Light Spring vs Light Summer
The two lightest seasons share a delicate, airy palette. Light Spring leans warm and sunny; Light Summer leans cool and calm. Temperature is nearly the whole story.
Light Spring · Light first, then warm
Light Summer · Light first, then cool
Top band: each season's 16 best colors. Lower band: its 6 neutrals.
What they share, and why they get mixed up
Both seasons look best in pale-to-medium colors and can look overpowered by very dark ones. Charcoal or black near the face often feels heavy on either, and both look lovely in soft pastels. Their depth sits at the same light end of the scale, so a person who has just discovered that lighter colors suit them has found the right neighbourhood without yet knowing which side of the street they live on.
The palettes overlap as well. Aqua, periwinkle, lilac and soft mint appear in some form on both, and neither season does well in heavy browns or black. Natural coloring is often similar too: light hair, light eyes and skin that shows color shifts easily. Because each season is only moderately warm or moderately cool, the temperature signal is gentler than it is for True Spring or True Summer, and people can go back and forth for a long time.
The deciding differences
| Light Spring | Light Summer | |
|---|---|---|
| Warmth | Warm-leaning: peach, apricot, buttercup | Cool-leaning: powder pink, lavender, powder blue |
| Depth | Light; colors look sunny rather than faded | Light; colors look misty rather than sunny |
| Clarity | Fresh and slightly clear | Gentle and slightly soft |
| Neutrals | Ivory, golden beige, light camel, warm stone | Soft white, light grey, rose beige, blue grey |
| Darkest neutral | Light warm navy or milk cocoa | Soft navy or cocoa grey |
The classic pairing is peach against powder pink. On a Light Spring the peach gives the skin a lit-from-within glow and the powder pink can look slightly grey or flat. On a Light Summer the powder pink looks calm and even, while the peach can bring up redness or a slightly sallow cast. Warm ivory against a cool soft white is a quieter version of the same test.
How to tell at home
- Find indirect daylight and a mirror. Remove makeup or keep it very light, and cover your hair with a white towel.
- Hold a peach or apricot item under your chin, then a powder pink or rose pink of the same lightness. Look at the cheeks, the under-eye area and the jaw.
- Repeat with warm ivory against cool soft white, and with buttercup yellow against a cool lemon or lavender.
- Note which side made the skin look even and rested. A warm win across all three suggests Light Spring; a cool win suggests Light Summer.
- If one side won only once, run the same three tests on another day. Light seasons are sensitive to lighting, and a second session settles many close calls.
Still split? That's common.
If you still feel pulled both ways, that is common for the two light seasons. The free quiz starts with a white-paper calibration so your photo's color is corrected, then lets you choose between drapes on your own face and shows your top two seasons with a confidence level. A close result simply means you can lean on the shared aquas, periwinkles and lilacs.
Take the free quizQuestions
Are Light Spring and Light Summer both pastel seasons?
Both are light, but not every pastel suits both. The warm pastels like peach and buttercup belong to Light Spring, the cool ones like powder pink and lavender to Light Summer. Aqua and periwinkle sit close to the middle.
What replaces black for these seasons?
Light Spring usually prefers a light warm navy or milk cocoa. Light Summer prefers soft navy, blue grey or cocoa grey.