Start With Undertone
Undertone is the first and most important variable. The wrist vein test: in natural daylight, greenish-blue veins suggest warm undertones, blue or purple veins suggest cool. The white vs. ivory test: which makes your skin look better near your face — pure white (cool undertone) or warm ivory (warm undertone)? The gold vs. silver test: gold jewelry suits warm undertones, silver suits cool. Use all three tests and look for consistent signals rather than relying on any single one.
Assess Your Depth
Depth describes your overall coloring intensity. Light depth: fair or light skin, light hair, light eyes. Medium depth: medium skin tones, medium brown or auburn hair, medium-value eyes. Deep depth: dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes. Your depth affects which values of your palette colors work best — light-depth colorings wear lighter versions, deep-depth colorings wear richer, full-value versions.
Assess Your Contrast and Clarity
Contrast describes the value difference between your skin and your hair and eyes — from low (all similar in value) to high (stark difference). Clarity describes whether your coloring looks vivid and bright or more subtle and muted. High contrast colorings wear high-contrast outfits well. Clear colorings wear bright, saturated colors well. Muted colorings look better in toned-down, softer versions. Together, contrast and clarity refine your season within the warm or cool family.
Putting It Together — Your Likely Season
Warm undertone plus light-medium depth plus clear coloring: Light or True Spring. Warm undertone plus medium-deep depth plus muted: True or Deep Autumn. Cool undertone plus light depth plus muted: Light or True Summer. Cool undertone plus medium-deep depth plus clear: True or Deep Winter. High contrast plus very vivid coloring in either warm or cool family: Bright Spring or Bright Winter. These are working hypotheses — accurate enough to guide shopping significantly better than pure preference.
Why AI Analysis Gives Greater Precision
Self-assessment has known limitations: self-perception bias makes it hard to assess your own undertone objectively, the tests depend on natural daylight, and many people sit on borderlines between two seasons that self-assessment cannot resolve reliably. AI color season analysis from photos analyzes pixel-level color data across multiple facial zones, producing a more consistent and precise result — with a full documented HEX palette and Power Color you can use immediately for shopping.