Summer Color Palette
By the Skintonic team · SKINTONIC LLC · Updated
Summer is the cool, gentle family. Its colors behave as though a little gray has been stirred through them, which is exactly why they suit coloring that blends rather than contrasts.
Summers are often told their coloring is plain. It is not plain, it is quiet, and the difference matters: quiet coloring is overwhelmed by strong color rather than lifted by it. Shades that look washed out on a rack look expensive on a summer.
What every summer has in common
Cool, usually pink-leaning
Summer skin reads pink or neutral rather than golden, and summer hair tends toward ash. Silver and platinum sit better than yellow gold.
Low contrast
Hair, skin and eyes sit close together in lightness. Nothing in a summer face jumps out, which is why stark combinations look borrowed rather than worn.
Softness built in
Every summer shade has had its edge taken off. That is a feature. Pure, saturated color sits on top of summer coloring instead of belonging to it.
The three summer types
Four colors from each are below. Each type has its own page with the rest of its shades, outfit ideas and what to avoid.
Light Summer
The fairest summer. Light ash hair, fair cool skin, and a palette that stays gentle without turning gray.
- Rose#D9718F
- Cool Berry#B4547A
- Slate Blue#5D7A9E
- Orchid#B77BC2
The full Light Summer color palette, outfits and what to avoid
Cool Summer
The clearest summer, and the one navy was made for. Deep enough for real color, cool enough that warmth still looks wrong.
- Deep Raspberry#A83358
- Blueberry#3D4F91
- Plum#6E3B60
- Cool Teal#2C7C82
The full Cool Summer color palette, outfits and what to avoid
Soft Summer
The most blended of the three. Hair and skin sit so close together that any sharp color takes the face over.
- Muted Burgundy#7A4552
- Deep Sage#5E6E56
- Soft Navy#3E4C5E
- Dusty Plum#6E4A5E
The full Soft Summer color palette, outfits and what to avoid
How to tell which one you are
Compare optic white with soft white
Optic white is the test. On a summer it reads sharp and slightly harsh; soft white or a pale gray looks cleaner. If optic white looks crisp and right, check the winter family.
Then judge lightness
Very fair with light ash hair points to Light Summer. Medium depth that can carry a proper navy points to Cool Summer. Coloring that blends so much you struggle to describe it points to Soft Summer.
Watch for warmth creeping in
If terracotta and soft gold look better on you than dusty rose and slate, the warmth is real and Soft Autumn is the better fit.
Summers sit close together by design, and the usual sticking point is how light you are against how blended your coloring looks.
If you want it narrowed quickly, the quiz handles the family and the scan handles the rest. Take the color analysis quiz.
Questions
Why do bright colors look wrong on a summer?
Because they out-shout the face. Summer coloring has no sharp edges, so a saturated color becomes the first thing anyone sees and the face becomes the background.
Can a summer wear navy?
Yes, and it is one of the family’s most useful colors. Cool Summer takes the clearest navy, Light Summer a softer one, Soft Summer the dustiest.
Is summer the same as light?
No. Light describes depth and summer describes undertone plus softness. Light Summer is both; Soft Summer is a summer that is not especially light.
Sources and further reading
Four references, each one checked against what it is cited for. Where a claim on this page rests on published color science rather than on our own measurements, this is where it comes from.
- A perceptual color space for image processing — Björn Ottosson, 2020 Defines the Oklab color space and its polar lightness–chroma–hue form. This is the space every distance, verdict and color combination on this site is computed in.
- CIELAB color space — Wikipedia The CIE 1976 space Oklab was built to improve on, with lightness and two opponent axes. It also records that CIELAB is not as perceptually uniform as intended, particularly across blues — which is the reason we do not use it.
- Munsell color system — Wikipedia Albert H. Munsell described color by hue, value and chroma in 1905. The depth and chroma readings used here descend from that framing.
- Color analysis — Wikipedia Seasonal color analysis as a practice, and the four-season division it starts from. It also notes that the field has no standard training or qualification, which is the honest context for any result — including ours.
Related
All 12 seasons · Color analysis quiz · Undertone test · Colors for your skin tone