Makeup Model : Soft Summer

41 Responses to “Makeup Model : Soft Summer”

1. Lisa Murray on May 16th, 2009 6:13 pm

   Hi Christine!
   Your site is SO helpful! I had my analysis done by SciArt at one of their training sessions, but have been having a bear of a time buying makeup (even with my swatches) but you’ve done the work for me!!!
   THANK YOU!
   Here’s my new color confusion. My hair has always been an ashy brown, but my hairstylist colored it considerably warmer. Should I start wearing the soft autumn colors now? My soft summer clothes look a little off with my new hair…
   Thanks for your help!
   Lisa
2. Christine Scaman on May 16th, 2009 7:44 pm

   Lisa,

   You are so far ahead of the game if you know you’re a Sci\Art Soft Summer. I’m interested to hear you say that you find it difficult to buy makeup with your swatch book because I believe most women would agree with you. One day, I hope not long from now, I want to be able to give you your makeup in a customized collection.

   In the meantime, regarding your color confusion. Your season was determined based on what the colors in that season did for your skin. Your skin doesn’t change when you color your hair but warmer hair may give an overall warmer look and Soft Summer can take some warmth, or at least more neutrality than True Summer. You could choose some slightly warmer colors from your kit and you probably could wear a few Soft Autumn colors. Or, could you foil in some cooler hair chunks? I’ve been in this position before too and I find that a good remedy to buy some time. After a few weeks, the red should be gone from your new hair color and it will be easier to work with. I’m no hair colorist but a pro can help you.
3. Mia on August 4th, 2009 5:27 am

   Thank you so much! The Nars blush worked wonders on my skin, and you seem to have me convinced that I am, indeed, a soft summer. But please, please, please: could you recommend additional lip colours, since it is agonisingly hard to get those shades by Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier in Europe. More Dior, Estee Lauder or Mac, perhaps?
4. Christine Scaman on August 4th, 2009 7:52 am

   Mia,

   Let me work on that. I have easy access to Clinique and Estee Lauder. Clinique probably has loads of choices, this is the sort of colour they seem to do a lot of. Can you get that brand? If not, I’ll look at a MAC counter later this month.
5. Mia on August 4th, 2009 9:11 am

   Thank you, thank you, thank you! Clinique is perfect.
6. Natalia on August 4th, 2009 9:08 pm

   Hi Christine!
   Thank you so much for your invaluable articles and recommendations! I am not sure that I am a Soft Summer, but as far as I read somewhere on the net that Angelina Jolie could be a soft summer I am in doubts. Her coloring resembles mine – blue-gray eyes, naturally rather dark, fair-medium neutral skin. She (and me too) doesn’t look really clear, but can`t be dark or light, which leaves us soft. But it seems unbelievable that she shares the same palette with Jennifer Aniston. I think Jolie is somewhere in between Soft summer and Clear winter (if it makes any sense). What do you think of Angelina Jolie`s colortype?
   I am looking forward for your lipstick choices from Clinique because we also have problems with finding Laura Mercier and Bobby Brown. Could you please check Clinique Long Last Lipstick No. 95 Tabasco, I see it is a bit warmish, but works wonderful on me, just livens my eyes and face without overpowering. Not for work , rather for evening. Similar but cooler shade Clinique High Impact Lip Colour Cider Berry doesn`t work for me. To which season’s palette could Tabasco belong? I have so many pains with finding the right shade of lipstick for me and I am very sensitive to the wrong lipstick color on my face; maybe your advice will give me some clue if I really could be a Soft Summer? Maybe I am warmer or clearer?
   Thank you very much for your wonderful site!
7. Christine Scaman on August 6th, 2009 6:34 pm

   Natalia,

   Angelina Jolie, like all the medium-intensity coloring people out there, is very hard to put in a season without seeing the woman herself and trying various colours. As an analyst, I like these people best because it is impossible for me to jump to conclusions about which season they are. I have to let the drapes show me so I’m certain I am not forcing the evidence towards a particular season. With the very light and very dark people, season momentum can take hold and it’s all I can do to truly and objectively convince myself that they are indeed a Light something or a Dark something or a True something. You can most certainly have 2 people who appear to have very different skin be in the same season, most particularly in the medium groups.

   Important statement : It’s NOT so much the coloring itself that we look at as how the skin REACTS to colours (which is why hair and eye colour are of no significance in my analyses).

   I looked for Cider Berry and Tabasco, neither available here anymore. The saleswoman says Tabasco has been replaced by Paprika, or some similar name, but that’s of no use to us right now.

   Mia and Natalia,

   Soft Summer is a pretty season. These are the very pretty roses, soft plum, pink-browns, and some dusty colours. I saw less at Clinique than I expected to. This season can handle some brown and that company always seem to do a lot of that, but most of it seemed too warm. I liked Raspberry Glace, possibly a little too cool and sharp, Glazed Berry (really did like this one), Violet Berry. PinkABoo might work but it’s a little too warm and too brownish. This season is still predominantly cool and soft. Cool Pink With A Tan would be a good description of the idea colour (but it wasnt’ there).

   There isn’t the choice and organization in cosmetics to find the precise shade in each of the 12 groups, unless you had time to sit down with all the brands and products. Also, there’s great variability among the individuals in any season. Sometimes, the same shade will work across a couple of seasons.
8. Natalia on August 6th, 2009 11:07 pm

   Hi Christine!

   Thank you very much! I`ll check the colors you recommend, yet the more I learn about Soft Summer the less I see myself in this season. But your site is very in-depth and really helpful. Keep up the good work!
9. Mia on August 7th, 2009 12:22 pm

   Thank you for the Clinique shades. I got Violet Berry, which is less than half a shade darker than my own lip colour. Putting on all the colours you recommended today (the Nars blush, Mac eyeshadows and Clinique lipstick) made me truly amazed: I looked naturally pretty – not at all made up, since the colours blended perfectly with my own colours, enhancing them without overpowering or making me look harsh.

   I am in total awe. This is makeup at its best, as it should be. Thank you ever so much.
10. Christine Scaman on August 11th, 2009 7:55 pm

    Natalia,

    Was it you who commented recently that you wondered if you might identify your season in a backwards, but still very viable, way by going from the makeup back to the season? In theory, that would work. I thought about it a lot at one point too, wondering if it might be possible. IRL, there are too many boobytraps.

    Soft Summer, in fact all the medium-coloring seasons, in fact all the season blends, are complicated. Still, you might move in a new direction by trying those colours. And I’ll tell you, just because the makeup colours don’t seem good on you (even regardless of whether your clothes or hair or other makeup are interfering), it may be that not every member of each season can wear each colour. I’m still working through that. I just need to get to a point where I’ve draped 10 or so people in each season.
11. Christine Scaman on August 11th, 2009 8:10 pm

    Mia,

    I am so very glad that it worked. This was easy! The fact that it FEELS so right means that it probably is. Colour is felt quite viscerally. People don’t know why it feels good to look at right colour but they certainly sense the relief of it, the dissolving of the tension. I feel closer to one of my dreams of being women’s personal makeup shopper. Thanks for this.
12. Natalia on August 18th, 2009 11:59 pm

    Christine, I am that very Natalia. Sorry for delay in replying, I missed your latest posts.
    Yes, I am still not sure what my season is – in fact I cannot tell that my coloring is allover medium, I could pass for a winter with my naturally rather dark hair and soft black eyebrows, my skin (with some yellow-rose undertone) looks definitely lighter than my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. Yet my eyes are soft gray-green, not those “winter eyes”.
    I am Angelina Jolie type and I think we are both Soft, but not to such extent as Soft Summer. Don’t you think that Soft Summer palette is too muted and muddy for Angelina? I watch her in different colors and compare with my own experience. Though Angie (me too) needs softened colors, but definitely brighter than and not as muted as I see in the Soft Summer palette.
    One of the main recommendations for soft Summer is to avoid black. Jennifer Aniston never looks good in black, but Angelina Jolie sometimes does. She looks stunning in certain sorts of black- true black (without grayish or bluish undertone) in velvet texture or velvety looking, like her dress at the British Academy Film Awards -2009. But she doesn’t look her best in more harsh shiny or muddy (grayed) black. I also look my best in such velvety black with minimal makeup (I think it’s because this is the color of my natural eyebrows).
    Yet I don’t look good in stark white (I think because the whites of my eyes are not so white). And I look great in some not very harsh deeper reds. I think may be because I have highly pigmented reddish lips and the color of my natural blush is red. Otherwise winter palette is too hard for me.
    I know that on the whole I’ll look blah in many of Soft Summer colors and that is because Soft summer palette is the marriage of two seasons – Summer and Autumn, where one (main) is cool and the other is warm and this is exactly what I need, but they are both muted and the resulting palette is too muddy for me. I need one season in this alliance to be muted and the other to be clear, yet if I stay in the Summer basis the only option is Light Summer, but I am not light, so that palette is of no use for me.
    It seems to me that the 12 seasons theory though much better than 4-seasons is incomplete because there are many ”Softs” (neutrals) out there who are not so muted as typical softs and need slightly brighter and clearer colors.
    As for make-up palettes you work out for different seasons, they are really very useful; I read your recommendations for each season. I think mistakes in make-up colors are much more noticeable than mistakes in clothes` colors.
    Raspberry Glace is too cool for my skin tone, PinkABoo doesn`t show up on my highly pigmented lips and I didn’t find Glazed Berry in our stores, but thanks to your site I found the best-looking lipstick for me – Apple Brandy which you meant for Deep Winter. Though I make no conclusion about my season from this, I am fully aware of boobytraps and variability among the individuals. But don’t these details indicate that I really need slightly stronger or brighter colors than I see in the Soft Summer palette?
13. Christine Scaman on August 19th, 2009 8:23 am

    Natalia,

    In general, I’d agree that Soft Summer seems too soft, though not necessarily too cool, to define your features. You know how this works well enough to see the variability that is possible. People of mid-range coloring can swing all over when they’re draped. I have seen a Bright Winter man (during my training, so I know it was done correctly), a Dark Winter (with very light brows, though the dark brows are more often True and Bright Winter), and a Light Spring. Soft and True Autumn people seem to give off more orange tones. Hard to say what you are. I can’t comment on my experience with the variability in Soft seasons, having only draped one. For some reason, I’ve done 6 True Summers, and many of the other 2 Summers as well.

    I also agree about Angelina Jolie, that she sometimes gives the impression of being able to pull off stronger colour. Like all celebrities, who knows what they really look like?

    I have yet to find any reason to think the 12 season theory will miss anybody or place them incorrectly (speaking only for the Sci\ART system here that I know much better than the others). We need to get you draped.

    Each palette, even for the 2 Light seasons which never go particularly dark, have some relatively darker colours. From what I see so far, most women within any season look best at the 1/2 – 3/4 darkness point in their Colours Book choices. The darkest colours do look fine in makeup but would be worn at night or very sheerly. Apple Brandy seems like a lot of colour kick for Soft Summer, though it is fairly sheer and might have application across a few seasons.

    And, you are so right that makeup colour mistakes are more obvious than clothes, I suppose because they’re being painted right on the skin. You cannot avoid looking at them.
14. Christine Scaman on October 14th, 2009 6:40 pm

    Saw this terrific base hair colour for Soft Summer:

    http://www.reelmovienews.com/gallery/angelina-jolie-pic/
15. Jay on November 21st, 2009 7:45 pm

    Hi Christine,

    I was coloured matched as Soft Summer a few years ago by CMB. I am pretty sure that’s what I am. I am definitely cool rather than warm and my colouring is muted and light to medium – pretty similar to SJP.

    What do you think of Clinique’s High Impact shades of Honey Blush, Nearly Violet and Rose Spectrum for someone like me? I’ve got the first two shades and they’re pretty but I’m not sure if they are too warm for a summer person.

    Here they are at:
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__8kI11wxo2I/SLaXjumtrdI/AAAAAAAAAe8/-4c4sUa4cD0/s1600-h/Clinique+High+Impact+1+(Medium).jpg
    and
    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__8kI11wxo2I/SLaXjiRa3mI/AAAAAAAAAfE/0wXmugyyP3A/s1600-h/Clinique+High+Impact+2+(Medium).jpg
16. Jay on November 22nd, 2009 1:08 pm

    Oops – forgot to say that I love your site – it’s lovely to read a blog when someone has a real passion about their subject.

    Jay
17. Christine Scaman on November 23rd, 2009 7:09 am

    I like Nearly Violet, and maybe Toasted Rose. Karla’s arm is tilted a bit so the Nearly Violet is harder to see. I agree that Honey Blush and Rose Spectrum might be too warm but it depends on your coloring. True Summer’s lip colours are certainly too blue for you and you need some warmth, though not very much in Soft Summer. The warmth is barely noticeable till you get to your neighbor, Soft Autumn.
18. Christine Scaman on November 23rd, 2009 7:13 am

    
19. Jay on November 23rd, 2009 5:49 pm

    Thanks for that Christine, i love reading about colours. I mostly know what my best colours are but i find it awful hard finding good stuff for work. I like nice separates but because my look is meant to be blended i.e no strong contrasts it can end up a bit boring and grey. I like wearing pink and there’s a nice medium shade that always gets me compliments when i’m wearing tops in that colour. But finding a good colour for my bottom half when I’m got pink on top is hard. Maybe dresses are the way to go??? (I love wearing trousers though)
20. Christine Scaman on November 24th, 2009 7:16 pm

    I agree, Jay. A work wardrobe is very hard to find. Trust me, even if you can wear black and live near a huge American mall and can spend what you want, it’s still all boring. This really is a service women need refined.
    Do you have the Colours Book for your particular season? Even the very light ones have some dark shades for work clothing, browns, blues, grays, etc. As a general rule, repeating the tones in your hair is very successful to create a connected image. You can go as dark as your darkest hair tones. Your description of “no strong contrasts” puts you in a Soft season? You can wear various colours together, not monochromatic at all. Sea-sand-earth-sky colours. And though it may be hard to find clothing, the makeup choices abound.
21. Jay on November 25th, 2009 4:24 pm

    Oh that’s helpful, thank you. I will keep the sea, sand etc colours in mind the next time I go shopping. I think my best darkest colour is a pewtery mix so I’ll keep trawling through the shopping sites.
    Jay
22. VE on December 11th, 2009 3:28 pm

    Christine, here’s my observation on wearing out-of-season dark (deep) colors. Have you noticed anything similar?

    Some seasons, esp. Summers and Springs, tend to borrow the darker colors of their opposite season for more drama. These colors are not the most naturally complementary, but if they are modified by an open neckline and makeup adjustment, they seem to pass. Some seasons are naturally complemented by black, for example, but other seasons may be fine with only the contrast of lighter hair/skin on black. The features disappear somewhat, but the contrast will stand. For those who borrow darker colors, the more successful seem to be those with medium coloring who wear it off the face and balance with darker eye makeup.
    Angelina Jolie has mastered this look–soft, neutral coloring but with a bit of drama–not Elizabeth Taylor level full glam. Maybe a lighter coloring could brighten the makeup more to offset a deep color?
23. Christine Scaman on December 13th, 2009 9:47 am

    You make some excellent points. My tendency is to be a purist about this, but that attitude seldom can be expected IRL. Angelina is a brilliant example of someone who has learned to work another look passably well, and with more drama than in naturally inherent in her-but I think about her colouring a fair bit. She’s complicated. The photos Brad Pitt took of her with the new twins in Life showed a dark woman. But who knows, ay? She’s coloured and altered beyond belief.
    The whole blond woman and black clothes is a great illustration too. As others have mentioned, you can’t help but notice hair colour and contrast with hair colour. It may work for a different set of reasons. Still, I see a lot of pale women with light hair wearing black for this reason, and toned-down makeup looks absolutely nowhere on them, while intensified makeup looks like they tried way too hard. Makeup artists and celebrities can get away with this, but that’s not me (or most of us, I’d venture to say).
24. andrea on December 23rd, 2009 10:32 pm

    Dear Christine,

    I am fairly sure that I am a blend of two types–about 45% soft autumn and 55% soft summer . If this is the case, would it be preferable to choose colors from only my primary type: soft summer? Or am I better advised to choose mainly from soft summer colors but also a bit from soft autumn shades, as well? I’m wondering with regard to both clothing and makeup shades. How best to proceed for for less clear-cut, more blended types?

    Thanks so much for your help. I love your site!

    Adria
25. Christine Scaman on December 29th, 2009 8:57 pm

    Andrea,

    In a good PCA system, there is no shade that belongs in more than 1 Season, save black and white. Once you get into the 12 tones, the differences between shades are subtle but observed side by side, they’re obviously not the same.
    You entire palette is defined by your exact degree of cool/warm, light/dark, clear/soft for every colour. Wherever you fit on those 3 scales defines your Season. The position on the 3 scales is very different for another Season, so their tones will conflict with your innate colouring and you wouldn’t share between Seasons. Frustrating, I know, and I am really absolute about it because I see how far second-best is from best…but it feels great once you figure out the common thread.
26. andrea on December 29th, 2009 11:01 pm

    Christine,

    I think I understand, now. Thanks for the helpful explanation. I would be surprised if I am other than Soft Summer. Still, I hope to someday take a visit to get draped by you. I may be in Canada sometime in the next 6 months; will email you, perhaps, to get a better sense of where you are located. Your site has become my favorite. Everywhere I go, my eyes, though untrained, seek to find seasonal correlations for the amazing array of colors before me.
27. Christine Scaman on January 1st, 2010 6:54 pm

    Look forward to it, Andrea. I live near Detroit.
28. andrea on January 1st, 2010 7:15 pm

    On a side note: I have finally found some favorite lipsticks, thanks to your soft summer recommendations. One that I also like is Clinique’s Pink Toffee. Are you familiar with it? I think it could be a good one for many soft summers who lean on the warm side; a rosy pink with a slight tan such as you alluded to in an earlier post.
29. Christine Scaman on January 2nd, 2010 7:46 am

    Oh, yes, of course! I know that colour well and I completely agree with you. I keep lists of good makeup for each Season that I give clients, and that one is certainly on the list. Thank you!
30. andrea on January 2nd, 2010 6:24 pm

    What a fabulous idea. Your clients must love the makeup lists!
31. Sally on January 9th, 2010 1:00 am

    Hi Christine!

    Oh goodness. A few weeks ago I asked a question on your “Deep Winter” article about which colors I could wear to get that same dark look that you get with black lipstick – and you were so helpful even when my question was badly worded! So anyways, I have since realised I am not a Deep Winter at all! I am just like Miley Cyrus (see the page here http://www.prettyyourworld.com/miley-cyrus.html) in that while at first I seem like I’m a winter I’m actually a soft summer! I agree with VE in that lighter seasons can pull of those deep colors for drama but look better in their season’s colors.

    Thanks so much for this list! Especially the NARS Deep Throat blush. I saw it before and went “Ooh, that looks great! But it’s a bit expensive,” but now that you suggested it I’ll definitely get it because I’m sure it will look great.

    You’ve probably guessed it already, but I am looking for a bit of advice. This is how I realized I am a Soft Summer too – I look fine in black but I have this soft white top with beautiful multicolored (Soft Summer colors) which I look gorgeous in. The color really flows from my top to my face! The only problem is my hair. Everything looks good together, from my hazel/green eyes to my fair skin; even my black eyebrows don’t look out of place! Then you come to my hair. It’s a fairly dark ash brown, and while it looks natural it’s like when you’re eyes are traveling up my body they are stopped short at my hair. So my question for you is do you think I would it be wise to dye it lighter? I don’t mean much lighter – I’ll probably go only one shade lighter, like a medium ash brown with some depth.

    I know that wasn’t the most comprehensible paragraph either, but I’m sure being as knowledgeable as you are you’ll understand what I mean.

    Thank you so much!
32. Sally on January 9th, 2010 1:16 am

    Boy can I blab. Oh well – I just wanted to mention that I’ve looked around and It seems like I could be between Soft and Cool Summer, which seems to be where people with Summer coloring and dark hair belong – but I don’t think I’m quite that cool. And also that where I am it is NOT actually 1 AM!
33. Christine Scaman on January 12th, 2010 6:28 pm

    Sally,

    Without putting drapes on you, I have no idea what Season you are. It makes it very hard to give advice. Some Seasons make a huge mistake colouring their hair. If your natural hair colour doesn’t work, my first thought is that the palette you’ve chosen isn’t right. Once you’ve tried chemical hair colour, natural hair colour will never seem as richly pigmented, but don’t do anything permanent. You might try staying with your own colour but applying a glaze or enriching the shade you have.
    Hair colour changes are seldom very flattering, IMO. All the highlights, lowlights, etc, are like too much makeup. They’re trying to create an improvement that wouldn’t be needed if your clothes and makeup colours were right. I can’t think of a single analysis I’ve done who looked better for the busy hair stuff than she did in the colour Nature gave her. Nature will never get your blueprint wrong. She gave you the colour that you are supposed to wear, that most harmonizes with all the other colours already in you.
    Almost every woman I analyze has made a decision about her Season, but I’m sad to say they’ve all been off but 1, a True Autumn. I dearly wish I could analyze every one of the wonderful women who write to me, because only a personal analysis can answer the question.
34. Sally on January 12th, 2010 7:47 pm

    Okay! Thanks for the advice. I’m going to go and get analysed soon so hopefully I’ll know then. I am trying to avoid making any huge mistakes! I just thought I fit the Soft Summer category the best because those colors were the most flattering. Hopefully once I am I will be able to really use your lovely articles. Thanks again Christine!
35. Andi on January 22nd, 2010 9:57 pm

    Hi Christine-

    A soft summer with neutralish-ish skin and cool-ish eyes could have naturally reddish hair, correct? And that might throw analysis attempts into a warmer season?

    Also, what color are your mascara recommendations for soft summer? Would dark brown work or would one need a dark charcoal type color?

    Thanks!
36. Christine Scaman on January 23rd, 2010 9:07 am

    Andi,

    I have ONE rule about Colour Analysis. ANY Season of the 12 can have ANY hair colour and ANY eye colour. The instant you start considering hair and eye, you’re moving down the wrong path. This is why so many women have miscast themselves. I know we’ve been taught for years that it matters, but it does NOT.
    Not only that, but NOBODY is objective about their own face’s reaction to colour until they’ve proceeded through correct analysis and watched it.
    And finally, nobody can describe hair and eye colour precisely enough. Naturally reddish…how red? how cool? a little cool? are you a warm hair/cool skin person? warm hair/warm skin? The answers are all over the map in EVERY Season.

    Your second question is easier Soft Summer could probably wear either dark brown or charcoal. Brown sure is easier to find. If you’re on the warmer side of the Season, brown is good, and as dark as your natural colouring. Some Summers are surprisingly dark. If you’re closer to True Summer, I like charcoal (many companies, like L’Oreal’s Voluminous, make a Soft Black that is not so densely black).
37. Andi on January 25th, 2010 2:40 am

    Oh, thank you, thank you! Charcoal mascara is my next stop!

    The red (a very almost-red kind of color) did throw me off for quite some time (not to mention, I oh-so-wanted to embrace the warm red haired coloring). But! The soft summer colors make my eyes stand out and my skin fade cleanly to the background, with clear edges in photographs, so while I’ve never been analyzed (it’s on my list!) I’m fairly certain that’s where I fit. The hair seems to almost clash with the recommended pink lipsticks, however. Like they’re fighting each other. I assume that means I’m warm haired, but I can’t really say for sure. If that’s the case, do you have any recommended lipsticks that might not fight so much but still fit the soft summer palette?
38. Andi on January 25th, 2010 2:50 am

    On second reading and thought, I think I’ll stick with brown, as I’m not very dark at all, even though I’m not sure I could really say I’m on the warmer side of the season (except for the hair).
39. Christine Scaman on January 26th, 2010 6:59 pm

    Andi,

    Get thee draped and every question will be answered.
    And then tell us how it turned out.
40. Kristina on January 27th, 2010 3:45 am

    Christine,
    At 12 Blueprints you talked about judging color and season by 3 criteria: Light/Dark, Cool/Warm, Clear/Soft. My question is: what season would apply to a person that is Dark-Cool-Soft?
41. Christine Scaman on February 1st, 2010 7:19 pm

    Good Q, Kristina,

    In the Sci\ART system, there is no Winter-Summer blend, which is essentially what you are asking. Other companies do have this, but Sci\ART is very much a scientific company. From a theoretical point of view, such a Season would not follow the natural order of colour. In a practical, IRL setting, it isn’t needed. I analyze many dark True Summers who just cannot wear the blackened darks of Winter. They do fine in the True Summer palette, and can use many darker colours, including black if they’re attentive to how they do it.

Got something to say? I hope so.