True Winter Color Palette: Every Shade With Hex Codes

True Winter, also called Bright or Clear Winter, is the archetypal Winter: cool undertone, high contrast and colours at full saturation with nothing dusty or softened about them. This is the complete True Winter palette from the Tone & Fit app, 38 shades with hex codes, plus the five to start with, the colours that flatten you, and the metals that finish the look.

What defines True Winter

True Winter is defined by clarity. Every colour in the palette is vivid and clean, and the season's own colouring matches it: clear skin, bright eyes and a strong contrast between hair and skin. The undertone is cool but not as blue-heavy as Cool Winter, which is why True Winter sits on the border with Bright Spring and can wear a clear warm-leaning coral-red that a Cool Winter cannot. Depth is medium to dark.

That produces a palette of pure primaries and jewel tones: true red, royal blue, emerald, magenta, hot pink and violet, backed by the crispest neutrals in the seasonal system, optic white to ink. What separates it from Deep Winter is brightness rather than darkness; what separates it from Cool Winter is chroma rather than temperature. If the brightest, clearest version of a colour consistently looks best on you, you are here.

Still deciding? The True Winter identification guide lists the seven signs to check, and the winter colour palette shows how the three Winters compare. Also called Bright Winter, Clear Winter.

All 38 True Winter colours with hex codes

This is the True Winter palette exactly as the Tone & Fit app stores it: 10 statement colours, 12 everyday midtones, 8 neutrals and 8 accents. Every swatch carries its hex code, so you can paste it into a shopping filter, a paint app or a moodboard. The app shows a filtered selection of these on your result screen so that no single hue family crowds out the rest.

Statement colours (10)

The ten shades that carry the season. Wear them as the main colour of an outfit.

• Vivid Warm Pink Red#E5004F
• Vivid Royal Blue#0057B8
• Vivid Cool Green#009B3A
• Vivid Magenta Purple#8B008B
• Vivid Hot Pink#FF0080
• Vivid True Red#CC0000
• Vivid Bright Blue#0080FF
• Vivid Emerald#00CC66
• Vivid Violet#9900CC
• Vivid Orange Red#FF6600

Everyday midtones (12)

Twelve softer versions for shirts, knits and layering. These are the workhorses.

• Bright Blue Mid#2196F3
• Bright Pink Mid#E91E63
• Bright Teal Mid#00BFA5
• Bright Purple Mid#9C27B0
• Bright Orange Red Mid#FF5722
• Vivid Blue Mid#1E88E5
• Vivid Cerise Mid#D81B60
• Vivid Cyan Mid#00C9AF
• Vivid Violet Mid#AB47BC
• Vivid Coral Mid#FF6D33
• Light Vivid Blue#42A5F5
• Vivid Mint#26D9B9

Neutrals (8)

Eight anchors for trousers, coats and bags. They replace the black and white that are not in this palette.

• Optic White#F5F5F5
• Charcoal#2D2D2D
• Slate Grey#5A5A5A
• Light Grey#E0E0E0
• Pure White#FAFAFA
• Ink#333333
• Mid Grey#666666
• Frost Grey#EBEBEB

Accents (8)

Eight deeper or brighter shades for shoes, scarves, lipstick and small doses of drama.

• Vivid Red#D50000
• Vivid Indigo Blue#304FFE
• Vivid Green#00C853
• Vivid Purple#AA00FF
• Vivid Orange#FF6D00
• Vivid Sky Blue#00B0FF
• Vivid Pink#C51162
• Vivid Lime#64DD17

True Winter power shades: the five to buy first

Start with these five. They are the highest-chroma colours in the palette and the ones the app surfaces first for True Winter because they meet your natural contrast rather than fighting it.

• Vivid True Red#CC0000
• Vivid Royal Blue#0057B8
• Vivid Cool Green#009B3A
• Vivid Magenta-Purple#8B008B
• Vivid Hot Pink#FF0080

• Vivid True Red #CC0000: The colour the whole season is built around: pure, clear and neither orange nor blue.
• Vivid Royal Blue #0057B8: Your blue at full strength. Anything softer looks faded next to your contrast.
• Vivid Cool Green #009B3A: An emerald-leaning green that most people cannot wear and you can.
• Vivid Magenta-Purple #8B008B: The cool purple that makes True Winter eyes and hair look sharper.
• Vivid Hot Pink #FF0080: Loud on paper, effortless on you; high chroma is your comfort zone.

True Winter colours to avoid

Muted and warm are the two things True Winter cannot carry. Tan, warm beige, olive khaki and camel all bring a golden, softened quality that makes clear cool skin look sallow and tired. Dusty pastels and greyed shades such as dusty mauve, sage and mushroom simply vanish on you, taking the face with them. Warm, earthy darks like chocolate and rust are also out. If a colour looks as though it has been mixed with grey or with amber, it is not yours.

• Tan#D2B48C
• Dusty Salmon#E9967A
• Olive Khaki#BDB76B
• Warm Beige#C0A080
• Dusty Mauve#B0A8B9

Five shades that work against True Winter colouring

• Tan: Warm and muted, it makes clear, cool colouring look dull.
• Dusty Salmon: Warm and softened, two strikes against a bright cool season.
• Olive Khaki: The Autumn neutral that turns True Winter skin sallow.
• Warm Beige: Muddy and low-contrast against your clarity.
• Dusty Mauve: Too muted; it disappears on you and drags the face down with it.

Metals and jewellery for True Winter

Bright, cool, polished metals. Silver, platinum and white gold match the crispness of the palette; a high-polish finish suits you better than a brushed one because it keeps the contrast sharp. Yellow gold reads warm and can look brassy, though a very cool, pale white gold is fine. Clear stones, crystal and black enamel all work well against True Winter colouring.

Best metals: Bright silver, platinum, white gold.

Sister seasons and neighbours

True Winter borders Bright Spring and Deep Winter. If you sit between two of them, wear the colours the palettes share and skip the extremes of each. The full winter palette puts all three Winter sub-seasons side by side, and the 12 colour seasons guide explains how the whole system fits together. Side-by-side comparisons: Cool Winter vs True Winter: the difference.

Frequently asked questions