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If you think autumn only refers to the fall season, then you probably don’t know how vast the world of styling and beauty can be.
Getting yourself devoted to discovering what truly suits you is far more than just choosing a fun and trendy color to wear and to color your hair.
Let’s get through the seasonal color analysis and find out the best hair colors for autumns.
Table of Contents
- 1 The Seasonal Color Analysis
- 2 How to Determine Your Season
- 3 The Primary Seasonal Colors
- 4 Flow Seasonal Color Analysis
- 5 Which Type of Autumn Are You?
- 6 Dark Autumns
- 7 The Best Hair Color for Deep Autumn
- 8 True Autumn
- 9 Best Hair Colors for True Autumns
- 10 Soft Autumn
- 11 Best Hair Colors For Soft Autumns
- 12 Frequently Asked Questions
- 13 Are You an Autumn?
The Seasonal Color Analysis
What looks good on us varies depending on whom we present ourselves to.
To confidently flaunt ourselves regardless of others’ perceptions, we must determine the best palette that suits us based on our features.
The seasonal color analysis gives a great sense of color harmonization and coordination so that each feature and color we have on our bodies gets highlighted and not drained out of the picture when we style ourselves.
It uses the natural color of the skin, hair, and eyes to determine which color palettes to avoid and choose in terms of different aspects of styles we choose, like hair color, jewelry, clothes, and even living spaces.
How to Determine Your Season
Seasonal colors are primarily determined by the combination of two variables: hue and value.
Hue/Undertone
The undertone or temperature of the color is often referred to as hue or the purest form of color.
It is your dominant characteristic and the first factor we must consider in determining your seasonal color.
It also measures the scale of how warm or cool the undertones of your skin, eyes, and hair are, giving you the base color you have to focus on.
Those who fall under the warm hue are characterized to have yellow-based colors, and those under the cool shade are likely to have blue-based colors.
Value/Contrast
Now, focus on the color of your eyes and hair and see whether they are naturally light or deep/dark.
The value will be the second basis for your primary season color.
The Primary Seasonal Colors
Once you’ve assessed your features based on their natural hue and value, you should come up with your primary season:
Warm Seasonal Colors
- Autumn — warm and deep (muted); low contrast between features
- Spring — warm and light (bright); high contrast between features
Cool Seasonal Colors
- Summer — cool and light (muted); low contrast between features
- Winter — cool and deep (bright); high contrast between features
Flow Seasonal Color Analysis
If you’re anxious because your features don’t belong to any of the 4 primary seasonal colors, let us tell you this, not everyone is entitled to find their season just by considering those two alone, and that’s okay!
We still have one more variable to consider.
If we elaborate on it, there are 12 more color categories under what we call flow seasonal color analysis, and this one’s more specific.
Primary seasonal colors have three subsets: soft, dark, and true. And the formula for finding this is your hue + value + chroma.
Chroma
This one is commonly known as the saturation or intensity of the color. The purity of the color measures how muted or soft and how bright or clear it is.
The easiest way to tell this is by looking at how close it is to the color gray, as gray is the dullest and most muted shade.
Which Type of Autumn Are You?
| Dark Autumn | True Autumn | Soft Autumn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eye color | Rich/dark hazel, dark olive, brown, dark brown, black | Green, olive green, dark hazel, brown | Soft blue, soft blue-green, hazel, soft amber, topaz, light to medium brown |
| Skin tone | Warm to warm-neutral with golden undertone: Ivory, medium, tan, rich tan, medium brown with a gold undertone, dark brown | Warm with golden undertone: deeper olive, medium, tan, golden, and chocolate brown | Neutral or neutral-warm: warm ivory, beige (rose, warm, or sun), pale tan, warm almond |
| Hair | Warm, deep, and muted-rich: Medium to dark brown, brown-black (with or without honey or ginger highlights) | Warm with gold undertone: Medium to dark brown, warm auburn, darker red | Warm and ashy: Golden brown to dark brown (with or without ginger highlights) |
| Contrast | High contrast | Medium contrast | Low to medium contrast |
| Color Dimensions | Hue: Neutral-warm Value: Deep/dark Chroma: Medium | Hue: Warm Value: Light/medium Chroma: Soft/muted | Hue: Warm Value: Dark Chroma: Soft/muted |
| Complementing colors | Highly contrasting colors (light paired with dark, or vice versa); bold, warm, with rich pigments like dark rich brown, light or dark khaki, caramels, creams, olives, deep peach, pumpkin, terracotta, mustard, teal, purple, espresso | Warm with golden or muted undertones likewarm browns, olive greens, ivory, and darker/greenish blues, autumnal oranges and yellows, burgundy, muted forest green, muted harbor blues, dusty lilacs, muted lavender, amber | Soft, rich, and warm colors like light tans, beiges, taupes, dark warm browns, dusty turquoise, warm pastel pink, coffee brown, mint, warm off-white, mahogany |
| Colors to avoid | Neon, pastel, and cool-toned colors; true white | Blue undertones; icy colors; neon or pastel colors; fuchsia; true black and white | Bright saturated colors like intense orange; deep purples and blues; stark white and black; jewel tones (e.g., emerald or sapphire); blue undertones |
Dark Autumns
Characteristics
Imagine the deep jungles, the peak of the sunset, the nights in the ocean.
All the natural warmth left before we’re hugged by total darkness. And the bountiful harvests of plums and figs, orchids and dried flowers.
That’s what dark or deep autumn reminds us of.
The darkest autumn sub-season sits between dark winter and true autumn. It’s richer, more saturated, and less warm than the rest of the autumn shades.
It may often be mistaken for dark winter because of the high contrast between the skin, hair, and eyes.
But deep autumn is generally a mixture of warm and dark.
An overall dark palette and medium saturation or chroma characterize it.
It also has a neutral-warm undertone which means it lands between the yellows and blues but clings a bit more to the yellow.
Skin
Its warm attribute in deep autumn skin is predominantly found on its neutral-warm skin.
You can envision the skin tone as light as honey or cream up to as dark as deep chocolate brown, which all have a golden or bronze undertone.
It’s natural for autumns to have freckles, but for this sub-season, it can appear warmer or more chocolate brown.
Eyes
When it comes to the features, the dark characteristics show up.
Deep autumn eyes are usually found to be in shades of rich hazel, dark olive, golden brown, rich brown, espresso, dark brown, or black. They are all visibly dark, rich in color, and far from muted.
Hair
Hair is every person’s crowning glory, and you sure would like it to make you stand out.
What are the hair colors for deep autumns?
Of course, they’re still in deep, rich, and warm shades, like black-brown or medium-brown hair with a hint of red tones or auburn, mahogany, or gold undertones.
Natural red or golden highlights may also be visible.
The Best Hair Color for Deep Autumn
Deep Auburn
This sultry blend is between the 2 perfectly warm shades of deep autumn: brown and deep red.
Warm Golden Chestnut
This shade of dark chestnut brown has the more dominant earthy brown tones and a subtle reddish blend that’s very appealing for dark autumns.
Medium Golden Brown
If you want to stick with the browns, keep it simple yet classy with a warm, dimensional, medium golden-brown color.
Dark Golden Brown
Golden brown is generally a mix of medium brown and light blonde, but if you want it to look more natural, stay with a dark brunette shade through a blend of darker brown and a subtler honey brown.
True Autumn
Think of leaves, pumpkins, and cinnamon — these are precisely what true autumn is!
Characteristics
Aside from all the fall traditions that this color reminds us of, true autumn or copper autumn lands in the middle of this seasonal color group and qualifies for warmth and richness.
It combines mild contrast and warm and muted tones, contrary to the bright, clean, and fresh seasonal colors opposite to it: true spring.
Instead of contrasting colors, the features blend. Perhaps the hues of your skin, hair, and eyes are relatively the same, with different shades.
If you’re true autumn, your color is characterized by two aspects: warmth, which prevails in the overall feature, and muted or soft, the second aspect that completes the characteristics.
Skin
True autumn skin tones don’t go that far from the golden undertone, which is a default for this season. But they get visibly warmer, depending on how light or dark your color is.
Lighter skin tones like fair, ivory, honey, and limestone colors have a more yellow undertone, and they get more golden as they go into the deeper olive, medium, tan, golden, and chocolate brown.
Your skin tends to get tanned easily and may develop freckles in the sun.
Eyes
True autumn eyes are pretty easy to tell.
Since the essence of this subset revolves around fall’s natural colors, you may find shades of green, dark olive, hazel, amber, or brown in the eyes of true autumn.
In some rare cases, it can also be a warm chocolate brown or a deep blue with a hint of teal.
Hair
If you don’t know where to start, always remember that every feature of true autumn has a vivid warmth.
The true autumn color palette includes warm shades with golden or muted undertones. So, even their hair shines with a golden undertone.
But it doesn’t mean it’s limited to golden blondes to dark golden browns. True autumn hair can also be in shades of auburn, copper, and deep red.
Once exposed to the sun, it is also possible for it to develop golden, bronze, rusty, or caramel highlights.
Best Hair Colors for True Autumns
Auburn
Varying radiant tones of red and earthy brown resemble the leafy feels of fall.
Caramel
This caramel shade perfectly balances brown and copper. It won’t look brassy and will surely highlight the true autumns with a dark skin tone.
Copper
A mild reddish and golden version of copper can also make the warm skin tone of a true autumn glow.
Copper-Ginger
An intense copper with a hint of ginger isn’t just ideal for fall; it’s also one of the warm autumn hair colors that can make each of their features stand out.
Medium Golden Brown
You can never go wrong with a shade that stands perfectly between light and dark brown. This versatile yet flattering hair color works for every skin tone.
Soft Autumn
Now, think of all the softness on earth.
Do you enjoy foggy, hazy days, the colors of the sea, or the lovely colors of wilting flowers? These embody the palette of soft autumn.
Characteristics
In the seasonal color wheel, soft autumn is located between the muted and warm sides. It’s the part of the subset closest to soft summer but with warmer tones rather than the former, which has cool tones.
The main features of soft autumns are most likely to be friendly and muted, with more distinctly muted or “grayed-out” tones due to a dominant chroma. Take note that there will still be a definite warmth to it.
As for contrast, soft autumns have a medium to low contrast, where the colors of their features blend, especially their eyes and hair.
Soft autumn hues go into the warmer end of the scale but not down, which explains why you may still see a few shades of warm blue in this palette.
Skin
Soft autumn skin tones are neutral or neutral-warm.
You may still notice a hint of sandy or yellow undertone to them, but it’s likely to be in the range of gentle beige, rose beige, pale tan, medium tan, and warm almond.
Eyes
Desaturation of colors primarily makes up soft autumn, and the eyes are no exception to this.
So just like the lightness of the earth, eye colors in this season can be light green, light hazel, light amber, and light brown.
It’s also possible for some to possess warm blue eyes with hints of gray or a soft medium brown that has a more opaque hue instead of a bright one.
Hair
Because soft autumn colors tend to appear toned down, the hair shades for this season are still in the family of browns, but they can have an ashy undertone.
Hair colors go from medium strawberry blonde, golden blonde, and light to medium golden brown.
Golden or caramel highlights or lowlights are also visible but not the bleached or colored type. The highlights appear naturally due to various factors like sun exposure.
Best Hair Colors For Soft Autumns
Medium Strawberry Blonde
This strawberry blonde has a light brown base. Together, the two colors are classy and sophisticated. We won’t be surprised by how many heads would turn at that.
Golden Blonde
Golden blonde combines honey, golden, and butter browns. And this shade just
screams luxury.
Brown Blonde
It’s a muted version of a dark blonde that won’t take you away from having as natural-looking hair as possible.
Light Golden Brown
is one of the all-time trendsetters regarding hair color. This shade’s rich, warm hues can bring a nice pop to soft autumns.
Mousy Brown
This mousy brown has a subtle ashy undertone that is totally within the scope of the muteness of soft autumn.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I tell if I have a warm or cool hue?
Here are ways if you still don’t know how to tell which undertone you have. Try wearing gold and silver jewelry, and check the color of your veins.
Warm undertones look better with gold jewelry and have green-looking veins. While those with cool undertones look better with silver jewelry and have bluish or purple-looking veins.
What is the difference between true autumn and true spring?
Generally, true spring is located opposite the true autumn spectrum. It has bright and fresh colors, while true autumn is composed of warm, rich, and muted colors contrary to it.
Can I wear colors that aren’t in my palette?
Yes, of course! These colors are recommended for you because that is what the seasonal color theory suggests.
But that doesn’t mean you should encapsulate and force yourself to wear what you don’t seem comfortable with. Always go for the look you want!
True beauty comes from confidence and how well you present yourself.
Are You an Autumn?
If you’ve made it this far, then you’re now on a more profound journey to figuring out what looks good on you.
And what benefits does this invoke?
You’re not just styling yourself better; you’re also allowing yourself to invest in the things you can use in the long run.
Comment below and tell us which season you belong to!
Read More Articles About Hair Colors Here:
- How To Mix Hair Colors Like A Pro
- 20 Fun Rainbow Hair Color Ideas You Can Try
- Hair Color Wheel: How To Use It When You Dye Your Hair
Stephanie Martin blends her beauty industry background with expertise in communications to lead in the fashion and beauty world. As a fashion and beauty editor, she is known for engaging and informative articles. Her lifelong passion for fashion, makeup, and hair shines through her work, earning her widespread respect among readers and clients. Stephanie's style, a mix of classic and contemporary, makes her a dynamic and influential figure in the industry, inspiring others with her knowledgeable and approachable insights.
