Best Lipstick Shades for Every Color Season (All 12 Seasons)

Lipstick is the fastest color analysis there is. Hold a coral and a blue-red to the same face and one of them makes the skin look clear and the teeth look white; the other makes the skin look tired and the teeth look yellow. That flip happens in a second, it happens in front of every mirror in every department store, and almost nobody uses it, because they don't know which way it should go. Your color season tells you.

This guide gives the lipstick shades for all twelve seasons: the red, the nude, the pink and the bold for each, with hex codes, plus the shades that fight each season. If you know your season, jump to it. If you don't, the seasonal color analysis guide explains the system and the best lipstick for your skin tone guide approaches it from skin tone rather than season.

The three rules

1. Temperature. Warm seasons (Springs, Autumns) wear orange-, peach- and brown-based lips. Cool seasons (Summers, Winters) wear blue-, pink- and berry-based lips. This is the rule that decides whether a red flatters or drains you.
2. Depth. Light seasons wear sheerer, lighter lips; Deep seasons can carry full-strength dark ones. A Light Summer in a deep plum looks overwhelmed; a Deep Winter in a sheer nude looks unfinished.
3. Clarity. Bright seasons wear clear, saturated shades; Soft seasons wear muted, grayed ones. A Soft Autumn in a neon coral looks garish; a Bright Spring in a dusty rosewood looks dull.

Match all three and the lipstick disappears into the face, it looks like a better version of your own lips.

The lipstick chart by season

Nudes and the fifth bold: Peach Nude #D9A08A (Springs), Caramel Nude #C08C6E (Autumns), Rose Nude #C9948F (Summers), Mocha Nude #9E6E5C (Deep Autumn, neutral and olive skin) and Berry #8E2F4A (Winters, deeper Summers).

Lipstick by season

Spring (warm and clear)

• Light Spring: sheer peach, light coral, warm pink, a peach nude. Reds should be sheer and warm, a coral-red tint, not a full matte. Avoid deep berries, plum and brown-reds, which swamp light coloring.
• True Spring: clear coral, warm pink, tomato red, a warm peach nude. The season that wears coral best of all. Avoid mauve, blue-red and anything dusty.
• Bright Spring: vivid coral, hot warm pink, clear poppy red, a warm nude with some color. Bright Spring can go bolder than the other Springs, sheer nudes look washed out. Avoid brown-reds and muted rosewoods.

Summer (cool and soft)

• Light Summer: soft rose, cool pink, sheer raspberry, a rose nude. Reds are soft rose-reds, never brick. Avoid orange corals, warm browns and heavy plum.
• True Summer: rose, cool raspberry, soft berry, a pink-beige nude. True Summer wears a clear rose beautifully. Avoid anything with orange in it, and very dark vampy shades.
• Soft Summer: mauve, dusty rose, soft plum, rosewood, a mauve-rose nude. Everything slightly grayed. Avoid bright fuchsia, clear reds and peach, see the Soft Summer makeup guide for the full face.

Autumn (warm and rich)

• Soft Autumn: terracotta-rose, rosewood, soft brick, warm mauve, a caramel or rose-brown nude. Muted and warm. Avoid bright coral, clear tomato red and cool berry.
• True Autumn: brick, terracotta, warm brown-red, burnt coral, a caramel nude. The season for a brick-red lip. Avoid blue-reds, fuchsia and pale pinks. See True Autumn makeup.
• Deep Autumn: deep brick, warm brown-red, oxblood with brown in it, a mocha nude. Deep and warm, Deep Autumn can wear a dark lip as long as it's warm. Avoid cool plum, blue-red and frosted anything.

Winter (cool and clear)

• True Winter: true blue-red, raspberry, cool berry, a cool rose nude. Clear and cool, at full strength. Avoid brick, coral and warm browns.
• Bright Winter: fuchsia, hot pink, clear cherry red, raspberry. The highest-chroma season wears the brightest lips. Avoid muted mauves and brown nudes, they look dead on Bright Winter. See Bright Winter makeup.
• Deep Winter: blue-red, deep berry, wine, plum, fuchsia, a deep rose nude. Deep Winter's best lipstick is a bold one, the mistake is going too soft. Avoid sheer nudes, dusty pinks and orange-reds.

Finding your nude

Nudes go wrong more than reds, because "nude" means different things on different skin. The rule: one shade deeper than your natural lip, in your undertone family. Springs: peach and warm pink-beige. Summers: rose and pink-beige. Autumns: caramel, warm rose-brown, terracotta-nude. Winters: cool rose, deeper mauve-nude. Neutral and olive skin: rose-brown and mocha. If a nude makes you look ill, it's almost always the wrong temperature, not the wrong depth, a pink-beige on a warm face or a caramel on a cool one.

Red lipstick by undertone, in one line

Warm undertone → orange-based red (brick, tomato, coral-red). Cool undertone → blue-based red (cherry, cranberry, raspberry-red). Neutral → a balanced true red, tested against both. Olive → warm brick if warm olive, cranberry if cool olive. The white-teeth test settles it in the shop: the right red makes teeth look whiter, the wrong one makes them look yellow.

Finish and formula

Depth and clarity also live in the finish. Sheer and satin finishes soften a color, which suits Light and Soft seasons; full matte intensifies it, which suits Deep and Bright seasons. A True Winter in a sheer blue-red tint and a Light Summer in the same color as a full matte are both wearing the wrong depth, same shade, different finish, different result.

Putting it together

Find your temperature, then your depth, then your clarity, and buy one red, one nude and one bold in that family. Springs: coral, peach nude, warm pink. Summers: rose, rose nude, raspberry. Autumns: brick, caramel nude, terracotta. Winters: blue-red, cool rose nude, berry. If you don't yet know your season, a photo-based analysis reads it from one selfie, and the first thing most people do with the result is buy the right red.