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Soft Autumn nail colors

Soft Autumn nail colors are warm and muted: rose beige, soft terracotta and mulberry rather than bright red. Below are the nail colors from the Soft Autumn palette, three nail designs worked out from it, and the colors to skip.

By Jane MitchellCertified color analystPublished

Classic Soft Autumn nail colors

The Soft Autumn palette, lip and blush shades sorted into nail polish families. The most saturated color of each family comes first.

Berry and wine

  • Muted rose#B5697A
  • Soft mulberry#A86F7E

Nude and rose beige

  • Soft peach#D89A85
  • Warm nude#C98D7A
  • Warm rose beige#C98F7A
  • Warm rose#CE8F84
  • Dusty brick#B07C7C
  • Muted apricot#C99A8A

Coral and peach

  • Soft terracotta#C4705C
  • Salmon#D98A76

Brick and rust

  • Muted rust#B5654A

No Soft Autumn color meets the rule for pink and red. Read that as data: those families are not part of this season.

Seven nail polish bottles with wooden caps on a linen cloth in soft daylight: rose beige, peach, terracotta, rust, mulberry, olive green and sage
An illustration made with an image model, not a photo of real polish. The swatches on this page are the real palette colors.

Statement Soft Autumn nail colors

Palette colors that are not classic polish families: blues, greens, yellows and violets. Polish comes in every color, so these suit the season too.

  • Soft gold#C4A76A
  • Wheat#D6BC7E
  • Moss gold#A89B5C
  • Sage green#87905F
  • Olive#6E7D5B
  • Muted forest#5E7A6B
  • Soft teal#6F9188
  • Dusty blue#7E9AA5
  • Slate blue#5F7386

Soft Autumn nail designs

Color pairings for three common designs, worked out from the palette. Each one is drawn on a row of nails.

French tip

Base: soft peach beige. The first tip is the classic light one, the others are colored tips from the palette.

  • Soft cream tips#F0E8D8 on #DCC0A8
  • Muted rust tips#B5654A on #DCC0A8
  • Soft terracotta tips#C4705C on #DCC0A8

Accent nail

Four nails in one color, the ring finger in the other. Each pair looks clearly different but has the same clarity, so neither color takes over.

  • Soft mulberry with Soft teal
  • Muted forest with Soft plum rose
  • Slate blue with Soft peach beige

Gradient

Three colors of one hue, light to deep, from thumb to little finger or blended on each nail.

  • Soft peach beige, Salmon, Muted rust
  • Wheat, Soft gold, Pecan

Soft Autumn neutral nails

The wardrobe neutrals of the season, for an office or everyday manicure.

  • Soft cream#F0E8D8
  • Oat#D3C3A8
  • Camel#B79B75
  • Warm taupe#8C7A62
  • Soft olive brown#57503F

Nail colors a Soft Autumn should skip

From the Soft Autumn avoid list, with the reason for each.

  • BlackToo deep and too cold, it drops a hard line under a soft, blended face.
  • Pure whiteOptically brighter than the skin can match; soft cream is the fix.
  • Hot pinkCool and vivid, wrong on both the temperature and clarity axes.
  • Icy turquoiseThe clarity is jarring next to muted coloring.
  • BurgundyBlue-based and heavy; muted rust reads far better.
  • Cool silver grayAdds a gray cast without any of the warmth Soft Autumn needs.

The full list, with clothing in mind, is on Soft Autumn colors to avoid.

What Soft Autumn nail colors cannot tell you

  • They cannot tell you if you are a Soft Autumn. A season comes from your skin, hair and eyes together. People often confuse it with True Autumn, Deep Autumn and Soft Summer.
  • A screen and a bottle are not the same. Polish looks different wet and dry, and a gel or a shimmer finish changes it again. Use the swatch as a guide, then test the bottle on one nail in daylight.
  • Nails sit next to the skin of your hands, not your face, so the rules are looser than for a top or a lipstick. That is why the statement shades are listed too. How our analysis works and how often it is right.

How we made this

Every color on this page is in the Soft Autumn palette on this site. We pooled the palette, the lip and blush shades and dropped repeats. A color goes in the first nail family whose rule it meets, on CIELAB lightness, chroma and hue:

  • Berry and wine: Pink-red hue, dark or muted: lightness under 50, or under 54 with moderate chroma (20 to 60).
  • Pink: Pink-red hue, clear chroma (30 or more), lightness 50 or more.
  • Nude and rose beige: Skin-like hue (345 to 75), soft chroma (6 to 30), lightness 50 to 90.
  • Coral and peach: Red-orange hue (28 to 52), light enough (56 or more), clear chroma (30 to 80).
  • Red: True red hue (20 to 42), strong chroma (40 or more), lightness 40 or more.
  • Brick and rust: Red-orange hue (28 to 60), deeper than the coral family (lightness under 52), chroma 25 or more.

An accent pair has a CIEDE2000 difference of 35 or more, a standard measure of how different two colors look, and a chroma gap of 15 or less. A gradient holds three colors within 30 degrees of hue, with the widest light to deep range. No nail polish brand is used.

How this is different from other color analysis tools

  1. 01

    Your photo stays on your device

    Many photo apps upload your selfie and read it on their server (see our comparison). Ours measures it in your browser. There is no upload.

  2. 02

    The result is free

    Your season and palette, with no account and no email. At least one app in our comparison takes payment before you see any result.

  3. 03

    A close call says so

    Every result names the runner-up season and how close the call was. Borderline is a result we print.

  4. 04

    We publish our accuracy

    We tuned the method on faces that experts had labelled by season, then tested it on 410 celebrity photos we collected. The results, misses included.

How the photo analysis works, step by step

Questions

What nail colors suit a Soft Autumn?

From the Soft Autumn palette, the classic polish shades are muted rose, soft peach, soft terracotta and muted rust. The palette also holds 9 brighter fashion shades such as soft gold, wheat and moss gold. The rule of the season is warm but dusty, the colors of a dried bouquet.

What nail colors should a Soft Autumn avoid?

The Soft Autumn avoid list holds black, pure white, hot pink, icy turquoise, burgundy and cool silver gray. Too deep and too cold, it drops a hard line under a soft, blended face.

What is a good Soft Autumn French manicure?

Start from soft peach beige as the base. For a classic look, use soft cream for the tips. For a colored French tip, try muted rust and soft terracotta.

Can a Soft Autumn wear nude nails?

Yes. The Soft Autumn palette has nude and rose beige shades such as soft peach, warm nude and warm rose beige.

What you can do on this page

This page lists the Soft Autumn nail colors, computed from the season palette: classic polish shades sorted into nail families, statement shades, neutrals, and the colors to skip with a reason, all with names and hex codes. It also shows three nail designs (French tip, accent nail, gradient) with color pairings worked out from the palette. The page then offers the free photo analysis, which finds a season from one selfie in the browser, with no upload and no account.

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