What is the difference between Light Spring and Light Summer?

Temperature only. Both are light with low contrast. Light Spring scores 0.65 warm and needs golden-based colours. Light Summer scores -0.55 cool and needs blue-based ones. Hold apricot next to powder pink and see which one the face prefers.

Can a Light Spring wear black?

It is the hardest season for it. Black is as deep as clothing gets and this is the lightest season, so the gap between them is wider than the face can bridge. Worn away from the face, or broken by a warm colour at the neckline, it becomes workable.

Is Light Spring the same as a warm blonde?

Hair colour alone does not decide a season. Depth, temperature, contrast and chroma are scored separately and hair is only part of the depth and contrast readings. Plenty of warm blondes are Warm Spring or Light Summer instead.

Light Spring colour palette

Light and warm, with gentle contrast and colours that stay clear rather than dusty.

Last reviewed 2 August 2026By Sravya

Editorial saree reference for the light spring palette

The four scores that place it

colour

Temperature: 0.65
Depth: -1.00
Contrast: -0.35
Chroma: 0.65

The palette

ApricotApricot, #F6C6A8
ButtercupButtercup, #FFD56B
MintMint, #A8D8B9
AquaAqua, #74C9D4
BlossomBlossom, #F58FA5
CreamCream, #FFF0C7

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

Light Spring sits at the warm end of the light seasons. Colouring is delicate: fair or golden skin, hair that runs from light golden blonde to light warm brown, and eyes that are usually blue, green or light hazel. The depth score of -1 is the lowest available, so lightness is the defining quality before anything else.

The season is often confused with Light Summer because both are light and low contrast. The separator is temperature, at 0.65 here against -0.55 for Light Summer. Light Spring colours carry a golden warmth, Light Summer colours carry a blue coolness, and the two look noticeably different held next to the same face.

How to check whether this is your season

Look at overall lightness first. If your hair, skin and eyes are all fairly light and none of them is dramatically darker than the others, you are in one of the two light seasons.

Then decide temperature. Hold a warm peach or apricot next to your face, then a cool powder pink. Light Spring skin lifts against the peach and can look faintly grey against the cool pink.

Check chroma last. At 0.65 this season stays clear rather than dusty. If soft, greyed colours suit you better than clean ones, the answer is more likely Light Summer or Soft Summer.

What it gets mistaken for

Mistaken for
Light Summer
Same lightness, opposite temperature. Light Summer scores -0.55 and needs blue-based colours. Compare peach against powder pink.
Mistaken for
Warm Spring
Same warmth, more depth. Warm Spring sits at depth 0 and carries stronger, fuller colour. If light shades look washed out on 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 have to stay light and warm at the same time. Adding depth overwhelms delicate colouring, and adding coolness drains it.

Your colours

The mistake most often made here is reaching for pastels that are cool rather than warm. A Light Spring pastel has yellow in it. A Light Summer pastel has blue in it. They look similar on a screen and quite different on a person.

Worth reaching for

Warm pastels: apricot, buttercup, mint, aqua
Light warm neutrals such as cream and camel
Coral and warm blossom pinks
Light golden metals

Works against it

Black, which overwhelms light colouring completely
Heavy, deep colours such as burgundy or charcoal
Cool grey and stark optical white
Dusty, greyed pastels, which flatten this palette

Your best neutral

Use cream and warm ivory where most people would use black or navy.

Light Spring is the season least able to carry black. A warm off-white as the base of an outfit does the job black does for other people, and keeps the lightness the season depends on.

Where people go wrong

Wearing black because it is easy
At depth -1 there is no season further from black. It creates a contrast the face cannot match, so the clothing reads first and the person second. Navy is the practical compromise if a dark neutral is needed.
Choosing cool pastels
Powder blue and lilac belong to Light Summer. They are the same lightness but the opposite temperature, and next to Light Spring colouring they look slightly ashen.
Assuming light means muted
Light and soft are different axes. This season scores 0.65 on chroma, meaning clear. Dusty versions of the right colours are still wrong.

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.