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Your Color Palette

Bright Spring vs Light Spring

The deciding axis is depth: Bright Spring is the deep one and Light Spring is the light one.

Side by side

The deciding axis is depth — everything else about these two is close.

Bright Spring

moderately warm, moderately light and strongly bright

UndertoneWarm
CoolWarm
DepthSlightly light
DeepLight
ClarityVery bright
SoftBright

Light Spring

warm, strongly light and moderately bright

UndertoneWarm
CoolWarm
DepthVery light
DeepLight
ClaritySlightly bright
SoftBright

The test that settles it

Do this in daylight, with no makeup, looking at your skin rather than at the fabric.

Bright Spring: Hot coral red #FF5252

Light Spring: Peach #FFB68F

Hold each colour under your chin in turn. The right one settles your skin — shadows under the eyes recede and the face looks rested. The wrong one pulls those shadows forward and adds a grey or sallow cast. If you cannot see a difference, you are probably between the two, which is common and covered below.

Bright Spring palette

  • Hot coral red#FF5252
  • Vivid coral#FF6E40
  • Bright orange#FF3D00
  • Vivid gold#FFC400
  • Lemon#FFEA00
  • Bright lime#AEEA00
  • Vivid green#64DD17
  • Emerald#00C853
  • Bright jade#00BFA5
  • Electric turquoise#00E5FF

Light Spring palette

  • Peach#FFB68F
  • Coral#FF8A6B
  • Apricot#F7A76C
  • Salmon#FF9E93
  • Warm rose#FFA6BE
  • Blossom pink#F7C6D9
  • Buttercup#FFE066
  • Golden cream#FFD98E
  • Light chartreuse#F2E08E
  • Bud green#B7D97F

Frequently asked

What is the difference between Bright Spring and Light Spring?

The deciding axis is depth: Bright Spring is the deep one and Light Spring is the light one. Bright Spring is moderately warm, moderately light and strongly bright; Light Spring is warm, strongly light and moderately bright. Everything else about them is close enough that the wrong call still looks acceptable — which is precisely why so many people sit between the two.

How do I tell whether I am Bright Spring or Light Spring?

Test the deciding axis in isolation. Put hot coral red (#FF5252) beside peach (#FFB68F) against your bare face in daylight, and look at the skin under your eyes and around your mouth rather than at the fabric. One of them will settle your skin and the other will pull shadows forward.

What if both palettes look fine on me?

Then you are genuinely in between, and you should take the overlap. Wear the colours that appear in both palettes as your core wardrobe, and treat each season's extremes as occasional. Being between two neighbouring seasons is common and is not a failure of the system — it is what the boundaries look like from close up.

Which is more common, Bright Spring or Light Spring?

Neither is rare. Judging by search interest, Light Spring is looked up more often — but that reflects how often people are told they might be one, not how many actually are.

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