Soft Autumn Palette (Soft and Warm)

Soft Autumn

Soft Autumn is Autumn influenced by Summer, and as such it takes the depth of color and warmth that you would expect from an Autumn season, but makes it much Softer or Muted, due to the Summer influence. The colours that best fit a Soft Autumn are muted and warm, for example warm beige or even some soft colors from cooler palettes. One of the best words to describe the Soft Autumn season is neutral, and they shine in low contrast combinations and disappear when wearing dark colors such as black or navy. Soft Autumn is cooler than Warm Autumn, warmer than Soft Summer and darker and more muted than Spring, even light Spring.

General Characteristics Of The Soft Autumn Palette

You are likely to be a Soft Autumn if you have several of the following characteristics:

Hair

Soft Autumn hair is most likely dark mousy blonde, strawberry blonde or brown, without apparent highlights and low level of contrast. The hair color and the skin have low contrast. Many Soft Autumns dye or highlight their hair blonde, which brings them closer to Spring but it’s not as good as their natural darker tones with the right clothes.

Skin

Your skin will be slightly warm, but mostly neutral. Neutral beige, ivory, warm olive or latte but without a lot of contrast with your eyes.

Eyes

Your eyes are often a light brown, muddy green, hazel or have a bit of grey to them. Light brown and golden blue eyes can also be on this season, but the most important thing is that they are muted and not bright like Spring’s blue eyes.

Are You A Soft Autumn?

Soft Autumn hair, eyes and skin have a similar, muted tones coloring. Hair is mousy and without highlights, the eyes are neither too dark or too light and the skin has a warm, soft and low contrasting tone to it. While Soft Autumn is a warm season, it’s nowhere as warm as a Warm Autumn and can successfully wear some colors belonging to the cool palette.

Soft Autumns are often confused with Light Springs, as both seasons have a gentleness to their coloring and suit warm colors best, but you may find that Light Spring colors lack the depth that makes your skin glow. If you are overpowered in bright colors, such as bright sapphire, but look childish in light pink, and rose-violet lipsticks do nothing for you, you could be this season.

Soft Autumn Celebrities

There are many Soft Autumn celebrities that die their hair blonde, so finding images of their natural hair is complicated. However, you can see how the contrast level is very low between the eyes, hair and skin in order to look harmonious. Some well known examples of Soft Autumns are:

  • the Olsen Twins (who unfortunately love wearing black and lightening their hair a bit too much)
  • Nicole Richie
  • Giselle Bundchen
  • Misha Barton
  • Jennifer Ferrin
  • Drew Barrymore
  • Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Soft Autumn Color Palette

The best way to know if you are a Soft Autumn is to look at which colors look good on you. While the coloring of this season is muted, the colors of the palette makes the overall effect rich, soft and inviting. The best colors for a Soft Autumn are soft, delicate and not too cool or too warm. This means Soft Autumns lack colors such as the oranges of Warm Autumn or the darker colors present on the Deep Autumn palette. Black and other dark colors, for example, are to be particularly avoided. Bright colors will overpower you easily, and you may end up looking clownish if you use them as makeup. Instead, try the gentle tones of Khaki, Buttermilk or Light Grey as neutrals. Light Peach and Salmon work great in almost monochrome combinations, along with Light Moss, Salmon or even a very light summer Lemon Yellow. Olive green will also look great on you. If you find yourself looking better in Light Fuchsia and blueish Greens than Peach consider whether you could be a Soft Summer instead.

Some colors from the Soft Autumn palette
Some colors from the Soft Autumn palette

Soft Autumn Makeup

If you are a Soft Autumn the first rule is to keep your makeup toned down and low contrast. Bright red lipstick will probably look like it was painted on your face, whereas subtler peaches and browns will look like your natural lip color, just better. Salmon, Mahogany or Rust look great on you as lipsticks, and you could even use a Mahogany if your skin is dark enough to avoid being too high contrast.

For eye-liner you look great on a moss green or warm cocoa color, instead of black or navy which can overpower your natural coloring. Purple and green make great eye shadows depending on your natural eye color, as they will bring out the undertones in green and brown eyes and make them sparkle. You will look great in metallic colors both on lips and eyes, as long as they are applied with a light hand.


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10 Comments

  1. says: Chika

    I don’t know if I’m a Soft Autumn or a Deep Autumn. I have light skin with yellow undertones I think, which tans very easily and gets some freckles when exposed to the sun. My hair is ashy light brown and gets golden highlights on summer, and my eyes are deep brown, almost black. I used to think I’m a Soft Autumn but the dark eyes seem out of place, and my hair hasn’t that much contrast as a Deep Autumn. I was born with deep black hair btw, but it became light brown very quickly. Help 🙁

    1. says: editorial team

      It is very difficult to tell from a description but have you tried using colors from both palettes to see which ones look best on you?
      For example, if you were a Soft Autumn black will not look good on you, it will look overpowering and draining. If you are a deep autumn you can get away with much darker colors.

    2. says: Karla Robinett

      Thank you! You have given me confirmation that I am indeed a Soft Autumn. The warmer, more vibrant colors such as orange look dreadful on me. I knew I was warm but confused that most of the brighter, deeper colors just didn’t look good on me. And Summer was mostly out of the question, as was Spring.

  2. says: marie

    I have some difficulty in defining my type, my natural hair color is a medium ash blonde, my skin is very light with a pink undertone, I usually dye my hair to veru light blonde, golden blonde tones make the undertone pink become pleasantly rose and bright and bring out the golden veins of the eyes but in general all the blondes above the tone 8, including the platinum, give glow to my skin
    on the contrary, the dark colors turn off completely and make my skin appear grayish
    also red hair is a big no for my skin

  3. says: Sheryl

    Hi,
    I am pale with yellow undertones. My natural hair color is medium brown and my eyes are blue, but sometimes, they look a bit gray. I was told by a beauty consultant that I was a warm Autumn. My veins do not look blue or green to me and I can not tell if I look better in gold or silver. I am too confused!
    Do you have an opinion based on the “info” I provided?
    Thank You!
    Sheryl

  4. says: Sheryl

    I have a pale complexion with yellow undertones and my eyes are blue. My natural hair color was medium brown. I was diagnosed as an autumn, but now I have doubts. What do you think? Thank You!

  5. says: Joan

    Hello from greece! I believe I am a soft autumn. I have light beige-yellow skin, medium ash brown hair and my eyes are soft yellowish light brown-honey. Can I dye my hair dark? If I can, how dark can I go? Thanks a lot!

  6. says: Ms Gibbs

    Thank you for the season color soft autumn palette soft-warm. Some years ago I was told I was a “cool” color. I wore the wrong makeup for many years. While updating my makeup I learned I am actually a “warm” season color. Now I look so much better, and healthier with the correct seasonal color analysis. I am a warm-soft autumn.

  7. says: Kathleen

    I also do not know which Autumn I am. My natural hair color is a red/brown. My eyes are blue with gold flecks. My skin is light with some freckles. Hope you can help.

  8. says: lori

    Hi, I don’t know if I am deep or soft autumn (or normal autumn). I know dusty purple looks terrible on me but other dusty colors look good and deep colors look good too… I have pale skin (warm) and light golden brown hair and dark hazel brown eyes. The best colors I look in is earthy green (so not olive or deep but medium–> leaf green).

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