True Winter Color Palette

The True Winter color palette

30 colours in four groups and 6 neutrals, each written out with its hex code — tap any code to copy it, or take a whole group at once. The same palette is available as a True Winter palette card (PNG) sized for a phone screen, to take shopping.

True Winter core and accent colors

The seven core colours are the ones to build from: crimson, sapphire, cool navy, bottle green, deep teal, cranberry and indigo. They are cool, clear and medium-to-deep — coolness at full strength, without either the extra weight of Deep Winter or the electric saturation of Bright Winter. A True Winter face reads cool before it reads anything else, and colours with an unmistakable blue base sit beside it naturally.

Accents are the jewel tones: cool fuchsia, raspberry pink, magenta plum, royal blue, cornflower, violet, emerald and cool turquoise. They are clean rather than dusty. A dusty rose or a sage green is the most common way a True Winter wardrobe goes wrong, because muting takes the clarity out of colours the face was carrying perfectly well.

The lightest and deepest True Winter shades

The lightest shades are icy: ice blue, icy pink, icy lavender, icy lemon, icy mint, snow and silver. On a True Winter they work best next to something dark or bright — an icy pink shirt under a navy suit, snow with black — rather than as a head-to-toe pastel look. The deepest shades — black cherry, cool burgundy, deep plum, midnight navy, dark royal, dark emerald, deep petrol, blue charcoal — are the evening and tailoring colours.

True Winter neutrals

• Pure white#FFFFFF
• Cool grey#A7A9AD
• Taupe grey#8A8583
• Charcoal grey#6E6E6E
• Dark charcoal#3A3A3D
• Black#111111

Six neutrals carry the wardrobe. This is one of the few seasons that genuinely owns both pure white and true black, and wears them together without looking severe. Charcoal and dark charcoal are the everyday dark neutrals; cool grey and taupe grey are the middle. Brown is the neutral to be careful with: a cool, very dark espresso works in small doses, but camel, tan and golden browns read yellow against True Winter skin.

What makes a True Winter: warm or cool, light or deep, soft or bright

True Winter is coolness at full strength, at medium-to-deep value, with clear rather than muted colour. Skin reads cool or neutral, hair is usually dark with an ash cast, and eyes are cool blue, grey or dark brown. This is the season that genuinely owns true black and optic white — two things almost nobody else wears well.

True Winter and Cool Winter are the same season. One family of the twelve-season system calls the middle subtype of each season True; the other names it by its defining quality, which here is coolness. This page answers to both.

The test on this page turns three measurements into numbers between minus one and plus one. Warm–cool is mainly the hue angle of your skin in CIE Lab, with your hair counting for about a third. Light–deep is skin and hair lightness together, with hair weighted slightly more. Soft–bright is the saturation of your irises and the lightness gap between hair and skin, half each.

It calls you True Winter when warm–cool reads cool, neither of the other two axes gets past 0.3, and light–deep is below zero. In plain terms: coolness is the only strong signal, and the colouring sits slightly on the deep side of the middle.

That rule is the clearest way to separate the three Winters, which many descriptions blur together. Deep Winter is called when depth is the strongest axis; Bright Winter when clarity is. True Winter is what is left when neither is strong — which is why its colours are clear and cool but not extreme in either direction.

It also shows the borders. If light–deep is at zero or above, the same reading is True Summer, so the two True seasons are separated only by the sign of depth. Past 0.3 on depth it becomes Deep Winter; past 0.3 on clarity, Bright Winter; and past 0.3 on softness, Soft Summer.

True Winter skin, eyes and hair

These are examples, not a checklist. True Winter runs from very fair to very deep skin; what makes it is the relationship between a cool or neutral cast, hair with an ash rather than golden cast, and moderate rather than extreme depth and contrast. Dark brown eyes are as common in the season as blue ones — eye colour only feeds the soft–bright axis on this test, not warm–cool.

Am I a True Winter? A drape test you can do at home

Coolness is obvious; the useful tests separate you from the neighbours.

1. 1

   Stand facing a window in daylight, with no coloured walls behind you and no makeup. Tie your hair back or cover it with a white towel.

2. 2

   Test temperature first. Hold cream under your chin, then pure white. On a True Winter pure white wins clearly and cream makes the skin look yellow or tired. If cream wins, you are not in the Winter family.

3. 3

   Then clarity: a dusty berry against a true red or crimson. True Winter looks better in the clean red. If the dusty berry wins, look at True Summer or Soft Summer.

4. 4

   Finally rule out the two other Winters. If burgundy and midnight beat every mid-tone, check Deep Winter. If electric fuchsia and icy pastels both look strong on you, check Bright Winter. True Winter is best in the clear, cool middle — sapphire, crimson, emerald.

• True black under the chin should look intentional rather than heavy.
• Optic white should beat cream clearly — if cream wins, you are not in the winter family at all.
• A clean cool red should suit better than a dusty berry, which rules out True Summer.

True Winter vs Deep Winter, Bright Winter and True Summer

True Winter vs Deep Winter is the most searched comparison for the season. Both are cool and both wear black. Deep Winter is called when depth is the strongest thing about the colouring — usually dark hair with medium to deep skin — and it looks best in colours with real weight: burgundy, midnight, forest. True Winter can carry a clean mid-tone blue or a crimson without being swamped, and the very darkest colours can look heavy on it. If sapphire beats midnight under your chin, you are True; if midnight wins, read the Deep Winter color palette.

True Winter vs Bright Winter is the other common question, often asked as whether the two are the same thing. They are not. Bright Winter is called when clarity is the strongest axis — saturated irises and a large lightness gap between hair and skin, very fair skin with black hair being the classic case. Bright Winter looks best at the extremes: electric fuchsia, cobalt, icy pastels. True Winter looks best a step in from the extremes. If fuchsia and icy lemon both look great on you, read the Bright Winter color palette.

True Winter vs True Summer is closer on this test than most people expect. Both are called when coolness is the only strong signal, and the sign of light–deep splits them, so a result near zero can flip between the two. In a drape the difference is clarity: True Summer looks best in muted, blue-based colours like denim and rose and is overpowered by black; True Winter looks best in clear versions of the same hues. If dusty rose beats crimson, read the True Summer color palette.

True Winter colors to avoid, and what to wear instead

The three colours that fight a True Winter hardest are below. Three, not thirty — a palette is a prediction about which tones lift the face, not a list of banned colours, so every one of them has a version that does the same job.

• Peach#F7C5A0
• Honey#E9C46A
• Caramel#C08552

True Winter outfits and clothing

Six combinations built only from the palette, shown in the proportions you would wear them — the largest block is the main garment, the smallest is the accessory.

• Corporate classic

  • Dark charcoal#3A3A3D
  • Pure white#FFFFFF
  • Crimson#C8102E

  A dark charcoal suit, a pure white shirt, a crimson tie, scarf or lip.

• Navy and ice

  • Cool navy#1C2E5A
  • Ice blue#8AC6E6
  • Silver#C0C4CA

  A cool navy suit or dress, an ice blue shirt, silver jewellery.

• Emerald and black

  • Emerald#009B77
  • Black#111111
  • Snow#F5F5F5

  An emerald top, black trousers, a snow white layer or bag.

• Sapphire weekend

  • Sapphire#003DA5
  • Cool grey#A7A9AD
  • Pure white#FFFFFF

  A sapphire knit, cool grey jeans, white trainers.

• Fuchsia and charcoal

  • Charcoal grey#6E6E6E
  • Cool fuchsia#B5006B
  • Icy pink#F4D9E6

  Charcoal grey tailoring, a cool fuchsia blouse, an icy pink accessory.

• Black cherry evening

  • Black cherry#5A0F24
  • Black#111111
  • Silver#C0C4CA

  A black cherry dress, a black coat, silver jewellery.

True Winter carries crisp, high-contrast prints: black-and-white stripes, houndstooth in black and white, polka dots, graphic geometrics and jewel-tone florals on a dark or white ground. Blurred watercolour prints and earthy tweeds look faded next to the face. Smooth, crisp fabrics — poplin, silk, satin, fine wool, patent leather — support the clarity of the palette.

True Winter capsule wardrobe

• Black tailored coat
• Charcoal suit or trousers
• Pure white shirt
• Cool navy blazer
• Sapphire knit
• Crimson or cranberry top
• Emerald silk blouse
• Dark indigo jeans
• Ice blue shirt
• Black leather boots
• Silver or white gold jewellery
• Black leather bag

True Winter color palette for men

True Winter is the season the standard business wardrobe suits best. Charcoal, cool navy and black suits with a pure white shirt look sharp rather than severe, and so does black tie. Shirts in pure white, ice blue and icy pink; knitwear in charcoal, sapphire, bottle green and cranberry. Ties and pocket squares carry crimson, sapphire, emerald and cool fuchsia; leather in black. The pieces to drop are the warm country ones — camel overcoats, tan chinos, brown tweed and olive — which read yellow against cool skin. A charcoal overcoat replaces camel without losing anything.

True Winter makeup

Cool and clean; this season does not suit softening.

Shade is decided by your season; where the colour goes is decided by your eye shape.

True Winter nail colors

• True red#C8102E
• Black cherry#5A0F24
• Sapphire#003DA5
• Icy pink#F4D9E6
• Cool fuchsia#B5006B
• Silver#C0C4CA

The best hair colors for a True Winter

Cool dark brown to black, or genuine platinum. Warm tones of any kind read as brassy against skin with no warmth to meet them.

Cool dark brown to soft black is the natural range, and a glossy blue-black or espresso glaze adds shine without changing the temperature. Genuine platinum can also work on a True Winter — the direction that fails is the middle, not the light end.

Going grey often suits True Winter well, because silver is cool and keeps the family. On this test grey hair raises the lightness of the hair, which moves the reading up the light–deep axis — so a greying True Winter can start to read as True Summer. A clean silver or white with pure white and jewel tones near the face usually looks more deliberate than covering it with a warm brown.

Hair colors that fight a True Winter

Honey, caramel, copper, golden blonde and warm chestnut are the misses. They add warmth the skin has no warmth to meet and read as brassy against it. Warm balayage over dark hair is the most common version of the mistake; if you want dimension, use cool, ashy tones or very fine lowlights.

True Winter jewelry: gold or silver?

Silver, white gold and platinum in high polish. Yellow gold is the metal most likely to work against the skin.

Silver, white gold and platinum are the natural metals, in high polish. Diamonds, crystal and anything with a clean shine suit the clarity of the season.

Can a True Winter wear gold? Polished yellow gold is the metal most likely to work against the skin near the face, but a cool rose gold or a white-and-yellow mix with the white leading is fine. Stones follow the palette: sapphire, ruby, emerald, amethyst, onyx, garnet and white or grey pearls.

Glasses frames work the same way: black, charcoal, cool navy or clear acetate, and thin silver metal, rather than tortoiseshell or gold. Colour is decided here; the frame shape is decided by your face shape.

True Winter celebrities, and why this page does not list them

True Winter celebrity lists disagree for a structural reason: the season sits between two neighbours decided by numbers that studio photos change easily. More depth from lighting makes a True Winter look Deep; more contrast from a stylist's hair colour makes one look Bright. The same actress appears in all three Winters on different sites because the photographs are being typed.

This page does not list names. The measurement worth having is your own, from a photo taken facing a window — which is what the test at the top of this page reads.

Can your True Winter color season change?

Your measured result can change even when your colouring has not. A tan deepens the skin, and on this test that moves you along the light–deep axis rather than the warm–cool one, so a tanned True Winter usually stays in the Winter family and can read as Deep Winter. Pale winter skin can tip the depth across zero into True Summer.

Hair dye moves the result most. A warm dye pulls warm–cool toward the Autumns; lightening pushes toward True Summer; very dark dye on fair skin raises contrast and can push toward Bright Winter. The system is usually taught as describing natural colouring, but the colours that flatter you follow the hair you actually have.

Why selfie tests give True Winters different results

The True seasons are the most sensitive to lighting, because they are called when no axis except temperature is strong — so a change in the colour of the light has nothing to outvote it. A warm indoor bulb can move a True Winter across the warm–cool line entirely and produce a True Autumn result. Cold shade pushes it the other way, which is harmless for a True Winter but misleading for anyone near the line.

The test looks for the whites of your eyes and uses them as a neutral reference to correct for the colour of the light, and the result says whether that worked. Take the photo in daylight facing a window, against a light plain wall. The full explanation is on the color analysis page.

References

1. 1.Fink, B., Grammer, K., & Matts, P. J. (2006). Visible skin color distribution plays a role in the perception of age, attractiveness, and health in female faces. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27(6), 433–442. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.08.007.
2. 2.Chardon, A., Cretois, I., & Hourseau, C. (1991). Skin colour typology and suntanning pathways. International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 13(4), 191–208. PMID 19291061.