True Spring:
A Comprehensive Guide

I. Characteristics

Please note: Do not worry too much if one characteristic of your appearance deviates from the below descriptions. You may still fall into this colour season if your overall appearance matches the profile.

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You are a True Spring if the primary colour aspect of your overall appearance is warm, and the secondary aspect is bright.

When you look in the mirror, the first thing you notice about your colouring is its warmth. There is no cool quality in your appearance, and golden and honey hues dominate your features.

In addition, your skin, eyes and hair have a fresh and clear appearance. Instead of blending, they contrast each other, and there is no muddiness or greyness about them. Overall, the contrast between your features is medium.

The Features

I. Eyes

True Spring eyes are medium-light with enhanced brightness and warmth. They range from warm blue over warm green and light hazel in colour.

Light brown or topaz are also common (especially in non-white ethnicities). And while they do stand in contrast to skin and hair, they are not as overly bright and vibrant as Bright Spring eyes. You may also notice a sunburst pattern around the pupil, which is characteristic of Spring eyes.

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II. Skin

True Spring skin is characterised by warm and golden undertones. That means that while gold makes the skin look healthy, silver looks very disharmonious against it. Skin tones range from fair to dark, but it always has warm undertones. True Springs may also have freckles.

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III. Hair

Warm, golden tones also reign the hair. It comes in a variety of shades, from medium golden blonde over strawberry blonde and coppery red to light golden brown. Many True Springs were blonde as children and have grown up into brunettes. For darker ethnicities, light or medium golden brown are frequent shades.

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IV. Contrast

True Spring is a season of medium contrast between skin, hair, and eyes. In the images below, you can see that while the features contrast each other. But there are no dark areas. The colouring is relatively light to medium.

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True Spring vs True Autumn

True Spring and True Autumn sit opposite each other on the seasonal flow chart. Both seasons' primary colour aspect is warm. But the distinguishing feature between them is their secondary aspect – True Spring is bright, whereas True Autumn is muted.

That means that True Autumn’s appearance is toned down, and their colouring blends. There is also a lower contrast between the features compared to True Spring.

True Spring, on the other hand, has a fresh and bright colouring. Where True Autumn features complement each other, True Spring features contrast each other. Because of their contrasting appearance, True Springs can handle a lot of colour, and they look better in contrasted colours than True Autumns do.

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II. The Colour Palette

True Spring is the colour season reminiscent of sunshine, tropical islands with turquoise water, yellow sand, lush green leaves and juicy fruit. The colours are warm and fresh, taking in the light of the warming spring sun.

The palette contains the saturated colours of spring flowers, freshly grown grass, and green leaves. True Spring is spring at its peak.

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The Palette

True Spring is the original Spring season of the four seasons colour analysis and is the ‘standard’ Spring palette. The other two Spring palettes have been modified to accommodate the respective Winter and Summer influence.

True Spring colouring combines warmth with brightness. This season falls at the warmest, most golden end of Spring. Therefore, the colours are warm with a clear yellow undertone. There is not a hint of coolness in this palette.

The True Spring palette contains warm greens, yellows, orangey reds, peachy pinks and every shade of light brown from beige to tan. These colours are naturally yellow-based and warm.

Although Spring is, in general, a season of lighter colours, True Spring’s colours go deeper and are more saturated than might be expected.

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Colour Dimensions

On the three dimensions of colour, True Spring has the following settings:

Hue

Consistent with True Spring’s primary aspect, the palette sits at the warmest end of the hue scale. That means the colours contain yellow undertones but no blue ones. As a result, you will find very few shades of blue (which is the coolest colour of all) on the palette. And you will only see warmer shades of blue – such as turquoise, mint, or pastel blue – that contain a tint of yellow. Instead, there are more yellows, peachy pinks and warm greens that are naturally yellow-based.

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Value

The colour palette is quite broad, but it is lighter in value because of the greater concentration of yellow undertones. There are no extremely dark colours on the palette. But you may find darker shades of blue or purple, which are supportive colours for the lighter tints.

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Chroma

In line with True Spring’s secondary colour aspect, the colours are high in chroma. That means they are saturated and bright rather than faded.

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Sister Palettes

True Spring sits between Bright Spring and Light Spring on the seasonal flow chart. As the heart of Spring, the colours are bright, medium in value and very warm.

With their opposite season True Autumn, the colours share the same warmth but are brighter and lighter. True Autumn colours are muted and appear earthier.

Compared to Bright Spring, the colours are warmer, softer and slightly lighter. True Spring is not influenced by Winter.

Compared to the third Spring season Light Spring, the colours are warmer, brighter and slightly darker.

As sister palettes, Bright Spring and Light Spring both share True Spring’s aspects of bright and warm, respectively. Depending on where you fall on the True Spring spectrum, you can borrow some colours from your sister palettes since they are close enough to the True Spring colour palette.

If you lean more towards Bright Spring, opt for the gentler shades on the Bright Spring palette – such as Artisan's Gold, Persimmon or Tropical green. Whereas if you lean more towards Light Spring, choose the darker colours on the Light Spring palette – such as Hot Coral, Teaberry or Poison Green.

III. Styling

Neutrals

True black and white (two Winter colours) are not on the True Spring colour palette. These colours are too cool and harsh for your colouring and can make you look sallow. To replace black, you have warm chocolate browns and greenish greys, which you can use as dark neutrals.

For your light neutrals, you have light yellows and greens instead of whites. These are warmer and gentler than pure white.

In general, browns and even beiges (if they are bright enough) are the best True Spring neutrals, because they are naturally warmer hues.

Colours to Avoid

True Spring’s main colour aspects are warm and bright, so your worst colours are cool and muted.

Very cool colours, such as icy blues and greys, will clash with your natural warmth and will make you look unhealthy.

Similarly, muted and toned-down colours, such as dusty blues and muddy browns, will dampen your natural brightness and make you look muddy.

And apart from black and white, other dark, harsh colours, such as deep blues and purples, will also make you look off.

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Colour Combinations

Technically, you can combine any of the colours on the True Spring palette with each other. But certain combinations will look much better than others. Those are the combinations that repeat the contrast level that is naturally present in your appearance.

True Spring’s natural appearance contrasts rather than blends, meaning there is medium contrast between the features. Therefore, the best colour combinations for your outfits are similarly contrasting.

The obvious way to achieve contrast is by pairing tints with shades of the same hue, such as light green with dark green. This is called value contrast.

However, this may not be enough for a True Spring since your natural colouring is bright. Any kind of hue contrast will be more flattering on you.

Feel free to combine neighbouring hues, such as yellow and green. You can even pair colours that sit far from each other on the colour wheel, such as peachy orange and teal. The further apart the colours, the higher the contrast between them.

The third option is to combine neutrals with brighter accent colours. If you choose a dark neutral, select a lighter accent; whereas a lighter neutral combines better with a slightly darker accent. Make sure to select different hues to create additional hue contrast.

In general, always aim for at least one bright colour in your outfit. And avoid neutrals-only combinations and monochromatic looks, as these will look dull on you.

Patterns & Prints

If you are thinking of incorporating some patterns and prints into your wardrobe, consider the following:

The best patterns are those that only contain True Spring colours – like in the first example below.

If a pattern contains some but not much colour from a disharmonious palette – like in the second example, you can also wear it.

The last example contains too much of a disharmonious colour (a True Summer yellow, which is cool and muted). Avoid this pattern.

Since your natural colouring has medium contrast, opt for patterns that reflect this higher contrast level rather than ones which blend too much.

In the example below, both patterns are in True Spring colours and wearable. However, the second pattern displays a higher contrast between the elements and is therefore more flattering.

Great patterns for True Spring are dotty, busy, creative, and rounded shaped geometric patterns. Natural elements – such as flowers, butterflies, and birds are great. Anything hand-drawn is also good.

Elements should not be too small and not too dense.

Avoid very small and very big elements as well as stiff, square geometric patterns – like in the first example.

Metals & Accessories

Because of their predominant warmth, the best metal for a True Spring is a warm, yellow gold. And a light, shiny gold is better than a rich, dark gold. Warm rose gold and white gold can also work.

Silver or any of the cooler metals will not go well with your colouring and are best avoided. The same goes for matte finishes, which clash with your naturally saturated colouring. Make sure your metals are shiny.