What is the difference between Clear Spring and Clear Winter?

Temperature. Both score 1.00 on contrast and chroma, so both need bright, high-contrast colour. Clear Spring leans warm at 0.55 and Clear Winter cool at -0.55. Golden yellow is the quickest test: it works for Clear Spring and not for Clear Winter.

Is Clear Spring rare?

It is one of the less common seasons because it requires two extremes at once: maximum clarity and maximum contrast. Many people who test as Clear Spring on one axis turn out to be Warm Spring, which shares the warmth but not the contrast.

Can I wear pastels as a Clear Spring?

Sparingly and never alone. A pastel is low chroma by definition, which is the opposite of what this season needs. Used as one half of a high-contrast pairing it can work; worn head to toe it does not.

Clear Spring colour palette

Maximum clarity and contrast, with a slight warm lean, so colours must be bright and never muted.

Last reviewed 2 August 2026By Sravya

Editorial saree reference for the clear spring palette

The four scores that place it

colour

Temperature: 0.55
Depth: 0.00
Contrast: 1.00
Chroma: 1.00

The palette

PoppyPoppy, #FF4F64
JadeJade, #00AFA0
CobaltCobalt, #2F74D0
SunSun, #FFD000
GrassGrass, #7CBF45
TangerineTangerine, #F47B20

Each axis runs from about -1 to +1 and is scored separately. These are editorial centres for a repeatable comparison, and the hex values are screen references rather than measured standards. Scoring the four apart is what lets the tool tell you which single call was the shaky one, instead of handing you a season and no reasoning.

Find my colour season

Clear Spring scores 1.00 on both contrast and chroma, the highest available on either axis. Colouring is striking rather than delicate: bright eyes that stand out against the skin, hair noticeably darker or lighter than the complexion, and a general impression of vividness.

Temperature sits at 0.55, a moderate warm lean rather than the full 1.00 of Warm Spring. That makes clarity and contrast the deciding qualities here, with warmth as the tiebreaker. It is the closest spring season to winter, and Clear Winter is its mirror on the cool side.

How to check whether this is your season

Assess contrast first. Stand in daylight and compare how far apart your hair, skin and eyes are. If they differ sharply rather than blending, you are in a high-contrast season.

Then test clarity. Hold a bright poppy red against your face, then a muted brick. Clear Spring needs the bright one; the muted version leaves the face looking dull.

Finally check temperature. Against Clear Winter, this season leans warm at 0.55. Golden yellow should be wearable here in a way it is not for a Clear Winter.

What it gets mistaken for

Mistaken for
Clear Winter
Identical contrast and chroma at 1.00. Temperature separates them: 0.55 warm here, -0.55 cool there. Golden yellow works here and does not there.
Mistaken for
Warm Spring
Warm Spring is warmer at 1.00 but far less contrasted at 0, against 1.00 here. If high contrast overwhelms you, look at Warm Spring.

Every season, every colour

12 seasons · 72 shades

Light Spring

Warm Spring

Clear Spring

Light Summer

Cool Summer

Soft Summer

Soft Autumn

Warm Autumn

Deep Autumn

Deep Winter

Cool Winter

Clear Winter

These are the actual palettes the colour tool works from, not a sample. Point at one to hold it. Twelve seasons rather than the old four, because four cannot separate someone light and cool from someone deep and cool.

The principle behind every suggestion below

Colours must be bright and clearly separated from each other. Muting kills the palette and blending removes the contrast the colouring depends on.

Your colours

This is one of the two seasons that can carry genuinely loud colour. Toning things down to be tasteful is the most common way people in this season end up looking washed out.

Worth reaching for

Poppy red, tangerine and clear sun yellow
Jade, emerald and true cobalt
Bright grass green
Crisp contrast pairings rather than tonal ones

Works against it

Muted, dusty or greyed anything
Tonal outfits in one soft shade
Heavy earthy neutrals such as olive and rust
Beige, which disappears against this colouring

Build outfits on contrast

Pair a light piece with a dark piece rather than dressing in one tonal family.

At contrast 1.00 the colouring itself is built on sharp difference. A head-to-toe soft outfit removes the quality the face is matching, which is why tonal dressing so often looks flat on this season.

Where people go wrong

Softening colours to look understated
Muted colour is the one thing this palette cannot absorb. At chroma 1.00 the face needs clarity, and a dusty version of the right hue reads worse than a bright version of a slightly wrong one.
Wearing beige and camel
Warm neutrals belong to the autumn seasons. Here they read as an absence of colour rather than as a neutral, and they flatten the contrast.
Being told to wear black because of high contrast
Contrast is right, but black is cool and this season leans warm. Deep warm navy or true dark brown gives the same contrast without the temperature clash.

Common questions

Sources and review record

Color Palette Analysis
Seasonal color analysis
The temperature, value and chroma framework behind the four season families.
Last checked 2026-07-31
Color Palette Analysis
Seasonal color analysis chart: 12 seasons
The twelve-season grouping and neighbouring season descriptions.
Last checked 2026-07-31
Color Palette Analysis
What is color analysis?
Why undertone is considered alongside depth, chroma and contrast.
Last checked 2026-07-31

Not sure this is you?

The tool scores temperature, depth, contrast and chroma separately across all twelve seasons, then shows which of the four calls was closest to a boundary. That is the honest answer to why different sites give you different seasons.