How to Find Your Color Season at Home

What is a color season?

Color seasons are a way to sort your natural coloring into one of 4 palettes that flatter you, based on your skin undertone, hair, and eyes. The system was popularized in the 80s, then refined into 12 sub-seasons by image consultants like Carole Jackson and Sci\ART.

The idea: wearing colors in your season makes you look brighter, more rested, and more pulled-together. Wearing colors out of your season can make you look tired or washed out.

The 4 seasons:

• Spring: warm, light, clear (think Taylor Swift, Reese Witherspoon)
• Summer: cool, light, soft (think Selena Gomez, Jennifer Aniston)
• Autumn: warm, deep, muted (think Julia Roberts, Emma Stone)
• Winter: cool, deep, bright (think Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o)

Test 1: the vein test

Look at the inside of your wrist in natural daylight (not warm indoor light, that throws off everything).

• Blue or purple veins → cool undertone (likely Summer or Winter)
• Green veins → warm undertone (likely Spring or Autumn)
• Both / hard to tell → neutral, keep going

This test is only ~70% accurate on its own. Don't stop here.

Test 2: the jewelry test

Hold a piece of silver jewelry up to your face, then a piece of yellow gold. Stand in front of a mirror in daylight. Look at which one makes your skin look brighter, more even, and more awake.

• Silver wins → cool undertone
• Yellow gold wins → warm undertone
• Both look fine → neutral, lean on the next two tests

If you have rose gold, that one's a wildcard. It works on most undertones, so it doesn't tell you much.

Test 3: white vs cream

Pull out a piece of pure white paper or fabric. Then pull out a piece of cream or warm off-white. Hold each one under your chin, one at a time, in daylight.

• Pure white makes you look bright and crisp → cool undertone, possibly bright (Winter or Bright Summer)
• Pure white makes you look tired or grey → warm undertone
• Cream warms up your face → warm undertone (Spring or Autumn)
• Cream makes you look sallow → cool undertone

Test 4: the sun test

Think back to last summer. When you spent time in the sun:

• Tan easily, golden brown → warm undertone
• Tan slowly to olive or bronze → neutral or cool
• Burn first, then tan → likely cool
• Burn and freckle, never tan → cool, likely Light Summer or Light Spring

Putting it together

Tally up your answers:

• Mostly warm + light → Spring
• Mostly cool + light → Summer
• Mostly warm + deep → Autumn
• Mostly cool + deep → Winter

If your answers are mixed (warm vein + cool jewelry, for example), you're likely a neutral or you sit on the borderline of two seasons. That's where the 12 sub-seasons come in.

When the at-home test falls short

The at-home method works for about 80% of people. It struggles when:

• You have olive skin: olive sits between warm and cool, so most tests give muddy results.
• You've dyed your hair: hair color affects how everything reads, so try to test in your natural color.
• You're a borderline season: e.g. you might be a Light Spring or a Light Summer, both light, and the difference is subtle.
• Your tests are 50/50 split: you're a neutral, and figuring out which way you lean usually takes a trained eye or a tool.

That's where Glowprint comes in. The app reads your skin tone, undertone, eye color, and hair from a single selfie. It analyses pixel-level color values you can't eyeball, then places you in one of the 12 sub-seasons in 30 seconds. (Color season unlock requires Pro.)

Mistakes that throw off an at-home test

Most people who type themselves wrong made one of these slips. Rule them out and your read gets a lot more reliable.

Testing in the wrong light

Warm bulbs make everyone look golden; bathroom lighting adds green. Use indirect daylight by a window, nothing else. If you can't, wait until you can. Lighting fools more people than anything else here.

Trusting one test alone

Veins, jewelry, white-vs-cream, sun reaction: any single test can mislead. Run three or four and go with the pattern, not the outlier. When they all point the same way, you've found your undertone.

Find your season's palette

Each season has its own set of shades that flatter you, and splits into 3 sub-seasons if you want to go deeper. Here are the four to start from.

Spring →Summer →Autumn →Winter →

Not sure which one is yours? Glowprint reads it from a single selfie, along with your palette and the colors to skip.

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers to what people ask most. Want a definitive read on your own coloring? The free face scan gives you your season, palette, and the colors to skip in 30 seconds.