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

By the Skintonic team · SKINTONIC LLC · Updated

The line between Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn is chroma — whether the color in you is clean or slightly dusted. Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn match on warm undertone, deep depth and medium contrast, which is more than most pairs manage, so the mistake is an easy one. Deep Autumn is the moderate one and Warm Autumn the muted one, and it is the difference between a color looking crisp on you and looking like it is shouting.

No other axis separates Deep Autumn from Warm Autumn at all, which is unusual and is exactly why this pair is so hard to settle by eye. What follows is the Deep Autumn palette against the Warm Autumn one, three chroma 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 Warm Autumn.

The one factor

Chroma. Deep Autumn is moderate; Warm Autumn is muted. Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn share warm undertone, deep depth and medium contrast, which is why the two get swapped so easily.

Deep Autumn against Warm Autumn

Six colors from the Deep Autumn palette and six from the Warm Autumn one, the metal each wears, and the direction each one's neutrals run. The Deep Autumn column and the Warm 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.

Warm Autumn

warm · deep · medium contrast · muted

  • Deep Rust
  • Forest Green
  • Burnt Sienna
  • Deep Mustard
  • Espresso
  • Rust
Best metal
Gold
Neutrals run
chocolate, camel and olive
Typical coloring
Hair that runs dark — deep brown through to near-black, eyes with a slightly blended, dusty quality rather than a sharp one, and skin that leans golden or peach. Usually a moderate gap between hair and skin.

Three tests that separate Deep Autumn from Warm Autumn

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

1. A pure color against a dusty one

Find one color in two versions — clean and saturated against the same thing grayed down — and hold each near your face while thinking about Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn. Warm Autumn is lifted by the clean one and goes flat under the dusty one; Deep Autumn does the reverse, and under the clean version starts to look like the color is wearing the person.

2. Look at your eyes up close

In daylight, in a mirror, close enough to see where the iris ends, with Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn in mind. Warm Autumn shows a visible line where the iris meets the white, often with a pattern inside it; Deep Autumn blends, with a softer edge and an iris that reads as a single tone. It is the most reliable chroma signal a face gives, which is why Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn are usually settled here.

3. Try a mid-gray top

Plain, unremarkable gray, and the unremarkableness is exactly the point for Deep Autumn against Warm Autumn. Warm Autumn sits in it happily and looks intentional; Deep Autumn is drained by it, and the tell is reaching for a scarf without knowing why.

Still not sure between Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn?

Each test above reads one factor by eye, and chroma by eye is exactly where Deep Autumn and Warm 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 Warm Autumn?

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

Does chroma change over time?

Chroma barely moves, which is lucky here. It is a property of how your eyes and skin are built rather than how dark they are, so between Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn it is the one axis you can settle once and stop re-checking.

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

Nothing dramatic, which is worth saying plainly — Deep Autumn and Warm 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 Warm Autumn overlap everywhere except at the chroma extremes. The giveaway is at the chroma extreme, where the Deep Autumn colors furthest along that axis are the first to stop working on a Warm Autumn face.

Keep going

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