True Summer vs Soft Summer

How to tell which one you actually are.

The short answer. Both cool and both muted. True Summer can still carry a color that reads clearly — a real rose, a real teal. Soft Summer needs everything greyed a step further before it settles.

True Summer

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Soft Summer

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What separates them, from each side

Each guide describes the other from its own point of view, and the two tests are different. This is the only page that carries both.

Read from True Summer

Cool but softer than you. A Soft Summer needs a clear rose greyed one step further before it settles, and can carry a hint of warmth that would turn you sallow. If a clear rose pink looks slightly too much on you, look here.

Read from Soft Summer

Cooler and a step clearer than you. A True Summer can wear a real rose or a real teal as a whole piece; a Soft Summer needs the same colors greyed one step further before they settle. If a clear rose pink looks like you rather than slightly too much, look here.

Check it on yourself

The self-check from the True Summer guide

Do these in daylight, with a bare face if you can.

Wear a clear rose pink as a whole top. If it looks like you, you are a True Summer. If it looks too much, try Soft Summer; if it looks heavy, try Light Summer.
Hold soft white and cream against your jaw. If soft white looks fresh and cream looks yellow, you are a summer.
Hold soft navy and black. If navy looks calm and black looks harsh, stay in the summer family.

The self-check from the Soft Summer guide

Do these in daylight, with a bare face if you can.

Hold camel and greyed mauve against your face. If mauve wins, you are on the cool side.
Hold soft white and cream. If soft white looks fresh and cream looks yellow, you are a summer.
Wear a clear rose pink as a whole top. If it looks slightly too much, stay here; if it looks like you, try True Summer.

Still not sure?

The Style-LORE quiz works it out from a photo taken in daylight and shows you the reasoning rather than just the label — then checks anything in your closet, or anything you are about to buy, against the answer. Free, and no account needed to start.

Settle it with the free quiz

The full guides

True Summer — the complete guide
Soft Summer — the complete guide

Style-LORE is a style quiz, closet and community built around the Kibbe body types and seasonal color analysis. These reads are a starting point, not a fixed label — daylight and your own eyes always win. Privacy · Terms · All 12 seasons · All 13 Kibbe types · All comparisons