Autumn Color Palette: The Complete Guide (with Hex Codes)

In seasonal color analysis, Autumn is one of the two warm families, and the one with earth in it. Spring is warm and clear; Autumn is warm and muted to rich, with colors that look like the season it is named after: rust, moss, pumpkin, dried-leaf gold and pine. A quick way to see the difference is to hold cream next to stark white under your face in daylight. On an Autumn, white tends to look hard and cream looks natural, because the skin has gold in it.

This guide covers the whole Autumn family: an at-a-glance profile, what every Autumn shares, the eyes, hair and skin that usually go with it, the three sub-types, the full palette in categories with hex codes, home tests for working out whether you are an Autumn and which one, how Autumn differs from the other seasons, and makeup, hair, accessories, prints and a capsule wardrobe. If you already know your sub-type, go straight to its full guide: Soft Autumn, True Autumn or Deep Autumn.

Autumn at a glance

What makes an Autumn

Every Autumn sub-type shares the same three settings:

• Undertone: warm. Golden rather than blue-based. This is the one trait every Autumn has: the skin has a gold or warm-peach cast, and gold jewelry flatters it more than silver.
• Value: medium to deep. Autumn coloring runs from medium to genuinely dark. It is never as pale and light as a Spring or a Light Summer.
• Chroma: muted to rich, but always earthy. Even the brightest Autumn color has a little brown or spice in it. Nothing reads neon or icy-clear.

Put together, that is warm, golden, earthy coloring flattered by warm, golden, earthy color. The most useful test of a single color: could it exist in nature in autumn? Pumpkin, moss, rust, chestnut, dried-leaf gold and pine all could. Icy mint, blue-pink and gunmetal could not, and none of them are Autumn colors.

One trap is reading "muted" as pale or washed out. Autumn is muted the way a good curry is: deep, warm and complex, not faded. Even the softest Autumn carries warmth and body, and the family runs all the way down to genuinely dark, so an Autumn is as likely to suit a deep forest green as a golden camel. What holds it together is not lightness or softness but gold.

Autumn eyes, hair and skin

These are the usual patterns. Plenty of Autumns break one of them, which is why analysts judge the three together.

Skin

Golden, peachy, warm beige, olive or bronze, at any depth from light-medium to deep. Many Autumns have freckles or a skin tone that tans to gold rather than pink. Olive skin often falls here too, though it can also sit in other seasons; the olive skin guide covers that.

Hair

Golden brown, chestnut, auburn, copper, warm dark brown and dark honey blonde. Natural red hair is common in True Autumn. Ash blonde and blue-black hair are less typical, and Autumns who dye their hair ashy often find it makes their skin look sallow.

Eyes

Warm brown, hazel, amber, olive and topaz green are the most common. Blue eyes are less usual but not ruled out: some Autumns have teal, turquoise or blue-green eyes, often with a gold or brown ring around the pupil. Guides differ on how common this is, especially for Soft Autumn.

The three Autumn sub-types

Soft Autumn is the warm, muted, low-contrast corner, the most neutral of the three, where the warmth is gentle and slightly grayed. Think camel, soft coral, sage and soft olive. It is the sub-type most often mistyped as cool, because the muting can read like a Soft Summer until you hold warmth beside it.

True Autumn is the warm, rich, medium-deep center of the family, the most purely warm of all twelve seasons, and the one some systems call Warm Autumn. The colors are fuller and more saturated than Soft Autumn's: pumpkin, rust, golden olive, mustard, forest green. If full, golden colors brighten you rather than overwhelm you, this is usually your sub-type.

Deep Autumn is the warm and deep corner, where Autumn borders Winter. The coloring has real depth, so the palette darkens (bittersweet chocolate, deep teal, dark spice, aubergine warmed with brown) while staying golden rather than cool. It is the only Autumn that can wear a near-black, such as a deep espresso or forest, without being overwhelmed.

Not every system uses three. Some list four Autumns, adding a Cool Autumn or splitting Warm Autumn from True Autumn; the three-way split above is the most common.

The Autumn palette

The chart shows ten signature colors and five neutrals spanning the family; the tables expand it to more than thirty shades and note which sub-type wears each best.

Signature Autumn colors

Lights: Autumn's "pastels" are warm and creamy, never icy: Peach #EBB89A, Butter #EBD39A, Sand #D9C3A0, Sage #9DA88A, Apricot #E8A57A, Light Camel #D2B48C.

Mediums: the core of the wardrobe: Copper #A5552D, Saffron #C98F1E, Olive #6B6B3A, Warm Coral #CF6B4A, Cognac #8B4A2B, Peacock #1F6B7A.

Darks: Autumn goes deep without going cool: Chocolate #4A3526, Espresso #3A2A1E, Aubergine #4A2A3D, Deep Teal #1F5455, Mahogany #5A2E22, Deep Warm Navy #222A38.

Neutrals: warm and golden, never stark: Warm Cream #EDE0C4, Camel #B68A52, Warm Beige #C7AE85, Chocolate Brown #4A3526 (the family's best "dark", softer than black), Bronze #7A5A2E, plus Tan #B98B5E and Warm Stone #B5A98E.

Metals: warm gold, copper and bronze echo the gold in Autumn skin. Bright silver and platinum tend to read cold and flat. Tortoiseshell, amber, wood and leather are Autumn's natural accessories.

Colors to avoid (and why)

• Cool and icy tones: icy blue, fuchsia, cool gray, blue-pink. They fight the golden undertone and gray the skin.
• Pure black and stark white: too cool and hard-edged near the face. Chocolate and cream do the same jobs more gently.
• Clear cool pastels: baby pink, mint, lavender. Too cool and too thin for warm, earthy coloring.
• Neon brights: lime, electric blue, hot pink. Autumn color has earth in it; neon has none.
• Cool neutrals: charcoal, dove gray, taupe-gray, cool beige. Swap for bronze, camel, chocolate.

Can Autumns wear black?

This is the most common question about the season, and guides do not fully agree. Most say no black near the face and suggest dark brown, espresso, forest green or a warm navy instead. Some allow it for Deep Autumns, whose coloring borders Winter, and several allow it away from the face: black trousers, boots or a bag. The practical answer: if you own and love black, keep it below the waist, or wear a cream, rust or olive layer at the neckline.

Navy, silver and pink

The other colors with mixed advice:

• Navy: a warm, slightly greened navy works for most Autumns; a bright, blue-violet navy reads cool.
• Silver: some guides rule it out entirely; others allow brushed or oxidized silver for Soft Autumns. Polished silver next to the face is the version most likely to look cold.
• Pink: cool and blue-pinks rarely work, but warm pinks such as salmon, coral-pink, dusty rose and terracotta-pink suit most Autumns.

Are you an Autumn? Three tests at home

Do these by a window in daylight, without makeup, and ideally without a tan, which can make cool skin look warm for a few months.

1. Gold or silver. Hold a gold and a silver piece (or fabric) under your chin. If gold makes your skin look smoother and silver makes it look gray or tired, you lean warm.
2. Cream or white. Compare an ivory or cream top with an optic white one. Autumns usually look better in cream; white can make them look sallow.
3. Muted or bright. Compare an earthy color (rust or olive) with a clear bright one (a bright coral or turquoise). If the earthy one looks like it belongs with your face, you lean Autumn; if the bright one wins and the earthy one looks heavy, you may be a Spring.

The vein test (green veins for warm, blue for cool) is the least reliable of the common tests, because vein color depends on skin thickness and lighting as much as undertone. Lighting is the bigger problem in general: warm indoor bulbs make most people look warmer than they are, which is also why phone apps reading photos taken at night often get warm and cool wrong.

How to tell which Autumn you are

Once you are confident you are warm, the question is how warm and how deep:

• Start with chroma. Hold a full, saturated pumpkin or rust to your face. If it brightens you, you are toward True Autumn. If it slightly overwhelms you and a dustier, softer version looks more like you, you are toward Soft Autumn.
• Then check depth. Try a deep espresso brown or a dark forest green at the jaw. If the deepest tones look natural on you rather than heavy, you are toward Deep Autumn. If they overwhelm a medium-toned face, you are a True or Soft.
• Look at the contrast in your own coloring. Soft Autumns tend to be low-contrast (hair, skin and eyes sit close in value); Deep Autumns usually have noticeably darker hair or eyes against the skin.
• Check you are not a Spring. Both are warm. If clear, bright, sunlit colors (coral, golden yellow, turquoise) flatter you more than earthy ones, you are probably a Spring, not an Autumn.

Undertone, value and contrast are hard to judge in a bathroom mirror, where lighting and habit get in the way. A photo-based analysis reads all three for you.

Autumn vs the other seasons

Autumn vs Spring

The two warm seasons. Spring is clear, light and bright; Autumn is muted to rich and medium to deep. True Autumn and True Spring are the pair most often confused; True Spring vs True Autumn compares them side by side.

Autumn vs Summer

Summer is cool and soft; Autumn is warm. The overlap is at the soft end: Soft Autumn and Soft Summer are both muted and low-contrast and differ mainly in temperature. Hold a camel and a dove gray under your chin; the one that looks smoother decides it. Soft Summer vs Soft Autumn goes into detail.

Autumn vs Winter

Winter is cool and clear; Autumn is warm and earthy. They meet at the deep end, where Deep Autumn and Deep Winter both suit dark, rich colors. Deep Autumn wants espresso and forest; Deep Winter wants black and icy white. See Deep Autumn vs Deep Winter.

Autumn celebrity examples

Celebrity seasons are guesses from photos, and lists disagree, often by sub-type rather than family. These names appear as Autumns on more than one list:

• Julia Roberts and Julianne Moore: listed as Autumns by several guides, and as True Autumns by PaletteHunt.
• Beyoncé: Autumn on most lists; True or Warm Autumn in the guides that give a sub-type.
• Jessica Alba: Soft Autumn on PaletteHunt, Warm Autumn on Roberta Style Lee's guide.
• Drew Barrymore and Gisele Bündchen: Soft Autumn on Frankie4's list.
• Eva Mendes and Halle Berry: Deep Autumn on PaletteHunt and Frankie4 respectively.

Use them for the overall impression, not as proof of your own season. There are fuller lists for Soft Autumn, True Autumn and Deep Autumn.

Autumn outfit formulas

• Camel coat + chocolate trousers + rust knit. A formula for the whole family.
• Golden olive trousers + warm cream shirt + cognac loafers. Work.
• Forest green dress + warm gold jewelry. Evening, no black required.
• Warm-washed denim + mustard knit + tan boots. Weekend.
• Terracotta blouse + warm teal scarf + camel. A color-forward option.
• Soft coral top + sage trousers (Soft Autumn) / pumpkin + golden olive (True) / aubergine + deep teal (Deep).

More by sub-type in the Soft Autumn, True Autumn and Deep Autumn outfit guides.

An Autumn capsule wardrobe

Twelve pieces that all mix: a camel coat, chocolate trousers, warm-washed indigo jeans, a warm cream shirt, a rust knit, a mustard or golden-olive top, a terracotta blouse, a forest green dress, a warm teal scarf, a tan leather jacket, cognac boots and a chocolate bag. Every piece shares the same warm, earthy base, and when you want contrast you use chocolate or forest rather than black.

Prints, fabrics and denim

Autumn suits prints: paisley, leopard and tortoiseshell, plaid in rust and olive, dark florals on cream or forest grounds, ikat and other prints in spice tones. Textured, matte, natural fabrics flatter it (suede, tweed, corduroy, linen, cashmere, leather, raw silk), while cool-looking high-shine fabrics fight it. Denim belongs here too: a warm-washed, slightly faded blue sits with these colors better than a crisp blue-black one.

Autumn makeup and hair at a glance

Across the family, Autumn makeup is warm and earthy: brick, terracotta, warm brown-red and soft coral lips; peachy-bronze or warm apricot blush; copper, moss, bronze and warm-brown eyes, with a warm brown or bronze liner instead of black. Soft Autumns keep it muted, Deep Autumns can take it richer, and cool pinks, blue-reds and stark black liner fight all three. Hair is warm too: golden brown, copper, auburn, warm chestnut and rich honey share the skin's gold, while ashy and jet-black tones pull the warmth out and can read sallow. The copper and auburn guides cover Autumn's signature hair colors, lipstick by season has the lip shades for each sub-type, and the Soft, True and Deep Autumn makeup guides do the full face.

Nails

The same colors work on nails: terracotta, brick, rust, olive, chocolate, copper and warm nude. A warm red with brown in it is the classic. Cool pastels and blue-based reds look out of place next to warm skin.

Jewelry, glasses, shoes and bags

Warm gold, copper, bronze and brass; stones in amber, tiger's eye, carnelian, garnet, jade and turquoise; tortoiseshell, wood, leather and horn. Glasses in tortoiseshell, amber, olive, bronze or warm brown.

For shoes and bags, cognac, tan, chocolate and olive leather are the Autumn versions of black and do the same job. Suede in camel or rust suits the season's matte texture, and a burgundy or oxblood shoe is the dressier option. Deep Autumns can carry dark espresso leather that reads almost black.

Where to start

Look at what you already own before buying anything. Pull out everything camel, brown, olive, rust and cream; for most Autumns that is already the start of a working wardrobe. Then add the one piece that will be closest to your face most often, usually a knit or a scarf, in the signature color that suits your sub-type: soft coral or sage for Soft, rust or pumpkin for True, deep teal or aubergine for Deep. If you are not sure which sub-type you are, start with terracotta and warm teal, the two colors in the table above that suit all three, and pin down your exact Autumn with the Soft, True or Deep Autumn guide.