Discover your color palette and your style type.

Soft Summer Makeup Word Cloud

10/1/2018

If you've been following my blog recently, you know I'm trying to complete my series on color words in the 12 makeup palettes.

Last week, I wrote about True Summer's makeup, which is somewhat light, a bit faded, and very, very cool-toned.

This week, I'm writing about True Summer's neighbor, Soft Summer.

As we move from True Summer to Soft Summer, our colors become

- a bit more dark,
- even more faded,
- and a bit warmer.

Soft Summer's colors are still light, cool, and soft relative to the other seasons, because Soft Summer is Summer first and foremost.

Soft Summer and Light Summer, its near-neighbor on the other side of True Summer, have in common that neither palette, unlike True Summer, is completely cool; Light Summer adds a bit of Spring's clear warmth to its palette, and Soft Summer adds a bit of Autumn's toasty warmth.

The Soft Summer makeup list currently has about 650 products on it, every one of which has been matched to original the Sci/Art Soft Summer palette.

(You'll find many versions of the Soft Summer palette online, but only those that derive from Sci/Art palettes are truly accurate.)

Here are the color words that appear most frequently on the Soft Summer makeup list.

I'm not surprised to see pink appear so often: pink is light, cool red, and as such it is a defining color of all three light, cool seasons. And rose is just a synonym for pink.

But notice the supplemental colors: brown, plum, mauve. The importance of these colors to a Soft Summer's makeup reflects this woman's need for slightly deeper and warmer colors on her face.

If you look at the less-frequently-appearing color names, you'll see some that hint at Soft Summer's move toward Autumn richness: bronze, moss, spice.

Compare the warm colors in Soft Summer's makeup to the warm colors in Light Summer's makeup. Both Summer subtypes have a touch of warmth, but Soft Summer's hint of warmth is deep and rich, while Light Summer's warmth is light and bright: peach, floral, and flamingo.

Soft Summer on the left, Light Summer on the right.

It's also interesting to compare Soft Summer to its lighter, cooler neighbor, True Summer. Blue, the coldest hue, is more important for True Summer. Brown, which is warm, is much more important for Soft Summer.

Soft Summer on the left, True Summer on the right.

Soft Summer women can have any hair color, any eye color, and any apparent skin tone, but they are united by the fact that their best colors are mostly (but not completely) cool, a bit (but not a lot) on the light side, and very, very faded. These are cool pastels that are smudgy and smoky.

Check out Soft Summers Leona Lewis, Carmen Electra, Emma Roberts, and Emilia Clarke looking like the most beautiful versions of themselves. No masks here.

If this makeup is your makeup, you may be a Soft Summer. You might consider trying the Soft Summer makeup list; compared to expensive in-person color draping, the list is a steal at $15. It could confirm your season.

You might also consider home draping cards; they are Sci/Art color-accurate, and at $24 or $48, much more affordable than in-person draping (which costs hundreds.)

20 Comments

Liana Kerr link

10/1/2018 08:49:39 pm

As a Soft Summer, here's what I swear by:
Desperation (eyeliner by Urban Decay)
Twilight Mauve and Brandied Plum (eyeshadow by Clinique)
Boudoir Eyes (eyeshadow palette by Too Faced)
Angel Red and Pink Spice (lipsticks by Clinique)
Portly Plum (mascara by Clinique)
Deep Brown (eyebrow pencil by Maybelline)

They fit well into the world cloud -- mauve, plum, spice.

Your page with Soft Summer celebrities wearing makeup that flattered them compared to makeup intended to be sexy and dramatic (https://www.truth-is-beauty.com/soft-summer-celebrities.html) was a major part of my realizing I was a Soft Summer. Whenever I tried to wear black eyeliner and mascara and red lipstick, it overwhelmed me and made me look all the more like an awkward kid, but those muted, subtle colors do a lot for me. Thank you for all your work!

Melina

10/3/2018 11:09:19 am

I haven't been draped so don't know my season 100% sure, but I do know I look like a zombie in Soft Summer makeup ;) I'm now gravitating to True or Dark Autumn as most likely, so looking forward to their makeup word clouds! (Hopefully without too much brown what comes to lipstick shades, I can't do brown on lips although it's good elsewhere :) I guess this is a good example of not all your palette colours looking good on lips, as per an earlier article here.)

10/4/2018 01:14:20 pm

As a LSu, I have often gone for SSu colors by mistake -- they are very similar, & without swatch cards for reference, I struggle to tell them apart. This is a great post for highlighting the difference. I've seen a lot of talk about distinguishing light summer from light spring - the post on this blog is great - but not as much about SSu vs. LSu. Thanks for this.

Julia

10/6/2018 11:33:40 pm

Hi Rachel,

Thank you for these posts on telling the difference between commonly confused "neighboring" seasons - I have found them most enlightening. One such seasonal pair I am especially interested in, and haven't been able to find explained anywhere, is Soft Summer vs. Dark Winter. I understand they are "similar" in that they are both (relatively) cool and (somewhat) muted, but telling them apart should not be that difficult, right?

Well... I am a (very probable, like 95%) DW who looks pretty good in black (but awesome in navy, blue-based red, and deep forest green) while not feeling comfortable wearing dark, bright DW lippies (preferring very muted plums instead), which leads me to suspect I might be flowing into SSu and it is my Dramatic-ness, rather than my skin, that makes generally very dark colors look "right" on me... But is there any way to be sure? What are some "tricky" (good or bad) colors to look out for?

Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you and keep up the good work!

Alex

10/7/2018 02:15:18 pm

Hi Julia,

I'm exactly like you: somewhere between Dark Winter and Soft Summer, can't figure it out. I'm good in black, but better than stark black is soft black or off-black. Navy and deep forest green are perfect on me. Soft summer make-up is MUCH better on me than Dark Winter
make-up, but that may be because of my style (mostly Natural with a bit of Ethereal, zero Dramatic and zero Romantic). Soft Summer colors are perfect for me in make-up, but in clothes they're often too light and too muted and make me look washed out. For clothes, I need something in between: softer and more muted than Dark Winter, but darker and clearer than Soft Summer. Those colors exist! You can find them. (And, with some fabrics, washing fades the item just enough - buy the stark black, wash and hang in the sun, and voila! - a perfect soft off-black.)

10/9/2018 06:08:20 pm

Hmm, DW is pretty flexible in its bright-muted range, but SSu is resolutely muted above all else. Combine that with the fact that your Style ID favors the gentler tones of your palette, and it sounds to me like you're probably a DW who leans strongly muted (consider it your "2MIT" ;) ). I suggested some draping tests on this thread for Julia--maybe they would work for you too?

If you have or get Rachel's draping cards, one thing I noticed when draping my family that you might find helpful is that the SSu cards looked too bluish under my DW dad's face, but the DW cards looked too heavy and, oddly, warm under my SSu mother and sister's faces (I don't know if that's because they both lean cool or if Winter's red undertones appear warmer than Summer's blue undertones).

10/13/2018 09:53:05 am

KC, that makes sense - thank you!

Soft Summer colors looking blueish on Deep Winter skin - YES. That's my trouble with Soft Summer dusty grey-blues and lavenders - they cast a blue shadow on my face. (Interestinly, periwinkle does the same thing: many people say periwinkle is a universal color which everyone can wear, but I can't!) People often say: oh, if dusty cool colors cast a blue shadow on your face, you must be a warm season. But I am definitely not a warm season. Dusty lavender is bad on me, but not quite as bad as dusty mustard.

Winter having red undertones while Summer has blue undertones: that makes perfect sense. My Soft Summer sister definitely has blue undertones, and I definitely have red undertones.

It's interesting that the Soft Summer colors which are best on me are the reds and pinks. It's the grey-blues and lavenders which wash me out and cast a blue shadow.

A warmer blue, though, can be very muted and still work on me. It seems like it's the combinatin of either very-cool-and-muted or very-warm-and-muted that doesn't work. A very warm or very cool color needs to be just in the middle in saturation - if it's too muted (like dusty lavender or dusty mustard) it's horrific; if it's too bright it's overwhelming. If the hue is medium, though, there's more room for variation in saturation.

Thank you, KC!

10/14/2018 10:54:24 pm

So glad to be helpful :)

10/8/2018 02:57:36 am

Julia, while I'm not an analyst, I'd say black is the deal-breaker here; if you're not flattered by (proper) black, Ssu is more likely than DW.

10/8/2018 03:00:34 am

And adding to that, pure white as well; while DW white isn't quite as stark as TW white, you still need to be flattered by pure white rather than off-white, to be a DW.

10/9/2018 05:32:27 pm

I think whether you can balance pure white (even if it's not your *best* color) is a better test for DW vs. SSu. The belief that black is "universally flattering" is so ingrained in the fashion world by now that most people have trained themselves out of honestly seeing whether black is flattering on them or not. White is somehow more finicky--it's easier to tell if, say, pure white is too stark on you, or antique white (great on Soft seasons!) is too dingy.

Also, have you tried Rachel's at-home draping cards? They're much cheaper than a draping appointment, and they make it easy to see where your sweet spot is in the balance of temperature, value, and saturation. You might even be surprised by the results; I self-diagnosed myself as a DW for a long time, but then the draping cards clearly showed that I was actually a TW--no other set of cards made my face look so awake and alive.

10/12/2018 03:38:37 am

KC, I agree, white is probably a better test than black, as it is, as you say, more finicky!

I also fear I may be one of those that have become "blind" what comes to black - I've always felt it's very flattering on me, but that may also be for the reasons you said... And the ability to balance black is one of the differences between DA or TA (my two likeliest seasons), so it's important - guess I'll just have to try to re-train my eye about it...

10/8/2018 12:27:59 pm

It's interesting: my sister is very obviously a soft summer. She has a medium-light cool beige skin tone (and tans easily), soft light blue-grey eyes, and light brown hair. We look a lot alike, but I am higher-contrast than she is: I have the same light-brown hair, but I have very pale pink-beige skin (and sunburn easily), and deep forest green/dark hazel eyes. Since my skin is lighter and my eyes are darker, my contrast is higher. I'm also slightly warmer than my sister: silver is lovely one her, but a bit harsh on me - gold is better on me (though a bit too warm if right next to my face - I used to wear gold-toned glasses, but they were really too warm for me - my current coffee brown is much better for me). My sister looks amazing in blue-grey; blue-grey washes me out. My sister needs the very softest colors. I need more depth and more saturation - but not all the way to Winter or it gets overwhelming. I also need a bit more warmth - but not too much or I look sallow. My sister might wear a very soft grey-blue with silver-toned jewelry while I wear a deep rich teal with gold-toned jewelry. But our reds and pinks are the same: we're both overwhelmed by bright red or hot pink; we both look lovely in soft browned berry colors. We wear the same blush and it looks great on both of us.

Color is fascinating!!

10/9/2018 05:54:14 pm

Hi Julia--It's best not to rely on makeup for draping, there's too much variation between individuals within seasons. Rachel's makeup lists work best for people in the middle of the bell curve, not so much for the outliers. DW is surprisingly flexible in its bright-muted range, so there's no conflict between looking good in many DW clothes but only favoring the most muted tones of the palette directly on your face.

I can think of one good makeup test, however: can you balance black mascara? Black mascara is natural on Winters, but usually looks like railroad tracks on SSus.

Draping-wise, try seeing if you look better in deep chocolate browns and old gold shades (DW) vs. cocoa browns and, if you can find them, pale greenish yellows. Yellow especially is almost impossible for TSus and SSus to look good in, so it's a fairly easy way to either narrow yourself down to those seasons or eliminate them from your possibilities.

If you're still not sure of your season, you can always try Rachel's at-home draping cards--my experience is that they work quite well.

10/10/2018 10:02:57 pm

Thanks for the replies!

Black mascara is not only good, but actually pretty necessary for me, and it doesn't look too strange because my eyes and hair are dark brown. (But then again, I do not feel like black mascara looks all that wrong on Ashley Judd, either - the post on her is what made me rethink my season, because I feel my coloring is quite similar to hers.) What looks too heavy on me, however, is pure black eyeliner, shadow, or brows - shades of grey look endlessly better there.

While I still think I am very much a DW, I dare not experiment with yellows, and gold jewelry is a firm no-no. If seasons are represented in a two-dimensional space, then I am a Dark Winter which leans neither True (too bright/pure), nor Autumn (too warm), but away towards the center of the grid. And this "third direction" of seasonal adjacency is something I'd deffo like to read more about!

10/12/2018 03:50:06 am

KC, in my honest experience, lipstick draping does generally work better than the draping cards offered here. (I don't mean the lipstick lists on this site, but lipstick draping options given elsewhere - search Infinite Closet lipstick draping, for example.) There's variation between individuals, yes, for sure, but there are a few lipsticks or shades that can give very good pointers as to the seasons's suitability to you (or not).

(I realize this comment may and probably will be removed, but then, I do think constructive criticism should never be discounted outright.) The reality is that I've heard so many people say the draping cards are not totally on the point for their designated seasons (just for a few examples, TW yellow in the cards is actually more like DW, the DW & DA yellows actually belong to Soft seasons, BSp blue is BW, and BW green is way too warm.)

10/12/2018 03:27:51 pm

Hi KM--I don't see why your comment would be deleted; everyone's free to express their opinion as long as the discussion doesn't devolve into trash talk.

Lipstick draping does work well for a lot of people, I agree--but as I said before, there's always outliers. Alex and Julia on this thread seem to be outliers, and I'm another. If we went by lipstick draping alone, we'd probably end up in the wrong season.

(Come to think of it, both Alex and I have Natural and Ethereal in our Style IDs . . . Julia, do you know what your Style ID is? Maybe Winter N/E blends have more trouble finding lipsticks that aren't too strong.)

Interesting that you mention some of the cards in the draping set seem to be in the wrong season. I did think that the BW green looked warmer than I would've expected, and then there were a few other cards I questioned, but not the same ones as you mentioned. Rachel identifies the cards by number in the email she sends with the draping set, and I noticed at least one typo in my email, so it's possible she sometimes gets the numbers mixed up. (I'm terrible with numbers, so I would personally go by swatch name instead.) There also might be some overlap between the seasons--when I ordered the full set of TW cards later, I found some blues and fuchsias that appeared in other seasons in the draping set.

10/12/2018 03:40:49 pm

Julia, you might try reading 12Blueprints's posts on DW and SSu for more commonalities between the two. I know Christine Scaman wrote somewhere (I forget exactly which post, sorry :( ) that DW and SSu have more in common than many expect because they are both cool seasons that are warmed, darkened, and muted by Autumn's influence. Christine also mentions a similar principle applying to BW and LSu elsewhere, and in fact recommends that new BWs who are intimidated by their season ease into their palette by starting with LSu clothes and gradually adding in BW items. Who'd have thought?

10/13/2018 05:16:26 am

KC, I assumed my comment will be deleted as it contained some criticism of Rachel's draping cards, and this is her site after all, but I'm glad if that's not the case ;)

The comments of some of the cards being slightly incorrect for the season are from people who have been draped (after getting the cards), so I'm sure they know best, also as they'veen comparing the cards to the TCI fan one usually gets after or at the Sci/Art draping session. (I don't think it's a question of typos or mistakes, I'm sure they don't happen very often.) I've also felt the same slight apprehension about some of the cards, but not having acquired an actual seasonal (TCI) fan as of yet, I couldn't of course tell for sure myself. There was one person who said the cards may get you into the ballpark, but cannot determine one's actual season, as for example the Winter cards seem to be a bit interchangeable, so you may know from them that you're a Winter, but not which one for certain. Also, on the 12blueprints site, there was one lady who, from the cards, thought she was DA, and yet in draping turned out to be a BW! But I assume that's an extreme case.

Elise

1/21/2021 01:32:02 pm

Hi! I have sensitive skin (especially eyes) and I have been exploring the brand 100% Pure which is all natural and fruit pigmented makeup. Can you include 100% Pure products in your makeup list?
Thanks!

Truth is Beauty

Soft Summer Makeup Word Cloud

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