Color analysis quiz
Five questions based on your natural coloring. The result is your color season and a palette that suits you.
Color analysis places everyone into one of four seasonal categories: Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter. Each season has a palette of colors that work with your natural undertone and depth rather than against it. The right colors make your skin look even, your eyes brighter, and your overall appearance more put-together without extra effort.
The quiz uses your skin undertone, eye color, natural hair color, and a couple of easy at-home observations. Answer for your natural coloring, not your current style choices. If your hair is dyed, answer for your natural color or your roots.
Find your color season
1. What is your natural hair color?
2. What color are your eyes?
3. What is your skin undertone?
Hold a piece of pure white fabric near your face, then a piece of cream. If cream looks more natural, you are likely warm. If pure white looks better, you are likely cool.
4. Which jewelry looks more natural on you?
5. What happens to your skin in the sun?
Please answer all five questions before seeing your result.
Your palette
Colors to seek out
Colors to approach carefully
Color analysis is the first module in the Image Consultant Institute course. If you are building a practice around this work, the training covers how to conduct a professional drape session and build full seasonal palettes for clients.
See the coursesThe four color seasons
The seasonal system divides coloring into two dimensions: undertone (warm or cool) and value (light or deep). Four combinations produce four seasons, each with a distinct palette character.
Spring
Warm undertone, light and bright
Spring coloring is warm and fresh. Hair tends toward golden blonde, strawberry blonde, or light brown with warm highlights. Eyes are commonly blue, green, hazel, or light brown. Skin has a peachy, golden, or warm beige undertone that tans easily.
Spring palettes are warm, clear, and light. Peach, coral, golden yellow, camel, warm ivory, and fresh greens all work. Heavy, muted, or very dark shades drain the complexion. Black worn at the face is rarely flattering on a Spring.
Summer
Cool undertone, light and muted
Summer coloring is cool and soft. Hair is typically ash blonde, ash brown, or light to medium brown with no golden tones. Eyes lean toward grey-blue, grey-green, or cool hazel. Skin has a pink or rosy undertone and burns before it tans.
Summer palettes are cool and muted rather than bright or saturated. Soft rose, lavender, powder blue, dusty mauve, sage green, and cool grey all work. Warm oranges, warm browns, and very saturated brights can clash. Black is softened by wearing it away from the face.
Autumn
Warm undertone, deep and muted
Autumn coloring is warm and rich. Hair is typically auburn, red, dark brown, or deep golden brown. Eyes are commonly green, hazel, dark brown, or amber with warm undertones. Skin has a golden, olive, or warm peachy undertone that tans deeply.
Autumn palettes are warm, earthy, and richly muted. Rust, terracotta, olive, burnt orange, deep teal, warm chocolate, and forest green all work. Very bright, icy, or pink-based colors clash. Black tends to be too stark; very dark brown or navy reads better near the face.
Winter
Cool undertone, deep and bright
Winter coloring is cool and high-contrast. Hair is typically very dark brown or black, sometimes with a blue-black sheen. Eyes are commonly dark brown, black, or very clear blue. Skin has a pink, bluish, or cool beige undertone with little natural flush.
Winter palettes are cool, clear, and strong. True red, royal blue, emerald, pure white, black, fuchsia, and icy pastels all work. Warm oranges, warm browns, and very muted shades can dull the complexion. Winter handles pure black better than any other season.
How to use your color season
Knowing your season is most useful when you apply it at the point of decision, rather than trying to overhaul everything at once. Three places it pays off immediately:
- Shopping for clothes. Check whether a piece falls within your seasonal palette before you try it on. A color that is wrong for your season will flatten your complexion under the fitting room lights, regardless of whether the cut is right. The right color will make your skin look even and your eyes clear without makeup doing the work.
- Choosing foundation and blush. Warm seasons need foundations with golden or peachy undertones; cool seasons need foundations with pink or neutral undertones. Blush for a Summer is a muted rose; for an Autumn it is a warm terracotta. The wrong undertone in a foundation is one of the most common reasons a base looks masklike.
- Deciding what to wear near your face. The most important placement is at the neckline and collar, because that is what the eye goes to first. A top in your palette lifts the face; one outside it competes with it. This matters more than the color of your trousers or shoes.
Color analysis becomes a professional service when you understand how to conduct a drape session, build a client's personal palette, and apply the principles to wardrobe, makeup, and personal shopping. The Image Consultant Institute courses cover the full method, from the theory of undertone and value through to running paid color consultations.
Frequently asked questions
What is color analysis?
Color analysis is the process of identifying which colors suit your natural coloring best. It looks at your skin undertone, eye color, and hair color to place you in one of four seasonal categories (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), each with a palette of colors that complement your natural tones and make you look healthy and well-rested.
How accurate is an online color analysis quiz?
An online quiz gives you a reliable starting point if you answer based on your natural coloring rather than your dyed hair or current skin tone. A trained image consultant doing a drape session with physical fabric swatches is more precise, but the seasonal system the quiz uses is the same framework consultants use, so the result holds up well for most people.
What if my result does not look right?
If your season feels slightly off, you may be on the border between two adjacent seasons (Spring and Autumn are both warm; Summer and Winter are both cool). Re-read both seasons and see which palette genuinely makes your face look healthier. A professional color analysis session resolves this definitively.
Can my color season change?
Your underlying undertone is fixed, but your value (how light or deep your coloring is) can shift slightly over time as hair lightens or deepens with age, or with significant changes in skin tone. Your broad category stays the same; the specific palette may refine slightly.
Do I need to wear only my season colors?
No. Color analysis is a guide, not a rule. Your season tells you where to look first for colors that will make you look your best. Knowing your palette makes shopping easier and reduces wardrobe mistakes, but it does not mean avoiding every color outside it.
What is the difference between warm and cool undertones?
Undertone is the color beneath your skin, separate from how light or dark it is. Warm undertones are golden, peachy, or yellowish; cool undertones are pink, rosy, or bluish. An easy test: hold a piece of pure white fabric next to your face, then a piece of cream. If cream looks better, you are likely warm. If pure white looks better, you are likely cool.
