What is my colour type and what your skin reveals in daylight?
Three online tests, three different results and a wardrobe full of colours that never quite sit right. Colour type is determined by three features at once: the undertone of your skin, its lightness and the contrast between hair, complexion and eyes. One test is rarely enough.
What is my colour type and how do I check it?
Colour type is recognised by skin undertone, meaning whether warm yellow or cool pink dominates in your complexion. Only after establishing the undertone does it make sense to look at hair and eye colour.
Undertone is a feature that does not change over a lifetime, unlike a tan or hair colour. That is why it serves as the starting point in every system, from the classic four seasons to the twelve type division.
In practice you check it three ways: by the veins on your wrist, by your reaction to gold and silver, and by how your complexion looks next to pure white. None of them is infallible, but three together give a reliable answer.
How do the four colour types differ?
The four basic types divide by undertone and lightness, and the season names are only a convenient shorthand. The table sorts the differences.
| Type | Undertone | Lightness | Contrast | Direction of the palette |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | warm | light | low to medium | warm, light, clear colours |
| Summer | cool | light to medium | low | cool, muted, delicate |
| Autumn | warm | medium to dark | medium | warm, deep, earthy |
| Winter | cool | dark | high | cool, saturated, contrasting |
Two rows need a comment. Summer and winter share a cool undertone, so they are confused most often, and what separates them is the level of contrast: winter carries strong pairings, summer fades beside them. Spring and autumn share warmth, but spring needs lightness and autumn needs depth.
This division is only the first level. Each of the four types splits further into variants, for example summer into light, cool and soft. If the classic palette feels almost right but not quite, look for the answer on that second level.
How do you run the window test?
The most reliable test happens in daylight, by a window, without makeup and without coloured clothing on. Artificial light distorts the undertone enough to make the result worthless.
- Fabric near the face. Hold two pieces of the same lightness under your chin, one warm and one cool. The right one makes the shadows under your eyes retreat.
- Metal test. Place gold and silver side by side. With a warm undertone gold brightens the face, with a cool one silver does.
- White test. Compare pure white with ecru. Cool colouring wins with the first, warm with the second.
In daylight fabric behaves honestly: as it moves it reflects light evenly and shows the real undertone, while under a fluorescent tube the same sample shifts towards green and the whole test loses meaning. That is why results taken in the evening so often contradict each other.
What if the result is ambiguous?
If two types come out similar, follow contrast rather than undertone, because contrast decides how strong a colour you can carry. Low contrast means muted shades regardless of whether they are warm or cool.
The practical route looks like this. Check how you look in black near the face: if it ages you and pulls out shadows, your contrast is low. Then check your reaction to a saturated colour, for example clear red. If it takes attention away from your face, that confirms low contrast.
With low contrast colouring muted shades work best, for example dresses in dusty tones. With high contrast the opposite rule applies, and then party dresses in deep saturated shades paired with pure white are the natural choice.
What to avoid when determining your colour type
Three mistakes that produce a wrong result:
- Never run the test in artificial light. A fluorescent tube and a warm bulb shift the undertone in opposite directions and each gives a different answer.
- Avoid testing with makeup or after sunbathing. Foundation evens out the undertone, and a tan warms the complexion for several weeks.
- Do not rely on hair colour alone. Dyeing changes lightness and contrast, but it does not change the skin undertone, which is the proper basis.
Can a colour type change?
The undertone cannot, but lightness and contrast can. Greying or a change of hair colour can shift your colouring by one variant within the same undertone, so it is worth repeating the test every few years.
How many colour types are there?
Four in the classic division and twelve in the extended one, where each season splits into three variants. The twelve type system is more precise, but it requires establishing the basic type first.
Does a colour type decide what you must not wear?
No. It decides which colours work near your face. A shade outside the palette can always move below the waist, for example into skirts, and it stops being a problem.
What jewellery suits which colour type?
Gold and brass with a warm undertone, silver and pearl with a cool one. It is the simplest test of undertone and the easiest thing to adjust in a finished look. You will find the choice in jewellery, and for softer versions look at accessories with matte finishes.
Those three contradictory test results usually share one cause: each of them asked about something different. Once you start with the undertone and only then look at contrast, the answers stop excluding each other. The rest you can check by a window, with two pieces of fabric and t-shirts and tops in two shades of white.