Soft Autumn Color Palette

Soft Autumn is led by chroma. Your coloring is low in saturation, so colors with some gray or brown in them blend with you while clear, vivid colors sit on top of your face. Temperature comes second: you lean warm, but only gently, which is why Soft Autumn shares some ground with Soft Summer. Value sits in the middle.

Skin is usually neutral to neutral-warm, with a peachy, golden or soft olive cast. Eyes look soft and blended rather than clear: hazel, green, gray-green, light brown or a gentle warm brown, and now and then a grayed blue.

Hair usually runs from golden blonde to medium golden brown, with strawberry blonde and soft auburn in the mix, and it often picks up golden highlights in the sun. Contrast between hair, skin and eyes is low to medium, so no single feature jumps out.

• Camel #B9946B
• Soft ivory #F1E8D6
• Mushroom #A39484
• Soft peach #EFC9AD
• Pale sage #C9CFAE
• Sage green #9CAF88
• Soft teal #5F9A94
• Salmon #E0937A
• Mustard #B89E5F
• Olive #5F6040
• Deep teal #3F6A68
• Tomato red #B15846

Soft Autumn or Warm Autumn?

Warm Autumn uses the same earthy family with more saturation and more gold. Hold a rich pumpkin orange (#e0702a) and a grayed salmon (#e0937a) at your chin in daylight. On a Soft Autumn the pumpkin looks louder than the face and you see the color before you see the eyes, while the salmon evens out the skin. A Warm Autumn sees the opposite: the salmon looks faded and slightly gray, and the pumpkin warms the cheeks.

See the Warm Autumn palette

Soft Autumn or Soft Summer?

Soft Summer is just as muted but leans cool, so the test is temperature at low saturation. Hold camel (#b9946b) next to a cool gray-blue such as #8e9aa6. On a Soft Autumn the camel gives the skin a quiet golden glow and the gray-blue drains it, often darkening the under-eye area. On a Soft Summer the camel turns the skin sallow and the gray-blue looks calm. If both look fine, compare sage (#9caf88) with a dusty mauve; Soft Autumns usually prefer the sage.

See the Soft Summer palette

Camel, mushroom, taupe and coffee brown are your working neutrals. They carry enough warmth for your skin and enough gray to match your softness. Olive khaki and stone are good for trousers and outerwear. Swap black for dark chocolate, swap stark white for soft ivory, and use a muted petrol blue where you would wear navy.

Your best white and what to wear instead of black.

Five outfit formulas

• Office classic

  • Blazer: camel
  • Blouse: soft ivory
  • Trousers: coffee brown
  • Loafers: dark chocolate

• Weekend knitwear

  • Chunky sweater: oatmeal
  • Chinos: olive
  • Suede boots: camel

• Soft teal dinner

  • Silk top: soft teal
  • Wide-leg trousers: taupe
  • Leather bag: camel

• Summer linen

  • Linen shirt: salmon
  • Linen trousers: soft ivory
  • Sandals: wheat

• Cold-weather coat

  • Wool coat: rust
  • Turtleneck: mushroom
  • Jeans: dark chocolate

Prints and fabrics

Pick prints whose colors sit close together in lightness: a paisley in rust, olive and camel, a watercolor floral in sage and dusty rose, a soft herringbone, tweed flecked with moss and mustard, or tortoiseshell. Matte and brushed surfaces suit you better than high shine, so reach for suede, brushed cotton, washed linen, cashmere, sand-washed silk and corduroy. Skip hard black-and-white graphics and any print with neon in it.

Colors to avoid

• Black #000000
• Optic white #FFFFFF
• Hot pink #E0308A
• Cobalt blue #1F4FBF
• Fire-engine red #E01A1A
• Bright orange #FF7A00

Each of these is clearer or starker than your skin, hair and eyes. The color arrives before you do and can leave the skin looking gray or tired. If you love one, wear it away from the face: a bright orange bag or cobalt trainers do far less harm than a top in the same shade.

Look for golden, neutral-warm or olive-neutral foundation. Pink-based shades tend to leave a rosy or gray film on Soft Autumn skin, and very yellow ones can turn orange. Test along the jaw in daylight and pick the shade that disappears.

Lips

• Warm nude #C08A76
• Rosewood #A2645A
• Soft coral #D28A72
• Brick rose #A5544A

Blush

• Soft peach #E3A088
• Muted terracotta #C98568
• Dusty rose #C48C86

Eyes

• Taupe #857565
• Soft bronze #8A6A3C
• Olive #6F6B45
• Muted gold #C4A46A
• Soft teal #4F7A76

Liner and brows

• Dark brown #4A3A30
• Deep olive #4A4A30

Keep lip and cheek in the same family and skip frosted or icy-pink finishes. Satin and cream textures melt into your skin, while heavy glitter tends to sit apart from it. For evening, go deeper on the lip instead of brighter: brick rose works where a true red looks loud.

Your best hair colors stay in the middle range with gentle warmth: golden brown, mushroom brown, soft caramel and honey-beige blonde. Blended highlights about two shades lighter than the base keep the low contrast that suits you. Very dark hair adds more contrast than your eyes and skin can carry, and ash platinum pulls you toward gray.

Move toward

• Golden brown #8B6A4A
• Mushroom brown #7C6A58
• Soft caramel #A8825A
• Honey-beige blonde #C7A77C

Move away from

• Jet black #111111
• Blue-black #10141C
• Ash platinum #DCDCD8
• Bright copper #B5502A

Gray hair and highlights

To blend early gray, ask for fine babylights in honey beige or soft caramel instead of a solid all-over dye. If you grow it out fully, wear camel, sage and soft teal near the face; they flatter silver hair more than black does.

Brushed and matte metals suit you more than polished ones. Soft gold, rose gold, antique brass and bronze sit closest to your skin, and mixed-metal pieces work when every metal is muted. Bright polished silver and platinum look sharp against low-contrast coloring, and most coppers read too orange.

• Brushed gold
• Rose gold
• Antique brass
• Bronze
• Pewter

Glasses frames

Tortoiseshell in honey or soft brown, olive or khaki acetate, and brushed gold or bronze wire. Jet black and glossy silver frames draw a hard line across your face.

People often typed as Soft Autumn. 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.

• Gisele Bündchen: Golden but muted skin and green eyes, often seen with sandy light-brown hair, at low contrast. Source for Gisele Bündchen, opens in a new tab
• Drew Barrymore: Muted peachy skin and soft green-hazel eyes, often with golden-blonde hair, at low contrast. Source for Drew Barrymore, opens in a new tab
• Elizabeth Olsen: Warm-neutral muted skin and soft green eyes, often with golden-brown hair. Source for Elizabeth Olsen, opens in a new tab
• Kate Moss: Neutral-warm skin and a blended look, often with light-brown hair. Source for Kate Moss, opens in a new tab
• Adele: Warm undertones and soft greenish eyes, often with rich warm-toned hair. Source for Adele, opens in a new tab
• Jessica Biel: Warm undertones and soft hazel eyes, often with rich warm-brown hair. Source for Jessica Biel, opens in a new tab
• Hailey Bieber: Warm skin tone and brown eyes, often with light brown or honey hair. Source for Hailey Bieber, opens in a new tab