Cool Summer: Your Colour Season Guide
Welcome to the refined, serene side of summer — where softness meets sophistication, and cool tones reign supreme. If you're a Cool Summer (also sometimes called True Summer, or simply Cool + Soft), your palette is centered around calm, muted, cool colours, with balanced depth and subtle clarity.
What Makes Cool Summer Unique?
Cool Summer sits between Summer’s softness and Winter’s clarity — but without the high contrast or stark brightness of Winter. Your palette is cool first and foremost, but with enough softness to harmonise with natural features.
- Hue (Temperature): Cool (no warmth at all)
- Value (Light-to-Dark): Medium — you can carry slightly deeper tones than the lightest seasons
- Chroma (Saturation): Soft to moderate — colours are never loud or neon, but remain clear and cool
Compared to neighbouring seasons:
- Light Summer: you share coolness, but Cool Summer allows for more depth and subtle contrast.
- Soft Summer: you share coolness, but your palette is crisper and less muted overall.
- Winter: you can wear cooler tones, but you avoid extreme contrast and pure brights.
Identifying Features of Cool Summer
Cool Summer is about the relationship of your colouring:
- Skin: Neutral-cool to cool undertones. Can range from fair to medium or deeper, but with a cool cast rather than warm/golden.
- Eyes: Soft but clear — like grey-blue, slate, soft hazel with cool flecks, muted sapphire, or cool brown.
- Hair: Ashy tones — ash brown, soft ash blonde, ash brunette. Darker hair should have a cool undertone (no golden or reddish cast).
- Overall contrast: Low to medium contrast between hair, eyes, and skin — too much contrast is too harsh and may belong in a Winter subseason.
Your overall presence is cool, poised, calm — not frosty, but softly luminous.
Your Cool Summer Palette
Imagine a misty morning by the sea — the colours are cool, grounded, and balanced. Your palette reflects that mood.
Best Colours (Accent & Dominant)
- Soft rose, dusty raspberry, cool mauve
- Lavender, periwinkle, soft steel blue
- Teal, cool aquamarine, soft slate blue
- Icy pink, rose quartz, muted berry tones
Neutrals
- Light Neutrals: Cool white (not yellowed), foggy grey, very pale slate
- Medium Neutrals: Dove grey, steel grey, taupey grey, soft charcoal
- Dark Neutrals: Slate navy (rather than black), soft charcoal, cool browns with grey cast
Black and stark white are too hard — they compete with your natural subtlety. Instead, your neutrals should feel calm, cool, and grounded. If you want to wear black, opt for a soft or low-sheen fabric, and keep it away from your face.
Combining Your Colours
Your strength lies in harmony, tone-on-tone layering, and gentle contrast. A few tips:
- Stick to low to medium contrast: Avoid pairing a dark, saturated shade with a very light one. You can go for higher contrast than Soft Summer, but keep it harmonious.
- Monochromatic and analogous schemes work beautifully — e.g. slate + steel blue + dusty rose.
- Accent with a muted colour: Use one soft accent (e.g. rose, lavender) against neutrals.
- Avoid overly warm or golden pairings, like mustard + coral, or camel + tomato red.
Fabrics & Patterns
- Fabrics: Smooth, fluid, and soft rather than coarse — think silk, lightweight wool blends, crepe, fine cotton, soft knits.
- Patterns: Subtle florals, tone-on-tone geometrics, soft stripes, watercolor washes. Strong graphic prints or high contrast patterns can overpower you, particularly if colours are contrasting.
Jewellery & Makeup
- Metals: Silver, white gold, platinum, cool-toned palladium. Rose gold is acceptable if it reads cool (a dusty rose gold). Gemstones: Aquamarine, sapphire (muted tones), amethyst, cool quartz, iolite — avoid warm yellows or orange-based stones.
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Makeup:
– Foundation / Base: Neutral-cool undertones; avoid foundations with warming or yellow casts
– Eyeshadow: Cool taupes, greys, mauves, soft plums, slate blues
– Lips: Cool rose, muted berry, soft plum
– Blush: Cool rose, dusty pink, soft berry tones
Building Your Cool Summer Wardrobe
- Start with your neutrals — a dove-grey blazer, slate trousers, misty white blouse
- Add mid-tone colours — slate blue dress, muted berry sweater, dusty rose loafers
- Accent with colour — a soft teal scarf, lavender camisole, muted mauve bag
- Skip heavy blacks or warm bases — prefer slate navy, charcoal, or greyed browns
- Let your garments echo the cool, composed mood of your natural colouring.
Your Cool Summer Glow
When you choose colours from your palette, your complexion appears cooler, more luminous, and effortlessly balanced. Your eyes become clearer, your skin looks fresher, and your whole look feels in harmony.
Compared to Light Summer, you accept more depth and a slightly stronger contrast. Compared to Soft Summer, your tones are crisper and less muted. And compared to Winter — you keep things gentle, avoiding extremes of high contrast or glaring colour.
Choose your colours with intention, stay true to your cool and calm core, and let your natural elegance shine through.
Explore the Cool Summer options on Shop My Palette.