True Autumn
This is your palette
Warm, deep and rich. Muted, but never dull – these are spice and metal colours, not dust.
Also called Warm Autumn.
If this is your palette
Your colouring is golden, deep 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
- Burnt Sienna#A9502C
- Warm Rust#B85A22
- Golden Ochre#B8862B
- Forest Olive#5E6B2E
- Deep Teal#276B66
- Warm Aubergine#7A4462Aubergine is an Autumn staple. It belongs here.
Your white and your dark
- Best whiteWarm Ivory CreamBest white for you. Cream, never chalk.
- Best darkDark Warm BrownUse instead of black. Your best dark neutral.
Colours to keep away from your face
Harder next to your face – cold, icy or synthetic against warm deep colouring. Lower down, or as a small accent, they can still work.
- True BlackDrains the warmth out. Wear Dark Warm Brown.
- Stark WhiteToo cold at the neckline. Wear Warm Ivory Cream.
- Cool LavenderA cold pastel has nothing to hold on to here.
- Electric MagentaSynthetic and cold; it fights every spice tone you own.
- Bright Kelly GreenBlue-green. Your greens are Forest Olive and Deep Teal.
- Silver GreyCold metal grey next to warm skin reads as grubby.
Make-up and hair
Everything you put near your face follows the same three rules: keep it golden, keep it deep, 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.
- BrowsYou can carry a fully defined brow – under-filling reads as unfinished against depth.
- 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.
Colour combinations
Check it at the mirror
In daylight, by a window, hold these two colours under your chin in turn.
- True AutumnDark Warm Brown
- Soft AutumnDark Cocoa
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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