copper and blonde highlights

SOFT AUTUMN: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO YOUR COLOR PALETTE AND CAPSULE WARDROBE

Soft Autumn combines the warm, inviting undertones of autumn with the soft, understated qualities of summer, making it a distinctive category in the 12-season color analysis system. This seasonal blend is perfect for those who have an overall gentle warmth in their features, where no single element stands out prominently. If you find yourself drawn to soothing, neutral tones like beige and olive, and feel a sense of calm at the sight of a misty forest morning, Soft Autumn may be your ideal match.

This guide will explore the Soft Autumn profile in detail, including physical characteristics, makeup recommendations, and a tailored color palette. You’ll also discover essential wardrobe staples for Soft Autumns and learn how to create a custom palette that enhances your natural beauty. Keep reading to uncover how to fully embrace and elevate your Soft Autumn style.

THE 12 SEASONS OF COLOR ANALYSIS

Seasonal color analysis is a transformative tool that reveals which colors enhance your natural beauty and boost your confidence. By assessing the undertones of your skin, eyes, and hair, this system places you into one of 12 unique color categories, each offering a tailored palette that highlights your best features.

This approach is based on six key color elements: warm, cool, deep, light, soft, and bright. Within the warm spectrum, the Autumn color family is distinguished by its medium to dark, muted hues.

The Autumn palette includes:

  • Soft Autumn (your focus today)
  • Warm Autumn
  • Deep Autumn

In this guide, we’ll explore the Soft Autumn palette—a harmonious blend of warm undertones and subtle contrasts that creates a soothing, refined look.

SOFT AUTUMN IS WARM AND SOFT

Soft Summer is characterized by the following attributes: warm hue, medium value, and muted chroma.

Warm Hue: Soft Summer has a warm undertone, typically red, though it can sometimes appear cooler due to various pink or white overtones. This can make it challenging to differentiate between Soft Autumn and Soft Summer.

Medium Value: Soft Summer features medium-value colors. While Soft Autumn generally leans towards medium to dark values, Soft Summer colors may range from medium pinks and reds to deeper greens and blues, depending on the specific family.

Muted Chroma: The most defining trait of Soft Summer is its muted chroma. Unlike bright colors, Soft Summer colors are subdued and lack intense vibrancy. Bright hues are not suitable for this palette and can help distinguish it from Soft Autumn.

While Soft Autumn shares warmth with its seasonal counterparts, its defining characteristic is its muted gray undertone. This gives Soft Autumn a softer, more subtle appearance compared to the more vibrant Autumn types.

Skin: Soft Autumn skin often ranges from gentle beige to taupe. Skin tone may shift from a golden glow in the summer to an ashy warmth in winter due to sun exposure.

Eyes: Eyes in Soft Autumn are usually brown, green, or blue with a soft, opaque quality. Unique patterns, such as olive overlays and brown specks, are common.

Hair: Hair color in Soft Autumn is generally in the brown family, from light to medium or dark shades, and may include gold, red, or faint auburn highlights. Dark blonde and occasionally medium blonde hair are also seen. Hair color complements the overall muted, harmonious look of the Soft Autumn palette. Features are balanced and unassuming, coming to life when paired with the appropriate colors for the season.

MAKEUP FOR THE SOFT AUTUMN WOMAN

To enhance the Soft Autumn look, your makeup should reflect its warm and soft characteristics.

Eyes: Opt for light neutrals such as cream, blush, and copper, or rich tones like brown and olive. For accents, consider soft plum or warm teal to add subtle depth.

Cheeks: Choose neutral warm shades like sand, coral, and peach to create a natural, peachy glow that complements the Soft Autumn palette.

Lips: Nude shades, along with copper and caramel, work beautifully for everyday looks. For a bolder statement, try chestnut, mocha, or coral red.

Avoid cool tones such as pink or berry red lipsticks, cool blue or green eyeshadows, and soft pink blushes. Dark lip colors are also best avoided as they can overpower the Soft Autumn’s gentle aesthetic.

INSPIRATION: THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF SOFT AUTUMN

The Soft Autumn palette is renowned for its serene warmth and subtle elegance, beautifully reflected in the imagery of a fog-draped landscape. This season’s colors blend the warmth of browns, reds, oranges, yellows, and greens with a gentle hint of gray, creating a harmonious and muted visual experience.

Nature provides rich inspiration for Soft Autumn. Consider the soft transition of a leaf changing colors, where summer’s vibrant hues gradually give way to autumn’s deeper tones. Similarly, the tranquil beauty of a spring scene illuminated by a setting sun offers a glimpse of the warm teal blues that define this palette. These colors capture the essence of Soft Autumn, balancing warmth with softness.

VISUAL INSPIRATIONS:

Leaf Transition: Observe a leaf in mid-transition, where summer’s brightness subtly merges with autumn’s rich, muted colors, embodying the essence of Soft Autumn.

Marigold Glow: The soft, muted glow of marigold leaves under gentle lighting highlights Soft Autumn’s range, connecting deeply with the natural cycle of change.

Sunset Brilliance: The warm yellow hues of a cloudy sunset, blending seamlessly with ivory and taupe, illustrate Soft Autumn’s palette as it transitions from day to night, capturing the season’s tranquil beauty and warmth.

These natural scenes offer a visual guide to embracing the Soft Autumn palette, encouraging you to explore and incorporate these muted, warm colors into your wardrobe and personal style.

SOFT AUTUMN COLOR PALETTE

When creating a Soft Autumn palette, begin with neutral tones and then explore the major color families.

For Soft Autumn, black and white are too harsh, so replace black with brown and denim, and white with ivory. Essential neutral colors for this palette include olive, blush, and camel.

Soft Autumns benefit from rich, muted hues. Burgundy and squash are ideal soft tones. Given the blend with summer, there’s a wider range of pinks available, though warm pinks like blush are particularly suitable. Yellows in this palette can include soft brass, flax, and marzipan. Greens should be medium to light, while blues can be cool but should have a green undertone to fit the autumnal theme. Warm purples, especially those with red undertones, complete the palette.

While most colors can be adapted to fit any season, some may be challenging to match for Soft Autumn. Warm pinks often translate well into blush, but cooler reds and blues without green can be unsuitable. Opt for purples with a red base rather than blue.

Certain colors should be avoided by Soft Autumns. Stark black and white are too high-contrast, and bright, saturated colors can be overwhelming. Instead, focus on warm pastels and soft hues, particularly blush and olive, to complement your Soft Autumn palette.

CHOOSING PRINTS FOR SOFT AUTUMN

Choosing the right patterns can significantly enhance your Soft Autumn style. To ensure your patterns complement your color scheme and align with your scale and contrast preferences, follow these guidelines:

  • Color Consistency: Limit patterns to less than 10% of colors that fall outside your Soft Autumn palette. This keeps your look cohesive and harmonious.
  • Scale: Choose prints with a small to medium scale. Large, bold patterns can disrupt the gentle and soft aesthetic of Soft Autumn.
  • Contrast Level: Opt for low-contrast prints. Soft Autumn’s charm lies in its muted, blended appearance, and low-contrast patterns will emphasize this quality.

Adhering to these principles will help you refine your Soft Autumn wardrobe and boost your confidence in pattern selection. Browse our curated image collection below for examples that perfectly embody these guidelines.

WARDROBE ESSENTIALS FOR SOFT AND WARM COLORING

Regardless of your style or personal aesthetic, there are essential items every woman should have in her wardrobe.

Begin with neutrals, which form the foundation of any wardrobe. Opting for similar shades of the same color can create a sophisticated, cohesive look through layering.

If you prefer a more vibrant approach, the basics remain important, but you can add flair with fun and quirky accessories in yellow, orange, purple, and blue. These colorful accents will bring interest and personality to your outfits.

CONCLUSION

The Soft Autumn palette offers a harmonious blend of warm, muted tones that can complement a variety of skin tones and hair colors. By incorporating these colors into your capsule wardrobe, you can create timeless and versatile outfits that reflect your personal style.

30 Brown Hair with Highlights Inspos that You Will Fall in Love with

There’s a joke that says all ladies need to do is weave their straight hair, relax their curly hair, trim their long hair, and stretch their short hair. We may continue by saying that girls with dark hair imagine themselves as blondes in their dreams, and blondes wish to be brunettes. Any change in the color of hair is softer with highlights. It can be really subdued and perfectly complement your natural hair color. If you are ready to change, these 30 brown hair with highlights inspo will make you want to run to your favorite salon place ASAP.

Icy Blonde Chunky Highlights

In 2023, bold hair color is going to be very popular. If you haven’t seen brown hair styled in this way yet, you will adore how this color pairs with blonde highlights to frame the face! To get this dye replicated at a salon, show your hairstylist this picture.

Light Brown Balayage

For dark hair, a light brown balayage creates a stunning gradient appearance. The application of highlights creates the illusion that the sun has truly kissed your black locks. In contrast to other highlighting methods, the balayage is not only delicate and unobtrusive but also simple to maintain.

Dark Brown Hair with Bronze Highlights

A layered haircut will give your waves more depth, and if you opt to add some subtle highlights to your dark brown hair, the result will be a sophisticated look that looks stunning both up and down. Take a look at it, please! It has substance, texture, and flawlessly harmonized colors. If you desire this appearance, a layered haircut with choppy ends is also an excellent choice.

Steel Grey Highlights

It’s no longer only for your elderly folks! Gray hair dyeing has gained popularity, particularly among younger audiences. However, if you want to experiment without fully committing to a new shade, soft gray or light blue chunky highlights work well.

Sun-Kissed Balayage

Your hair can completely change with blonde highlights. Transform your ordinary, boring look into something glitzy that will get you compliments all the time. If you want to preserve that special summertime shine in your hair, nothing compares to the balayage effect.

Ash Brown Highlights

Subtle highlights are a must-try for anybody looking for a little glitz, no matter the season. You’ll adore the lovely gloss they impart to your hairstyle.

Dark Brown Mane with Caramel Balayage

Caramel balayage on dark brown hair with highlights is quite striking. In this case, the transition is seamless yet still looks really fashionable. For added dimension, dark fragments have also been placed on the bottom.

Dark Chocolate Bob with Babylights

If you love your dark brown hair and just want to jazz it up a bit, create some cool curls with a straightening iron and add a sprinkling of babylights. These brown hair highlights can certainly redefine your look.

Lob with Thin Caramel Highlights

Dark hair highlights can turn any boring locks into a sophisticated, diva-like style. You’ll feel fantastic and your hair will be glossy and shiny! Isn’t it, after all, what we all want from a makeover?

Chocolate Copper Balayage


The vitality and richness of both colors combine to create a visually striking effect when copper hair highlights are applied to black hair. Ask your hairstylist to take the highlights all the way up to your roots if you want the copper hue to steal the show.

Shaggy Bob with Subtle Partial Highlights

Broad highlights and striking hues aren’t always necessary. In this instance, keeping things simple is ideal. Subtle brown accents can be used to achieve that effect.

Chocolate Brown Highlights

Light brown highlights can instantly alter the style of medium-length chocolate hair. Any length looks excellent with this color combo, but to get the complete effect, wear it wavy.

Natural Striped Highlights

A closer inspection reveals that these are actually perfectly integrated with the light chocolate ribbons, even though at first glance they appear to be just basic blonde highlights. You’ll stand out from the crowd with this bohemian-chic ombre effect. Who wouldn’t love to have blonde highlights paired with shimmering dark brown hair?

Golden Bronde Color Melt

Blend highlights and lowlights for a hairstyle with endless depth. This gorgeous colormelt is ideal for noncommittal people. A bit blonde and a little brown gives you the best of both worlds. When the colors work so well together, there’s no need to make a decision.

Light Caramel Balayage 

Enhance the brightness of your swoopy shoulder-length waves by adding deep caramel highlights. The peek-a-boo, side-parted bangs give off a little Hollywood glitz.

Angled Bob with Light Brown Highlights

This hair color’s caramel and ashy tones are really lovely! Just a few thin blonde highlights give it a really trendy and fresh look. Choose a choppy bob without bangs to maintain a modern look. Style it with bendy waves for a stylish urban appearance.

Thin Beige Highlights 

If you want a more natural look, thin highlights are a fantastic option because they blend in smoothly with the hair. Going a few shades lighter is more than sufficient to create a noticeable difference.

Bright Blonde Contour Highlights

Enjoy yourself while highlighting and balayaging. You are not limited to the typical ombre-inspired style. Wear the lightest items closest to your face to highlight and brighten it. The bolder the style, the greater the contrast between the highlights and your natural color.

Cool Toned Highlights

Twisting together in loose curls are highlights and lowlights? Yes, please! On the top and rear of the head, the brown lowlights are more noticeable, whilst the blonde tones are more noticeable in the front. It’s not quite ombre, though. Absolutely stunning.

Chocolate Bob with Golden Blonde Highlights

Blonde accents in light brown hair make it seem delicate and feminine. The lengthy, honey-colored streaks run the length of the wavy, neck-length bob, emphasizing the flirting, seductive peek-a-boo bangs.

Highlights on Sandy Brown Hair

In order to get a natural look, some of the best highlight ideas for light brown hair revolve around this concept. Consider this look to be a reproduction of the highlights you remember receiving as a child following exhausting outdoor activities. That kind of inspiration will help you achieve a youthful look.

Painted Balayage Highlights

This style with the light brown hair is amazing. These appealing textures and tones are sure to please. Ask your stylist for highlights that are painted on (also known as balayage) and brighter in the facial area. Next, ask her to style it with contemporary, loose waves.

Messy Bob with Face-Framing Balayage

Light brown hair can look adorable with balayage, even on a short bob. Given your limited hair length, choose a striking contrast between the blonde and brown to maximize the amount of hair you have. In fact, the untidy finish and jagged ends add to the cut’s edge.

Honey Light Brown Locks

One of the most well-liked choices for light brown hair highlights is this warm, natural look. Your stylist will work with caramel highlights to create an even, appealing pop of color enhancement, starting with your foundation color.

Shiny Bronze and Blonde Balayage

Hair with lowlights always obtains the necessary depth and brings out highlights, even if your color job is low contrast. An absolute masterwork, this balayage is the go-to option for skin with warm, neutral undertones.

Caramel Highlights on Choppy Cut

For people with fine hair who don’t want to bother with a lot of maintenance, a choppy haircut is a great look. Having light brown hair with caramel-colored highlights can definitely bring out the best in your new cut and face.

Cool and Neutral Blonde Balayage Highlights

The cool element of the balayage is well-known. To make the look seem specifically your own, there are lots of options for you to try out and play with. Even though warm and golden tones are often preferred, your complexion might look better with a neutral blonde tint.

Dimensional Highlights

Brighter is what is lighter! Use bold streaks of blonde hair to provide some color to your traditional bob haircut. This will give your natural brown color greater depth and structure, giving the illusion of thicker hair.

White Blonde Ribbons on Brown Hair

This pairing of frosty blonde and dark brown is really cute! Ribbons that frame the face give the face more brightness and depth in the front portion. An adorable fringe that is accentuated can further improve this appearance.

Chunky Highlights and Curtain Bangs

Combine chunky blonde highlights with your natural hair to give your fine, straight hair more volume and thickness. Your hairstyle will appear even more voluminous and accentuate your facial features if you add a curtain fringe.

Your light brown or dark brown hairstyles are enhanced by highlights. When the highlights are properly picked and applied, even the most basic haircut looks stunning. They will enhance your skin tone and eye color, give your hair more substance, and make you appear amazing whether you wear your hair loose or in elegant styles. Check out 30 inspo above for the best “New Year” hair look.