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

The Springs I drape have a particular look in common, and it's not hair color or eye color, it's a kind of brightness in the skin itself, a warmth that catches the light. Put a clear coral or a warm golden yellow beside that face and it seems to switch on. Put a dusty mauve or a charcoal next to it and the whole thing dims, like a cloud crossing the sun. Once you've seen that flick between lit and flat a few times, Spring stops being a guess and starts being obvious.

This is the complete overview for the whole Spring family: an at-a-glance profile, what every Spring shares, the three sub-types compared, the full palette in categories with hex codes, the tests for telling which Spring you are, plus makeup, hair, jewelry, prints and a capsule wardrobe. If you already know your sub-type, jump straight to its guide, Light Spring, True Spring or Bright Spring.

Spring at a glance

What makes a Spring

Every season is read on three dials, and Spring has a clear signature across all three:

• Undertone, warm. This is the loudest trait for the whole family. Spring skin is golden and yellow-based, never blue-based, which is why gold suits it and icy color looks wrong against it. Of the four seasons, Spring is the warmest.
• Chroma, bright and clear. Spring colors are clean and saturated, the opposite of muted. Think the fresh, high-clarity color of new leaves and tulips, never anything grayed-down or dusty.
• Value, light to medium. Spring runs lighter than Autumn and Winter. It can carry a medium color, but its natural home is the lighter, sunnier end rather than deep or heavy shades.

Put those together and you get warm, clear, fairly light coloring that comes alive in warm, clear, fairly light color. The single biggest mistake I see is treating Spring like a softer, paler version of Autumn, both are warm, but Spring is clear where Autumn is muted. Spring is early-morning sun on a garden; Autumn is late-October light through dry leaves. Same warmth, completely different clarity. That clarity is the heart of the whole spring color palette.

The three Spring sub-types

Light Spring is the palest and most delicate of the three. The warmth is still there but gentle, and the colors stay soft and sunlit, peach, light coral, light warm aqua, mint. It borders Light Summer, so undertone is what tells them apart. If full-strength brights overwhelm you but light, fresh warm colors suit you, you're likely here.

True Spring is the warmest and most golden, the purest expression of Spring, sitting right in the middle of the family. Its colors are vivid and sun-saturated: clear coral, golden yellow, warm turquoise, leaf green. If both very pale and very icy colors feel slightly off, but warm and bright together feel exactly right, True Spring is the one to read first.

Bright Spring is the most vivid and the highest in contrast, sitting next door to Bright Winter. It carries the boldest, most electric colors in the family, hot clear coral, bright warm green, vivid periwinkle. If saturated color energizes you rather than wearing you, and the palest shades look a little washed-out on you, look at Bright Spring.

The Spring palette

Warm and clear, every shade lit as if by spring sun. The chart shows ten signature colors and five neutrals spanning the family; the tables expand it to more than thirty shades with the sub-type that wears each best.

Signature Spring colors

Lights: Spring's pastels are warm and clear, never dusty: Light Peach #FBD1B0, Butter Yellow #F7E39A, Mint #B8E6C9, Light Aqua #A8E1E4, Shell Pink #F6C6C2, Warm Lilac #CDB4E8.

Mediums: the everyday heart of the wardrobe: Salmon #F28C79, Apricot #F5A05C, Warm Pink #F08AA0, Kelly Green #3FA34D, Clear Aqua #2EB5B8, Cornflower #6495ED.

Darks: as deep as Spring goes, and it doesn't go very deep: Warm Navy #34507A, Warm Chocolate #5C3A21, Bright Cobalt #2455C4, Tomato #D8412E, Emerald-Leaf #2E8B57, Warm Purple #7B4FB5.

Neutrals: warm and clear, never stark: Warm Ivory #F3E9D2 (your "white"), Light Camel #D8B98C, Warm Beige #CBB596, Golden Tan #B68A52, Warm Navy #34507A as your best "dark" in place of black, plus Light Warm Gray #C9C2B6 and a clean mid-blue denim.

Metals: yellow gold and warm bright gold sit beautifully, and rose gold is lovely on most Springs too. Cool, heavy silver reads flat against all that warmth.

Colors to avoid (and why)

• Pure black and heavy cool darks: charcoal, black-navy. They flatten fresh coloring and look heavy at the face.
• Muted, dusty, grayed colors: dusty rose, sage-gray, mauve, taupe. These are Summer and Soft Autumn colors; on a Spring they read tired.
• Cool, icy tones: fuchsia, plum, powder blue, icy pink. They fight the golden undertone.
• Earthy, muddy tones: rust, olive drab, mustard-brown. These are Autumn's; too muted for Spring's clarity.
• Optic white: too stark; warm ivory instead.

How to tell which Spring you are

Start with the family question, then narrow. First, confirm warmth: hold a clear peach or golden yellow to your face, then a cool fuchsia or icy blue. If the warm one brightens you and the cool one drains you, you're warm, and a Spring rather than a Summer or Winter. Then confirm clarity: if muted, earthy color suits you better than clear brights, you may be a warm Autumn instead.

Then settle the sub-type by asking how much brightness you can carry. If full-strength brights overwhelm your features and soft, light warm colors suit you best, you're a Light Spring. If warm and vivid together look balanced and right, you're a True Spring. If the boldest, most saturated colors actually energize you and pale shades look washed-out, you're a Bright Spring. Value and chroma are genuinely hard to judge in your own mirror, though, so the reliable way to settle it is a draping session or a photo-based analysis that reads your undertone, value and contrast for you.

Spring outfit formulas

• Warm ivory shirt + light camel trousers + clear coral scarf. The formula for the whole family.
• Turquoise top + warm navy trousers + gold hoops. Work, with color.
• Golden yellow dress + tan sandals. Summer, one color, sunlit.
• Mid-blue denim + peach knit + white trainers. Weekend.
• Leaf green blouse + warm beige + rose gold. Spring-in-spring.
• Light Spring: peach + mint + ivory / True Spring: coral + golden yellow + camel / Bright Spring: hot coral + bright periwinkle + warm navy.

A Spring capsule wardrobe

Twelve pieces that all mix: a warm ivory shirt, light camel trousers, clean mid-blue jeans, a warm navy blazer, a clear coral top, a turquoise blouse, a peach knit, a golden yellow dress, a leaf green scarf, a golden tan leather jacket, tan sandals or loafers and a warm beige bag. Let one color sit closest to your face, a top or a scarf, because that's where the palette does its real work. Everything mixes effortlessly because it all shares the same warm, clear DNA.

Prints, fabrics and denim

Spring wears prints that are fresh and clear: florals on ivory grounds, gingham in coral or aqua, polka dots, tropical prints, watercolor brights. Fabrics with a little light in them suit the coloring, crisp cotton, silk, fine knits, light linen, where heavy, matte, dark fabrics weigh it down. Denim should be a clean, clear mid-blue; inky black-blue and gray-washed denim read cool and heavy.

Spring makeup & hair at a glance

Spring makeup is warm, fresh and clear, peach, coral and warm-pink lips; a peachy or coral blush kept light enough to read as a glow; and warm browns, peach, soft gold and a touch of warm green or aqua on the eyes, with a warm brown liner instead of harsh black. The brighter your sub-type, the more pigment you can carry, but the warm, clear logic holds for all three. Spring hair is warm too: golden blonde, honey, warm caramel, light warm chestnut and, for the right person, a clear strawberry or light copper. Ashy and jet-black tones are what fight this family, they pull the warmth out of the skin and read heavy against fresh coloring. The copper hair guide covers Spring's boldest option, and lipstick by season has the exact lip shades.

Jewelry and glasses

Yellow gold, warm bright gold and rose gold; stones in turquoise, coral, peridot, citrine, aquamarine and warm pearl; light tortoiseshell and warm horn. Silver reads flat. Glasses in light tortoiseshell, warm honey, clear coral, gold or light warm brown, not black.

Putting it to work

The quickest win is to anchor a small capsule with two warm neutrals you'll wear constantly, warm ivory and light camel are the safest pair, then add two or three colors from the list you genuinely love, like clear coral, golden yellow and warm turquoise. Everything mixes effortlessly because it all shares the same warm, clear DNA, so a handful of pieces quietly becomes a whole wardrobe. Lean into the freshness; on a Spring, clear and sunny never reads as loud, it reads as healthy, and like you finally stopped fighting your own coloring.