True Summer
Purely cool — blue-based, elegant, slightly hazy.
True Summer is the coolest of the soft seasons: every colour in the palette is blue-based, with no golden warmth anywhere. The look is refined and slightly hazy — dusty blues, soft raspberry, cool navy and grey. It is the classic English-garden palette.
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
- Cool with a pink, rosy or blue-ish cast; burns before it tans.
- Hair
- Ash blonde to ash or cool medium brown, never golden.
- Eyes
- Cool blue, grey-blue, grey-green, or soft cool hazel.
- Contrast
- Low to medium, and always gentle rather than crisp.
The palette
The 20 colours that work hardest for True Summer, with hex codes so you can match them exactly.
- 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
Neutrals to build on
- Soft white#F0EFEC
- Cool grey#C7C6C4
- Medium grey#8E8F92
- Blue grey#5A6B7C
- Cool navy#2F4058
Metals and makeup
Best metals: Silver, White gold, Platinum.
Lip
- Cool raspberry
- Rose
- Soft pink
Blush
- Cool rose
- Dusty pink
- Mauve
More on True Summer
Often confused with
Frequently asked
What is a True Summer?
True Summer is one of the twelve seasonal colour types. It is strongly cool, moderately light and moderately soft. In practice that means cool raspberry, rose red and soft rose sit comfortably on you, while the colours 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 am a True Summer?
Three checks. Cool with a pink, rosy or blue-ish cast; burns before it tans. Ash blonde to ash or cool medium brown, never golden. Cool blue, grey-blue, grey-green, or soft cool hazel. Contrast is the fourth: low to medium, and always gentle rather than crisp. If two of those four describe you, True Summer is very likely your season — our free analysis scores all twelve and tells you how close the runners-up are.
What colours should a True Summer avoid?
The clearest ones to drop are orange, golden yellow and black. The single most jarring colour for a purely cool palette. Full explanations for each are on the colours-to-avoid page.
What is the difference between True Summer and Light Summer?
They are neighbours, which is exactly why they get confused. The deciding axis is depth: True Summer is the deep one and Light Summer is the light one. We have a full side-by-side comparison if you are torn between them.
Can a True Summer wear black?
Not near your face. True Summer colouring is too gentle for true black — it drops a hard edge under the chin and pulls shadows forward. Use Cool navy (#2F4058) instead for anything worn up top, and keep black for trousers, shoes and bags where it has no effect on your skin.
What metals suit a True Summer?
Silver, White gold and Platinum. 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 jewellery — the wrong metal leaves a grey or sallow cast along the jaw.