Light Spring vs Light Summer
The deciding axis is undertone: Light Spring is the warm one and Light Summer is the cool one.
Side by side
The deciding axis is undertone — everything else about these two is close.
Light Spring
warm, strongly light and moderately bright
Light Summer
cool, strongly light and moderately soft
The test that settles it
Do this in daylight, with no makeup, looking at your skin rather than at the fabric.
Light Spring: Peach #FFB68F
Light Summer: Powder pink #F2C4D0
Hold each colour under your chin in turn. The right one settles your skin — shadows under the eyes recede and the face looks rested. The wrong one pulls those shadows forward and adds a grey or sallow cast. If you cannot see a difference, you are probably between the two, which is common and covered below.
Light Spring palette
- Peach#FFB68F
- Coral#FF8A6B
- Apricot#F7A76C
- Salmon#FF9E93
- Warm rose#FFA6BE
- Blossom pink#F7C6D9
- Buttercup#FFE066
- Golden cream#FFD98E
- Light chartreuse#F2E08E
- Bud green#B7D97F
Light Summer palette
- Powder pink#F2C4D0
- Dusty rose#E5A9BC
- Rose pink#D98BA5
- Soft raspberry#C2739A
- Soft lilac#B8A4CC
- Periwinkle#A6A9D6
- Powder blue#93B4DB
- Cornflower#7FA8CC
- Soft denim#6C97BF
- Sea glass#9CC8D6
Frequently asked
What is the difference between Light Spring and Light Summer?
The deciding axis is undertone: Light Spring is the warm one and Light Summer is the cool one. Light Spring is warm, strongly light and moderately bright; Light Summer is cool, strongly light and moderately soft. Everything else about them is close enough that the wrong call still looks acceptable — which is precisely why so many people sit between the two.
How do I tell whether I am Light Spring or Light Summer?
Test the deciding axis in isolation. Put peach (#FFB68F) beside powder pink (#F2C4D0) against your bare face in daylight, and look at the skin under your eyes and around your mouth rather than at the fabric. One of them will settle your skin and the other will pull shadows forward.
What if both palettes look fine on me?
Then you are genuinely in between, and you should take the overlap. Wear the colours that appear in both palettes as your core wardrobe, and treat each season's extremes as occasional. Being between two neighbouring seasons is common and is not a failure of the system — it is what the boundaries look like from close up.
Which is more common, Light Spring or Light Summer?
Neither is rare. Judging by search interest, Light Spring is looked up more often — but that reflects how often people are told they might be one, not how many actually are.