If your best colors are warm and earthy, you're an Autumn. But there are actually three Autumn palettes. Determining which Autumn you are can be tricky. At first glance, these palettes all look pretty similar. 

Soft Autumn is the most faded Autumn palette, and it's the lightest as well.  Soft Autumn colors are faded earth tones -- desert colors, or safari colors.

(If you know your coloring is warm and gentle, but you also look good in lime green, you're probably a Light Spring, not a Soft Autumn.)

Are you an Autumn? How did you figure out your exact type? Share in the comments!

​But in a previous post about the actors on Mad Men, I typed Cardellini as a True Winter. I thought she was gorgeous on that show in very dark hair and Winter colors.  I especially liked her in black and white, which is excellent on True Winters.

So I've been asking myself, was I wrong about Linda Cardellini?

She's beautiful on both shows. But at least one of these shows is successfully presenting her in colors that aren't her best.

(An actor can look lovely in the wrong colors if her costume, hair, makeup, and lighting work together to create the false impression; see Light Summer Cate Blanchett passing as an Autumn in The Aviator. Notice how orange the lighting is! That's necessary to make a cool-toned actor like Blanchett look warm.) 

To figure out actor Linda Cardellini's actual color season, we need to focus on real-life pictures of her. I like using pictures from premieres, because those pics are generally taken outdoors, with a lot of light. 

First, we find pictures where Cardellini looks healthy and alive, not tired and not overly made-up.  Then we try to identify the color season of her clothes and makeup in the flattering pics. 

I think she looks really good here:

The first thing I notice as a color analyst is that she's not overwhelmed by this big block of black right under her face.  Her skin looks healthy, not blurry or washed out. We're seeing her​, not her  dress. So I feel confident she's one of the five seasons that can handle black -- the three Winters, Bright Spring, and Dark Autumn.  All three Winter seasons are cool-toned, while Dark Autumn and Bright Spring are warm-toned.  (You can see this more easily if you just look at the reds and pinks.) 

​I really like her here in a cool-toned pink lippie and a black, white, and grey dress. That makes me think Winter.

​​Here she is again in black, but with warmer makeup and warmer hair. Are these pictures as good?

I do think she's a Winter. Perhaps she's a Dark Winter instead of a True Winter; sometimes Dark Winters can look almost right in the colors of neighboring Dark Autumn. 

​Here are more pics of Cardellini that I think are color harmonious. What do you think? Is she a Winter? If so, which one? If not, what do you think is her correct season? 

Last week I talked about the fact that, though all of your palette colors are gorgeous on you somewhere, they don't all look natural on your lips. 

Now I want to describe a good way to figure out which of your palette colors are best on your lips. 

In a nutshell, the colors that will look most natural on your lips are
 - your MLBB,
- darker versions of your MLBB, and
- a handful of colors very close in hue and value to these

Your MLBB is your "my lip but better" lip color. You may already have a lippy in your stash that you know is your MLBB. If you don't, stand in front of a mirror with your palette and locate the peach, pink, red, or violet that is precisely as dark as your lip and the closest to it in warmth or coolness. (Your natural lip color will be less saturated than any  of these palettte colors; you're basically finding the more saturated version of your natural lip.) 

A lippy that's an  MLBB will always look natural on you. Additionally, colors that are the same hue as your MLBB but darker will also look natural on you. Going very dark within your MLBB hue might be your evening lip, but it won't look unnatural.

In general, avoid opaque colors that are lighter than than your MLBB. This usually looks unnaatural. 

The other colors that will look most natural on your lips will be the colors closest in hue to your MLBB, and as dark or darker.  So if you're a Bright Spring whose MLBB is on your fuchsia strip, you may indeed be able to wear one of Bright Spring's violets as a lippy; the violets are close in hue to the fuchsias. You will find less luck with one of BSp's orange lippies, because orange is pretty far  from fuchsia. 

My MLBB is a neutral Soft Autumn pink that's medium-dark.  I'll wear other pinks and reds that are very close to this color in hue, but I won't go all the way to a Soft Autumn brown -- even though those lippies exist.

If I feel like it, I''ll go somewhat warmer or somewhat cooler within my palette. But I won't stray super-far from this central MLBB hue, and I won't go lighter in value, unless it's a gloss.

And this is what I recommend you do as well:
Find the hue that looks most natural on your lips, and choose lippies that stay relatively close to that hue.

For example, if your MLBB is an orange, experiment with your reds -- but don't stray all the way to a violet, unless you  want to make a statement.  :-) 

And if your MLBB is a violet, experiment with your reds and purples -- but don't stray all the way to orange.

When you know your  MLBB, use your seasonal makeup list and a computer to find the lippies from the list that will look the most natural on your face.

(Computer images aren't completely color-accurate, but you don't need them to be if you have the seasonal makeup list; if it's on the list, it's a color from your season.)

Just check the computer image to make sure the hue and value of the lippy seem right for your lips. Then buy it! 




​
This post was originally published in March of 2017. 

In seasonal discussion groups, women spend a lot of time working out which palettte-matching lipsticks and glosses are their best colors.

Why should they have to spend time answering this question? Aren't all of the peaches, pinks, reds and violets in your palette automatically good lip colors for you?

Not exactly.

Every color in your palette is a color that harmonizes with your natural coloring somehow. 

But not every color will actually look good on your lips. 
​
Your right colors look right because they look natural. So if you wear them in an unnatural way, they won't look right.

​Consider my Soft Autumn palette:

Not all of the colors in your correct seasonal palette will be your absolute favorites.

Depending on your depth of coloring, your level of contrast, and the specific colors of  your body, some will be more useful to you than others, and in different ways.

A dark-skinned Winter, for example, might use black as an accent, while a fair-skinned Winter might wear it in large blocks.

But no color in your palette will be awful on you.  The colors in your palette are all harmonious with each other, and if it's your proper palette, they'll all be harmonious with you too.

So for those of you still searching for your season, I give you colors that are seasonal deal-breakers.

If the given color absolutely doesn't work for you, the deal's off. Move this season to the end of the list.

You can't use this list to identify your single best season. But you can use it to rule seasons out.


If you can't rock hot pink, rule out Bright Spring.

Bright Spring has a handful of pinks in this general vicinity.  You may not associate pink with Spring. But moving Spring reds toward Winter means making them both darker and brighter. Reds that are both deep and very bright are purple-reds. So in Bright Spring, we find hot pinks.

If you think you're a Spring but hot pink is no good for you, True Spring may be your home.

If you're not fabulous in lime green, rule out Bright Winter.

Taking True Winter's greens lighter and brighter, all the way into Bright Winter, moves them toward yellow. One of the results is a sort of fluorescent lime. On Bright Winters, this color is amazing. It contrasts beautifully with both very dark and very light skin.

If this color's not right for you, but you think you're a Winter, try Dark Winter next.

A handful of the seasons have some sort of mint. True Summer's is not a pure, saturated mint that's close to aqua. Instead it's a delicate and slightly hazy mint. It's lovely with a delicate fuchsia lip.

If this feels all wrong to you, perhaps vivid mint is beter? You might be a Winter.

Dark Winter yellows are tricky. They're not clear and pure like True Winter's. They're not blindingly bright. They're just slightly warmed, a little rich - but not Autumn rich. Penelope Cruz is lovely here in what looks like one of Dark Winter's elusive yellows.

If you need your yellows purer, try one of the other Winters. And if you need a more delicate yellow, try one of the Summers.

This Dark Autumn color always surprises me. Call it orchid or begonia perhaps. It's not a color I would label Dark Autumn if I saw it in a pile of a hundred other colors. Yet it's gorgeous with the intense dark olives and vivid teals of the season.

Dark Autumn Natalie Portman's been photographed in three or four dresses in something like this color. They're all great on her. If it's not great on you, perhaps try True Autumn or Bright Spring.

Was it Christine Scaman who said Light Spring colors are popsicle colors? It's true. But every season has neutrals, of course. This unusual Light Spring color is like your usual khaki, but with a suggestion of green and gold. On a Light Spring, it may pick up tones in the eye or hair.

If this color's a no-go on you, perhaps look at Light Summer instead.

Light Summer doesn't get very warm, but in the pinks it does go as far as a pinky coral. It's a bit pinker than what you see here, but still warmish. On a Light Summer it picks up healthy color in the face.

If you think you're a Summer but can't wear this light, delicate, warm tone, look at True Summer.

True Spring's colors are Crayola colors. You can see them in this picture of Nicole Kidman: blue dress, yellow hair, red-orange lips.  In these simple primaries, True Spring is gorgeous.

If you struggle to articulate the names of your best colors, they're not True Spring's. You might consider Summer or Autumn. 

True Autumn has a few beautiful burgundies that go beautifully with the rich greens and oranges of the season. You can see all those colors here, in Noa Tishby's face.
Those burgundies make good lippies too.

If this burgundy overwhelms you, try something from Soft Autumn.

This is not a warm golden brown or a milk chocolate brown. If you're a Summer, none of those browns will work for you. Browns are generally bad for Summers, as a rule. But if you're a Soft Summer, you will be lovely in cocoa brown. It's a brown that looks both slightly greyed and slightly purpled. It may pick up tones in your hair.

If this color just isn't right for you, try True Summer next.

This blue feels both rich and muted, and quite medium - neiher purpley nor greenish. I's similar to the color you get if you Google "French blue."

Though it's a subtle color, on Soft Autumn skin it's just as powerful as it needs to be. Notice how rich it looks on Natascha McElhone.

If you need a blue that's much richer than this, you might try a Winter or a Spring.

   *             *              *
For any of these seasons, Google the season's name in quotes to see images of the palette. Images that say "Sci/Art" are usually quite accurate. Or order sheets of color from all 12 seasons to try the seasons out in person.

As always, I hope this helps you find your correct season.  :-)


This post first ran in April of 2013. 

[Happy July 4th holiday, American readers! I'm re-running one of my most popular posts from several years ago. I welcome your opinions and insights in the comments section!]


This Indian model and actress is both incredibly beautiful and (to me) incredibly difficult to type. There's no agreement on the 'net, that's for sure. But after much study, I think I've figured it out. Here, I'll walk you through the process I used and share my conclusion.

Aishwarya is Indian. If I believed that non-White women are always Autumns and Winters, I'd have it narrowed down to six seasons based on that alone. If I was a particularly rigid thinker, I might have already decided Deep Autumn or Deep Winter. 

But ethnicity doesn't determine season; it's based on how the skin reacts to color. So I'll keep the Autumns and Winters in mind, but not limit myself to them.

Let's look more closely at her.

Aishwarya is probably most famous for her beautiful and unusual eyes. If you believe that eyes determine season - or at least point to it - you're probably thinking Summer. You might even have narrowed it down to Soft Summer based only on these amazing eyes.

I'm going to make a mental note that the eyes suggest Summer, but I know that any season can have any eye color. So I'm moving on to the next step: finding well-lit pics of Aishwarya in a variety of colors, and noticing what the colors that look most - and least - harmonious  on her have in common.

I find it easiest to start with makeup. When does Aishwarya's face look natural and balanced, and when does it seem that color is just sitting on her face?

This face looks pretty natural. In the eye shadow, blush, and lip, I see warmth, and I see mutedness - as opposed to clarity.

Most seasons have warmth or softness or both in them. But I’m tentatively ruling out Bright Winter. Very tentatively ruling out Cool (True) Winter and Bright Spring. 

And maybe penciling a star next to the Autumns (soft & warm) and Soft Summer (soft with a smidge of warmth).

Nothing’s certain yet; let’s keep looking:

A well-lit pic, though not a flattering one: this lip and cheek look a little too bright and too pink to me. The color seems to be sitting on her face in a way that it doesn’t in the previous pics.

(And those silvery, icy jewels seem to have nothing in common with her.)

The most obvious thing I'm noticing at this point is that coolness and Aishwarya don’t mix. So, again, several seasons could be indicated, but I’m leaning farther away from the Winters, and starting to lean away from the Summers as well. Despite those eyes.

Ouch. That lip is too, too purple. Further confirms my growing sense that coolness is not for Aishwarya.

 I'm feeling pretty sure she's a warm season. So the scientist in me says I must try to prove the null hypothesis:

Can I find her in makeup that looks both cool and natural?

Here, I’ve certainly found coolness – at least around the eye - but it looks all wrong: too sparkly, too blue. The lip and cheek here aren’t bad. But they’re more warm than cool. This isn’t disproving my theory; it’s confirming it.

Let's try more pics.

My first thought: nice, natural face, and a pinkish lip. OK, maybe we're on to something.

I'm looking closer at the makeup. The eyes look quite harmonious to me, and, well, I see warmth in the colors there. I see warmth in that nice, natural cheek too.

I start to notice that something's bugging me about that lip.  I ask my gut: what’s wrong? My gut tells me: warm it up and darken it a smidge.

Yeah - I step back and look at the whole face again, and that lip is just too light and too pink for the rest of the face.

(Warm it, darken it… could Aishwarya be an Autumn?  Hmm... maybe. Maybe. Nothing's impossible, despite the eyes.)

Let’s look at some more pics.

Here's the pic from the top of the post.

Apart from the requisite but totally silly super-black liner, this face looks natural as well.

And again, I see warmth in every part of the makeup.

At this point I think I’m prepared to commit myself to the idea that Aishwarya is a season known for warmth: Autumn or Spring.

Because I’ve also been noticing softness, I’m going farther now, and asking: do I see Autumn warmth specifically?

Well, maybe.

Are the flattering makeup colors that I’ve seen so far Autumn’s, and not Spring’s? That is, are they relatively muted and deep, rather than bright and light?

I think so.

Now I’m looking back at every picture I’ve seen so far, and asking this question: does anything in any pic rule out Autumn? Have I seen her looking natural in a super-cool, super-light or super-bright color that no Autumn could possibly wear?

Nope.

Well, I’m going to proceed with a tentative theory that she’s an Autumn, while staying open to evidence that might suggest any other season.

So here's another picture with natural-looking makeup.

Are these colors consistent with Autumn? Yes - they're warm, soft, and deeper rather than lighter.

Are they completely inconsistent with another season?

Hard to say… I can imagine a Soft Summer or a Deep Winter possibly photographing this way, if the light was right.

I think I've exhausted the usefulness of makeup analysis. I have some ideas. Now I'm moving on to clothing colors, and noticing what doesn't look right.

Oh, certainly not.

My brain tells me she looks pale and harsh. My gut doesn’t tell me anything – it just cringes. Beautiful Aishwarya, where are you?

So this is a deep, cool color, and it’s not doing her any favors. Duly noted. Moving on…

Hmm… This just seems so, well, weird.  As in strange, foreign. Unconnected to her.

I see Aishwarya. And I see the light, cool colors. But I don’t see anything joining them together.

Still thinking Autumn is likely. More colors:

My gut has a mixed reaction to this very un-Autumny pink. Something’s working, something’s not.

I pick apart my reaction:

• OK, I definitely dislike the hue for her. It's not calling to anything in her skin. Too cool.
• And I’m finding the color brighter than Aishwarya herself. But, interestingly, not alarmingly so. 
• And the value of the color –  the depth of it, which is sort of medium-deep  – actually seems pretty balanced for Aishwarya.

So are Aishwarya's best colors warm, medium-deep, and kind of vivid? I’m thinking maybe yes.

If yes, I can probably rule out Soft Autumn.

But Deep Autumn and Warm (True) Autumn are still in the running.  Their colors are muted in the context of the full 12-season spectrum, but considered in themselves, they can read as rather bright.

Now that I think I'm closing in on an answer,  I'm ready to look at this problem from another angle:

What are Aishwarya's best colors?
What pics show her in glorious, fantastically harmonious colors?

This one.

This one.

This one.

This one.

This one.

This one.

And, oh my gosh, yes, this one, absolutely. I can’t stop staring. Incredible. Glorious golden goddess.

So... whose colors are these?

Warm (True) Autumn’s.

??

But she has those Summery eyes…

Yeah, I know.
 
But she’s Indian…

So?

Some Style Identities call for you to steer clear of "earth-toned" color schemes. For example, such color schemes would be aging on an Ingenue, and too heavy on an Ethereal.

But hey -- some of us are Autumns. Our colors are earth tones, right?  What are we supposed to do?

To resolve this seeming contradiction, we'll first remember that color is always relative. Just because you're an Autumn,  it doesn't mean that your colors always look like "earth tones" on you. Next to your Autumny skin, they just look like colors.

So, to avoid looking like you're wearing an entire earth-toned color scheme, just avoid the combinations that create that effect. Google "earth tones" and look at the images:  you'll see that the "earth tone" effect is generally created by combining your browns and neutrals with blues and greens -- basically, earth and sky. Occasionally you'll add some yellow or red for accent.  All of this worn together reads as "earth toned."  

Wear just your blues, or just your blacks and whites, or just your pinks and purples, and you definitely won't have an earth-toned effect, even if your colors are coming from that "earthy" Autumn palette.

The reverse of this is true as well:  if you're a Natural, and your Style ID calls for earth-toned color schemes, combine your greens, browns, blues and neutrals together and you'll create an appropriate effect -- even if your palette is objectively cool:

​Next to True Winter skin, this kind of palette will look plenty earthy. :-)

Actually, that's not how it works! Don't pay too much attention to systems that try to tell you otherwise. 


Your hair color doesn't make a darn bit of difference in determining your season.  A person with red hair might be found in any season, depending on her skin tone.

Here's a redheaded Light Spring:
http://www.truth-is-beauty.com/uploads/4/7/6/0/4760820/7761500.jpg

A redheaded True Spring:
http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2005/specials/emmys05/bestworsthair/mcross.jpg


A redheaded True Autumn:
http://images.totalbeauty.com/content/photos/20-totalbeauty-logo-red-hair.jpg


And I personally know a redheaded True Summer.

Redheads tend to have warm-toned skin, which puts them into Spring and Autumn categories. But it's theoretically possible that a person with genetically red hair could have Winter or Summer skin. 


​Unsure of your season? Try at-home draping cards. 

I don't have a lot of time lately to compose proper blog posts. But I came across this gorgeous pic of True Autumn Debra Messing while nursing my little girl, and couldn't resist banging out some quick commentary one-handed.  :-)

I think Debra Messing's a True Autumn. Could be wrong, but just take a look at this glorious color harmony, here: 

So beautiful! Looking at it is like taking a deep, relaxing breath. Every color here is connecting to the others. Nothing doesn't fit.

This is what the right colors should do to you: they pick up the healthy flush, the color of life that's in your skin already, and make the other colors (undereye circles, shadows, blemishes, etc.) recede.

Being a celeb, she's probably wearing a pound of makeup, but she almost looks like she just came in from a jog. Her, only better.

Apparently the red hair is not her natural color. I suspect seeing her like this but with the natural brown would be even better  - - more complex and positively enchanting. But she pulls this color off, IMHO.

At the 2011 Golden Globes, Autumn celebrities did not miss the color mark as widely as their Winter colleagues (see my earlier post below) - but the hits were few and far between. Here, some of the evening's biggest Autumn let-downs, along with a few pleasant surprises.

Julianne Moore

I adore Julianne Moore, as an actress and as a great beauty. She's an interesting Autumn; her coloring's warm, deep, vivid and delicate at the same time. When she gets it right - which is often - she's startlingly lovely:

So it was sad to see her get it so very, very wrong at the GGs.  All her redheaded loveliness wiped out by this totally wrong color:

Now, Julianne can take a fair bit of brightness, though perhaps not this much. The biggest problem is with the hue itself.  There's nothing in her skin, eyes or hair that this color calls to. We see Julianne and her natural colors up top, and we see the color of the dress below, and never the twain shall meet. It's Julianne vs. the dress, and the dress wins.  Just sad.

Another example of an Autumn existing on a different plane than her garment was Jennifer Lopez.

There's glorious, golden Jennifer. Then there's this icy white ensemble. Nothing connects them. JLo is lost.

Surely you've seen how gloriously golden this Autumn girl can look! -

 - even with those darn icy earrings. I'd include a pic of her in a beautiful Autumny gown, but they're very hard to find. JLo seems irresistibly drawn to cool, pale looks that are disconnected from her natural beauty. Maybe she wants to look interesting rather than beautiful... who knows? I personally think beautiful is interesting.

Eva Longoria was a let-down. And not because Deep Autumns can't wear black. After all, the hair often has black tones. But Deep Autumns need contrast, and they certainly need some warmth. This look provides neither.

On a person with black already in the hair and eyes, the black gown doesn't create much contrast. And once again, the irrepressible warmth of this Autumn's skin (even the black dress  reduces but doesn't eliminate it) seems totally detached from her dress. It's as if they're from different photos.

Here's Eva looking more like herself in a dramatic, warm and powerful color:

The bright, warm red contrasts strongly with Eva's natural colors while calling out to them at the same time. The gown emanates from her.

(But is the blush a bit too orange? Methinks so...)

Of course I couldn't spare Angelina, having devoted an entire blog post to convincing everyone that she's a Soft Autumn.

Now, to see what I'm seeing in this pic, you have to remind yourself that Angelina is incredibly, amazingly beautiful, and will never, ever look truly bad in anything. Ever. So when you see her here and think "She looks pretty good!" - well, of course she does. But I don't think it's her best.

Always, I'm looking for balance: balance of saturation, balance of value, balance of temperature. In other words, I'm asking "Are Angelina and the gown the same brightness? The same lightness? The same warmth?"

In this case, I feel strongly that the gown's much brighter than she is. A Soft should be able to glow with subtle luminosity in the correct soft color. Here, we notice the shine of the dress much more than we notice any shine from Angie.

For a green that balances her instead of outshining her, how about this?

An older photo, and a different setting, but still. The dress is more matte than shiny, and the color's much more muted (not to mention more warm), and I'm looking at Angelina's face. That's the real test.

On a very, very happy note, I was delighted to see this on the GG red carpet:

Dianna Agron

Talk about balance! Everything is equally soft, warm and medium-light. I'm usually loathe to praise any look that includes very unnatural hair color, but Dianna Agron is just gorgeous here. (The natural hair would have been even more glorious,  imho, but moving on...)

Note that Warm and Deep Autumns won't be flattered by this kind of monochromatic look. On a Soft Autumn, though, it can be heavenly.

And for one more Soft Autumn who got it right, check out Kelly MacDonald.

Again, balance. Gown and makeup are soft, warmish and medium-light, as she is. I'm  loving the natural hair color, of course.

I couldn't find good examples of Warm and Deep Autumns who nailed it, sorry to say. But that could just be my natural Soft Autumn bias noticing my SA ladies more.  If you spotted some great WAs and DAs at the GGs, please share them with me. If I agree, I'll put them up.