Knowing your best seasonal color can ~*change*~ your life. It will simplify your beauty routine, and even make creating outfits super easy. Booking a session with an image consultant is an investment because it can get expensive. Here we discuss if it's worth the money and a *free* alternative that you can try to check your best season.
What is Seasonal Color Analysis?
TikTok made seasonal color analysis popular but the color psychology theory has been around since the 1980s. Seasonal color analysis is a color theory developed by color theorist Suzanne Caygill. Author Carole Jackson authored the book "Color Me Beautiful," which was inspired by Caygill's system.
Seasonal color analysyis helps you identify your most flattering color palette based on your skin tone, hair color, and eye color. It considers three key aspects of color:
- Temperature (Hue): Warm or yellow undertones vs. Cool or blue undertones
- Lightness and Darkness (Value): Light vs. Deep
- Clarity (Chroma): Clear vs. Muted
Knowing these aspects can help you categorize into one of twelve seasons in the seasonal color analysis system. Below is a quick lesson on the system.
The 12 Seasonal Color Palettes:
There are four main seasons—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—each with three sub-categories.
Warm Seasons:
Bright Spring - Warm, light, and clear. Its color palette is composed of golden yellow, coral, and turquoise.
Light Spring - Soft and warm. Shades like apricot, peach, and baby blue (a light greenish blue) flatter Light Springs the most.
True Spring - Clear, bright, and warm. Tomato red, marigold, teal, and watermelon are just some of the colors True Springs can wear.
True Autumn - Rich, warm, yet muted. True Autumns look good in earthy tones like brown, camel, olive green, and burgundy.
Soft Autumn - Features are grayed out (low visual weight) but have warm tones. Choose colors like rose taupe, sage, and cedar.
Dark Autumn - Deep and warm. There is a high contrast between the skin, hair, and eye color. Dark Autumns look best in eggplant, paprika red, deep peacock blue, turmeric, and emerald green).
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Cool Seasons:
Light Summer - A combination of cool and light. The features have low contrast, aka muted and the skin has beige or pink undertones. Light Summers will shine in ballet pink, periwinkle, lemon chiffon, sky blue, and mint green.
True Summer - Cool, light, and muted. True Summers will look stunning in slate gray, light mauve, and lilac.
Soft Summer - Soft and cool-toned. Soft Summers should stay away from deep colors as this would drown them. Their best colors are orchid haze, dusty rose, and laurel green.
True Winter - High contrast and cool-toned. True Winters look gorgeous in bright whites, icy pastels, and deep reds.
Bright Winter - The skin has cool to neutral undertones, aka clear and cool. Bright Winters can pull off silver, fuchsia pink, navy blue, and red violet.
Deep Winter - High contrast features and cool, olive, or neutral undertones. Deep Winters look best in boysenberry, plum, and jet black.
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The Concept Wardrobe explains each season and color palettes in detail if you need additional information. They can provide a comprehensive guide on the best colors to wear for your season.
Dream Wardrobe shows the best color palette, plus makeup tips for each seasonal color.
On YouTube, you can watch Dear Peachie's guide to seasonal color analysis:
How To Know Your Seasonal Color Analysis Using ChatGPT
Know your hex code.
Find out the hex code of your eyes, skin, and hair, aka the color value #XXXX you see on a color picker tool from Photoshop, Canva, or GIMP. Take a makeup-free selfie facing a window so your photo will have natural lighting. Using Photoshop, Canva, or GIMP, find the hex code of your skin tone, eyes, and hair. You can also try this online color picker.
This is the script you'll enter:
My skin tone is [enter your skin's hex code #XXXX], my hair color is [your hair's hex code], and my eye color is [your eye color's hex code]. Based on these colors, which color palette am I according to the seasonal color analysis? Am I Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall?
My experience using ChatGPT to find out my color season analysis:
I already had a professional color analysis consultation so it would be interesting to find out if ChatGPT would show the same results. Here's what the AI tool told me:
I uploaded a makeup-free selfie on GIMP and used the color picker tool to get my skin tone, hair color, and eye color. Here are the results:
Hair: #1d1b1c
Skin: #f6cab6
Eye color: #513734
Below is the result after typing in the seasonal color analysis script on ChatGPT:
According to ChatGPT, my features would look best in Spring colors. I then asked which specific Spring palette I should focus on. It said that I was a Light Spring, meaning warm pastel hues would look great on me.
I also asked ChatGPT about the colors I can wear, including the neutral hues.
Seasonal Color Analysis results: ChatGPT vs. an Image Consultant
My professional color analysis session
I was lucky to have a seasonal color analysis session with professional image and color consultant Ingrid Nieto at a Laura Mercier event. Her setup faced the window, ensuring natural light reflected on my face. She first checked my eye color and then draped gold and silver fabric to find out if I was warm-toned or cool-toned.
She then draped colored fabrics to see which shades would make my complexion look healthy. Instead of using seasons to define color palettes, Ingrid prefers to be straightforward with the shade categories. According to her, I'm a Warm Clear. When translated to the seasonal color analysis, I'm a True Spring.
After my color analysis session, I understood why I always gravitate to coral and warm pink lipstick shades. Plus, I realized why dark eyeshadow and berry-tone lipstick looked intense on me. I also found out that off-white, coffee brown, and navy were my best neutral colors.
They recommended the Laura Mercier High Vibe Lipstick in Blaze to me. It's a warm pink lippie that gives a moisturized pigmented finish.
Laura Mercier High Vibe Lipstick in Blaze, P1,900, Lazada
As for the clothes, I've noticed that I ~*glow*~ whenever I wear clothes within the Warm Clear palette. I feel more confident, and I receive more hype compliments from friends. Here's an IG post of my sample OOTD that worked well for my skin tone and features.
My thoughts on ChatGPT seasonal color analysis results versus professional consultant session
ChatGPT said I was a Light Spring, and Ingrid recommended colors that fall under the True Spring palette. These are two different color palettes. According to Ingrid, pastel colors may wash me out so I need to compromise by choosing intense, warm shades for my makeup.
I prefer the results I got from my session with Ingrid versus what I got from ChatGPT. Plus, First, I've applied Ingrid's advice to the makeup and clothes I wear. It made shopping and dressing up so much easier.
RELATED: 15 Classic Fashion Items Every Girl Should Have In Her Closet
Color-picking a selfie can also be tricky because one image is made up of a million pixels. It can be difficult to find the accurate shade of your hair, skin tone, and eye color. The color recommendations from ChatGPT are also limited as opposed to an IRL professional consultation. You may proceed to rely on ChatGPT for seasonal color analysis if you want to save money but nothing beats a professional consultation.
The easiest way to find out the colors that will suit you, according to a professional color consultant
Ingrid said that the best way to find out if a color works well for your skin tone and features is when you first see your face instead of the clothes, eyeshadow, or lipstick. You should be wearing the clothes and not the other way around.
Do I really need to know my seasonal color palette?
A friendly reminder to not let color systems limit you in what you wear or use. The seasonal color analysis is a guide and not a strict rulebook you should abide by. Life is too short to be constricted! Experiment with color combinations and wear what makes you confident!
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