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Deep Autumn vs Soft Autumn: how to tell which you are

By the Skintonic team · SKINTONIC LLC · Updated

The question between Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn is how dark your coloring runs overall, and nothing else. Both are warm undertone, which is why the same person can be told both at different times. Deep Autumn sits in the deep range and Soft Autumn in the medium one, and getting that wrong is what makes a palette feel either heavy or washed out.

Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn also differ on contrast (medium against soft) and chroma (moderate against muted), though that is the smaller gap and not the one people get stuck on. What follows is the Deep Autumn palette against the Soft Autumn one, three depth tests you can run at home with things you already own, and what each of the two looks like in a mirror. If you would rather not work it out by hand, the scan measures all four factors from one photo and tells you whether you are Deep Autumn or Soft Autumn.

The one factor

Depth. Deep Autumn is deep; Soft Autumn is medium. Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn share warm undertone, which is why the two get swapped so easily.

Deep Autumn against Soft Autumn

Six colors from the Deep Autumn palette and six from the Soft Autumn one, the metal each wears, and the direction each one's neutrals run. The Deep Autumn column and the Soft Autumn column are both drawn from the season data the app itself uses, so these are the swatches the free result would hand you rather than an approximation of them.

Deep Autumn

warm · deep · medium contrast · moderate

  • Warm Deep Burgundy
  • Pine Green
  • Chestnut
  • Deep Amber
  • Espresso Red
  • Deep Rust
Best metal
Gold
Neutrals run
espresso, chocolate and deep olive
Typical coloring
Hair that runs dark — deep brown through to near-black, eyes that read as clear without being striking, and skin that leans golden or peach. Usually a moderate gap between hair and skin.

Soft Autumn

warm · medium · soft contrast · muted

  • Deep Rust
  • Deep Olive
  • Burnt Orange
  • Warm Burgundy
  • Deep Mustard
  • Terracotta
Best metal
Gold
Neutrals run
warm taupe, soft camel and sage
Typical coloring
Hair somewhere in the middle, usually medium brown, eyes with a slightly blended, dusty quality rather than a sharp one, and skin that leans golden or peach. Usually almost no gap between hair, skin and eyes.

Three tests that separate Deep Autumn from Soft Autumn

All three test depth, because depth is the only thing in question between Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn. Do all three at a window: an indoor bulb will quietly push the answer toward whichever of Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn you were already hoping for, and there is no way to notice that it has while you are looking.

1. Photograph yourself in black and white

Depth is lightness and nothing else, so stripping the color out is the quickest way to tell Deep Autumn from Soft Autumn: take a plain photo at a window, convert it to grayscale, and look at where your hair sits against your skin. The medium of Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn reads noticeably darker overall; the deep one keeps more of its light range.

2. Charcoal against a mid gray

Hold a very dark neutral near your face, then a middling one, and watch which way a Deep Autumn or Soft Autumn face goes. Deep Autumn takes the charcoal without being flattened by it; on Soft Autumn the same charcoal takes over and the features retreat behind it. It is the clearest single signal Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn give you.

3. Check your natural hair against your eyebrows

Not for the color but for the level: when your hair and brows both sit low on the light-to-dark scale that is depth, and it points at the medium of Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn. When both sit high and the brows nearly vanish in soft light, it points at the deep one, which here is Deep Autumn.

Still not sure between Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn?

Each test above reads one factor by eye, and depth by eye is exactly where Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn go wrong. The scan reads all four — undertone, depth, contrast and chroma — from a single photo, shows you the three colors it took off your face so you can correct them, and names which of the two you are. It runs in your browser, the photo is never uploaded, and seeing your type costs nothing.

Find out which one I am — free

Questions about this pair

Can you be both Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn?

No — the analysis returns one of the two — but Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn sit close enough together that, if you are near the line, either palette covers most of a wardrobe. Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn share warm undertone, so a good part of the two color lists overlaps. Where it starts to matter is the depth end of each one, which is where Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn stop overlapping.

Does depth change over time?

Depth does, and more than people expect — enough that one person can genuinely be Deep Autumn at thirty and Soft Autumn at sixty. Hair lightens or greys and the depth of the whole face moves with it, so between Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn this is worth looking at again every few years.

What if I dress as Deep Autumn and I am really Soft Autumn?

Nothing dramatic, which is worth saying plainly — Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn are neighbors rather than opposites. A handful of shades will look slightly off under your chin and the rest will be fine, because Deep Autumn and Soft Autumn overlap everywhere except at the depth extremes. The giveaway is at the depth extreme, where the Deep Autumn colors furthest along that axis are the first to stop working on a Soft Autumn face.

Keep going

Deep Autumn in full · Soft Autumn in full · Take the quiz instead · All season comparisons · All 12 seasons