Cool Summer Color Palette (True Summer)

Cool Summer is led by temperature. Your colors are fully cool, with no gold in them at all, and that matters more than anything else. Softness comes second: your colors are gentler than a Winter's icy brights, though clearer than a Soft Summer's grayed tones. Depth sits from light to medium-dark, with no true black.

Skin ranges from fair to tan with cool undertones, often with a pink or rosy tinge. Eyes are usually blue, gray, gray-green or light gray hazel, or a soft grayish brown on deeper coloring.

Hair runs from dark blonde through light and medium brown to dark brown, and it looks ashy and muted rather than red or golden. Contrast between hair and skin is usually medium, the highest of the three Summers, and evenly blended rather than striking.

Golden colors tend to make your skin look yellow or ruddy, and black looks severe and heavy. Blue-based pinks, soft navy and cool grays make the skin look even and rested.

• Soft white #EDF1F4
• Light cool gray #C7CDD3
• Navy #1B4370
• Powder blue #AFD7F0
• Cool pink #F4BDD4
• Lavender #C5BBE7
• Sky blue #69AED3
• Rose pink #D7829C
• Periwinkle #7E8ECA
• Plum #6B3B60
• Raspberry #BD4874
• Turquoise #089B9A

Cool Summer or Soft Summer?

Soft Summer is a step more muted and a touch less cool. Put a clear Raspberry (#bd4874) beside a dusty mauve (#a48197) at your chin. A Cool Summer looks brighter and fresher in the raspberry while the mauve looks dull. A Soft Summer finds the raspberry loud and the mauve calm. Try Navy (#1b4370) against a grayed navy (#344359) too; a Cool Summer can carry the cleaner navy without it looking heavy.

See the Soft Summer palette

Cool Summer or Light Summer?

Light Summer is paler and needs lighter colors, while you can go deeper. Drape Navy (#1b4370) and then Powder blue (#afd7f0). If the navy looks rich and your eyes look bluer, you are likely a Cool Summer. If the navy throws shadows under your eyes and only the powder blue looks right, you are likely a Light Summer. Plum (#6b3b60) works the same way: it suits you and tends to drag a Light Summer down.

See the Light Summer palette

Build on cool, blue-based neutrals. Navy and Slate navy replace black for coats, suits and trousers. Charcoal, Blue-gray and Pewter work for knitwear and tailoring. Cocoa and Rose beige are your browns and beiges: rosy rather than golden. Light cool gray and Soft white are your shirt colors.

Your best white and what to wear instead of black.

Five outfit formulas

• Office day

  • Suit: slate navy
  • Shirt: powder blue
  • Scarf: raspberry

• Weekend layers

  • Sweater: lavender
  • Jeans: navy
  • Sneakers: soft white

• Dinner out

  • Dress: cool burgundy
  • Jacket: charcoal
  • Earrings or tie: rose pink

• Smart casual

  • Polo or knit: sea green
  • Trousers: blue-gray
  • Belt: cocoa

• Statement top

  • Blouse: fuchsia rose
  • Trousers: light cool gray
  • Blazer: navy

Prints and fabrics

Choose prints with soft edges and cool colors that stay close in depth: hydrangea and rose florals, fine pinstripes in navy and gray, cool watercolor checks, polka dots on navy. Medium-scale prints suit you. Fabrics with a soft sheen work well, such as crepe, silk, fine merino and chambray. Very rough, rustic textures and earthy safari prints pull toward autumn.

Colors to avoid

• Jet black #000000
• Orange #F28C28
• Camel #C19A6B
• Mustard #D4A017
• Rust #B7410E
• Tomato red #E5452D

Each of these has a yellow or orange base, or in the case of black, more depth than you need. Camel and mustard make a rosy skin look sallow, and tomato red fights with natural pink in the cheeks. Use Cocoa where you would wear camel and Summer red where you would wear tomato red.

Choose pink or neutral-pink foundations, often labeled cool, rose or porcelain. Avoid yellow or golden bases, which look gray on rosy skin. If you flush easily, a green-tinted primer under a cool shade evens redness without turning you yellow.

Lips

• Raspberry #B04A6F
• Cool rose pink #CB7792
• Berry #8C3F65
• Soft fuchsia #B16195

Blush

• Cool pink #DDA0B5
• Rose #D08793

Eyes

• Cool gray #888C90
• Navy #26486F
• Plum #6F486A
• Lavender gray #A39DB6

Liner and brows

• Navy #203F62
• Charcoal #3F4247

Cool pinks, berries and raspberry are your lipsticks; skip orange-red, coral and brown nudes. Satin finishes work better than heavy matte. Navy liner and charcoal mascara read softer than black and still define the eyes.

Ash is the word to give your colorist. Ash light brown, ash medium brown and cool ash blonde keep your hair in line with your skin. Pearl or beige highlights can brighten a mousy base, but keep them fine and toned. If your hair pulls warm in the sun, a blue or violet gloss every few weeks takes the brass out. Golden blonde, caramel, copper and red all bring in warmth that makes cool, rosy skin look red.

Move toward

• Ash medium brown #625851
• Ash light brown #80756E
• Cool ash blonde #A7A094
• Pearl blonde #CBC6B9

Move away from

• Golden blonde #D4A94A
• Caramel #B07A3E
• Copper #B5562A
• Jet black #0D0D0D

Gray hair and highlights

To blend early gray, ask for fine ash lowlights that soften the line while you transition. When you go fully gray, a silver toning shampoo keeps it bright and stops it yellowing.

Silver, white gold and platinum are your metals, polished or brushed. Rose gold is a good second choice. Yellow gold usually looks too warm and brassy against rosy skin, so if you want gold, pick a pale white-gold blend.

• Sterling silver
• White gold
• Platinum
• Rose gold
• Polished pewter

Glasses frames

Navy, slate blue, cool gray, burgundy and clear gray crystal frames all work. Thin silver wire frames are a good minimal choice. Avoid gold wire and warm brown tortoiseshell.

People often typed as Cool Summer. Typing a famous face from photos is guesswork (lighting, makeup and hair dye all change it), so use it as a reference for coloring and check your own season with the drape tests above.

• Kate Middleton: Fair skin with a rosy cast and cool-toned brown hair at moderate, evenly blended contrast. Source for Kate Middleton, opens in a new tab
• Emily DiDonato: Ash-brown hair over cool, rosy-neutral skin with very little contrast between them. Source for Emily DiDonato, opens in a new tab
• Emily Blunt: Cool ash-brown hair and fair skin with a distinctly cool undertone at low contrast. Source for Emily Blunt, opens in a new tab
• Anna Kendrick: Fair, cool-toned skin and brown eyes; often wears a soft medium brown hair shade. Source for Anna Kendrick, opens in a new tab
• Claire Foy: Very fair skin with cool undertones and blue eyes. Source for Claire Foy, opens in a new tab
• Caitriona Balfe: Fair, cool skin and light eyes; often wears a cool medium-brown hair shade. Source for Caitriona Balfe, opens in a new tab
• Allison Williams: Fair, rosy skin and dark eyes; often wears a cool brown hair shade at medium contrast. Source for Allison Williams, opens in a new tab
• Henry Cavill: Blue eyes and fair skin; usually seen with cool dark-brown hair. Source for Henry Cavill, opens in a new tab