Light Summer vs True Summer
The deciding axis is depth: Light Summer is the light one and True Summer is the deep one.
Side by side
The deciding axis is depth — everything else about these two is close.
Light Summer
cool, strongly light and moderately soft
True Summer
strongly cool, moderately 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 Summer: Powder pink #F2C4D0
True Summer: Cool raspberry #C2185B
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 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
True Summer palette
- Cool raspberry#C2185B
- Rose red#D81B60
- Soft rose#E091AE
- Dusty pink#C97B9B
- Cool berry#A85C7A
- Soft plum#7E5A82
- Cool lavender#9575CD
- Periwinkle blue#7986CB
- Cornflower#5C7CB0
- Cool blue#3F6FA8
Frequently asked
What is the difference between Light Summer and True Summer?
The deciding axis is depth: Light Summer is the light one and True Summer is the deep one. Light Summer is cool, strongly light and moderately soft; True Summer is strongly cool, moderately 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 Summer or True Summer?
Test the deciding axis in isolation. Put powder pink (#F2C4D0) beside cool raspberry (#C2185B) 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 Summer or True Summer?
Neither is rare. Judging by search interest, True Summer is looked up more often — but that reflects how often people are told they might be one, not how many actually are.