Your Guide to Warm vs Cool Colors

Jul 1

Need help determining which colors are cool vs warm?

Let me guess: at some point you’ve been shopping, found an item you adore, and had the thought: “Wait, is this shirt warm or cool?

If you’ve had a color consult with us, you know whether your skin tone and features are warm, cool, or neutral, but learning to SPOT warm and cool colors in real life can be really hard.

Since I do this all day, every day as a color analyst with over 15,000 clients, let me help you figure it out.

We’ll tackle three color categories that can be particularly challenging: reds, greens, and browns.

*I earn affiliate commission when you purchase any of the items pictured below, at no extra cost to you.

Warm Reds

Warm reds have a hint of orange, coral, or brown.

For bright reds, think candy apple, watermelon, flame, poppy, tomato, or coral.

For muted reds, think terra cotta and amber.

For deep reds, think maroon and brick.

If it has any kind of blue or purple tint, it’s probably not a warm red.

Cool Reds

Cool reds have a hint of purple, blue, berry, or wine.

For bright reds, think cherry, true red, ruby, or raspberry.

For muted reds, think cranberry.

For deep reds, think wine, crimson, blood red, and scarlet.

If it has any kind of orange, earthy, or coral tint, it’s probably not a cool red.

Warm Greens

Warm greens have a hint of yellow, like grass.

For bright greens, think lime, grass, and shamrock.

For muted greens, think army and khaki.

For deep greens, think olive.

If it has blue tints, like emerald, jade, and spruce, it’s probably not a warm green.

Cool Greens

Cool greens have a hint of blue, including many jewel-toned greens.

For bright greens, think chartreuse, kelly, or emerald.

For muted greens, think jade and hunter.

For deep greens, think spruce and pine.

If it has any kind of yellow or brown tints, it’s probably not a cool green.

Warm Browns

Warm browns have a hint of orange or yellow.

For light browns, think camel, yellowy tan, and khaki.

For medium browns, think caramel, cinnamon, sienna, and copper.

For deep browns, think rust, chocolate, and maroon.

If it has purple, gray, or rose undertones, or resembles mocha, it’s probably cool.

Cool Browns

Cool browns have a hint of purple, gray, or rose.

For light browns, think light taupe or champagne.

For medium browns, think purpley-taupe, mocha, or rose-brown, or a gray-brown wood stain.

For deep browns, think coffee. Usually a purpley or gray-brown is cool.

If it has any kind of orange, yellow tint, it’s probably not a cool brown.

Learning to discern these subtle differences in color takes time and lots of practice.

I find it helpful to find one or two examples of warm and cool shades of these colors in my closet, and compare potential purchases to those examples in my mind.

(Wait this brown looks like that one sweater that actually was cool and didn’t work on me, etc).

If you’re neutral-toned, you can likely borrow from the least warm and least cool shades of each color. In this case, just avoid the extremes of warmth and coolness, and pay more attention to how light/dark or bright/muted the color is and you’ll be fine!