Color analysis is a method for identifying which colors suit your natural features, skin, eyes, and hair, based on hue (warm vs. cool), value (light vs. dark), and chroma (bright vs. muted). It’s often organized into 12 seasonal types: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, each with three subtypes, making twelve in total (Complete Seasonal Guides – the Concept Wardrobe, n.d.).
I had a professional color analysis and found I’m a Soft Summer. My best colors are cool, muted, and medium in depth. Bright, warm tones can overwhelm me, while soft, blended shades bring out my natural coloring beautifully. Below is a color card showing these shades
Soul of Color (2025)
Prices for such professional color analysis vary, but typically it can cost between €150 and €350 (Facetune, 2025). It’s a considerable investment, so I wondered: what if ChatGPT could offer the same insight for free? To test this, I:
- Selected several photos of myself in natural light without makeup.
- Used a hex code tool, sampling different areas of my skin, hair, and eyes. Since tones can vary across parts (e.g., cheeks vs. forehead), I collected a range of hex codes to reflect my full natural coloring.
- Uploaded the photos and shared the hex codes with ChatGPT for a personalized color analysis.
Here’s what happened: according to ChatGPT I would be a Soft Autumn, which is incorrect. While Soft Autumn and Soft Summer are from different seasonal families, they share many characteristics. Soft Autumn and Soft Summer share soft, muted colors, gentle, dusty shades without anything too bright or harsh. They’re medium in value and suit people with soft, low-contrast features, like ash brown hair, grey-blue or hazel eyes, and neutral skin. The key difference is undertone, Summer is cool, Autumn is warm, and that’s where ChatGPT went wrong. (Complete Seasonal Guides – the Concept Wardrobe, n.d.).
(Soul of Color, 2025)
Digital color readings like hex codes show surface skin tone, which can look warmer due to lighting or natural pigmentation. Undertones lie beneath the surface and aren’t always visible in photos, which is why professional color analysts rely on visual comparison rather than digital sampling, and why ChatGPT couldn’t accurately detect my undertone.
That said, it came impressively close, narrowing me down to one of the two “Soft” seasons. Can ChatGPT do a color analysis? Sort of. It handles surface tones well, distinguishing muted from bright and light from dark. But when it comes to the undertone, it’s still guessing. My advice: use it for fun, but if you really want to know your true season, seeing a professional is worth it.
References:
Soul of Color. (2025, 6 July). Soft Summer vs Soft Autumn. Soul Of Color. https://www.soulofcolor.com/post/soft-summer-vs-soft-autumn
Complete Seasonal Guides – the concept wardrobe. (n.d.). https://theconceptwardrobe.com/colour-analysis-comprehensive-guides/complete-seasonal-guides
Facetune. (2025, 29 July). How much is a color analysis: Color analysis price. Facetune. https://www.facetuneapp.com/blog/how-much-is-a-color-analysis?srsltid=AfmBOoqRo36Ik1PKArqW5lcVgPXm30Y–yLbpZBNXgl0lzfIQdTckeEe
