Is True Autumn the same as Warm Autumn?

Yes. True Autumn and Warm Autumn are the same season under two naming conventions: the Autumn whose dominant dimension is warmth rather than depth or softness.

What colors look best on a True Autumn?

Rich earth tones with a gold base: rust, terracotta, pumpkin, mustard, olive, moss, warm teal and brick red. All of them are warm and none of them are at full clear saturation.

Can a True Autumn wear blue?

Yes, as long as it is a blue with green in it. Warm teal, deep turquoise and petrol are all in your palette. Cool navy and sapphire are not, and the difference is visible the moment you hold them side by side.

What colors should a True Autumn avoid?

Black, pure white, cool pinks, icy pastels and cool jewel tones. Every one of them is on the wrong side of the temperature line, which is the dimension your season is defined by.

What hair color suits a True Autumn?

Auburn, copper, rich caramel, golden brown and chestnut. Warmth matters more than depth. Ash tones of any lightness will make your skin look grey, and that includes ash highlights on an otherwise warm base.

True Autumn Color Palette

Also called Warm Autumn. Same season, different naming system.

True Autumn, also called Warm Autumn, is the purely warm season at medium to deep intensity: rich, golden coloring that belongs in earth tones. Your palette is rust, terracotta, mustard, olive and warm teal, your neutrals are cream and coffee brown rather than black and grey, and gold is your metal outright.

Last updated August 2026 · Michael Machatschek

The True Autumn palette

29 colors + 8 neutrals · tap any chip to copy its hex

Statement colors

Wearable near the face. These are the colors that carry an outfit.

Accents

Smaller doses: a scarf, a bag, a print.

Neutrals

The workhorses. Trousers, coats, knitwear and everything the statement colors sit against.

Best metal

Gold. Held flat against your bare cheek in daylight it blends into your skin, where the other metal sits on top of it. How to check this yourself.

Where True Autumn sits

Every season is a position on three axes. True Autumn is defined by its warm dimension, with soft deciding which side it falls on.

undertone strongly warm

coolwarm

depth clearly deep

lightdeep

clarity slightly soft

softbright

Undertone

Warm is the dominant dimension and it is unambiguous. There is gold somewhere in every part of your coloring: the skin, the hair, usually the eyes as well. A cool color next to your face does not look neutral, it looks like a mistake.

Depth

Depth runs medium to deep, which is what separates you from the Springs. Your coloring has weight, and colors with weight look right on you where pastels look insubstantial.

Clarity

Clarity is medium to soft. Autumn colors are rich rather than bright, the difference between a rust and a true orange. Fully saturated clear colors have a hardness that your coloring does not.

How to tell if you are a True Autumn

Gold jewellery is obviously better than silver, and silver looks grey against your skin.
You look good in the colors of a forest floor: rust, olive, mustard, moss, chestnut.
Cream is better than pure white on you, and the difference is not subtle.
Your natural hair carries genuine warmth: auburn, chestnut, copper, golden brown.
Cool pinks and icy pastels make you look tired or slightly grey.

Your natural coloring

Skin: Fair to dark, warm (gold > silver), bronzy/golden glow.
Hair: Golden blonde to dark golden brown to auburn; caramel/rust highlights.
Eyes: Warm green/olive/dark hazel/amber/golden brown, with freckling.

How to wear the palette

Autumn is the season where colors from opposite ends of the palette still agree with each other, because they all share the same gold base. Rust with olive, mustard with forest, terracotta with teal: combinations that would clash for a Winter simply work for you.

Coffee brown is your black. It is a genuinely wearable dark neutral and it does not put the grey cast under your chin that black does.

Warm teal and deep turquoise are your cool colors and they are worth seeking out specifically, because most of the blue on the high street is cool and therefore not yours. A blue with green in it is yours; a blue with purple in it is not.

Gold, bronze and copper, in warm and slightly antique finishes rather than high shine.

Colors to avoid, and why

Cool bright colors (pastel pink, ice blue), extremely vivid colors, and pure black & white, they clash with the warm richness or overwhelm the muted quality.

Black and pure white. Cream and coffee brown replace them and both look considerably better on you.
Cool pinks and fuchsias, including dusty rose. Warm pinks in the salmon and coral family are yours.
Icy pastels and greyed cool shades such as slate and cool lavender.
Cool jewel tones: sapphire, emerald with a blue base, true magenta. The warm versions of those colors, deep turquoise and warm emerald, are in your palette.

Makeup for True Autumn

The same three dimensions apply to makeup, and lip color is where a mismatch shows fastest because it sits next to your teeth and your skin at once.

lip

blush

eye

Hair colors that harmonise

Hair is the largest block of color you wear and the only one you cannot take off at the end of the day. These sit in the same temperature and depth range as your natural coloring.

If you are not sure

True Autumn sits between two neighbours on the flow wheel, and those two are the only seasons you can realistically be confused with. Here is how to tell them apart.

True Autumn or Soft Autumn?

Both are warm; the split is saturation. Soft Autumn wears the dusty version of your palette. If muted shades look elegant on you rather than slightly washed, and full strength rust feels like a lot, you are further toward Soft Autumn than True.

The full Soft Autumn palette Side by side comparison

True Autumn or Dark Autumn?

Both are warm and rich; the split is depth. Dark Autumn adds a Winter influence: deeper, more contrasted, and able to carry a near black brown or a deep burgundy that would weigh you down. If your natural hair is genuinely dark rather than chestnut, look at Dark Autumn.

The full Dark Autumn palette Side by side comparison

True Autumn celebrities

Estimates rather than verdicts. These typings come from published photographs under unknown lighting, usually with professional makeup and dyed hair, which are the three biggest sources of error in color analysis. They are useful for seeing what the season looks like on a face you already know.

Not sure you are a True Autumn?

The test measures your undertone, depth and clarity, tells you which of the three decided your season, and shows the confidence behind it. About a minute, no account, and your photo never leaves your device.

Take the 60 second test

Questions people ask

Is True Autumn the same as Warm Autumn?: Yes. True Autumn and Warm Autumn are the same season under two naming conventions: the Autumn whose dominant dimension is warmth rather than depth or softness.
What colors look best on a True Autumn?: Rich earth tones with a gold base: rust, terracotta, pumpkin, mustard, olive, moss, warm teal and brick red. All of them are warm and none of them are at full clear saturation.
Can a True Autumn wear blue?: Yes, as long as it is a blue with green in it. Warm teal, deep turquoise and petrol are all in your palette. Cool navy and sapphire are not, and the difference is visible the moment you hold them side by side.
What colors should a True Autumn avoid?: Black, pure white, cool pinks, icy pastels and cool jewel tones. Every one of them is on the wrong side of the temperature line, which is the dimension your season is defined by.
What hair color suits a True Autumn?: Auburn, copper, rich caramel, golden brown and chestnut. Warmth matters more than depth. Ash tones of any lightness will make your skin look grey, and that includes ash highlights on an otherwise warm base.