Personal Style
How to find your seasonal color palette at home
A DIY walkthrough of the 12-season color system. Pin your season in ten minutes, then pull your exact hues with the free Color Palette tool.
Seasonal color analysis sorts complexions by three qualities: undertone (warm or cool), value (light or deep), and chroma (soft or bright). Combine them and you get twelve seasons, from Bright Spring to Soft Summer, each with a palette of colors that make skin look clearer and eyes look brighter.
You can do a decent read at home with a mirror, daylight, and a few pieces you already own. Here is the exact sequence stylists use, distilled.
Step 1 - Prep your setup
Stand near a north-facing window mid-morning. No overhead lights, no makeup, hair pulled back with a neutral scarf. Grab two pieces of jewelry (silver and gold) and two shirts you own in white and off-white.
Step 2 - Read your undertone (warm vs cool)
Hold silver against your jaw, then gold. The metal that makes skin look smoother and cheeks look healthier is your undertone. Silver reads cool. Gold reads warm. If both look fine, you are neutral - lean on the next two steps to break the tie.
Confirm with white vs cream. Pure white flatters cool. Cream and ivory flatter warm.
Step 3 - Read your value (light vs deep)
Compare your natural hair, eyes, and skin as a set. If the contrast between them is low (light hair, light eyes, fair skin, or deep hair, deep eyes, deep skin), you are on the light or deep end of the spectrum. High contrast (dark hair, light eyes) leans bright.
Step 4 - Read your chroma (soft vs bright)
Hold a saturated jewel tone (emerald, sapphire, fuchsia) under your chin. Then a muted version of the same color (sage, dusty blue, mauve). Whichever makes your features pop and your eyes light up is your chroma. Bright colors overwhelm soft types. Muted colors wash out bright types.
Step 5 - Land your season
Combine the three reads. Warm + light + bright leans Spring. Cool + light + soft leans Summer. Warm + deep + soft leans Autumn. Cool + deep + bright leans Winter. Then narrow to a sub-season using your dominant quality.
- Bright Spring - warm undertone, high contrast, saturated palette
- Light Spring - warm undertone, light features, delicate palette
- Warm Spring - warm dominant, medium value, golden palette
- Light Summer - cool undertone, light features, soft pastels
- Cool Summer - cool dominant, medium value, dusty palette
- Soft Summer - muted dominant, cool lean, smoky palette
- Soft Autumn - muted dominant, warm lean, earthy palette
- Warm Autumn - warm dominant, medium-deep value, spice palette
- Deep Autumn - deep dominant, warm lean, rich palette
- Deep Winter - deep dominant, cool lean, jewel palette
- Cool Winter - cool dominant, high contrast, icy palette
- Bright Winter - bright dominant, cool lean, high-saturation palette
Step 6 - Pull your exact palette
Once you have a season in mind, feed a well-lit selfie into the free Color Palette tool. It returns the six hues that make you look expensive - the shortcut to shopping without second-guessing every hanger.
Frequently asked
- Can I really do color analysis at home?
- For a working answer, yes - the mirror-and-daylight method above pins most people to a season within one sub-type. For a definitive answer, a trained analyst is still worth it.
- What if my season changes with the seasons?
- Your undertone does not change. Tan, hair color, and lighting can shift the value and chroma reads. Do the test in your baseline state and stick with that palette year-round.
- How do I use my palette without buying a new wardrobe?
- Start at the face - tops, scarves, jewelry, makeup. Pieces below the waist matter less. Neutrals from your palette (the browns, grays, or navies) become the base you build outfits around.
- Which tool gives me my exact colors?
- Trend Tutor's free Color Palette tool returns your six most-flattering hues from a photo, matched to the 12-season framework.
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