3 Steps to Discovering Your Best Colors
The Simple Color Theory Behind What Makes You Glow
Learn how to find your most flattering colors using the Your Color Style® method — a modern approach to personal color analysis that goes beyond seasonal categories. In three easy steps, discover how your depth, undertone, and chroma determine the colors that make you look vibrant, confident, and authentically you.
Learn the 3 Steps Below ↓
The simple color theory behind what makes you glow.
Every woman has a unique color story — the combination of skin tone, hair, and eyes that creates your natural harmony.
When the colors you wear align with that harmony, something magical happens: your skin looks smoother, your eyes sparkle, and your confidence soars.
But when they don’t? You might look tired, washed out, or even older than you are.Understanding what determines your best colors is the first step to reclaiming your natural vibrancy.
The Your Color Style® method breaks color analysis down into three simple steps that reveal the colors that naturally harmonize with you.
Forget seasonal boxes or one-size-fits-all rules.This is modern color theory made personal.
Your Color Story Begins with the Color Wheel
Every color you wear comes from one universal source — the color wheel.
It’s the foundation of color harmony and the key to understanding why certain shades make you glow while others fall flat.
Imagine this wheel as the full spectrum of possibilities — from sunny yellows to icy blues, warm reds to soft lavenders. Every color on the wheel has its own temperature (warm or cool), depth (light or dark), and chroma (bright or soft).
But here’s the secret most people miss:
Not every color on the wheel belongs in your wardrobe.
Your natural coloring — the unique mix of your skin tone, hair, and eyes — determines which parts of this wheel make you look radiant, rested, and confident.
The 3 Steps to Discovering Your Best Colors will help you narrow this full spectrum into your personal slice of harmony — a custom color palette that flatters you effortlessly.
💡 Tip: Every color palette in Your Color Style® is based on color theory, not seasons.
Learn how your personal palette is defined by three characteristics — depth, undertone, and chroma.
Step 1: Depth - Light, Medium, or Deep
Step 1 of the Your Color Style® method helps you determine whether your best colors are light, medium, or deep —
based on your overall contrast and coloring.
Depth describes how light or dark your overall coloring is.
What it means:
Are your features soft and fair, or bold and rich?
Your depth determines whether lighter or darker shades bring you to life. It’s the foundation for balance — too dark and the color overpowers you; too pale and you disappear.
Light coloring: glows in soft, airy colors like powder blue or pale mint green. Very dark colors and black overpower you. Wearing too dark of colors can also age you.
Medium coloring: shines in balanced tones like teal and persimmon. Pastels will wash you out and very dark colors are heavy on you.
Deep coloring: radiates in rich hues like burgundy, dark green, and eggplant. Often, pastels and lighter colors will wash you out. Medium to dark shades are best.
Why Color Depth Matters
Color contrast affects how visible your features appear. Wearing colors too dark or too light can overpower or dull you — while the right depth harmonizes your look.
Color Harmony
The woman on the left or above is light. She has light eyes, skin and hair. Light to medium colors will harmonize with her and light her up. Dark shades will create too high of a contrast on her and set her off balance. Notice how the lighter pink harmonizes with her tones beautifully.
The Color Wheel in Action
Now let’s explore how depth shapes your personal palette. Below you will see 3 customized color wheels
Light Depth:
The darkest rings of the color wheel are removed.
The lighter shades harmonize with lighter hair, skin, and eyes.
Medium Depth:
The color wheel is balanced — not too light or dark.
Perfect for medium-dark coloring.
Deep Depth:
The color wheel deepens — rich jewel tones, espresso neutrals, and bold darks dominate.
Ideal for deeper hair, eye, or skin tones.
Each version shows how the same color families shift in intensity to match your depth level.
Are you light, medium or deep? Make a note and move on to the next step.
Step 2: Identify Your Undertone — Warm, Cool, or Olive
Your undertone is the subtle “temperature” beneath your skin.
What it means:
Your undertone is the subtle temperature beneath your skin — the golden, pink/blue, or olive tint that affects how colors interact with you.
- Warm undertones love yellow-based colors like corals, salmon and earthy tones.
- Cool undertones glow in blue-based colors like cool pink, blue and purple.
- Olive or neutral undertones need balance with a blend of cool and warm colors.
Warm, cool, or olive undertones determine how colors reflect on your skin.
Each undertone interacts differently with depth and chroma —
and that’s what makes Your Color Style® so flexible and accurate.
Why Color Temperature Matters
Undertone is the foundation of your color palette. It determines whether your “white” should be creamy ivory or white — and whether coral or fuchsia makes you come alive.
The woman on the left or above is warm. She has warm eyes, skin and hair. Warm colors made with yellow will harmonize with her and make her glow. Cool blue-based colors will enhance the blue tones under her eyes and make her look tired. Notice how the warm tomato red harmonizes with her tones beautifully.
How the Color Wheel Adapts to You
Every person’s best colors begin with the same foundation — the color wheel.
But your undertone (Warm, Olive, or Cool) and depth (Light, Medium, or Deep) determine which part of that wheel makes you glow.
This chart below shows how the Your Color Style® color wheel adapts to different undertones and depths — from Warm Light to Cool Deep — creating a truly personalized palette for every woman.
🌞 Warm Undertones
Your natural warmth harmonizes with golden, peachy, and earthy tones. As your depth increases, so does the richness of your palette.
Warm & Light – Soft and sunny, like peach, butter yellow, and coral.
Warm & Medium – Balanced warmth: teal, olive, and terracotta.
Warm & Deep – Spicy richness: bronze, rust, espresso, and deep teal.
🌿 Olive Undertones
Olive undertones blend warm and cool pigments, creating a complex harmony that’s both grounded and luminous. Your version of the wheel balances golden warmth with cool undertones.
Olive & Light – Fresh and delicate, with rose golds, mints, and mauves.
Olive & Medium – Balanced and natural: berry, teal, and persimmon.
Olive & Deep – Sophisticated and moody: wine, forest, and deep turquoise.
❄️ Cool Undertones
Cool undertones shine in pinks, berries, blues, and icy neutrals. As depth increases, your palette gains boldness and contrast.
Cool & Light – Icy pastels and pearl tones.
Cool & Medium – Classic harmony with plums, blues, and pinks.
Cool & Deep – Dramatic jewel tones — sapphire, magenta, and wine.
Are you warm, cool or olive? Make a note. You now have a strong start to understanding the types of colors that will flatter you. For example, if you wrote down light and cool, then light cool colors will flatter you. If you wrote down warm and deep, then warm deep colors will flatter you. Now, move on to the third step.
🪞 Pro Tip: Once you know your depth, undertone, and chroma,
you can find your exact color family.
👉 See all 12 Color Types Explained →
Try our Signature Color Analysis for expert guidance and a personalized palette.
Step 3: Chroma - Bright or Soft
Step 3 reveals how clear or muted your coloring is —
the secret to finding your most flattering level of color intensity.
Chroma measures the clarity of your coloring — whether you shine in clear, bold hues or muted, blended ones.
What it means:
Chroma measures how clear or muted your coloring is.
Bright types: look best in clear colors. The colors don't need to be neon bright, they just need to be clear (no greyish quality). Muted colors will drain them.
Soft types: look best in softer shades. Their colors may be softened or muted and have a greyish quality. Brighter colors may overpower them.
Why Color Chroma Matters
Chroma ensures your wardrobe feels cohesive. When your clothing matches your natural clarity, your features stay the star — not your outfit.
The woman on the left or above is bright. She has bright eyes and a vibrancy that requires clear colors. Muted or greyish colors will drain her. Notice how the grey-green makes her look a bit tired, where the brighter clear green makes her shine.
Flatter Your Gray: Discover the Best Colors to Wear with Gray Hair
Gray hair changes your color harmony—but it doesn’t mean losing your glow.
As your natural contrast softens, your most flattering shades may shift toward cooler or softer tones that echo your silver beautifully.
The Your Color Style® method adjusts seamlessly as your coloring evolves. You’ll still use the same three steps—Depth, Undertone, and Chroma—but your palette will reflect the grace and brightness of your new look.
📘 Want personalized guidance?
Download our free color guide,
👉 Flatter Your Gray: Free Color Guide for Women with Gray Hair →
It’s filled with color charts, outfit examples, and expert tips to help you look radiant and confident in every shade of silver.
Are you bright preferring clear chroma colors or soft preferring softer dustier tones. You now have all 3 characteristics that define the types of colors that flatter you. For example, if you wrote down Soft, Warm, and Medium, then your color type is Soft Warm Medium and soft warm medium dark colors will flatter you. If you wrote down bright, cool and light, then your color type is Bright Cool Light and clear cool light colors will flatter you. If you wrote down Olive and Deep, then you are the color type Deep Olive. Your color palette is a hybrid of warm and cool deep color palettes.
Learn more about each individual color type:
- Bright Cool Light
- Bright Cool Medium
- Bright Cool Deep
- Bright Warm Light
- Bright Warm Medium
- Bright Warm Deep
- Soft Cool Light
- Soft Cool Medium
- Soft Cool Deep
- Soft Warm Light
- Soft Warm Medium
- Soft Warm Deep
- Olive Skin Tone Explained
SHOP BY COLOR TYPE
- You’ll finally understand why certain shades make you glow.
Shopping becomes effortless — every piece complements your palette.
You’ll look pulled-together without trying harder.
You’ll feel confident, authentic, and radiant — every single day.
Get a Signature Color Analysis
— our most popular service that gives you a personalized report, professional draping, and a custom digital color palette designed just for you.
🌈 Next Steps: Discover Your Exact Colors
You’ve learned the WHAT — now experience the HOW.
Get your personalized Signature Color Analysis for a custom palette designed just for you,
or shop digital color palettes to start using your best shades today.
Get your digital color palette or order a signature color analysis below:
Jen Vax is the founder of Your Color Style®, author of “That’s My Color,” and an internationally recognized color analysis expert. Through her proprietary color theory–based system, Jen has helped thousands of women rediscover confidence and style by understanding their unique color harmony.
🌟 The Your Color Style Method
Most systems try to fit you into a rigid seasonal box — winter, spring, summer, fall.
But real women don’t fit into boxes.
Your Color Style is based on color theory, not seasons.
Our 3-step method allows for nuance, flexibility, and customization — perfect for modern women whose coloring may have changed over time (hello, gray hair and new life chapters).
We look at your depth, undertone, and chroma to create a color palette that’s truly yours.
Because your best colors are personal — not prescribed.
Expert Answers About Discovering Your Best Colors
🎨 12 Color Types Explained → — See how depth, undertone, and chroma combine into your color type.
💚 Olive Skin Tone Guide → — Understand this unique undertone.
🩶 Flatter Your Gray → — Learn how to shine in your silver.
🛍️ Shop Digital Palettes → — Take your colors everywhere.