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 Deep Winter Color Palette
Cool Summer and Deep Winter both run cool, which is why a Summer palette and a Winter palette can look closer than you would expect. Cool Summer is cool and cool, medium contrast, while Deep Winter is cool and deep, high contrast. Here are both palettes side by side, with the eye, skin, and hair traits behind them.
Winter Season
Deep Winter
Dramatic, dark, and intense. High contrast with black, deep violet, and cool jewel tones.
- Undertone
- cool & Deep
- Contrast
- High
- Best metals
- silver, white gold
The Cool Summer and Deep Winter 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
Deep Winter colors
Deep Winter colors are dark, cool, and saturated. This is the only palette in the system where true black is a genuine hero rather than a compromise.
Deep Violet
Your signature shade
True Red
Blue-based and bold
Pine Green
Dark and cool
Deep Sapphire
Rich and saturated
Deep Magenta
Cool and vivid
Deep Teal
Your jewel accent
Midnight
Everyday deep neutral
True Black
Your strongest 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
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.
Deep Winter
Dark brown, cool dark hazel, or black-brown. The iris usually reads as almost uniformly dark, with a crisp boundary against the white of the eye.
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.
Deep Winter
Olive, or fair to deep with cool undertones. Deep Winter skin can look almost translucent at the fair end and richly saturated at the deep end.
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.
Deep Winter
Medium to dark brown, dark espresso, or black. It holds its depth without any golden or coppery warmth showing through.
Not sure which season you are? Take the quiz
One photo tells you whether you are a Cool Summer, a Deep Winter, or one of the other ten types, with your full palette and a preview on your own face.
Get my color analysisCool Summer vs Deep Winter 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
Anne Hathaway
Deep Winter
Kim Kardashian
Deep Winter
Sandra Oh
Deep Winter
Lupita Nyong'o
Deep Winter
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the real difference between Cool Summer and Deep Winter?
Not undertone: both palettes are cool, so warm-versus-cool will not settle it. What differs is weight. Cool Summer is the cool type at medium contrast, and Deep Winter is the deep one at high contrast. Hold raspberry next to deep violet by your face: one will let your features read clearly, and the other will either flatten them or overpower them.
Are Cool Summer and Deep Winter the same season?
No. Cool Summer belongs to Summer and Deep Winter belongs to Winter, two separate seasons in the twelve-type system. They read as similar because both are cool, and cool and deep coloring can look alike in poor light. The shades each one is named for do not transfer between them.
Which key colors define Cool Summer vs Deep Winter?
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. Deep Winter is defined by deep violet, true red, pine green and deep sapphire. Deep Winter colors are dark, cool, and saturated. This is the only palette in the system where true black is a genuine hero rather than a compromise. Metals will not help you choose between these two, since both want silver or white gold.
Am I Cool Summer or Deep Winter? 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 depth: Cool Summer carries medium contrast between hair, skin and eyes where Deep Winter carries high, so judge how much contrast your own bare-faced photo shows. Metals will not break the tie here, since both types want silver or white gold. That leaves the fabric test as the deciding one, which is exactly why this pair is worth checking against a photo rather than a mirror.
Who are some celebrity examples of Cool Summer and Deep Winter?
For Cool Summer, look at Jacqueline Kennedy, Dakota Fanning, Carey Mulligan and Emily Blunt. For Deep Winter, look at Anne Hathaway, Kim Kardashian, Sandra Oh and Lupita Nyong'o. 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 Deep Winter 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: Deep Winter colors on a Cool Summer simply drain the life out of the face, and Cool Summer colors on a Deep Winter 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. Jewelry is the one thing you can buy safely either way, since both types want silver or white gold.
Can Cool Summer and Deep Winter share any colors?
Not the same shades, but another 9 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, deep violet and true red for Deep Winter. 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 deep violet 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. Do it twice on different days, since both types want the same metals and jewelry cannot act as your second opinion here. Two readings that agree are 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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