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
Palette Comparison
Cool Summer vs Warm Autumn Color Palette
Cool Summer is a cool palette and Warm Autumn is a warm one, so the two pull your complexion in opposite directions. Cool Summer is cool and cool, medium contrast, while Warm Autumn is warm and warm, medium contrast. Here are both palettes side by side, with the eye, skin, and hair traits behind them.
Autumn Season
Warm Autumn
Golden, spicy, and inviting. Medium contrast with the purest warmth of the earthy seasons.
- Undertone
- warm & Warm
- Contrast
- Medium
- Best metals
- gold, rose gold
The Cool Summer and Warm 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
Warm Autumn colors
Warm Autumn colors are golden, rich, and earthy. They carry real depth without ever tipping into the cool clarity of a Winter palette.
Burnt Orange
Your signature shade
Golden Ochre
Sunlit and mellow
Olive Green
Earthy and grounded
Warm Brick
Rich and deep
Deep Teal
Your cool accent
Terracotta
Warm and inviting
Warm Sand
Everyday light neutral
Chestnut
Your best warm dark
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.
Warm Autumn
Amber, golden hazel, warm brown, or golden green, very often with visible gold flecking around the pupil.
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.
Warm Autumn
Warm ivory through to olive with golden or peachy undertones. Warm Autumn skin tans readily and looks noticeably healthier beside gold than silver.
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.
Warm Autumn
Red, auburn, copper, or golden brown. Warm Autumn has the strongest red and copper representation of any season.
Not sure which season you are? Take the quiz
One photo tells you whether you are a Cool Summer, a Warm Autumn, or one of the other ten types, with your full palette and a preview on your own face.
Get my color analysisCool Summer vs Warm 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
Julia Roberts
Warm Autumn
Jennifer Lopez
Warm Autumn
Beyoncé
Warm Autumn
Halle Berry
Warm Autumn
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the real difference between Cool Summer and Warm Autumn?
Undertone. Cool Summer is cool, built around shades like raspberry, deep teal and cool cerulean, while Warm Autumn is warm, built around burnt orange, golden ochre and olive green. Depth differs too, Cool Summer sitting at medium contrast against Warm Autumn at medium, 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 Warm Autumn the same season?
No. Cool Summer belongs to Summer and Warm 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 Warm 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. Warm Autumn is defined by burnt orange, golden ochre, olive green and warm brick. Warm Autumn colors are golden, rich, and earthy. They carry real depth without ever tipping into the cool clarity of a Winter palette. Metals are the quickest tell of all: Cool Summer wants silver or white gold, and Warm Autumn wants gold or rose gold.
Am I Cool Summer or Warm Autumn? How can I tell the difference?
Temperature first: hold raspberry and burnt orange fabric under your chin in daylight and watch which one evens out your skin instead of adding shadow. Then clarity, since both types sit at medium contrast: compare a clear burnt orange against a more blended shade and see which one your face wears comfortably. Then metals: Cool Summer suits silver or white gold and Warm 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 Warm Autumn?
For Cool Summer, look at Jacqueline Kennedy, Dakota Fanning, Carey Mulligan and Emily Blunt. For Warm Autumn, look at Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Halle Berry. 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 Warm Autumn right matter?
Because the two palettes fail in opposite directions, and the failure is quiet rather than obvious. Wearing Warm 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 Warm Autumn suits gold or rose gold, so jewelry bought for the wrong season quietly undercuts the rest.
Can Cool Summer and Warm Autumn share any colors?
Not the same shades, but another 10 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, burnt orange and golden ochre for Warm 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 burnt orange 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.
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
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