The Different Summer Color Palettes: A Complete Guide

Even with an active summer schedule, you deserve to indulge in quality "me" time. By wearing colors that elevate your mood, you can give yourself a little energy boost and a healthy mental reset. Whether you're drawn toward cornflower blue or quartz pink, soft and muted shades perfectly complement your warm-weather side.

Key Takeaways

1. Soft summer
2. Light summer
3. True summer

From your favorite summer sandals to tropical sunset nail designs, wearing soft summer shades are bound to bring a smile to your face! Discovering your individual color season is the first step of this journey. 

Keep reading, and we'll share everything you need to know about summer's colors and how you can use them to look and feel your best!

See Related: 8 Summer Colors That Will Make Your Nail Art Shine

#1. Soft Summer

You are an accumulation of various features that make up who you are. The beautiful thing about that is we are all unique!

Because of this, there are certain colors that might look best on you. For example, perhaps dusty sky blue or rosy pink make your eyes pop, while solid black and white make your features appear dull or lackluster.

Finding the colors that are right for you is a great way to help you look your best. That way, you can wonderfully complement your natural beauty!

Understanding Seasonal Color Analysis

This journey of finding your unique color palette is often referred to as seasonal color analysis. The goal here is to create visual harmony between your natural beauty and the colors you wear.

Knowing what colors look best on you can single-handedly boost your self-confidence and help you feel more empowered. Instead of feeling mismatched and uncomfortable in your day's wardrobe choices, you can finally create a personal style you can be proud of!

Color analysis can be broken down into different seasons. And each season has a color palette that corresponds with it.

For example, dark winter colors can include marine green, ibis rose, and ocean blue. On the flip side, popular soft autumn colors are cardinal red, dark olive green, and mustard gold.

What Makes Up The Summer Color Palette?

The summer color palette is subtle and soft. It includes powdery and dusty colors from petal pink to sultry navy blue.

The important part of color analysis is figuring out your key features. From eye color to skin tone, your unique characteristics can play a big role in determining what sort of colors look best on you.

Keep in mind that any guide to finding your color palette isn't set in stone. Even if your features don't fit the general description of the summer palette, it doesn't mean you aren't a summer!

The Mark Of Soft Summers

The first type of summer palette is known as soft summer. Soft summers often display muted and cool tones. It's common for features to match and blend into one.

One of the defining characteristics of soft summers is a muted appearance. In addition, soft summers often have cool undertones. Instead of having vibrant and contrasting features, they have toned-down attributes.

If you're a soft summer, you likely have colors that are grayed-out. Common eye colors are gray-green, gray-blue, and gray-light brown. They aren't muddy, but they aren't necessarily bright, either.

Soft summer skin carries cool or ashy undertones and is typically olive or neutral. Skin tones can range from fair and pale to tan.

Like eye color, the hair color of a soft summer is muted and has gray pigmentation. From dark ash blonde to light ash brown, soft summer hair is mostly always rather ashy.

Bonus: 5 Reasons Why We Need Self-Expression

The Soft Summer Palette

The colors of a soft summer are muted and cool, which match the features of your appearance. That means that cool colors with a low contrast level are the best for a soft summer!

Your closet should be full of grays and blues and likely includes plenty of cute shades like soft pinks, purples, and greens.

Avoid Warm Colors And Dark Tones

When it comes to neutrals, you should heavily avoid black and other deep, rich colors. Pure white also won't be too flattering on you. Instead, gray dark browns, light grays, and sand tones are better to use.

In general, you should avoid rich, warm colors like earthy colors and orangey-red tones. In addition, vibrant or neon colors aren't the best for a soft summer.

#2. Light Summer

Light summers often have a fair appearance while retaining the cool and soft characteristics of a summer. The light summer color palette is delicate and soothing, featuring pastel pinks and faded blue greens.

If you're a light summer, you likely have pale and light-colored eyes. With neutral or neutral-cool undertones, common skin tones may range from fair to medium and may contain pink or beige undertones.

Lastly, your hair is light, like the rest of your features. However, people of darker ethnicities can have medium or dark ash-brown hair.

The Colors For A Slightly Lighter Palette

Light summers are cool-toned and overall light in value. The color palette for this season is full of cool shades and medium-saturated hues. For example, a couple of the most popular colors include light blue and wild rose.

When it comes to curating a light summer palette, it's important to avoid dark colors and warm shades. Yellows, oranges, and reds often clash with your natural features.

To enhance your features, light summers should utilize monochromatic combinations. For example, it makes sense to utilize different tints of a singular hue. You can also try pairing light neutrals with a darker accent in order to bring more contrast to your look.

#3. True Summer

The last seasonal color palette for summer is true summer. True summers have blue, gray, or green eyes, usually paired with ashy and muted hair. The skin tone of a true summer is often cool and can feature blue, beige, or pink undertones.

You'll likely look better with silver jewelry, as any gold metal will throw off your appearance's balance.

True summer is nestled between light and soft summer and is considered the "standard" palette of summer. The colors of a true summer are slightly darker and more muted than those of a light summer.

If you're a true summer, your characteristics are likely muted and soft. You'll be able to bring out your natural beauty with cool colors and monochromatic combinations. Try to use colors like baby lavender, moonlight mauve, or lichen blue to bring out your best side!

Finding The Right Color For Your Palette

Picking out the right colors for your summer seasonal palette doesn't need to be hard. Incorporating the perfect hues into your nail art is a great way to accentuate your natural beauty while practicing self-expression.

Use Maniology's Stocking Stuffer 3-piece stamping polish set to set yourself up with three tones that will help bring out your summer side. Don't forget to finish it off with a nail stamping set so that you can truly invigorate your artistic vision!

Wrapping Up

Your natural beauty deserves to shine. By discovering the colors that are right for your unique features, you'll be able to showcase your confidence anywhere you go!

Keep Reading: The 4 Best Dark Nail Colors Of 2023

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At Maniology, we believe your nails are opportunities for adventure, fun, and unrestrained artistic expression. Our nail stamping plates and nail accessories are here to help foster your self-expression in the hopes of building a community of individuality. For more nail tutorials, subscription box updates, and designs, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube.