Color seasons / Winter

True Winter

Crisp, cool and graphic: your colors look like a red scarf on fresh snow.

Dominant: Cool first, then clear

True Winter is the coolest season of all. Every color in its palette is blue-based and clear: cardinal red, royal blue, emerald, hot pink, pine and true violet, with icy pastels that look like color frozen into glass. The contrast is high and the edges are crisp. Black and pure white, a famously demanding pair, look effortless on a True Winter.

In these colors, a True Winter looks sharp, clear and confident. Cool, clear color brings out the clarity in your eyes and makes your skin look even and fresh. Warm or muted colors can make you look slightly tired, as if the image is out of focus, and golden tones can leave the skin looking sallow by contrast. A single clear color worn near the face, with black or white elsewhere, is often all a True Winter needs.

True Winter sits between Deep Winter and Bright Winter, and shares its coolness with True Summer. Its signature is pure coolness with clarity. True Winters exist across the full range of skin depths, from porcelain to very deep; the season describes how cool, clear color behaves next to you, not your complexion. If you have always felt your best in black, white and one strong color, this palette will feel familiar.

Signs you might be True Winter

• Blue-based, clear drapes such as cardinal red, royal blue and emerald make your face look vivid and even, while camel, orange and olive can make your skin look sallow by contrast.
• Black and pure white both look crisp and natural on you, together or apart.
• Silver, white gold and platinum look like an extension of you; yellow gold can look brassy.
• Icy pastels like icy blue and icy pink look elegant on you, whereas warm pastels like peach look faded.
• Your coloring tends to show noticeable contrast, for example between hair and skin, or between the whites of your eyes and the iris.
• Muted, dusty colors leave your face looking slightly blurred; clear colors bring everything into focus.

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

Deep Winter: Deep Winter needs depth in nearly everything, while True Winter wears both deep jewel tones and icy pastels easily. If icy blue looks as good on you as sapphire, you lean True Winter.

Bright Winter: Bright Winter is slightly warmer and even clearer, wearing electric shades with ease. If very electric colors feel a little loud and cool, steady brights feel right, you are True Winter.

People often cited as True Winter

Anne Hathaway, Dita Von Teese, Courteney Cox, Naomi Campbell, Liv Tyler, Constance Wu. Commonly used examples; not analyzed by Hue & Line.

Questions