Warm Spring color palette

Do Warm Spring and True Spring share one palette?

It is: the 2 names point to the same season. There are 12 seasons in total, and they grow out of 4 families: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Every family divides into 3 seasons, and each of those seasons takes its name from the trait that dominates it.

Warmth dominates here, making this the most golden of the 3 springs. Brightness comes second, and that's why the shades read clear instead of muted.

Warmth, depth and clarity in the palette

Three traits describe any color in this palette. The first is temperature, meaning whether a shade leans golden or icy. Here the answer is always golden. The second is depth, meaning how light or dark a shade sits. This palette stays in the middle, with no very pale shades and no very deep ones.

The third trait is clarity, which is about whether a color looks clean or soft. Warm Spring shades are bright and clean, the way fruit or flowers look in sunshine, not greyed or dull.

Your coloring shares these traits. The warm tone glowing up from just beneath your skin's surface is a golden or peachy one. Shades with the same golden base settle into that undertone rather than working against it.

Neutral shades to wear every day

Twelve neutrals belong to you: camel, cream, ivory, oatmeal, khaki, taupe, tan, deep camel, pale caramel, soft terracotta, pale tangerine and dusty sunflower. Reach for these when buying coats, trousers, bags and other pieces that get heavy rotation.

Two swaps make the biggest difference: deep camel takes the place of harsh black, and cream replaces pure white. On days you'd normally grab something cool grey, tan or khaki will do the same work and keep your skin glowing warm.

Camel beats all the other neutrals. A jacket or coat in camel pairs well with almost every main color and accent here, so it's a smart first purchase. For soft backgrounds under brighter tops, turn to ivory, oatmeal or pale caramel.

Picking main colors and accents

Shirts, sweaters and dresses sit near your face, and that's where the main colors belong. They sort into a handful of simple groups:

• Corals and salmons: think Light Coral, Bright Salmon, Coral
• Apricots and tangerines: think Bright Apricot, Light Tangerine, Tangerine
• Golds and mustards: think Sunflower, Bright Gold, Light Mustard
• Fresh greens: think Soft Lime, Apple Green, Bright Jade
• Clear blue greens: think Aqua, Bright Aqua, Bright Turquoise

Five shades make up your signature set: poppy, bright turquoise, apple green, bright marigold and coral. Building a wardrobe from nothing? Start with these.

Accents, all 12 of them, work best in small amounts: a scarf, a bag, shoes, a lipstick. The dozen include bright emerald, kelly green, bright bronze, copper, soft tomato red, true red and poppy. One accent plus one neutral (camel under poppy, say) keeps an outfit lively but never busy.

Colors to skip and why

Six shades to keep away from your face: Black, Rose, Bright Cobalt, Lilac, Dark Rose, Teal. None carries the golden foundation your coloring thrives on, so each one ends up sitting apart from you instead of with you.

• Black worn near your face can drain your skin to sallow and darken the circles beneath your eyes.
• Both Rose and Dark Rose sit on a cool pink base that clashes with your peachy warmth.
• As a cool lavender, Lilac and its relatives can wash your lips out and leave them pale.
• Teal and Bright Cobalt lack the golden foundation behind your own blue greens: Aqua and Bright Turquoise.

Own something in black or rose already? Keep wearing it, just farther from your face, in trousers or shoes for example.

How to tell this palette is yours

Skin in this season might show golden freckles over a peachy ivory or cream, or a golden-to-apricot undertone beneath light-to-medium beige; it might also run to warm bronze, honey brown or a rich golden brown. Hair usually lands among strawberry blonde, copper red, golden and honey blonde, golden brown touched with copper, or chestnut showing golden highlights.

Eyes in this season often look clear as glass, with golden flecks or a sunny burst ringing the pupil. Usual eye colors run to warm turquoise, aqua, clear olive, golden green, light hazel flecked with amber, warm topaz and golden brown.

Some everyday checks point in the same direction:

• Yellow gold jewelry settles into your skin and warms it, while silver reads cold and separate.
• A coral or peach lipstick lifts your whole face with barely any eye makeup.
• Camel and warm cream bring out your eyes better than stark white ever will.

Treat a quiz as a first step only. Checking your reflection in daylight, or getting draped in person by a professional, can settle the question. During draping, a trained person drapes colored fabrics below your chin and watches which ones flatter.

Taking your palette shopping

Both phone cameras and indoor bulbs change how colors appear, so don't trust store lighting. Take the garment over to a window, or head outside, and press the matching swatch on your phone right up against the fabric.

Feel the dye for its warmth. A green that reads piney or a red that reads like berries is leaning cool, and that pushes it outside this palette.