Soft Autumn Color Palette: Best Colors, Neutrals and What to Avoid

Soft Autumn is defined by softness with a warm lean. Your coloring is blended and gentle, with low contrast and a golden or neutral warm undertone. Clear brights and black look harsh on you, while sage, camel, soft teal and terracotta bring out a natural glow and make your skin look smooth.

Defining qualitySoft
Undertoneneutral warm
Depthmedium
Chromamuted
Contrastlow

The best colors for Soft Autumn

Wear these closest to your face: tops, scarves, glasses and lipstick. Each swatch shows its hex code so you can match it when shopping online.

Sage#9CAF88
Muted olive#8A8B5C
Dusty teal#5F8A86
Soft terracotta#C27E62
Muted salmon#D9967F
Camel#C19A6B
Soft mustard#C9A54B
Moss#8A9A5B
Dusty coral#C98B7E
Soft teal blue#648C93
Khaki#B5A77C
Warm rose brown#A47966

Soft Autumn neutrals

Build a wardrobe on these instead of default black, white and grey.

Oatmeal#D8CBB4
Warm taupe#A08C76
Mushroom#9E8F7E
Soft chocolate#6E5647
Warm charcoal#5A5249

Colors Soft Autumn should avoid

These fight your natural coloring near the face. You can still wear them below the waist, in shoes or in bags.

Black#0A0A0A
Stark white#FFFFFF
Fuchsia#E4368F
Icy blue#CDE7F0
Cobalt#0047AB
Lemon#FFF44F

Best metals and jewelry

Brushed gold, bronze, antique brass and rose gold. Matte and hammered finishes look richer than high polish.

How to tell if you are a Soft Autumn

Your natural hair is soft golden brown, dark golden blonde or light warm brown.
Eyes are soft and blended: hazel, soft olive green, warm grey green or light brown.
Black and bright white near your face look severe.
Earthy muted shades like sage and camel make you look healthy.
You look better in brushed gold than in shiny silver.

Not sure? Take the free color analysis quiz or compare with the related seasons below.

Go deeper

Soft Autumn makeup

Lipstick, blush, eyeshadow and foundation shades.

Soft Autumn hair colors

The most flattering hair colors and what to avoid.

Soft Autumn outfits

Clothing colors, capsule formulas and prints.

Soft Autumn FAQ

What colors should Soft Autumn avoid?

Black, stark white, fuchsia, icy blue, cobalt and lemon yellow. They are too cool, too bright or too high contrast for soft warm coloring.

Is Soft Autumn warm or cool?

Soft Autumn is neutral warm. Softness is its defining quality, so it can borrow some muted cooler shades like soft teal, which a Warm Autumn cannot.

What is the best neutral for Soft Autumn?

Warm taupe, mushroom and soft chocolate are the most flattering. Use warm charcoal instead of black and oatmeal instead of white.

Not sure you are Soft Autumn?

These seasons share a quality with Soft Autumn and are the most common mix-ups.

Soft Autumn color palette