A free seasonal color analysis quiz. Answer 12 questions about your undertone, value and chroma in daylight, and get one of the 12 seasons with its palette, neutrals, makeup and hair guidance.
Honest note: this is a self-assessment based on your own observations, not a professional draping or a photo analysis. Use the self-check below to answer accurately, and compare your two neighbouring seasons.
Browse all seasons: Light Spring · True Spring · Bright Spring · Light Summer · True Summer · Soft Summer · Soft Autumn · True Autumn · Deep Autumn · Deep Winter · True Winter · Bright Winter
The idea traces back to Bauhaus teacher Johannes Itten, who noticed his students preferred palettes that echoed their own coloring and described them in seasonal terms (The Art of Color, 1961). Image consultants such as Suzanne Caygill developed it further, and Carole Jackson's Color Me Beautiful (1980) made the four seasons — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — mainstream.
Four groups proved too coarse: many people are neither clearly warm nor clearly cool. In 1985 Mary Spillane expanded the system to 12 types by asking which characteristic dominates. Later systems such as Kathryn Kalisz's Sci\ART used similar 12-season names (e.g. "Bright Winter", "Soft Autumn"), which are the ones most people use today.
The 12 seasons map onto the same three dimensions color scientists use to describe any color — hue, value and chroma, as in the Munsell system.
Warm (golden, peachy) → Spring & Autumn. Cool (pink, blue-red) → Summer & Winter. Undertone is not the same as how light or dark your skin is.
How light or dark your overall coloring is, and how much contrast there is between skin, hair and eyes. Light → Light Spring/Summer; deep → Deep Autumn/Winter.
How saturated your coloring looks. Clear, high-contrast features suit Bright seasons; blended, muted features suit Soft seasons.
Each of the 12 seasons has one dominant dimension. A Soft Summer is mostly muted and secondarily cool; a True Winter is mostly cool. That's why two people with "cool" skin can land in different seasons.
Honest caveats. Phone cameras auto-adjust white balance, smooth skin and boost contrast, and every screen shows color differently, so a selfie can shift your result by a season. Indoor light is usually warm (yellowish), which makes everyone look warmer. Veins and "which metal do you like" tests are weak signals on their own. Color analysis rests on real color theory, but which colors flatter a person is a matter of appearance with little formal scientific testing — use the result as a guide, not a rule.
| Season | Undertone | Value | Chroma | Example colors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light Spring | Warm-neutral | Light | Clear | Peach, Light coral, Butter yellow, Light aqua |
| True Spring | Warm | Light–medium | Clear | Coral, Golden yellow, Grass green, Turquoise |
| Bright Spring | Warm-neutral | Medium | Very clear | Poppy red, Turquoise, Bright violet, Lime |
| Light Summer | Cool-neutral | Light | Soft–medium | Powder blue, Lavender, Soft rose, Seafoam |
| True Summer | Cool | Medium | Soft–medium | Raspberry, Periwinkle, Blue-grey, Cool pink |
| Soft Summer | Cool-neutral | Medium | Muted | Dusty rose, Sage, Slate blue, Mauve |
| Soft Autumn | Warm-neutral | Medium | Muted | Olive, Salmon, Khaki, Soft teal |
| True Autumn | Warm | Medium–deep | Medium | Rust, Mustard, Moss, Pumpkin |
| Deep Autumn | Warm-neutral | Deep | Medium–rich | Chocolate, Tomato red, Forest green, Aubergine |
| Deep Winter | Cool-neutral | Deep | Rich | Black, Burgundy, Emerald, Deep navy |
| True Winter | Cool | Medium–deep | Clear | True red, Royal blue, Icy pink, Emerald |
| Bright Winter | Cool-neutral | Medium | Very clear | Fuchsia, Cobalt, Emerald, Lemon |
Names vary between systems ("True" vs "Warm/Cool", "Bright" vs "Clear", "Deep" vs "Dark"); the characteristics are the same.
A method of choosing clothing and makeup colors that harmonize with your natural coloring (skin, eyes, hair). Colors are grouped into seasons — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — each subdivided into three in the 12-season system.
Not in a strict sense. It builds on real color science (hue, value and chroma, as in the Munsell system), but which colors 'suit' a person is a judgement of appearance with little peer-reviewed testing. Treat results as a useful guide, not a fixed rule.
Only roughly. Phone cameras auto white-balance, smooth skin and change contrast, and screens differ. A selfie in daylight can narrow it down; a draping session in neutral daylight is more reliable.
The 4-season system sorts people by warm/cool and light/dark. The 12-season system adds which characteristic is dominant — for example a Soft Summer is mainly muted and only secondarily cool — giving three types per season.
It is a self-assessment, not a professional draping or a photo analysis. Your answers are scored on undertone, value and chroma and mapped to the season whose dominant trait matches yours most strongly. Lighting, makeup, dyed hair and how you judge your own features all affect the result, so treat it as a starting point and test the two neighbouring seasons too.