Summer Season
Light Summer
Airy, delicate, and cool. Very low contrast with soft pastels and a gentle, ethereal quality.
- Undertone
- cool & Light
- Contrast
- Low
- Best metals
- silver, white gold
Palette Comparison
Light Summer vs Deep Winter Color Palette
Light Summer and Deep Winter both run cool, which is why a Summer palette and a Winter palette can look closer than you would expect. Light Summer is cool and light, low 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 Light 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.
Light Summer colors
Light Summer colors are cool, light, and slightly softened. They flatter by staying close to your own gentle contrast rather than fighting it.
Soft Rose
Your signature shade
Powder Blue
Calm and airy
Lavender
Soft and dreamy
Pale Aqua
Cool and fresh
Soft Mint
Gentle cool green
Blush Pink
Delicate and cool
Cool Butter
Your softest yellow
Sky Grey-Blue
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
Light Summer
Blue, green, pale blue-grey, or soft lavender-grey, usually with a hazy, blended edge to the iris rather than a sharp ring.
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
Light Summer
Fair with delicate cool undertones and often a slight pink tinge. Light Summer skin flushes rather than tans and burns easily in strong 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
Light Summer
Light ash blonde, strawberry blonde with a cool cast, or medium ash brown. It usually looks slightly cool or smoky rather than golden in daylight.
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 Light 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 analysisLight Summer vs Deep Winter Celebrities
Style icons for each palette. Comparing two faces you already know is often quicker than comparing swatches.
Reese Witherspoon
Light Summer
Taylor Swift
Light Summer
Gwyneth Paltrow
Light Summer
Kristen Bell
Light 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 Light Summer and Deep Winter?
Not undertone: both palettes are cool, so warm-versus-cool will not settle it. What differs is weight. Light Summer is the light type at low contrast, and Deep Winter is the deep one at high contrast. Hold soft rose 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 Light Summer and Deep Winter the same season?
No. Light 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 light 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 Light Summer vs Deep Winter?
Light Summer is defined by soft rose, powder blue, lavender and pale aqua. Light Summer colors are cool, light, and slightly softened. They flatter by staying close to your own gentle contrast rather than fighting it. 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 Light 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: Light Summer carries low 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 Light Summer and Deep Winter?
For Light Summer, look at Reese Witherspoon, Taylor Swift, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kristen Bell. 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 Light 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 Light Summer simply drain the life out of the face, and Light 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 Light Summer and Deep Winter share any colors?
Effectively not. The two palettes share no shade and nothing close enough to substitute, which is what you would expect given how far apart they sit in depth and clarity. Wearing one season's colors as the other is visible in daylight even to someone who knows nothing about color analysis. If you love a color from the wrong list, keep it below the waist.
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 soft rose 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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