Are You an Autumn?
A Beauty Post! Seasonal Color Analysis Part 3
In case you missed the last two posts—What is Seasonal Color Analysis? Seasonal color analysis is a system by which people can determine which colors of clothing, makeup, hair color, etc will look best on them because of their tone.
As someone for whom nature is a spiritual thing, I’ve found it fascinating to learn that we are all a reflection of the natural world. We might exhibit the bold buttery sunshine of morning (Spring), the blue light and shadowless heat of midday (Summer), the shadowed, nuanced complexity of dusk (Autumn), or the clear, crystalline depth and mystery of night (Winter). All are beautiful, just different.
There are a total of 12 different sub seasons, 4 major seasons, and everyone fits in somewhere. Sometimes it’s completely obvious and other times it’s tough to tell even with draping where someone fits.
For those of you who have found our past two seasons just too darn light, you’ll be glad to know we’ve arrived at the dark seasons. There are two dark seasons: Autumn and Winter. Autumn is warm while Winter is cool. The dark seasons are far more than just deeper versions of Spring and Summer though. The colors are more intense, as are the personalities.
So are you an Autumn? An autumn is the physical representation of late afternoon or early evening sunlight. Picture a late afternoon in October. The light is warm again, but not thin and bright yellow like Spring, but thick, rich, and orangy like maple syrup. It filters through yellow, orange, green, red, and copper foliage. Shadows abound and skitter behind trees.
The voices Autumns are as crisp as the sound of dry leaves crunching beneath their heels. They wear bronzer better than any other season as they’re kind of like walking smolder. On the other hand, cute and sweet rarely works on them.
Autumn is the time of warm pink, peach, yellow, and orange leaves, warm cedar toned tree trunks, when the rich verdant green of Summer grass turns smoky olive, and the scent of sweet figs fills the air.
So, how do you know if you’re an Autumn? There are 3 kinds of Autumns, and we’ll start with the lightest.
Soft Autumn
Soft Autumn is one of two soft seasons. The other is Soft Summer, which was covered in the article on Summers. Soft seasons are neutral and look best in colors that aren’t extreme in any way-not too light, not too dark, not too cool, not too warm, and never bright. Soft Autumn is neutral, skew warm, and the coolest and lightest sub season in a dark, warm season. It’s also my own season, so I can be the most useful in recommending specific brands and shades.
Soft Autumn people look like vintage photographs. If they could be described by one color, it would be sepia, and they often have a “period” look.
Soft Autumn has a reputation for having the prettiest hair. Early Autumn weather and hair are a lot alike— mixed up. It can be 80 degrees one day and 45 the next. Soft Autumn hair is a delectable mix of cinnamon, antique gold, muted red, golden brown, gilded blonde, burnished copper, and neutral hazelnut, it’s like a frothy fall treat from Starbucks. Often long, thick, and lustrous, it’s a multi-tonal work of art.
Let’s take a look at Drew Barrymore in these two photos.
This is ideal Soft Autumn hair that makes her skin and dark olive eyes glow. On other seasons, this would look unkempt or worse with so many different shades. On a Soft Autumn, she looks like a rich Bohemian who just got back from the Riviera.
Here Drew is committing a few cardinal sins. Her hair is too light and too cool, and her bright red lipstick and bright, dark purple dress are more suited to Winter. She also desperately needs bronzer.
How can you tell if this is you? Soft Autumn coloring plays with the mix of light and shadows. Soft Autumns include Gigi Hadid, Nicole Ritchie, Angelina Jolie, Justin Hartley, and Jensen Ackles.
Skin tone: Fair to light cocoa, neutral or neutral-warm.
Eye color: Light to medium brown, amber, mossy green, olive green, soft warm blue. Often a jumbled “warm hazel” mix of colors.
Hair: It’s very hard for Soft Autumn to resist the call of light, bright Spring blonde hair, but you’ll be glad you did. Try golden blonde, muted red or ginger, and golden or warm ash light to medium brown. Lots of highlights and lowlights, more hair should be in lowlights than highlights.
Colors to wear: Camel, dusty teal, warm blush, pale bottle green, ecru, brown that’s neutral or warm, but not rich, olive green, periwinkle, marsala, French blue. No black or white.
Makeup: A neutral to neutral warm foundation with a natural or radiant finish. Try any number of copper, rosy taupe, or green eyeshadows, and warm pink blush. Ignore all the websites that want to put you in peach blush—it’s simply too warm. Try a neutral muted rose or warm mauve blush. Soft Autumn bronzer should be lighter than the other subseasons- dusty, and soft with pink, pale gold, or muted champagne tones. I like Jones Road The Bronzer in Dusty Rose and NARS in Laguna Light 1.
Color palette:
Celebrity examples:
Soft Autumn too light or muted? Try True Autumn
True Autumn IS. SEXY.
No one smolders quite like True Autumn. Spicy as cayenne, True Autumn can be bathed head to toe in 14 karat gold and it won’t be “too much.” Electric and impossible to ignore, True Autumns are HOT.
See what I mean? Any one of these pieces—the see-through skirt, the bra as a top, all in a sparkly warm color, and the gemstone necklace the size of the Hope diamond—would be too much on most other seasons. She puts them all together and it doesn’t feel over the top.
This is not a BAD picture (I’m not sure she can take a bad picture), but I feel like she’s lost her identity. It’s for the cover of Vogue India so I don’t know how much she had to do with it, but the uber blonde hair, buttoned up muted blouse, and baby pink lips steal her power and turn her into any other woman in L.A., a crime for Jenny from the Block. I feel like she’s much more special than the woman in this photo.
Are you a True Autumn? True Autumns wear exclusively warm tones, medium, rich, and full-bodied. Fairly bright is fine. Cool colors are like throwing cold water on your inner fire.
There’s quite a bit of variety in this season, but there’s something fiery about all of them. True Autumns include Julia Roberts, Debra Messing, Beyonce, Ryan Reynolds, and Antonio Banderas.
Skin tone: light to deep, always warm or very warm.
Eye color: Light to dark brown, amber, hazel, and olive green
Hair color: Red, copper, strawberry brown or golden light to dark brown.
Makeup: warm to very warm foundation. True Autumn should avoid any coolness at all, Coolness will always look disruptive on you. Try bronze, gold, and olive eyeshadows, and warm rusty, cinnamon lipsticks.
Colors to wear: Very warm spicy tones like deep orange, cayenne, olive green, gold, warm burgundy, navy blue, bright teal, rusty red, and rich brown. No white or black. No coolness.
Color palette:
Celebrity examples:
Need more depth?
Deep Autumn
Deep Autumn is the darkest of the warm seasons. Fiery, deep, and dark, they heat up under the late autumn sky. Just before the icy cool of Winter, Deep Autumns show us how to smolder when the days are short and the nights are long, a last gasp of beautiful warmth.
This is just lovely. The burnt orange color is strong enough for her and she looks like a warm earth goddess.
Just like seasons have to be careful not to pick a color too strong for them, or it will overwhelm them (like a Summer in the dress above), you also have to be careful not to choose a color that can’t stand up to you, and Oprah is stomping all over this Summer powder blue that’s way too light and way too cool. It doesn’t live up to her energy.
Are you a Deep Autumn? Deep Autumns wear dark colors that skew warm, but a bit of coolness is okay.
There’s also quite a bit of variety in this season. Deep Autumns include Gemma Chan, Natalie Portman, Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale, and Jason Momoa.
Skin tone: medium to deep, warm or warm neutral
Eye color: Medium to dark brown, deep warm olive
Hair color: Dark warm golden brown, deep auburn
Makeup: warm or neutral warm foundation. Dark warm eyeshadows. Deep bronzer.
Colors to wear: Deep Autumn should wear darker warm color like deep olive, burgundy, midnight warm blue, harvest gold, deep orange, and dark warm purple. Deep Autumn is one of five seasons who can rock black.
Color Palette:
Celebrity examples:
Preferred perfumes: Woody, spicy, or gourmand scents. Try Angel, Santa Maria Novella’s Tabacco Toscana, or Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille.
Most typical personality:
Autumns tend have more formal education than other seasons. They’re also witty, clever, and opinionated. While one archetype may have an Autumn with her nose in a book, another will have her climbing mountains and playing high stakes poker. Whatever she does, it will be bold. She leaves broken hearts and conventions in her wake.