True autumn color palette

The palette

Cream, camel and chocolate replace white, grey and black as neutrals; bronze and khaki fill the middle. Pumpkin, rust and terracotta work closest to the face; olive, forest green and warm teal are deep, easy accents. Earthy pairings, such as rust with olive or mustard with chocolate, suit this palette.

What makes it true autumn

Undertone

Warm, and this is the defining trait. The palette is golden throughout; cool, blue-based colors are the ones that look off.

Depth

Medium to deep. Most colors sit in the middle to darker half of the value scale, with cream as the light end.

Clarity

Medium. Richer than soft autumn, less vivid than the springs. Colors look earthy and saturated, never neon or icy.

True autumns often have golden brown, auburn, copper or red hair, warm brown, hazel, amber or green eyes, and skin with a golden or bronze cast, sometimes freckled. These are tendencies, not rules: red hair, for example, shows up among the springs too.

Hair colors for true autumn

These hair colors come from the autumn family, and for true autumn the warm, rich end is the closest match: cinnamon gloss, burnt sienna copper, auburn and chestnut brown. Whiskey copper and cowboy copper are lighter, softer coppers. Each one opens the shade, so you can try it on your own photo.

For women

• Cinnamon gloss
• Burnt sienna copper
• Auburn hair
• Chestnut brown
• Whiskey copper
• Cowboy copper

For men

• Cinnamon gloss
• Burnt sienna copper
• Auburn hair
• Chestnut brown
• Whiskey copper
• Cowboy copper

Colors to go easy on

Cool, icy and stark colors are the usual mismatch: black, optic white, fuchsia, icy blue, cool grey and baby pink. Next to golden coloring they can look harsh or make skin look grey. Near the face, swap black for chocolate and optic white for cream; away from the face these rarely matter.

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Questions