In the languid days of summer, when the sun softens and cool shadows grow long, a symphony of muted hues comes to life. This is the realm of the Summer color family — a world of misty, washed tones that evoke twilight strolls and watercolor seascapes. Like faded beach glass or sun-bleached shells, Summer colors whisper rather than shout, drawing you in with their gentle, hazy allure.
The Summer Family Portrait: What Makes a Summer?
Quintessential Light Summer: Cate Blanchett. Instagram/@cate_blanchettofficial
Summer types embody that soft, cool, low-contrast look that hints at both reserve and romance. Picture an overcast beach day, rose quartz crystal, or an antique silver locket — that's the essence of a Summer. All Summers have cool, blue-based undertones and glow in softened hues that lean gray rather than brown. If you've ever worn lavender, sage green, or rose pink and felt like you'd discovered your signature shade, you might be a Summer!
True Summer: The Season's Quintessential Muse
True Summer Emily DiDonato. Instagram/@emilydidonato
Think of True Summer as the archetypal embodiment of the Summer essence — not too light, not too soft, but perfectly balanced. These misty mermaids often have:
- A neutral-cool complexion with a low level of contrast between skin, hair, and eyes
- Eyes that are often blue, gray, soft green, or cloudy hazel
- Hair that is usually ash blonde, ash brown, or soft gray
- A serene, calming presence that feels like a refreshing seaside breeze
True Summer's best colors? Muted grape, slate blue, dusty rose, mineral green, and oyster gray. When these ethereal beauties embrace silver over gold jewelry, it's like watching a black-and-white photo develop into its rightful tones.
Light Summer: Delicate as a Seashell
Light Summer Natalia Vodianova. Instagram/@natasupernova
The fairest, most delicate member of the Summer family, Light Summers have an almost Victorian, cameo-like quality. Their distinguishing features:
- The lightest, most porcelain complexion of the Summers, often with fair hair and light eyes
- A color palette of the softest, most pastel-like hues
- An innocent, youthful impression, like a faded antique valentine
- Eyes that are often pale blue, seafoam green, or light gray
Light Summer shines in the palest, watercolor versions of the Summer hues — blush pink, powder blue, light periwinkle, pale mint green. If you find pastels more soothing than insipid and feel your best in the lightest tones, you're likely a Light Summer.
Soft Summer: Where Mist Meets Shadow
Soft Summer Bella Hadid. Instagram/@bellahadid
The deepest, most enigmatic of the Summers, Soft Summers have a quality of mercurial twilight. Their ethereal magic lies in:
- A neutral-cool complexion with slightly more depth and mutedness than other Summers
- A palette of hazy, heathered tones that feel like a Monet painting
- An elusive, chameleon-like beauty that seems to shift in different lighting
- Eyes that are often soft blue, gray-green, or deep gray
Soft Summer radiates in dusky mauve, smoky grape, slate teal, and that perfect shade of faded denim. If you find muted colors more mysterious than boring and feel your features harmonize best in hazy tones, Soft Summer is likely your color identity.
Finding Your Summer Subcategory
Kate Middleton shows how any Summer can glow in soft, cool shades like glaucous. Karwai Tang/WireImage
To uncover your Summer essence, try this illuminating exercise:
- In a daylight, take three selfies: one in a light blue top, one in a medium dusty blue, one in a soft navy (or just hold up anything like paper in these colors near your face). Notice which level of color brings out your features most flatteringly.
- Light blue — likely Light Summer
- Medium dusty blue — probably True Summer
- Soft navy — signs point to Soft Summer
- The jewelry test also reveals much:
- Light Summer: shiny silver looks best
- True Summer: brushed silver is most harmonious
- Soft Summer: antiqued silver seems made for you
Cool, delicate palette always enhances Summer's beauty. Instagram/@realbarbarapalvin
The shade that makes you look like you're lit from within and glowing with your own mysterious light is likely your Summer soulmate hue.
Remember, you're a unique work of art, so while these signposts can guide you, your own intuition is the ultimate authority. Pay attention to which colors make you feel effortlessly elegant and at home in your own luminous skin. Let your Summer shades connect you to the season's hazy beauty and step forward each day with the easy grace of an ocean breeze. Your colors are whispering their secrets — are you listening?
