Color seasons / Summer

True Summer

Cool, calm and gently rich: your colors look like hydrangeas after rain.

Dominant: Cool first, then soft

True Summer is the coolest of the Summer seasons. Every color in its palette is blue-based, from raspberry and rose to blueberry, spruce and lavender. The saturation is moderate: richer than Light Summer, softer than any Winter. Picture a garden in the cool part of the morning, with hydrangeas, sweet peas and blue-green leaves all a little dewy. That is the mood your colors share.

In cool, medium-soft colors, a True Summer's skin looks clear and even, and redness or sallowness that warm colors can bring forward settles down. Warm colors like orange and camel tend to look like they belong to someone else, while very stark contrasts like black and white can feel harsh, as if the outfit has a louder voice than your face.

True Summer sits between Light Summer and Soft Summer, and it shares its coolness with True Winter. Its signature is pure coolness with a gentle, elegant softness. True Summers exist across the entire range of skin depths; what they share is not a complexion but the way blue-based, moderately soft color harmonizes with them. It is a palette of quiet confidence: elegant at work, romantic in the evening, and easy to mix because almost everything in it agrees.

Signs you might be True Summer

• Blue-based colors such as raspberry, rose and blueberry make your skin look even and calm, while orange, rust and camel can make it look slightly ruddy or yellow by contrast.
• Silver and white gold look like an extension of you; yellow gold can look a little brassy.
• Pure black near the face feels severe, while charcoal blue or navy gives you the same polish with more ease.
• Soft white looks better than cream, and blue grey looks better than warm beige.
• The contrast between your hair, skin and eyes tends to be medium, with nothing jumping forward too sharply.
• Your eyes often look clearest in cool blues, blue-greens and soft greys, which pick up any grey or blue tones in the iris.

A taste of the palette

Your free result includes your full 16 colors and 6 neutrals. Pro adds a deeper 60-color palette, metals, makeup and hair direction.

How to tell it from the seasons next door

Light Summer: Light Summer lives at the pale end and finds raspberry or blueberry slightly heavy. If you look most alive in medium-depth cool colors, you lean True Summer.

Soft Summer: Soft Summer needs more grey in its colors and can borrow a hint of warmth. Compare a clear raspberry with a dusty rose: if raspberry looks more alive on you, you are True Summer.

People often cited as True Summer

Emily Blunt, Princess Diana, Kate Middleton, Rose Byrne, Alicia Keys, Kristin Davis. Commonly used examples; not analyzed by Hue & Line.

Questions