Season comparison
Light Spring vs Light Summer: how to tell which you are
By the Skintonic team · SKINTONIC LLC · Updated
Light Spring and Light Summer get confused because almost everything about them matches except the one thing that decides the palette. The two share soft contrast and light depth, so in a mirror Light Spring and Light Summer can look like the same person. Then the undertone splits them — Light Spring is warm, Light Summer is cool — and the two color lists end up pulling in opposite directions.
Light Spring and Light Summer also differ on chroma (clear against moderate), though that is the smaller gap and not the one people get stuck on. What follows is the Light Spring palette against the Light Summer one, three undertone 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 Light Spring or Light Summer.
The one factor
Undertone. Light Spring is warm; Light Summer is cool. Light Spring and Light Summer share soft contrast and light depth, which is why the two get swapped so easily.
Light Spring against Light Summer
Six colors from the Light Spring palette and six from the Light Summer one, the metal each wears, and the direction each one's neutrals run. The Light Spring column and the Light Summer 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.
Light Spring
warm · light · soft contrast · clear
- Poppy Orange
- Warm Turquoise
- Coral Red
- Marigold
- Watermelon Pink
- Coral
- Best metal
- Gold
- Neutrals run
- ivory, warm beige and camel
- Typical coloring
- Hair in the light range, from blonde to light brown, eyes that read as bright and defined against the face, and skin that leans golden or peach. Usually almost no gap between hair, skin and eyes.
Light Summer
cool · light · soft contrast · moderate
- Rose
- Cool Berry
- Slate Blue
- Orchid
- Soft Teal
- Cornflower Blue
- Best metal
- Silver
- Neutrals run
- soft white, light gray and dove gray
- Typical coloring
- Hair in the light range, from blonde to light brown, eyes that read as clear without being striking, and skin that leans pink, olive or blue-toned. Usually almost no gap between hair, skin and eyes.
Three tests that separate Light Spring from Light Summer
All three test undertone, because undertone is the only thing in question between Light Spring and Light Summer. Do all three at a window: an indoor bulb will quietly push the answer toward Light Spring, and there is no way to notice that it has while you are looking.
1. Gold against silver
Light Spring or Light Summer: hold a gold chain and a silver one under your chin in daylight, one at a time, watching your jawline rather than the metal. On Light Spring the gold settles in and the silver leaves a faint gray cast under the skin; on Light Summer it is the other way round. If you genuinely cannot pick, you are in the neutral middle, which is where Light Spring and Light Summer sit closest together of anywhere.
2. Peach against pink
Two pieces of paper or fabric, one peach and one cool pink, held near the cheek in turn, with Light Spring and Light Summer in mind. Light Spring warms up under the peach and goes slightly sallow under the pink; Light Summer does the reverse and looks fresher under the pink. It is the comparison the analysis runs on the skin pixel, done by eye and on exactly the axis that splits Light Spring from Light Summer.
3. Look at your veins in daylight
Not conclusive on its own, and anyone who says otherwise has oversold it, but between Light Spring and Light Summer it costs nothing to look. Inner wrist, natural light: green-leaning veins point at Light Spring, blue or purple ones at Light Summer. Use it as a tiebreaker between Light Spring and Light Summer after the two tests above, never as the answer in itself.
Still not sure between Light Spring and Light Summer?
Each test above reads one factor by eye, and undertone by eye is exactly where Light Spring and Light Summer 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 Light Spring and Light Summer?
No — the analysis returns one of the two — but Light Spring and Light Summer sit close enough together that, if you are near the line, either palette covers most of a wardrobe. Light Spring and Light Summer share soft contrast and light depth, so a good part of the two color lists overlaps. Where it starts to matter is the undertone end of each one, which is where Light Spring and Light Summer stop overlapping.
Does undertone change over time?
Undertone does not, so Light Spring and Light Summer will not swap places on you over time. It is the direction your skin leans, and it stays put — so one of Light Spring and Light Summer is yours for life. What moves is surface tone — a tan, a flush, a winter spent indoors — and none of that will turn Light Spring into Light Summer. So a photo meant to separate Light Spring from Light Summer wants an ordinary day at a window rather than the week after a holiday.
What if I dress as Light Spring and I am really Light Summer?
Nothing dramatic, which is worth saying plainly — Light Spring and Light Summer are neighbors rather than opposites. A handful of shades will look slightly off under your chin and the rest will be fine, because Light Spring and Light Summer overlap everywhere except at the undertone extremes. The giveaway is at the undertone extreme, where the Light Spring colors furthest along that axis are the first to stop working on a Light Summer face.
Keep going
Light Spring in full · Light Summer in full · Take the quiz instead · All season comparisons · All 12 seasons