The Soft Summer color palette

Are you a Soft Summer?

Soft Summer is the muted member of the Summer family. Softness is the leading trait: skin, hair and eyes are close in value and all three carry a slightly greyed quality. The family is cool, so nothing on the face reads golden. Contrast is low.

Skin is neutral to cool beige, often with a faint grey or olive cast. It rarely looks rosy and never looks peach. It tans slowly to a muted tan rather than a warm bronze, and it can look sallow next to gold or bright yellow.

Hair is mushroom blonde, ash brown or a medium brown that looks dull indoors. It never catches gold in sunlight. Many Soft Summers describe their hair as "no real color", which is the muted quality doing its work.

Eyes are grey-blue, grey-green, soft hazel or a muted brown, with a smoky edge to the iris rather than a sharp rim. The whites of the eyes do not stand out sharply, because the whole face sits in one soft range.

On the color analysis test, a Soft Summer reads medium depth with a soft clarity: the contrast gauge sits below about 25, or below the middle with a low-chroma iris. Skin hue leans cool. Softness decides the sub-type once depth has ruled out Light and Deep.

If hue lands in the neutral band, the tool says whether you lean warm or cool. A cool lean lands in Soft Summer, a warm lean in Soft Autumn. These two are the most often confused pair in the system, and the sister-season section below shows how to separate them.

How to wear the Soft Summer palette

The palette above is the working set. Mauve, dusty blue and eucalyptus are the signature colors, the ones that make the skin look calm and the eyes clearer. Rosewood and grape mist bring warmth without gold. Steel blue is the strong color, as far as a Soft Summer goes.

The rule is muted and cool together. A color can be cool but too bright, like fuchsia, or muted but too warm, like khaki. Both make the face look drained. When a color is right, the skin looks even, and the eyes read clearer without makeup.

Neutrals are oyster white, medium grey, greyed navy and soft taupe. Oyster replaces pure white, which looks stark next to muted skin. Medium grey replaces both black and charcoal. Greyed navy is the darkest color that belongs near the face, and it covers suits, coats and knitwear.

For men, this means an oyster or dove grey shirt over white, a medium grey or soft taupe knit, a greyed navy suit over black, and a mauve or dusty blue tie. A pale blue shirt works if it leans grey rather than sky.

Pair colors of similar softness. Mauve with dusty blue, eucalyptus with soft taupe, rosewood with medium grey. Tone-on-tone dressing suits the low contrast of the face. If you use a dark bottom, keep the softer color nearest the face.

Colors to avoid

Bright, saturated colors are the main problem. Hot pink, electric blue, lemon and pure red are all louder than the face and pull attention to the clothes. Black and pure white together do the same by contrast. Use greyed navy with oyster white instead.

Warm colors, even muted ones, turn the skin sallow. Camel, rust, mustard and olive belong to the Autumns. Orange in any form is out. If you love a warm color, take the greyed cool version: rosewood for terracotta, eucalyptus for olive, soft taupe for camel.

Icy pastels are cool but too clear. Ice blue and ice pink look like plastic next to a muted face. Take the dusty version instead: dusty blue for ice blue, dusty pink for ice pink.

Makeup for a Soft Summer

Lips: dusty rose, mauve and soft berry. Matte and satin finishes suit the softness better than high-shine gloss. A muted berry is the evening lip. Avoid coral, orange-red and clear fuchsia, which overpower the face and make the teeth look yellow.

Blush: muted rose, applied lightly and blended wide. The natural flush of a Soft Summer is a greyed pink, so a dusty rose blush looks like circulation rather than makeup. Peach and coral blush sit on top of the skin like paint.

Eyes: taupe, mauve and greyed green. A soft brown or grey liner defines the eye without a hard ring. Black liner is the fastest way to make the rest of the face look faded. A cool taupe shimmer on the lid is as bright as shadow needs to be.

Brows: match the hair, not darker. A taupe or ash brown pencil keeps the brows in the same soft range as the rest of the face. Warm brown pencil reads orange against cool skin.

Hair color

Mushroom, ash brown and a cool medium brown are the natural fit. They match the muted quality of the skin and keep the low contrast that defines the season. A cool, greyed blonde works for a lighter look, and ash balayage adds movement without warmth.

Golden highlights, honey and copper turn the skin sallow. Platinum and blue-black add a contrast the eyes and skin cannot match. If you go darker, stop at a cool medium brown. If lighter, stay ash and keep it within two shades of natural.

Metals and jewelry

Brushed silver, pewter and a muted rose gold. Brushed finishes echo the soft quality of the face; high polish glares beside it. Bright yellow gold looks orange against cool skin. If you wear gold, choose a pale or greyed gold, or mix it with silver.

Stones: grey pearls, moonstone, rose quartz, smoky quartz and labradorite. Diamonds are fine in a small setting. Avoid bright stones like ruby, sapphire and emerald, which act like the saturated colors above.

Soft Summer vs True Summer vs Soft Autumn

True Summer is the clearer sister. Both are cool, but coolness leads on a True Summer, with more hair-to-skin contrast and cleaner blue or grey eyes. Hold raspberry rose and mauve side by side. Raspberry suits a True Summer and looks loud on a Soft Summer.

Soft Autumn is the warm sister. Both are muted and low in contrast; the difference is temperature. A Soft Autumn has golden skin, warm mushroom or dark blonde hair, and hazel or soft green eyes. Hold mauve and camel to your face. Mauve evens the skin on a Soft Summer; camel on a Soft Autumn.

Light Summer shares the coolness but is lighter and clearer, with pale hair and eyes that read fresh rather than smoky. If your skin is fair and your hair blonde, the Light Summer page is worth a read.

How to confirm your season at home

Stand by a window in daylight with no makeup, hair pulled back, and a white towel over your shoulders. Hold the four test colors from the palette above against your face, one at a time: mauve, dusty blue, soft taupe and eucalyptus. Then hold up the same four from the Soft Autumn page.

The right colors make the skin look even, the eyes clearer and the shadows under the jaw shorter. The wrong colors bring up yellow, grey and the shadows under the eyes. Take a photo of each pair if you cannot see it live. The camera exaggerates the effect.

The color analysis test does the same comparison with numbers. It reads your skin hue, depth and contrast after white balancing on the whites of your eyes, so room light matters less than it does in the mirror. Retake in daylight if the lighting warning appears.

Frequently asked questions

What are the Soft Summer colors?

Cool, muted, medium-light colors: mauve, dusty blue, eucalyptus, rosewood, grape mist, steel blue and soft taupe. The neutrals are oyster white, medium grey, greyed navy and soft taupe. Nothing is bright, nothing is black, and nothing leans gold.

Can a Soft Summer wear black?

It can, but black is far louder than the face and makes Soft Summer coloring look faded beside it. Greyed navy, medium grey and soft taupe do the same job with less contrast. If black is required, break it up with a mauve or dusty blue layer near the face.

What is the difference between Soft Summer and Soft Autumn?

Temperature. Both are muted and low in contrast, but Soft Summer is cool, with pink or neutral skin and ash hair, and Soft Autumn is warm, with golden skin and mushroom or dark blonde hair. Hold mauve and camel to your face: the one that evens your skin decides it.

Which hair colors suit a Soft Summer?

Mushroom blonde, ash brown and a cool medium brown. Golden highlights make the skin look sallow and blue-black adds a contrast the face does not have. Keep any change within a shade or two of your natural color.