Color analysis guides
Grouped by what you're trying to find out, because nobody arrives wanting a list of articles. Each guide says where its facts come from, and where the evidence runs out.
How seasons work, and whether to believe them
The system itself: where it came from, how twelve and sixteen seasons differ, and what research does and doesn't back.
- Seasonal color analysisThe history, the three axes and the 12 seasons, with what the evidence does and does not back.
- Personal color analysisThe three axes behind every result, plotted in a 3D color space.
- Is color analysis real?What color science supports, what nobody has tested and how to check a result yourself.
- What is my color palette?A four-step method from undertone to a tested palette, with a tool at each step.
- 12 seasons chartAn original chart of all 12 seasons, their axes, their aliases and how they connect.
- 16 season color analysisWhat the extra four seasons are, why vendors disagree and whether it changes anything for you.
- Korean color analysisWhat a Seoul session involves, how Korean tones map to 12 seasons and real prices.
Warm, cool, neutral or olive
Undertone is where most results go wrong, and where most advice contradicts itself.
- How to find your undertoneSix at-home tests, ranked by how much each one actually tells you.
- Undertone meaningWhat undertone is, how it differs from skin tone, and the four types with examples.
- Warm undertonesThe signs at every skin depth, yellow against peach, and the colors and metals that work.
- Cool undertonesThe signs on light and deep skin, redness against true cool, and the colors that work.
- Neutral undertoneHow to confirm it, whether you really lean one way and which colors fit.
- Olive undertoneWhy olive is its own case, how to spot it and why foundation goes wrong.
Skin tone: scales, names and hex codes
What the published scales measure, and how everyday names like caramel and fair line up against them.
- Skin tonesThe common names, the scales that measure skin and why undertone is a separate axis.
- Skin tone chartThe real scales side by side, what each is for and where common names fit.
- Skin color paletteCopyable skin tone hex codes from a published scale, plus ramps by undertone.
- Olive skinWhat it is, how to tell, where it falls on the charts and which colors suit it.
- Fair skinWhat counts as fair, its possible undertones and how to pick colors that do not drain it.
- Caramel skin toneFour medium skin tone names compared, with reference swatches and likely undertones.
- Face contrastHow to measure your contrast from a grayscale photo and what it changes.
Colors and hair for your coloring
Start from your skin or your eyes when you don't know your season and don't care to.
- Colors for pale skinSwatches for cool, warm and neutral pale skin, and what drains each one.
- Colors for dark skinSwatches by undertone, the neutrals that hold up and how to test them on your own skin.
- Colors for olive skinSwatches at three depths, what turns olive skin sallow and how to test them.
- Hair color for brown skinShades by undertone and depth, what lifting involves and a live try-on.
- Hair color for green eyesWhich shades bring out green eyes, by undertone, with the color theory and a live try-on.
- Hair color for olive skinShades that balance olive's green cast, the traps to avoid and a live try-on.
You know your season: makeup, hair and outfits
Using a palette once you have one. We've written these where people search most.
- Soft Autumn makeupMuted lips, warm blush and gentle eyes, with hex codes and a live lipstick test.
- Soft Summer makeupDusty lips, cool blush and smoky eyes, with hex codes and a live lipstick test.
- Deep Autumn makeupBrick lips, warm blush and dark eyes, with hex codes and a live lipstick test.
- Deep Winter makeupBlue-based reds, cool blush and dark eyes, with hex codes and a live lipstick test.
- True Summer makeupCool rose and berry lips, soft blush and slate eyes, for True or Cool Summer.
- Soft Autumn hair colorMuted warm hair shades, what to ask a colorist for and a live try-on.
- Soft Summer hair colorAsh and smoky hair shades, what to ask a colorist for and a live try-on.
- True Summer hair colorAsh and cool hair shades for True or Cool Summer, with a live try-on.
- Soft Autumn outfitsWhich neutrals to buy first, how to combine muted shades and what replaces black.
- Soft Summer outfitsGrey-based neutrals, low-contrast pairings and what replaces black.
Who to ask: people, apps and chatbots
What each route costs, what it can see, and how to check its answer.
- Color analysis pricesIn-person, virtual, Seoul and app prices, each with its source and what is included.
- Color analysis near meWhere to look, what to ask and what a session should include. We are not a local studio.
- AI color analysisHow the software works, why lighting changes results and what calibration fixes.
- Color analysis appsChecked prices, subscriptions and methods for the main apps, plus a browser option.
- ChatGPT color analysisWhat a chatbot can infer from a photo, why answers shift and how to check them.
- ChatGPT color analysis promptCopyable prompts, which photos to send and how to check the answer.
If you already use another tool
Dated facts on three others, including where they're better than us.
How these guides are written
Every guide lists its sources at the end, and we only list what we opened and read. When we could only reach an abstract, or a page refused us, the guide says so. Prices and app details carry the date we read them, since they go stale fast.
Season systems are styling conventions with a contested history, and the guides treat them that way. We do measure things where we can. Hue, lightness and strength are Munsell’s three dimensions, so numbers about our palettes can be checked against the hex codes themselves. Skin tone charts credit the Monk Skin Tone Scale, which is open to use with attribution. What the numbers describe is the palette, never a person.
No trained color analyst has reviewed these pages yet. If you find something wrong, please tell us. The about page explains who writes them, and the methodology page shows how our tools reach their results.
If you’d rather try than read
Reading about undertones only goes so far. The tools let you test an idea on your own face in a few steps, and the palettes have every hex code if you’re here for the colors.
Sources
Common questions
- What should I read first?
- If you're new to this, start with how seasonal color analysis works. If you got conflicting results from different tools, read why software readings move. If you only care about warm or cool, go straight to finding your undertone.
- Are these written by color analysts?
- No. They're written by our editorial team from sources we read, and no trained analyst has reviewed them yet. Each guide lists those sources so you can check them.
See which colors are yours.
See your colors on your own face, compare seasons side by side, and get your season, your undertone and a starter palette.