The Four Winter Sub Seasons: what type of Winter are you?

So you’ve been draped as a beautiful Winter — lucky you!

Get ready to add some cool elegance to your life with a burst of sharp, crisp colour. There’s a stunning range of cool, clear hues that will make you feel confident, radiant, and beautiful.

Like every season, Winter has four gorgeous sub-seasons. Read on to find out which one you might be…

First up: what are Winter Colours Like?

Winter colours are known for their cool, crisp and vivid hues. They’re bold, striking, and sophisticated.

What do all the Winter colours have in common? They’re cool and clear — there’s no room for anything warm or muted here. Colours from the Winter palette look particularly beautiful when combined in a high-contrast look.

No matter what type of Winter you are, it’s important to remember: you can wear all the stunning colours in the Winter palette. But when you know which sub-season you fall under, you’ll know which Winter hues to focus on when buying those investment pieces.

So let’s go ahead explore the different Winter types.

The Bright Winter Type

Welcome to the world of Bright Winters — also known elsewhere as Sprinter Winters.

This beautiful sub-season is characterised by its gorgeous clarity and brightness. If you’re a Bright Winter, you might look at first glance like a Spring — fair skin, light eyes — but don’t be fooled: Winters come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s the cool Bright Winter colours that will make you shine.

While still inherently cool, Bright Winter is the warmest of the Winter sub-seasons — its clarity means it sits up against Spring, the other clear season.

So which colours will make a Bright Winter women sparkle? Think icy hues, sparkling blues, vibrant pinks, Winter reds, and the classics: true black, optic white, and silver.

To really embrace your Bright Winter look, aim for high contrast outfits that mix light and dark tones, and pair unexpected colours in surprising combinations. This will highlight the contrast and brightness in your features, with stunning results.

The Cool Winter Type

Next up, the coolest Winter type — the Cool Winter, also known elsewhere as the Sultry Winter.

Women in this seasonal sub-type have particularly cool-toned skin, hair, and eye colours, coupled with Winter's signature clear and deep hues.

Cool Winters often have slight less contrast between their hair and skin colour, with brown eyes being a common feature in white Winter women. They tend to have a striking appearance, particularly when they dress in their best colours.

The Cool Winter sub-season sits at the very coolest and most blue-toned end of the Winter palette, with colours that fall closer to Summer than Spring or Autumn. The best colours for this sub-type are ones with minimal warmth — blue-based pinks and purples, darkest holly green, carbon, and navy, crisp white or silver.

While most Winters look best with a relatively high level of contrast in their outfits, Sultry Winters may prefer a little less. It’s still worth remembering that a touch of light/dark or neutral/bright contrast can bring an outfit to life. It's all about finding what feels best for you.

The True Winter Type

Also known as Jewel Winters, True Winters are the epitome of the classic Winter palette — a balanced mix of Winter's cool, clear, and high-contrast traits.

True Winters often have the ‘obvious’ Winter look with dark hair, fair skin, and bright eyes. But, it’s always worth remembering that you can’t ever tell by appearance alone — their skin, hair and eyes can come in any colour. The key factor is the striking contrast in their look.

As they’re right in the ‘middle’ of the Winter palette, True Winters look the best in the full range of Winter colours, rather than leaning towards colours on the cusp of other seasons. True Winters shine in cool, contrast-rich, vivid shades like fuchsia pink, emerald green, Chinese blue, scarlet, black, white, and everything in between.

When it comes to colour combinations, True Winters rock high-contrast outfits — whether that’s neutrals and a pop of bright, or a head-to-toe combination of brights.

The Deep winter Type

Introducing Deep Winter, also known as Burnished or Dark Winter, a sub-type of the Winter palette known for their rich and intense appearance.

These Winters embody the classic traits of coolness and clarity, but with an added depth that sets them apart. With a range of skin tones and varying degrees of contrast, Deep Winters are a unique expression of the Winter palette.

Individuals with the Deep Winter colour palette are often mistaken for Autumns due to their rich hair hue with red undertones and hazel eyes. While skin tone can vary, they tend to have a less pronounced contrast between hair and skin compared to Bright or True Winters.

In terms of placement within the seasonal colour spectrum, Deep Winters occupy the warmest end of the Winter palette, leaning closer to the rich, soft hues of the Autumn palette. This results in a cool blue base with just a hint of the warm brown undertones that are associated with Autumns.

The ideal colours for Deep Winters are those with rich and deep shades, such as mole, burgundy, and electric lime, along with neutral hues like navy and stone.

When it comes to combining colours in their wardrobe, Deep Winters tend to look best with a moderate amount of contrast and richness.

What kind of Winter am I?

Uncovering your Winter essence just got easier! Are you curious about which sub-season of Winter you belong to? Or still unsure if Winter is indeed your true seasonal home? No worries, the journey to discovering your true colours begins now.

Coming soon: Embrace the beauty that only you possess by scheduling a consultation with a knowledgeable Luminary stylist.