Soft Autumn
This is your palette
Warm, mid-toned and muted. Every shade has a little grey folded into it; that is the season, not a fault.
Also called Muted Autumn.
If this is your palette
Your colouring is golden, mid in value and softened in chroma. Those three properties are the whole of it – every rule below follows from them.
Shades that share all three sit quietly beside your face. Shades that miss one are usually still wearable at a distance from the face; shades that miss two are the ones that make people ask whether you are tired.
Colours that suit you
- Warm Terracotta#C5714F
- Soft Ochre#C79A4E
- Moss Green#7F8B4A
- Muted Teal#4E8A85
- Dusty Denim Blue#5E7A9EYour blue. Soft Autumn can wear denim navy; it must be dusty.
- Soft Aubergine#8E5C79The Autumn staple the old palette had no room for.
Your white and your dark
- Best whiteWarm Oyster WhiteBest white for you. Oyster, not optic.
- Best darkDark CocoaUse instead of black. Your best dark.
Colours to keep away from your face
Harder next to your face – clear, cold or electric against muted warm colouring. Lower down, or as a small accent, they can still work.
- Jet BlackNothing in your face answers it. Wear Dark Cocoa.
- Optic WhiteToo stark. Wear Warm Oyster White.
- Hot MagentaCold and loud over a muted palette.
- Electric IndigoYour blue is Dusty Denim Blue; this one is glass.
- Bright EmeraldClear cold green. Yours is Moss Green.
- Icy LavenderA cold pastel on warm skin reads as illness.
Make-up and hair
Everything you put near your face follows the same three rules: keep it golden, keep it mid, keep it softened.
- BaseWarm-toned bases, and finishes from matte to a soft sheen. Anything with a cool grey base will look ashen on you.
- EyesSoft bronze, olive and warm taupe, blended rather than lined.
- BrowsMatch your hair and define the shape without drawing a hard line.
- LashesBrown or soft charcoal. Black lashes cut a hard line across soft colouring.
- LipsTerracotta, brick and muted apricot.
- NailsSheer neutrals, or one muted shade. High-gloss brights sit oddly against soft colouring.
- HairStay within warm or neutral tones. Ash and cool-toned dye fights golden skin.
- EveningDeepen, do not brighten. The same shades one or two steps darker, never a new vivid one.
Metals and stones
Metals
Bright silver sits cold against golden skin. If you like a pale metal, choose a warm-toned pewter.
Stones
Vivid, glassy stones overpower soft colouring. Choose the milkier version of the same stone.
By eye, hair and skin colour
Colour combinations
Check it at the mirror
In daylight, by a window, hold these two colours under your chin in turn.
- Soft AutumnWarm Oyster White
- Soft SummerCool Soft White
Whichever makes your skin look clearer and the shadows under your eyes softer is your side. If it is the second, compare the two palettes:
Often confused with
How to find your palette
Colour analysis reads three things in your colouring: warm or cool, light or deep, clear or soft. The quiz asks about your eyes, hair and skin, looked at in a mirror by a window in daylight. It never photographs or scans your face, and the palette it finds is yours to keep.
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