Cool Winter Color Palette: Best Colors, Makeup and Hair

Cool, clear, icy-crisp. If you're a Cool Winter, coolness is your strongest trait, so your best colors are icy, blue-based and clear. Think lapis, royal purple, fuchsia and emerald against jet black, charcoal and brilliant white.

This guide pulls from the Cool Winter Complete Guide we give clients after their analysis. It covers your core colors, how to wear black and white, and how to choose makeup, hair color and jewelry.

Cool Winter at a glance

Every season is a mix of four qualities. For Cool Winter:

Undertone: cool. This is your strongest trait.
Value: medium to deep.
Chroma: clear, leaning bright.
Contrast: high.

Because coolness leads, temperature matters more for you than anything else. A blue-based shade will usually flatter you more than a warm one, even if the warm one is just as clear or just as deep.

Your best colors

Your core colors are cool true red, fuchsia red, magenta, royal purple, violet indigo, royal blue, lapis blue, deep royal blue, aqua blue, alpine green, emerald green and icy periwinkle.

Your foundation neutrals are jet black, navy peony, charcoal gray, pewter, light silver and brilliant white.

Black, white and your neutrals

Unlike the softer seasons, you don't need a substitute for black. True black and crisp white are some of your best neutrals. Wear them together, or with your icy brights, for your signature contrast. Your wider neutrals add silvery grays, cool browns like cocoa, and deep darks like ultra deep navy and true indigo.

For denim, go for clean, crisp washes: white, a clear light wash, indigo, dark rinse, gray-blue, gray and black. Skip faded or yellowed vintage washes.

Color combinations that work

Try the 60/30/10 rule: one main color for most of the outfit, a second for about a third of it, and a small accent in jewelry, a bag or a scarf. Go for medium to high contrast, and keep every color cool and clear.

Deep royal blue, brilliant white and emerald: a cobalt coat over a crisp white shirt with an emerald bag.
Royal purple, alpine green and jet black: a royal purple knit, alpine green trousers and black boots.
Magenta, emerald green and brilliant white: a magenta blouse with emerald trousers and white accents.
True violet, cool true red and jet black: a violet sweater and trousers with a cool red bag.

Low contrast works only in deep or saturated colors, so avoid light-on-light combinations.

Your palette through the year

Spring: canary yellow and emerald green with icy aqua, light violet and true magenta, grounded by grape.
Summer: brilliant white and icy pink with deep berry and royal blue, grounded by deep forest and blackened gray.
Fall: deep evergreen and deep aqua with medium sapphire, grape, deep plum and deep cranberry.
Winter: deep claret, dark amethyst, ultra deep navy and blackened pine with deep black, lifted by icy white.

Fabrics, prints and metals

Smooth, crisp or shiny fabrics suit your clear, cool coloring: structured wool, crisp cotton, silk, satin, patent leather, taffeta, organza and smooth cashmere. Skip nubby, heathered or dusty-matte textures that can dull you. For prints, choose crisp, high-contrast patterns with clean edges, like geometrics, houndstooth, graphic stripes and jewel-toned florals on black or white. Aim for a print that's mostly your palette.

Your best metals are silver, platinum, pewter and white gold with no yellow tint. Skip yellow gold, rose gold, copper and brass. For gemstones, go clear and icy, like sapphire or diamond.

Makeup for Cool Winter

Lips: rose, pink, mauve, berry, plum and blue-red.
Blush: pink, mauve, berry, burgundy and raspberry.
Eyes: silver, champagne, pearl, rose gold, brown, gray and pink shadows.
Liner and mascara: black, navy, charcoal or plum liner, with black mascara.

For foundation, match your undertone and your current depth. If the color you see on the surface of your skin reads differently from your undertone, a neutral foundation is often the easiest match.

Hair color for Cool Winter

Your most flattering hair color usually sits within one to two levels of your natural roots. For Cool Winter, the sweet spot is cool, ashy and glossy shades such as ash brown, cool espresso, blue-black, true black and violet or red-violet tones. Skip honey, golden, copper and warm blonde tones.

Going gray? Cool Winter gray is typically silvery, steel gray, white or pewter, and it tends to look striking with your coloring. Silver or violet toning glosses keep it bright.

Colors to skip, and what to try instead

Warm and muted colors can look dull and sallow against your cool, clear coloring. Think camel, mustard, rust, terracotta, peach, olive, sage and dusty rose.

A few easy swaps:

Camel → charcoal gray
Rust → cool true red
Olive → emerald green
Peach → icy pink
Mustard → icy yellow

Your sister season: Cool Summer

Cool Winter and Cool Summer share coolness as their main trait, so you can often borrow Cool Summer's clearer shades, like raspberry, bordeaux, royal purple, navies and ocean teal. Skip its softest, most grayed side: creamy whites, muted rose, taupes, sage and dusty blue-greens. Read more in the Cool Summer color palette.

Not sure you're a Cool Winter?

Cool Winter sits close to Cool Summer, Bright Winter and Dark Winter, and lighting, hair color and what you're wearing can all change what you see in the mirror. A professional draping compares colors directly against your face, so you can see the difference for yourself.

Book an in-studio color analysis in St. Louis Park, or start a virtual color analysis from anywhere. Private sessions include your own Complete Season Guide, digital swatches and three outfit checks by email afterward.

Color analysis is a professional opinion, and individual results vary.