True Autumn
Rich earth, rust, olive, gold and forest.
True Autumn is purely warm and moderately rich: every color is golden-based, drawn from spice racks and forest floors. Skin, hair and eyes all carry visible golden or reddish warmth, and the palette runs to rust, pumpkin, olive, mustard and deep teal.
Temperature is the dominant axis here: get the warm-versus-cool call right and everything else follows. (Undertone is what the 12-tone system calls this season's primary characteristic.)
Where this season sits
Every one of the twelve seasons is a position on three axes. These are the coordinates our analysis scores you against.
Is this you?
- Skin
- Warm and golden, from warm ivory to deep golden bronze; often freckled.
- Hair
- Golden brown, auburn, copper or red, strong natural warmth.
- Eyes
- Warm hazel, amber, olive green or golden brown.
- Contrast
- Medium, with warmth as the dominant impression.
True Autumn celebrities
Famous faces that share True Autumn coloring. The point is the pattern in skin, hair and eyes, not a resemblance.
Alyson Hannigan
Cindy Crawford
Debra Messing
Jessica Chastain
Photos via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY / CC BY-SA / public domain. The credit for each one is on the True Autumn celebrities page.
The palette
The 20 colors that work hardest for True Autumn, with hex codes so you can match them exactly.
- Rust#C1440E
- Pumpkin#D2691E
- Burnt orange#B7410E
- Sienna#A0522D
- Brick red#8B3A2E
- Mustard#B8860B
- Goldenrod#DAA520
- Antique gold#C9A227
- Olive#808000
- Moss green#6B8E23
Neutrals to build on
- Warm cream#F2E7D0
- Camel#C9A87C
- Golden brown#8B6B45
- Coffee#5A4632
- Deep olive#4A5340
Metals and makeup
Best metals: Yellow gold, Bronze, Copper, Antique brass.
Lip
- Brick
- Rust
- Warm terracotta nude
Blush
- Warm apricot
- Terracotta
- Golden peach
How to wear the True Autumn palette
A styling example: three women who share True Autumn coloring, each in a different outfit built from this palette.
More on True Autumn
Often confused with
Watch: this season explained
Hand-picked videos on True Autumn from working color analysts, a different teacher, the same season.
TRUE AUTUMN COLOR PALETTE: Your Best Colors / 12 Seasons Color Analysis
Mikaela Carrizo · YouTube
Autumn Color Analysis: Discover If You're a Deep, Warm, or Soft Autumn!
Color Class · YouTube
Frequently asked
What is the True Autumn color season?
True Autumn is one of the twelve seasonal color types. It is strongly warm, medium in depth and moderately soft. In practice that means rust, pumpkin and burnt orange sit comfortably on you, while the colors in the avoid list make you look tired. Temperature is the dominant axis here: get the warm-versus-cool call right and everything else follows. (Undertone is what the 12-tone system calls this season's primary characteristic.)
How do I know if I'm a True Autumn?
Three checks. Warm and golden, from warm ivory to deep golden bronze; often freckled. Golden brown, auburn, copper or red, strong natural warmth. Warm hazel, amber, olive green or golden brown. Contrast is the fourth: medium, with warmth as the dominant impression. If two of those four describe you, True Autumn is very likely your season, our free analysis scores all twelve and tells you how close the runners-up are.
What are the worst colors for a True Autumn?
The clearest ones to drop are icy pink, black and cool silver. Blue-based pastel, it makes golden skin look gray and unwell. Full explanations for each are on the colors-to-avoid page.
Am I a True Autumn or a Soft Autumn?
They are neighbors, which is exactly why they get confused. The deciding axis is undertone: True Autumn is the warm one and Soft Autumn is the cool one. We have a full side-by-side comparison if you are torn between them.
Can a True Autumn wear black?
Not near your face. True Autumn coloring is too gentle for true black, it drops a hard edge under the chin and pulls shadows forward. Use Deep olive (#4A5340) instead for anything worn up top, and keep black for trousers, shoes and bags where it has no effect on your skin.
Is True Autumn warm or cool?
Warm. True Autumn sits clearly on the warm side of the temperature axis, which is why gold, rust and the rest of the Autumn palette settle the skin while icy or blue-based colors leave it sallow. Temperature is also its dominant axis, so warmth matters more here than depth or clarity.
Should a True Autumn wear gold or silver?
Yellow gold, Bronze, Copper and Antique brass. Metal is one of the fastest at-home tests there is: hold silver and gold either side of your face in daylight and watch your skin rather than the jewelry, the wrong metal leaves a gray or sallow cast along the jaw.
How does True Autumn color analysis work?
True Autumn color analysis places your coloring on three axes, depth, temperature and clarity, and checks they match True Autumn, which is strongly warm, medium in depth and moderately soft. You can approximate it at home with the metal, vein and contrast tests, but those disagree often. Our free analysis settles it: it scores all twelve seasons from your answers and one photo, so you see how far True Autumn leads the neighbors it gets confused with.