colormatch

Soft Summer vs Soft Autumn

Both are soft seasons: every color is muted, with gray stirred through it, and neither wants a clear or bright shade. The difference is undertone — soft summer is cool-neutral and soft autumn is warm-neutral — which shows up fastest when you hold silver beside gold, or a gray-pink beside warm beige or olive.

The comparison below draws on the same wear shades, neutrals and shades to avoid as each palette page. If you already know you are one of the two, the four checks near the bottom will tell you which.

Soft summer and soft autumn, side by side

Soft summerSoft autumn
UndertoneCool-neutralWarm-neutral
DepthLight to mediumMedium
SaturationLow chroma, low contrastLow chroma, low contrast
MetalsSilver, white goldGold, bronze, copper
NeutralsSoft white, cool gray, taupe, navyCream, chocolate brown, khaki, bronze
Best colorsSlate blue, dusty pink, mauveOlive green, moss, brick red
BorrowedFrom autumn: warm aubergine, deep teal, forest greenFrom summer: sage green, mauve, seafoam
To avoidOrange, tomato red, mustard, camel, pure blackIcy pink, fuchsia, pure white, cool gray, black

Only saturation and contrast read the same in both columns: both palettes are muted and low in contrast. Everything else — above all undertone — is where they part.

The full entries, with every shade named and coded, are the soft summer color palette and the soft autumn color palette. Their parent seasons are summer and autumn.

The two palettes, side by side

Ten wear shades each, and in both cases three of them are borrowed from the season next door. Soft summer takes autumn's three quietest shades, which are also its darkest colors; soft autumn takes summer's three quietest, which are the only cool colors it can wear near the face.

Soft summer colors to wear

Summer's quietest shades, plus the three it borrows from autumn — warm aubergine, deep teal, forest green — the darkest colors in this palette.

  • Sage Green#8FA392
  • Mauve#9B7F96
  • Seafoam#8AB8AD
  • Powder Blue#8FB3D1
  • Soft Plum#7A5A73
  • Slate Blue#6F8FB5
  • Dusty Pink#C98F9C
  • Warm Aubergine#5A3540
  • Deep Teal#255F60
  • Forest Green#3B5C3B

Soft autumn colors to wear

Autumn's quietest shades, plus the three it borrows from summer — sage green, mauve, seafoam — which sit close to the earth colors without breaking the palette.

  • Warm Aubergine#5A3540
  • Deep Teal#255F60
  • Forest Green#3B5C3B
  • Olive Green#6B6B2F
  • Moss#7C8A43
  • Brick Red#93342C
  • Rust#8F3D1E
  • Sage Green#8FA392
  • Mauve#9B7F96
  • Seafoam#8AB8AD

Colors they share

6 of the 10 wear shades appear in both palettes, because each one borrows the other's quietest three. If these already look right on you, you are one of the two muted seasons and the question is only which.

  • Sage Green#8FA392
  • Mauve#9B7F96
  • Seafoam#8AB8AD
  • Warm Aubergine#5A3540
  • Deep Teal#255F60
  • Forest Green#3B5C3B

Colors that tell them apart

Take the shared shades away and each palette keeps 4 colors the other does not have. All of them sit at the same softness and depth, so temperature is the only thing left to judge — which makes them the cleanest test on this page.

Only in the soft summer palette

Cool, grayed shades. On a soft autumn these turn the face sallow; on a soft summer they look like ordinary colors.

  • Powder Blue#8FB3D1
  • Soft Plum#7A5A73
  • Slate Blue#6F8FB5
  • Dusty Pink#C98F9C

Only in the soft autumn palette

Warm, earthy shades. On a soft summer they cast yellow; on a soft autumn they look at home.

  • Olive Green#6B6B2F
  • Moss#7C8A43
  • Brick Red#93342C
  • Rust#8F3D1E

How to tell which you are

Four checks, all of them with things you already own. Do them by a window in daylight, without makeup, and compare two colors at a time — five at once tells you nothing. The face is the only judge that matters: the right shade evens the skin and settles the shadow under the eyes, and the wrong one deepens it.

  1. Silver against gold

    Put a silver chain on bare skin in daylight, then a gold one. On soft summer the silver settles and the gold turns the skin yellow; on soft autumn the gold settles and the silver looks cold. Both palettes are muted, so white gold and brushed gold will both pass — compare the plain, polished versions to get a clear answer.

  2. Sage green against olive green

    This is the pair that separates the two borrowed greens. Sage green (#8FA392) sits in both palettes; olive green (#6B6B2F) belongs to soft autumn alone. If olive warms your face and sage looks flat, you are a soft autumn. If olive lays a yellow cast over the skin and sage looks quiet and natural, you are a soft summer.

  3. Soft white against cream

    Soft summer's pale neutral is soft white (#F1F1EE) and soft autumn's is cream (#F0E4CC). Hold one under the chin, then the other. Cream brightens a soft autumn and dulls a soft summer; soft white does the opposite. Avoid this test with optical white, which sits on soft autumn's avoid list and proves nothing.

  4. Dusty pink against rust

    The quickest test of direction, because these two are close in depth and opposite in temperature: dusty pink (#C98F9C) against rust (#8F3D1E). Whichever one makes the skin look even and the eyes clearer is your side of the border, even if you like the other one more.

Get your free color report

It reads one photo in your browser, or asks seven questions if you have no photo you trust, and lands on summer or autumn with the colors named and coded. Prefer to start from a photo? Use the photo route.

Soft summer and soft autumn: questions

Can you be between soft summer and soft autumn?

Yes — the two palettes share 6 of their 10 wear shades, so a person can genuinely sit between them. If silver and gold are both tolerable and neither palette looks wrong, wear the shared shades — sage green, mauve, seafoam, warm aubergine, deep teal, forest green — and test the rest in daylight. The free report settles the part that matters most in a shop, which is whether you are a summer or an autumn.

Is soft autumn warm or neutral?

Warm-neutral. The warmth is real — gold, bronze and cream beat silver and pure white — but it is held back by low chroma, so mustard, pumpkin and tomato red at full strength look loud on soft autumn rather than flattering. That restraint is what separates it from warm autumn, which wears the same warmth at full strength.

Is soft summer cool or neutral?

Cool-neutral, in the same way. Silver and white gold suit it and orange, camel and mustard turn the skin sallow, but the coolness is grayed rather than icy. Icy pastels belong to winter; soft summer wants the muted version of the same blue or pink, which is why powder blue reads as a summer color and icy blue does not.

What do the two palettes have in common?

Everything except temperature: both are low in chroma, both sit low on contrast, and both list pure black among the shades to avoid. 6 wear shades are identical in both lists, because soft summer borrows autumn's three quietest shades and soft autumn borrows summer's three quietest. The colors that tell them apart are the cool ones — powder blue, soft plum, slate blue, dusty pink — and the warm ones — olive green, moss, brick red, rust.

Do soft summer and soft autumn wear the same jewelry?

No. Silver and white gold belong to soft summer; gold, bronze and copper belong to soft autumn. Because both palettes are muted, the finish matters as much as the metal: brushed or antique gold reads quieter than polished gold, and a bright polished silver can overpower a soft summer. When in doubt, match the finish to the palette before the metal.

Where this sits