Soft Summer vs True Summer
The deciding axis is clarity: Soft Summer is the soft one and True Summer is the bright one.
Side by side
The deciding axis is clarity — everything else about these two is close.
Soft Summer
moderately cool, medium in depth and strongly 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.
Soft Summer: Dusty rose #C08497
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.
Soft Summer palette
- Dusty rose#C08497
- Soft berry#A5677A
- Muted plum#8F5F6E
- Soft mauve#B08BA5
- Dusty lilac#8E7C9E
- Dusty periwinkle#7A809E
- Slate blue#6E8CA0
- Soft teal#5C7D8A
- Muted jade#7FA398
- Sage#8FA88B
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 Soft Summer and True Summer?
The deciding axis is clarity: Soft Summer is the soft one and True Summer is the bright one. Soft Summer is moderately cool, medium in depth and strongly 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 Soft Summer or True Summer?
Test the deciding axis in isolation. Put dusty rose (#C08497) 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, Soft Summer or True Summer?
Neither is rare. Judging by search interest, Soft Summer is looked up more often — but that reflects how often people are told they might be one, not how many actually are.