Autumn Season
Deep Autumn
Dark, luxurious, and intense. High contrast with rich chocolate, burgundy, and forest tones.
- Undertone
- warm & Deep
- Contrast
- High
- Best metals
- gold, rose gold
Palette Comparison
Deep Autumn vs Deep Winter Color Palette
Deep Autumn and Deep Winter are the pair people mix up most often, because they share enough of their coloring to look interchangeable in the wrong light. Deep Autumn is warm and deep, high 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 Deep Autumn 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.
Deep Autumn colors
Deep Autumn colors carry weight. Every shade in your palette has depth and warmth — this is the richest, most saturated corner of the Autumn family.
Mahogany
Your signature shade
Burgundy
Deep and luxurious
Deep Olive
Dark and earthy
Bronze Gold
Rich metallic warmth
Forest Teal
Your cool accent
Burnt Sienna
Warm and intense
Chocolate
Everyday deep neutral
Warm Buff
Your best light base
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
Deep Autumn
Dark blue, deep green, dark hazel, dark brown, or nearly black, usually with warm golden or olive tones visible up close.
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
Deep Autumn
Ivory, olive, or medium to deep with golden-olive warm undertones. Deep Autumn skin holds a tan well and rarely looks pink.
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
Deep Autumn
Medium to dark brown with a golden shine, or dark auburn. There is warmth in it even at the darkest depths.
Deep Winter
Medium to dark brown, dark espresso, or black. It holds its depth without any golden or coppery warmth showing through.
How to tell Deep Autumn and Deep Winter apart
Both are dark, high-contrast, and suited to saturated, weighty color — pale pastels are wrong for both.
Undertone is the deciding factor. Deep Autumn is warm: mahogany, deep olive, and bronze suit you. Deep Winter is cool: deep violet, emerald, and true black suit them. Compare chocolate brown against pure black by your face — Deep Autumns look richer in the brown, Deep Winters sharper in the black.
Not sure which season you are? Take the quiz
One photo tells you whether you are a Deep Autumn, a Deep Winter, or one of the other ten types, with your full palette and a preview on your own face.
Get my color analysisDeep Autumn vs Deep Winter Celebrities
Style icons for each palette. Comparing two faces you already know is often quicker than comparing swatches.
Eva Mendes
Deep Autumn
Kelly Rowland
Deep Autumn
Sofía Vergara
Deep Autumn
Penélope Cruz
Deep Autumn
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 Deep Autumn and Deep Winter?
Undertone. Deep Autumn is warm, built around shades like mahogany, burgundy and deep olive, while Deep Winter is cool, built around deep violet, true red and pine green. Depth differs too, Deep Autumn sitting at high contrast against Deep Winter at high, but temperature is what you should test first. A palette on the wrong side of that line leaves skin looking sallow or grey however well the depth matches.
Are Deep Autumn and Deep Winter the same season?
No. Deep Autumn belongs to Autumn and Deep Winter belongs to Winter, two separate seasons in the twelve-type system. They also sit on opposite sides of the warm and cool line, which makes confusing them the more costly kind of mistake. The shades each one is named for do not transfer between them.
Which key colors define Deep Autumn vs Deep Winter?
Deep Autumn is defined by mahogany, burgundy, deep olive and bronze gold. Deep Autumn colors carry weight. Every shade in your palette has depth and warmth — this is the richest, most saturated corner of the Autumn family. 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 are the quickest tell of all: Deep Autumn wants gold or rose gold, and Deep Winter wants silver or white gold.
Am I Deep Autumn or Deep Winter? How can I tell the difference?
This is one of the most confused pairs in the system, so work through it in order rather than trusting a first impression. Temperature first: hold mahogany and deep violet fabric under your chin in daylight and watch which one evens out your skin instead of adding shadow. Then clarity, since both types sit at high contrast: compare a clear deep violet against a more blended shade and see which one your face wears comfortably. Then metals: Deep Autumn suits gold or rose gold and Deep Winter suits silver or white gold. When two of the three agree, that is your answer.
Who are some celebrity examples of Deep Autumn and Deep Winter?
For Deep Autumn, look at Eva Mendes, Kelly Rowland, Sofía Vergara and Penélope Cruz. 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 Deep Autumn vs Deep Winter right matter?
Because the two palettes fail in opposite directions, and the failure is quiet rather than obvious. Wearing Deep Winter colors as a Deep Autumn lays a cool cast over warm skin, which shows up as dullness, grey under the eyes, or a yellow flatness people read as tiredness rather than as a wardrobe problem. 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: Deep Autumn suits gold or rose gold and Deep Winter suits silver or white gold, so jewelry bought for the wrong season quietly undercuts the rest.
Can Deep Autumn and Deep Winter share any colors?
Not the same shades, but another 7 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: mahogany and burgundy for Deep Autumn, 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 mahogany 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. Then repeat at your wrist with gold or rose gold against silver or white 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
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