Am I Light or Dark? Soft or Bright? Cool or Warm? Understanding your colour season
Your Colour Analysis Step by Step Guide
Read this before doing the quiz.
If you've checked out my Colour Analysis quiz and found yourself a little unsure at the first question, you've come to the right place. And don't worry, you're not alone.
Figuring out where you fall on the colour spectrum: whether you're light or dark, muted or bright, cool or warm can feel like a a bit of a minefield. The truth is, colour analysis is more nuanced than just looking at your skin tone or hair colour in isolation. It’s not obvious or easy, but once you’ve cracked it, it can be truly life changing. So read on and get ready to discover the power of knowing your colour season.
Firstly, some ground rules:
We all have a primary and secondary aspect
Your primary aspect can either be cool or warm, light or dark, soft or bright - don't worry, we'll go through each one.
Whether it's primary or secondary, one of them has to be cool or warm. So, for example, you can't be 'bright' and 'dark' or 'muted' and 'light' - you're either going to be 'light' and 'warm' or 'dark' and 'warm'. So for answers one and two of the quiz - make sure one of your answers over the two questions is about your 'hue' e.g. Cool or warm. Got it? Great, stay with me.
Don't pick the same word twice. For example, don't pick ‘dark’ AND ‘dark.’ That's just a waste.
If you're not sure, ask someone else. Sometimes, it’s hard to see it ourselves and getting another perspective can really help us see things more clearly.
Other times, it is just too hard to work it out on our own, for a variety of reasons - it's not an exact science and some of us straddle two seasons (myself included). If you’re struggling to work it out, reach out and let's work it out together.
Here are some guidelines on how to determine if you're light or dark, soft (muted) or bright or cool or warm.
The Three Aspects
Cool or Warm (HUE) - this is all about your skin undertone: the subtle hue beneath the surface of your skin.
Light or Dark (VALUE) - this is about the depth of colour, when looking at your hair, skin and eyes. It also has to do with the contrast.
Soft or Bright (CHROMA) - this is all about contrast and saturation. Most of us get more muted as we age.
Cool vs Warm
This is all about the hue, aka how much blue or yellow there is in a colour. And it relates to your 'undertone'. This is different from your overtone, which is the colour of your skin. Your undertone stays consistent regardless of changes in your complexion due to sun exposure, redness, or other temporary factors. Read more here.
TOP TIP: If you can wear gold or silver jewellery (aka neither washes you out), you’re probably ‘neutral’ in undertone, which means your primary aspect won’t be cool or warm but is one of these: Bright or Soft, Light or Dark.
Light vs Dark
When we talk about light and dark, we’re referring to the overall 'value' or depth of your colouring. Most of the time, if you have very light hair (whether that's blonde, white or grey) you'll have a light aspect. And equally if you have dark hair, eyebrows or eyes, you should select dark.
Light: Your features may be delicate, and there isn’t a strong contrast between them. Your hair, eyes, and skin may all be on the lighter end of the spectrum. Typically, those who are considered 'light' or 'fair' have blonde or light grey/white hair.
Dark: Your overall colouring has a deeper, richer feel. You might have dark hair and eyes that contrast strongly with your skin, or you may have a more even depth throughout.
If you're a person of colour, you’ll want to determine if you're cool or warm by reviewing your undertone - do you have yellow tones or more ashy/cool ones? You will also want to ask yourself if your features are more muted/greyed out or whether they are dark and saturated overall.
Soft/Muted vs Bright
This part considers how soft or vibrant your natural colouring appears. This is sometimes referred to as muted or clear.
Some of us are highly saturated and almost sparkly. For example, do your eyes sparkle like jewels? Can you carry off strong makeup and bright colours? On the other hand, if your features (hair, skin and eyes) appear greyed out and blend in together, you're likely 'soft'/muted. Another way to work this out is, imagine a black and white photo of yourself (or better yet, look at one), how much contrast is there between your eyes, hair and skin?
P.s. most of us get more muted as we age and will need to revisit our colour season to factor that in.
Soft (muted): Your colouring leans more blended, with a softness that makes colours appear toned down. You may find that softer, greyed out shades look better than highly saturated ones. Very bright colours will overpower you.
Bright: Your features naturally have clarity and high saturation, basically bright colours shine on your rather than overwhelm you. You might feel that soft, dusty tones make you look washed out. Generally, your features are sparkly and bright.
This isn’t just about having vivid eyes or naturally red lips, it’s also about how colour interacts with your skin, hair, and eyes as a whole. Someone with deep brown eyes and dark skin can still have muted colouring, just as someone with pale features can be bright. This can be harder to determine in Winter months as we all get a bit grey then, but your features will still have an overall saturation if this is your true aspect.
what colours are you drawn to?
Rather than trying to fit into a single category, think about the colours that make you feel most at home. When you wear certain shades, do they make your features glow, or do they seem to overpower you? If you’re drawn to soft, hazy tones, you might be more muted. If high-energy colours feel natural on you, brightness might be your thing.
Remember: colour analysis is about matching what you are e.g. if you're bright, wear bright things! If you're warm, wear warm colours. But it's also about helping you, not restricting you. You don’t need to fit into a box, you just need to find what makes you feel your best.
Colour analysis can also apply to your hair and make up choices and can make a huge difference to your overall appearance. Watch this space as we'll cover this in a blog post very soon.
Disclaimer: Colour analysis is a helpful guide but of course, we all have our individual taste and you can wear whatever colours you like. This is just about what suits you best and makes you pop!
Learn how to determine if you’re cool or warm: https://www.alexsoutfit.com/blog/am-i-cool-or-warm-how-to-determine-your-skin-tone
