Soft Summer Color Palette: Best Colors, Makeup and Hair

Soft, smoky, gently cool. If you're a Soft Summer, your coloring is blended rather than stark, so your best colors look like they have a little gray mixed in. They soften into you instead of standing out on their own.

This guide pulls from the Soft Summer Complete Guide we give clients after their analysis. It covers your core colors, what to wear in place of black, and how to choose makeup, hair color and jewelry.

Soft Summer at a glance

Every season is a mix of four qualities. For Soft Summer:

Undertone: cool-leaning, but close to neutral.
Value: light to medium.
Chroma: soft. This is your strongest trait.
Contrast: low to medium.

Because softness leads, muted colors matter more for you than temperature. A gently grayed shade will usually flatter you more than a bright one, even if the bright one is technically cool.

Your best colors

Your core colors are sage, eucalyptus, dusty teal, powder blue, slate blue, soft periwinkle, lavender gray, mauve, dusty rose, muted raspberry, smoky plum and soft olive.

Your foundation neutrals are charcoal, soft navy, cocoa taupe, stone gray, rose beige and soft white.

What to wear instead of black

True black tends to overpower soft coloring. For the same depth with a gentler finish, reach for charcoal, soft navy, deep navy, charcoal brown, cocoa or smoky taupe. For crisp white, swap in soft white or oyster.

For denim, choose soft, faded or gray-blue washes over very dark indigo or bright, high-contrast blues.

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. Keep contrast gentle and blended.

Charcoal, sage and soft white: charcoal trousers, a sage knit and an off-white tee peeking out at the neckline.
Slate blue, dusty rose and stone: a slate blue dress with a dusty rose cardigan and a stone gray bag.
Cocoa, mauve and rose beige: a cocoa trench over a mauve blouse, finished with rose beige flats.
Lavender gray, plum and charcoal: a lavender gray sweater, plum skirt and charcoal boots.

Tonal dressing is your sweet spot. Pieces that sit close together in depth look polished on you, so go no further than medium contrast.

Your palette through the year

Spring: soft butter yellow, mint, airy blues and blush pinks, grounded by oyster in place of crisp white.
Summer: sage and soft beige with a cool smoky blue, plus berry tones for brighter days.
Fall: rose brown, sage and eucalyptus layered with plum and wine.
Winter: go deep without going black. Navy, deep ocean, amethyst and charcoal give richness while staying soft.

Fabrics, prints and metals

Matte and brushed textures like cashmere, suede, linen and heathered knits flatter you more than high shine. For prints, choose blended, watercolor or tonal patterns over sharp graphics. If a print looks crisp and high-contrast from across the room, it will likely overpower you. Aim for a print that's mostly your palette.

Your best metals are brushed silver, pewter, platinum, white gold and soft rose gold. A very pale champagne gold can work too. Choose matte or satin finishes over high shine.

Makeup for Soft Summer

Lips: nude, rose, pink, mauve, berry and plum. Rosewood and berry-mauve are especially pretty.
Blush: pink, mauve, berry, raspberry and soft burgundy.
Eyes: silver, champagne, pearl, rose gold, brown, gray and pink shadows.
Liner and mascara: taupe, soft plum, navy, charcoal or brown liner in place of black, with black-brown or brown 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 Soft Summer

Your most flattering hair color usually sits within one to two levels of your natural roots. For Soft Summer, the sweet spot is ash and mushroom tones, soft balayage and cool beige highlights. Skip brassy golds and solid jet black. If you'd like red, make it a pink, rosy red.

Going gray? Silver and gray hair is naturally cool and soft, so it suits your palette beautifully. Cool toning glosses keep it bright.

Colors to skip, and what to try instead

Warm, bright and vivid colors can overpower soft coloring and leave you looking washed out or harsh. Think lemon, marigold, tangerine, poppy red, hot pink, cobalt, kelly green and lime.

A few easy swaps:

Golden camel → cocoa taupe
Stark white → soft white
Bright orange → dusty rose
Mustard → sage
Neon pink → raspberry

Your sister season: Soft Autumn

Soft Summer and Soft Autumn share softness as their main trait, so you can borrow some of Soft Autumn's grayed, smoky shades, like taupe, deep sage, indigo, soft violet and deep wine. Skip its golden, peachy and earthy-yellow side. See the Soft Autumn palette, or read Soft Summer vs. Soft Autumn.

Not sure you're a Soft Summer?

Soft Summer is one of the most commonly confused seasons, 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.