Summer Season
Light Summer
Airy, delicate, and cool. Very low contrast with soft pastels and a gentle, ethereal quality.
- Undertone
- cool & Light
- Contrast
- Low
- Best metals
- silver, white gold
Palette Comparison
Light Summer vs Soft Summer Color Palette
Light Summer and Soft Summer are both Summer types, so they share an undertone and differ in how light and how saturated their best colors are. Light Summer is cool and light, low contrast, while Soft Summer is cool and soft, low contrast. Here are both palettes side by side, with the eye, skin, and hair traits behind them.
Summer Season
Soft Summer
Blended, hazy, and sophisticated. Low contrast with the most muted palette of the cool seasons.
- Undertone
- cool & Soft
- Contrast
- Low
- Best metals
- silver, rose gold
The Light Summer and Soft Summer 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.
Light Summer colors
Light Summer colors are cool, light, and slightly softened. They flatter by staying close to your own gentle contrast rather than fighting it.
Soft Rose
Your signature shade
Powder Blue
Calm and airy
Lavender
Soft and dreamy
Pale Aqua
Cool and fresh
Soft Mint
Gentle cool green
Blush Pink
Delicate and cool
Cool Butter
Your softest yellow
Sky Grey-Blue
Everyday cool neutral
Soft Summer colors
Soft Summer colors are blended and hazy, as if seen through morning mist. Nothing in your palette is fully saturated — that softness is the point.
Dusty Rose
Your signature shade
Sage Green
Hazy and restful
Soft Denim
Gentle cool blue
Soft Plum
Your richest tone
Muted Teal
Blended and calm
Dusty Lilac
Soft cool accent
Slate Blue
Quiet and refined
Soft Oyster
Everyday light neutral
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
Light Summer
Blue, green, pale blue-grey, or soft lavender-grey, usually with a hazy, blended edge to the iris rather than a sharp ring.
Soft Summer
Soft grey-green, blue-grey, or muted hazel. The iris tends to look slightly clouded, with colors that shift depending on the light.
Skin
Light Summer
Fair with delicate cool undertones and often a slight pink tinge. Light Summer skin flushes rather than tans and burns easily in strong sun.
Soft Summer
Medium to deep brown with muted neutral-cool undertones. Soft Summer skin often has an olive cast layered over coolness, which is what pulls it toward the Autumn border.
Hair
Light Summer
Light ash blonde, strawberry blonde with a cool cast, or medium ash brown. It usually looks slightly cool or smoky rather than golden in daylight.
Soft Summer
Medium to dark ashy brown, softly muted. It rarely holds a strong tone in either direction — neither clearly golden nor clearly ash.
Not sure which season you are? Take the quiz
One photo tells you whether you are a Light Summer, a Soft Summer, or one of the other ten types, with your full palette and a preview on your own face.
Get my color analysisLight Summer vs Soft Summer Celebrities
Style icons for each palette. Comparing two faces you already know is often quicker than comparing swatches.
Reese Witherspoon
Light Summer
Taylor Swift
Light Summer
Gwyneth Paltrow
Light Summer
Kristen Bell
Light Summer
Jennifer Aniston
Soft Summer
Cameron Diaz
Soft Summer
Bella Hadid
Soft Summer
Sarah Jessica Parker
Soft Summer
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the real difference between Light Summer and Soft Summer?
Clarity, and nothing else. Light Summer and Soft Summer share an undertone, a temperament and the same low contrast level, which is why no undertone test will separate them. The split is how pure each palette's colors are: Light Summer runs on clear shades like soft rose, powder blue and lavender, and Soft Summer on earthier, more blended ones like dusty rose, sage green and soft denim. Against the wrong face, a clear color looks garish and a blended one looks dull.
Are Light Summer and Soft Summer the same season?
No. They are two types inside the same Summer family, which is why they share cool undertones and still call for different colors. Light Summer is the light version and Soft Summer is the soft one, so their palettes sit at different levels of lightness and saturation. Being told you are "a Summer" is only half an answer, and the half that decides your best shades is the type.
Which key colors define Light Summer vs Soft Summer?
Light Summer is defined by soft rose, powder blue, lavender and pale aqua. Light Summer colors are cool, light, and slightly softened. They flatter by staying close to your own gentle contrast rather than fighting it. Soft Summer is defined by dusty rose, sage green, soft denim and soft plum. Soft Summer colors are blended and hazy, as if seen through morning mist. Nothing in your palette is fully saturated — that softness is the point. Metals are the quickest tell of all: Light Summer wants silver or white gold, and Soft Summer wants silver or rose gold.
Am I Light Summer or Soft Summer? How can I tell the difference?
Skip the undertone test. Both are cool, so vein color, jewelry instinct and the usual warm-versus-cool questions will point both ways. Start with clarity, since both types sit at low contrast: compare a clear soft rose against a more blended shade and see which one your face wears comfortably. Then metals: Light Summer suits silver or white gold and Soft Summer suits silver or rose gold. When two of the three agree, that is your answer.
Who are some celebrity examples of Light Summer and Soft Summer?
For Light Summer, look at Reese Witherspoon, Taylor Swift, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kristen Bell. For Soft Summer, look at Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Bella Hadid and Sarah Jessica Parker. 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 Light Summer vs Soft Summer right matter?
Because the two palettes fail in opposite directions, and the failure is quiet rather than obvious. The mismatch is weight, so nothing clashes outright: Soft Summer colors on a Light Summer simply drain the life out of the face, and Light Summer colors on a Soft Summer sit too heavily on it. 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: Light Summer suits silver or white gold and Soft Summer suits silver or rose gold, so jewelry bought for the wrong season quietly undercuts the rest.
Can Light Summer and Soft Summer share any colors?
Not the same shades, but a large share of both palettes sits 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: soft rose and powder blue for Light Summer, dusty rose and sage green for Soft Summer. 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 soft rose against dusty rose 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 silver 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
Is your palette Light Summer or Soft Summer? 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