Seasonal sub-types - Spring

The Spring palette is warm, light, bright and fresh. But it also contains everything from almost autumnal cinnamon brown to wintery bright navy. If you’ve been given a sub-type designation within the Spring palette, let’s explore what that means for you, and how it might open up even more amazing colours for you.

Do remember though, that your seasonal type is a guide. If you fall at one end of a palette, it doesn’t mean you can’t ever go near colours from other areas of that palette, just that this particular area is the strongest part for your own skin tone and contrast level. Remember that all of the colours within your wider seasonal palette will also make you look great, and will harmonise with your sub-type ‘wow’ colours.

True/Golden/Warm Spring

This is the one we think of as a ‘typical’ Spring palette. The colours all have an undeniable warmth to them, and are clear and bright. Warm Springs often (although not always) look like a ‘classic’ Spring – their hair colour will be anything from bright red through strawberry to golden blonde, eye colour will be clear green or blue and their peaches and cream skintone has a real glow about it when flattered with the right colours.

A Warm Spring falls at the very warmest, most golden end of the Spring palette, and if you viewed the entire colour range of all four seasons as one continuous spectrum of colour, then Warm Spring’s colours would fall nearer to Autumn’s than to Winter’s or Summer’s.

Warm Spring’s best colours are usually warm greens, yellows, orangey reds, very peachy pinks and every shade of light brown from tan to palest beige. 

This means that the dominant tonal direction for this seasonal sub-type is Warm, so you can also search the Warm dominant tonal direction for more colours which you might love (if you want to read more about how tonal directions relate to seasons, this post is a great starting point).

Light/Pastel Spring

This is the softest and lightest of the Spring colours – the intensity and saturation of those bolder Spring colours is really dialled down. Tints (colours with white added to make them lighter and clearer) feature heavily in this palette. The darkest of the Spring browns can often be too gloomy, with Bright Navy and Dove Grey making for better neutrals.

Light Springs often have very light clear eye colour, such as pale grey, blue or green, and hair that is usually fair and can look ashier than the golden tones of True Spring. If we were to put Light Spring’s colours onto one continuous spectrum of all four seasons, its colours would fall towards the Summer end of the Spring palette.

Light Spring’s best colours are (unsurprisingly!) the lightest Spring colours. Pale peach, light dove grey, palest mint green and aqua. 

This means that the dominant tonal direction for this seasonal sub-type is Light, so you can also search the Light dominant tonal direction for more colours which you might love (if you want to read more about how tonal directions relate to seasons, this post is a great starting point).

Bright/Clear/Blue Spring

Containing the most saturated and boldest of Spring’s colours, with full on intensity and contrast. Those who fall into the Bright Spring category are often some of the trickiest to analyse – they can look like Winters, with piercingly bright eye colours, and often relatively dark hair with little or no warmth.

It stands to reason, then, that if we were to put Bright Spring’s colours onto one continuous spectrum of all four seasons, its colours would fall towards the Winter end of the Spring palette, meaning its colours are the clearest, brightest and least warm of the Spring sub-types.

Bright Spring’s best colours are the bright blues and true reds, dove greys and more acidic yellows.

This means that the dominant tonal direction for this seasonal sub-type is Clear, so you can also search the Clear dominant tonal direction for more colours which you might love (if you want to read more about how tonal directions relate to seasons, this post is a great starting point).

Paintbox Springs

A classification used within the House of Colour analysis system, Paintbox Springs don’t fall neatly into any of the categories above. It denotes someone who suits all of the strongest, brightest Spring colours, whether they are warmer or cooler. It falls somewhere between True Spring and Bright Spring, and high saturation is the key point to note for this seasonal type.

They often have mid-tones hair and eye colour, which is brought to life with the strongest and most saturated Spring colours.

Paintbox Spring’s best colours are the most saturated, rather than specific colours – so the strongest bright reds, intense vivid yellow (rather than softer Corn or Primrose), bright Leaf Green rather than Mint.

This means that the dominant tonal direction for this seasonal sub-type, like the Bright Springs, is Clear, so you can also search the Clear dominant tonal direction for more colours which you might love (if you want to read more about how tonal directions relate to seasons, this post is a great starting point).