How color analysis works
Color analysis is a way of choosing colors by how they look next to you rather than by what is in fashion. It asks which shades sit comfortably with your natural hair, your eyes and the contrast between your features, so that a color supports your face instead of competing with it.
Every color can be described by three qualities, and color analysis looks at which way you lean on each:
- Hue: warm or cool. Warm colors lean toward yellow and gold, like coral, camel and mustard. Cool colors lean toward blue, like raspberry, icy pink and sapphire.
- Value: light or deep. How much white or black a color seems to hold, from powder blue and peach to espresso and pine.
- Chroma: bright or soft. How clear or muted a color is. Bright colors look pure and vivid, like fuchsia or emerald. Soft colors look dusty or grayed, like sage or mauve.
The quiz works out which way your answers lean on each scale. Your season is named after the strongest lean, and a second quality places it in a family. Light Spring, for example, is light first and warm second, while Light Summer is light first and cool second. That is why both wear airy pastels, one set on a golden base and the other on a blue base.
The four families fit together neatly. Spring and autumn are the warm ones, and summer and winter the cool ones. Spring and winter hold the bright seasons, summer and autumn the soft ones, spring and summer the light ones, and autumn and winter the deep ones.
The 12 color seasons
Simpler charts use four seasons. The 12-season version of seasonal color analysis used here splits each family into three: one season led by its warmth or coolness, one led by value and one led by chroma. The chart shows six colors from each palette.
Spring
- Light SpringLight · Warm
- True SpringWarm · Bright
- Bright SpringBright · Warm
Summer
- Light SummerLight · Cool
- True SummerCool · Soft
- Soft SummerSoft · Cool
Autumn
- Soft AutumnSoft · Warm
- True AutumnWarm · Soft
- Deep AutumnDeep · Warm
Winter
- Deep WinterDeep · Cool
- True WinterCool · Bright
- Bright WinterBright · Cool
Spring is warm and clear. Light Spring is light and warm, with golden-based pastels like peach, mint and buttercream; True Spring is warm and bright, with coral, tangerine and grass green; and Bright Spring is vivid with a warm lean, with hot coral, bright aqua and emerald.
Summer is cool and gentle. Light Summer is light and cool, with airy blue-based pastels like powder blue and lavender; True Summer is cool and softly muted, with rose, soft teal and cool plum; and Soft Summer is smoky with a cool lean, with dusty rose, sage and slate blue.
Autumn is warm and earthy. Soft Autumn is muted with a warm lean, like a hazy afternoon, with camel, moss and soft terracotta; True Autumn is warm and rich, like autumn leaves, with rust, mustard and forest green; and Deep Autumn is deep and warm, with chocolate, deep teal and warm burgundy.
Winter is cool with strong contrast. Deep Winter is deep and cool, with jewel tones such as sapphire and emerald plus crisp black and white; True Winter is cool and clear, with true red, royal blue and icy pink; and Bright Winter is electric with a cool lean, with hot pink, electric blue and lemon.
No season is better than another. Color analysis simply groups the colors that tend to look at home with one mix of qualities, and every season has plenty to wear.
Color analysis quiz vs. in-person draping
A personal color analysis with a stylist is usually done by draping. The analyst seats you in daylight or under daylight-balanced lamps, often with your hair covered by a neutral wrap and little or no makeup on, and holds large fabric swatches under your chin one after another. Comparing two drapes at a time shows which colors seem to bring your features forward and which pull the eye away from your face.
A color analysis quiz takes a quicker route to a first answer. Instead of dozens of drapes, it asks about things you can already see or remember: your natural hair and eye color, which metal and which white you prefer near your face, how you react to strong sun, and which colors people compliment. There is nothing to book, and you leave with a palette you can start testing the same day.
The trade-off is that a quiz depends on your own eye. Vein color and contrast are hard to judge, and indoor light can tilt what you see toward warm or cool. Treat the result as a quick first pass: a season to start from, then a check against real colors in daylight.
That check is what "try the colors next to your photo" is for. After your result, choose a photo from your device, and it appears in an oval framed by whichever palette color or neutral you tap. Switch colors to compare them around your face. The framing is drawn on your device, and the photo is never uploaded or stored.
How the free color analysis quiz scores your answers
Each of the 10 questions nudges one or more of three scales: hue from cool to warm, value from light to deep, and chroma from soft to bright. Choosing gold over silver moves you toward warm. Blue-black hair moves you toward deep, and a little toward cool and bright. Middle answers such as "a mix, hard to tell" or "both look fine" move nothing, so an honest "not sure" never tips you either way.
Almost every question touches hue, including the classic undertone checks you answer about yourself: the color of the veins on your inner wrist, gold or silver, and what strong sun does. Value and chroma draw on fewer questions, such as your natural hair and eye color, how much your hair, eyes and skin stand apart, how black looks near your face, and the lip color you reach for.
Because more questions touch hue than value or chroma, the quiz divides each total by the most that scale could reach. That puts the three on the same footing, and the scale where your answers sit furthest from the middle becomes your dominant quality. It names your season, and hue or chroma settles the family:
- Value leads. Light answers give Light Spring when your hue leans warm and Light Summer when it leans cool. Deep answers give Deep Autumn or Deep Winter in the same way.
- Chroma leads. Bright answers give Bright Spring or Bright Winter, and soft answers give Soft Autumn or Soft Summer, again split by warm or cool.
- Hue leads. Warm answers give True Spring, or True Autumn if your chroma leans soft. Cool answers give True Winter, or True Summer if your chroma leans soft.
If two scales come out exactly level, the tie goes to hue first, then value, then chroma. Nothing in this color analysis is random, so the same answers always give the same season. When a result surprises you, look at the answers behind your leading scale: in a close call, one uncertain answer, such as vein color, can tip it.
Using your palette: clothes, glasses, hair color and makeup
Your result comes in four parts, and each has its own job:
- 16 palette colors for anything worn near your face: tops, shirts, knitwear, scarves and collars. Color analysis matters most in this zone, because these colors sit right beside your face in every mirror and photo.
- 4 neutrals for the big pieces you wear often, such as coats, jackets, suits and pants. They mix easily with each other and with the palette.
- 3 colors to use sparingly. They are not off limits. Wear them away from your face, in shoes, pants, skirts or bags, or put a palette color between them and your face with a scarf or collar.
- Metals for jewelry, watches, metal frames, buttons and buckles.
Glasses. Color analysis settles the frame color, and your face shape settles the frame shape. Pick the color the way you pick a top, from your palette or neutrals, or in your metal for metal frames: a True Autumn might choose golden brown or bronze, a Light Summer soft gray or silver, and a Deep Winter black or deep navy. For the shape, the face shape detector measures your face from a selfie, and pages such as round face shape and heart-shaped face show which frames balance each outline.
Hair color. If you color your hair, let your season set the direction: golden, copper, honey or warm brown shades for the warm seasons, and ash, beige or cool brown for the cool ones. Soft seasons suit blended, gentle color, while bright and deep seasons can carry more contrast. A big change in depth also changes the contrast around your face, so recheck a few palette colors in daylight afterward.
Makeup. Lip, cheek and eye colors follow the same logic. Warm palettes point toward coral, peach, brick and terracotta, and cool palettes toward rose, berry, plum and raspberry. Bright seasons can wear clear red or fuchsia, and soft seasons usually look more at ease in muted, dusty versions. The lip color you reach for is one of the quiz questions, so your palette may simply confirm a favorite.
Metals. Metals follow hue. The warm seasons list gold, brass, bronze or copper, and the cool seasons silver, platinum, white gold or pewter. Finish matters too: the soft seasons lean on brushed metals and pewter, the bright ones on polished or bright metal, and Bright Spring can wear both gold and silver.
What colors look good on me? Quick answers by season
Color analysis gives the short answer family by family, and the quiz narrows it to one of the three seasons in each, with 16 colors instead of a handful:
- Spring: warm, clear colors on a golden base, such as peach, coral, tangerine, bright aqua and grass green, with ivory and camel as neutrals.
- Summer: cool, gentle colors on a blue base, such as powder blue, rose, soft teal, lavender and soft plum, with soft white and cool gray as neutrals.
- Autumn: warm, earthy colors such as camel, rust, mustard, moss and deep teal, with cream and chocolate as neutrals.
- Winter: cool, clear colors with strong contrast, such as sapphire, emerald, true red and fuchsia, with pure white, black and charcoal as neutrals.
Whatever your season, the colors you love still count. A palette is a guide for what goes near your face, not a rule for everything you own, and a favorite color that sits outside it can always go into shoes, a bag or a pair of pants.
Checking your colors in daylight
Whatever a color analysis suggests, your own eyes make the final call. A few habits make the comparison easier:
- Use daylight. Face a window, out of direct sun. Warm bulbs push every color toward gold, and cool office lights push them toward blue.
- Skip heavy makeup. Strong lip and cheek colors bring colors of their own and blur the comparison.
- Compare in pairs. Hold two colors under your chin, such as a palette color and one to use sparingly, or bright white and cream. Differences that are hard to see one at a time show up side by side.
- Watch your face, not the fabric. Notice which color lets your eyes and features stand out, and which one catches the eye before your face does.
- Photograph both. Take a shot in each color in the same light, and compare them later on one screen.
The photo try-on works the same way on screen. Choose a photo taken in daylight with no filter, since a warm or cool filter tints everything around it, then switch between two colors and watch your face rather than the frame.
Color analysis covers one part of a look. The face shapes guide covers haircuts and frame shapes, what is my eye shape covers eyeliner, brows and glasses, and face analysis explains your proportions, from facial thirds to eye spacing. Those tools measure a selfie in your browser, while this quiz asks only questions.
Updated 2026-09-26