Soft Summer colour palette
Every colour below is chosen to sit with Soft Summer colouring, which is moderately cool, medium in depth and strongly soft. Hex codes are included so you can match a shade exactly when shopping online.
Core palette
The 20 colours that suit Soft Summer best.
- Dusty rose#C08497
- Soft berry#A5677A
- Muted plum#8F5F6E
- Soft mauve#B08BA5
- Dusty lilac#8E7C9E
- Dusty periwinkle#7A809E
- Slate blue#6E8CA0
- Soft teal#5C7D8A
- Muted jade#7FA398
- Sage#8FA88B
- Soft moss#A8B29A
- Soft olive#C0BFA0
- Oat#D6C7B0
- Rose beige#C9A99B
- Soft cocoa#A88F87
- Dusty blue#B7C4CC
- Cloud blue#9CAAB5
- Muted aubergine#6B5E70
- Eucalyptus#87968F
- Pale dusty pink#D9C4C9
Neutrals
Buy these first. Neutrals are what you wear most, and they are where most wardrobe mistakes happen.
- Soft white#EDEAE4
- Greige#C4BEB4
- Mushroom#9A938A
- Soft charcoal#6F6C68
- Soft navy#3F4A57
What to skip
For the full reasoning on each, see colours a Soft Summer should avoid.
- Black
- Pure white
- Hot pink
- Electric turquoise
- Bright orange
- Vivid gold
Frequently asked
How many colours are in the Soft Summer palette?
This page lists 20 wearable colours plus 5 neutrals to build a wardrobe around. You do not need all of them — most people live in six or seven, and the neutrals do the heavy lifting.
What are the best neutrals for a Soft Summer?
soft white, greige, mushroom, soft charcoal and soft navy. Neutrals matter more than accent colours because they are what you wear most days, and they are where people most often go wrong — usually by defaulting to a neutral that belongs to a different season.
What is the best colour for a Soft Summer to wear near the face?
Dusty rose (#C08497) is the safest high-impact choice. Anything worn near the face — collars, scarves, knitwear — has the strongest effect on how your skin reads, so spend the palette there first and worry about trousers later.
Can I use these hex codes for makeup or hair dye?
Use them for clothing and accessories, where a screen colour maps reasonably well to fabric. For makeup and hair, use the dedicated pages — pigment on skin behaves differently from dye on cloth, and the recommended shades there account for that.