your Best Palette?
Answer YES if you…
✔ Glow in soft blues, cool pinks, or dusty pastels, but look washed out in warm rust or golden yellow
✔ Look best in silver jewelry over gold
✔ Have a medium contrast between your features, rather than high-contrast coloring
Want to take the full Seasonal Color Analysis Quiz? Get yours below:
True Summer Palette Characteristics
With seasonal color analysis, there are generally 12 seasons, while some use the 16-season color analysis system. Each season sits on a spectrum of color, and the palette will usually have characteristics to match. When looking at the seasons, we consider three main color dimensions: Hue, Chroma, and Value.
Hue
This is how warm or cool a color is—also known as its temperature. The True Summer palette is fully cool, sitting at the coolest end of the spectrum. Most colors in this palette have a blue or cool undertone, with no hint of yellow. The palette includes cool pinks, blues, lavenders, and blue-based greens. Even traditionally warmer colors like red have a blue base to maintain their cool undertone.
Chroma
This is how saturated or soft a color is. True Summer colors are soft and muted, meaning they have a touch of gray added to lower the brightness. The colors in this palette are not vibrant or bold but rather delicate and airy. Compared to True Winter, which is also cool but highly saturated, True Summer is more muted and gentle.
Value
This is how light or dark a color is. True Summer leans medium-light, meaning the colors have more white than black added to them. While the palette does have some darker shades, most of the colors are light to medium in depth. This makes True Summer softer and lighter than its deeper sister palette, Cool Summer.
The True Summer Color Palette
The True Summer palette is cool, muted, and soft, inspired by the gentle hues of misty mornings, hydrangea gardens, and serene ocean waves. This gives it a very subtle, relaxed and feminine vibe, but you can control the vibe of the palette by how you style it (more later on in this post…)
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Best Shades |
How to Wear Them |
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Cool Rose |
A soft rose blouse with gray trousers |
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Powder Blue |
A powder blue dress for effortless elegance |
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Cool Teal |
A teal cardigan for a touch of color |
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Dusty Lilac |
A muted lavender scarf for a cool pop of color |
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Soft Gray |
A gray trench coat for layering |
These are examples of some of the standout colors in the True Summer color palette but it does have some warm colors as well - just the cool versions of them (like soft cool yellow).
Download the True Summer Digital Color Palette for Shopping
Colors to Avoid for True Summers
These are colors with opposing color dimensions to the True Summer palette. If this palette suits you best, wearing colors that are too warm, bright, or dark can make you look sallow, grey or overwhelmed.
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Avoid These Colors |
Choose These Instead |
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Warm Mustard |
Soft Butter Yellow |
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Bright Orange |
Dusty Rose |
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Golden Brown |
Cool Taupe |
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True Black |
Deep Navy |
Sister Palettes
You’ve probably heard the term Sister Palettes in seasonal color analysis but if not - it basically means the color palettes that share some of the similar color dimensions / characteristics. Because these palettes are not far off on the color spectrum, it makes sense in color theory that they could also suit you.
For True Summer which is cool, light and muted - its sister palettes are Soft Summer and Light Summer. Soft Summer leans cool but also contains some warm colors as it’s on the cusp of the temperature scale. It’s more muted or softer than True Summer meaning that the colors appear a bit more smokey with grey added to them. Its also slightly deeper, meaning the colors while not deep are deeper than True Summer. Moving more towards the light end of the spectrum is Light Summer which also leans cool but contains some warmer colors. It is lighter than True Summer meaning the colors are lighter with white added. It is slightly more clear than True Summer meaning less grey or softness is added but still is overall quite soft - but appears more pastel.
If True Summer is your best palette, usually you’ll suit the more saturated colors from the Soft Summer palette and the deeper colors from the Light Summer palette.
The only exception is if your main characteristic is coolness but you aren’t super light or super soft - but somewhere in the middle. This is where the 16 season color analysis system comes in handy as there is a True Cool palette that sits in between True Summer and True Winter.
Styling Your True Summer Palette
A True Summer wardrobe tends to feel light, cool, and ethereal. Think of wrapping a soft blue pashmina around you as you walk on the beach in the breeze towards the ocean. It's a vibe right? Building a capsule wardrobe around this palette makes mixing and matching your clothes way easier! While True Summer can give off the vibe of the soft girl aesthetic or a coastal beachy vibe - you can change the vibe by the particular outfits you choose.
✅ Best Outfit Combinations
🌊 Casual: Powder blue blouse + cool gray jeans + silver jewelry
💼 Workwear: Soft pink blazer + light gray trousers + navy pumps
🌸 Evening: Dusty lilac dress + silver accessories + soft rose lipstick
Hair & Makeup for True Summers
When talking about the True Summer palette - the terms you’ll hear a lot are light, soft and smoky. The thing with seasonal color analysis is that they follow the natural four seasons and their characteristics so by now you should see that the True Summer palette mimics what you’d see during a classic Summer season. Cool, breezy and calm, like a late summer day at the beach. Keep these keywords in mind when thinking of your makeup look - but just like style, True Summer makeup can be adapted to a variety of different looks and occasions. Everything from a natural “makeup free” look with taupe and light pink to a bold and dramatic romantic look with greys and berry tones.
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Feature |
Best Shades |
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Lipstick |
Cool Rose, Soft Plum, Muted Raspberry |
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Blush |
Dusty Pink, Cool Mauve |
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Eyeshadow |
Taupe, Lavender, Silver Blue |
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Jewelry |
Silver, White Gold, Platinum |
Hair
When looking at hair color, your natural shade is usually your best! But I know we all crave change (and possibly highlights) sometimes. Those that suit the True Summer palette should lean towards shades that have an ash base to them which keeps the color cool. Many hair dyes tend to make hair warm - so purple shampoo is your best friend if you are dying your hair as a True Summer.
FAQs: Everything You Need to Know About True Summer
Q: How do I know if True Summer is my best season or a different summer season would be better?
A: If you think you have a cool undertone but feel like Light Summer colors are too pastel and Soft Summer colors are too grey or wash you out, you’re likely suited to the True Summer color palette.
Q: Can True Summers wear black?
A: Those that suit True Summer tend to look better in cool charcoal, soft navy, or cool taupe instead of black, which can be too harsh and heavy.
Q: What’s the difference between True Summer and True Winter?
A: Both are classically cool seasons but True Summer is muted and light (think soft smoky colors), while True Winter is brighter and deeper (think jewel tones).
Still not sure? Take the Color Analysis quiz to narrow down which sub season may be for you!
Embrace Your True Summer Beauty
Understanding your seasonal color palette allows you to build a wardrobe, makeup routine, and style that enhances your features naturally. If the True Summer palette resonates with you, start embracing cool, soft hues today!
Book a Personal Virtual Color Analysis to Confirm Your Season
