Skip to main content
Palette Comparison

Cool Summer vs Deep Autumn Color Palette

Cool Summer is a cool palette and Deep Autumn is a warm one, so the two pull your complexion in opposite directions. Cool Summer is cool and cool, medium contrast, while Deep Autumn is warm and deep, high contrast. Here are both palettes side by side, with the eye, skin, and hair traits behind them.

Summer Season

Cool Summer

Elegant, refined, and cool. Medium contrast with clearer blues, teals, and cool berry tones.

Undertone
cool & Cool
Contrast
Medium
Best metals
silver, white gold
Full Cool Summer guide

Autumn Season

Deep Autumn

Dark, luxurious, and intense. High contrast with rich chocolate, burgundy, and forest tones.

Undertone
warm & Deep
Contrast
High
Best metals
gold, rose gold
Full Deep Autumn guide

The Cool Summer and Deep Autumn Palettes

Each type's eight signature shades. Read them as a set rather than one color at a time: it's the overall temperature and clarity that separates these two palettes.

Cool Summer colors

Cool Summer colors are blue-based and gently softened. They have real presence without the hard edge of a Winter palette.

Raspberry

Your signature shade

Deep Teal

Cool and grounded

Cool Cerulean

Clear and calm

Orchid

Rich cool pink

Cool Navy

Your best dark

Soft Jade

Gentle cool green

Dusty Lilac

Soft and refined

Dove Grey

Everyday cool neutral

Deep Autumn colors

Deep Autumn colors carry weight. Every shade in your palette has depth and warmth — this is the richest, most saturated corner of the Autumn family.

Mahogany

Your signature shade

Burgundy

Deep and luxurious

Deep Olive

Dark and earthy

Bronze Gold

Rich metallic warmth

Forest Teal

Your cool accent

Burnt Sienna

Warm and intense

Chocolate

Everyday deep neutral

Warm Buff

Your best light base

Key Characteristics

The coloring each palette is built around. Where you land on these three is what decides which of the two is yours.

Eyes

Cool Summer

Cool blue, soft grey-blue, or cool grey-green. The iris often has a slightly clouded quality with a soft outer ring rather than a defined one.

Deep Autumn

Dark blue, deep green, dark hazel, dark brown, or nearly black, usually with warm golden or olive tones visible up close.

Skin

Cool Summer

Medium to deep with clear cool undertones. Cool Summer skin has a rosy or blue-toned cast and rarely takes on a golden colour in the sun.

Deep Autumn

Ivory, olive, or medium to deep with golden-olive warm undertones. Deep Autumn skin holds a tan well and rarely looks pink.

Hair

Cool Summer

Medium to dark ash brown. Cool Summer hair keeps its ashy quality even when it lightens, and rarely develops golden or red highlights.

Deep Autumn

Medium to dark brown with a golden shine, or dark auburn. There is warmth in it even at the darkest depths.

Not sure which season you are? Take the quiz

One photo tells you whether you are a Cool Summer, a Deep Autumn, or one of the other ten types, with your full palette and a preview on your own face.

Get my color analysis

Cool Summer vs Deep Autumn Celebrities

Style icons for each palette. Comparing two faces you already know is often quicker than comparing swatches.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Cool Summer

Dakota Fanning

Cool Summer

Carey Mulligan

Cool Summer

Emily Blunt

Cool Summer

Eva Mendes

Deep Autumn

Kelly Rowland

Deep Autumn

Sofía Vergara

Deep Autumn

Penélope Cruz

Deep Autumn

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the real difference between Cool Summer and Deep Autumn?
Undertone. Cool Summer is cool, built around shades like raspberry, deep teal and cool cerulean, while Deep Autumn is warm, built around mahogany, burgundy and deep olive. Depth differs too, Cool Summer sitting at medium contrast against Deep Autumn at high, but temperature is what you should test first. A palette on the wrong side of that line leaves skin looking sallow or grey however well the depth matches.
Are Cool Summer and Deep Autumn the same season?
No. Cool Summer belongs to Summer and Deep Autumn belongs to Autumn, two separate seasons in the twelve-type system. They also sit on opposite sides of the warm and cool line, which makes confusing them the more costly kind of mistake. The shades each one is named for do not transfer between them.
Which key colors define Cool Summer vs Deep Autumn?
Cool Summer is defined by raspberry, deep teal, cool cerulean and orchid. Cool Summer colors are blue-based and gently softened. They have real presence without the hard edge of a Winter palette. Deep Autumn is defined by mahogany, burgundy, deep olive and bronze gold. Deep Autumn colors carry weight. Every shade in your palette has depth and warmth — this is the richest, most saturated corner of the Autumn family. Metals are the quickest tell of all: Cool Summer wants silver or white gold, and Deep Autumn wants gold or rose gold.
Am I Cool Summer or Deep Autumn? How can I tell the difference?
Temperature first: hold raspberry and mahogany fabric under your chin in daylight and watch which one evens out your skin instead of adding shadow. Then depth: Cool Summer carries medium contrast between hair, skin and eyes where Deep Autumn carries high, so judge how much contrast your own bare-faced photo shows. Then metals: Cool Summer suits silver or white gold and Deep Autumn suits gold or rose gold. When two of the three agree, that is your answer.
Who are some celebrity examples of Cool Summer and Deep Autumn?
For Cool Summer, look at Jacqueline Kennedy, Dakota Fanning, Carey Mulligan and Emily Blunt. For Deep Autumn, look at Eva Mendes, Kelly Rowland, Sofía Vergara and Penélope Cruz. Read them for the relationship between hair, skin and eyes rather than for individual outfits, since a stylist can put anyone in anything. Daylight photographs without heavy makeup or filters are far more useful here than red-carpet shots.
Why does getting Cool Summer vs Deep Autumn right matter?
Because the two palettes fail in opposite directions, and the failure is quiet rather than obvious. Wearing Deep Autumn colors as a Cool Summer lays a warm cast over cool skin, which shows up as dullness, grey under the eyes, or a yellow flatness people read as tiredness rather than as a wardrobe problem. It also costs money. Most of a wardrobe is neutrals and basics, and buying those on the wrong side of the line means every top you own works slightly against your face while none of them looks obviously wrong on the hanger. Metals compound it: Cool Summer suits silver or white gold and Deep Autumn suits gold or rose gold, so jewelry bought for the wrong season quietly undercuts the rest.
Can Cool Summer and Deep Autumn share any colors?
Not the same shades, but another 7 sit close enough that one garment could pass for either. Those near-matches are the softest, most neutral parts of each palette, where the gap narrows to a degree or two of warmth. Everything either season is known for stays on its own side: raspberry and deep teal for Cool Summer, mahogany and burgundy for Deep Autumn. Treat the near-matches as safe ground, not as proof the palettes are interchangeable.
What's the fastest way to confirm my season at home?
Stand at a window in indirect daylight, without makeup, in something that will not bounce color onto your face. Hold raspberry against mahogany under your chin, one at a time, and watch your skin rather than the fabric: the right one evens out redness and softens the shadows under your eyes, and the wrong one adds a grey or yellow cast. Then repeat at your wrist with silver or white gold against gold or rose gold jewelry. Two signals pointing the same way is usually enough, and a photo-based analysis will confirm it in minutes.

Browse All Palettes

All twelve color seasons, three to a family. Open any one for its full palette, traits, and the colors to keep away from your face.

Is your palette Cool Summer or Deep Autumn? Find out in one photo

Upload a single photo and get your exact type, your complete palette, makeup shades, and color combinations.

Get my color analysis