Deep (Dark) Winter Color Palette: Makeup, Hair, And Fashion Guide

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A winter nighttime escapade is a whole new world to discover. 

The misty forest, the deep ocean, and the sky before the dusky winter sky take over — all filled with mysterious yet majestic dark winter colors. 

It’s sultry yet regal and luxurious, like stumbling upon a mesmerizing twilight sky and finding a medieval castle alone in the frosty meadows.

Let’s unravel the depths of the darkest and the earthiest winter: the deep winter.

Seasonal Color Analysis

Are you aiming for a makeover? Before you start decluttering and hitting the reset button on your wardrobe, learning about seasonal color analysis can help you formulate a better color palette for your overall style.

It takes some noticeable and prominent features, such as the natural colors of your skin, eyes, and hair.

It uses them to create a better synchronization between the pieces and the colors you wear, regardless of whether they’re for your hair, nails, or overall wardrobe. 

Dark/Deep Winter Color Dimensions

Only some people can tell which season they belong to by just one look. Sometimes, the easiest way to tell is to identify the characteristics of colors that encompasses a particular season.

Hue

Hue refers to the warmth or coolness of your natural features.

A deep winter’s hue is its secondary aspect. It carries the winter trademark of coolness, but since it is found on the transitioning end of its family, we can consider its hue to be cool or neutral-cool.

Value

Value measures the lightness or darkness of your natural features’ colors.

For deep winter, this dimension tells the central aspect of the sub-season: depth. Although it doesn’t go all the way to the darkest end of the scale, the value of darkness in the deep winter features and palette is relatively high.

Chroma

The vividness or mutedness of your colors make up chroma.

If you belong to this sub-season, the saturation between your features is a little over the median and heading toward the brighter or vivid side. This results in dark but vibrant and deep winter colors.

Deep/Dark Winter Comparison

Digging deeper into the analysis of your season, you’ll stumble upon another color palette you share with your neighboring seasons or sub-seasons, which are called your sister palettes.

Your sister palettes set a secondary set of colors you can borrow from one another.

But to determine the extent of colors you can trade, you still have to be attentive to the technical parameters and features you have in common and how you differ.

Deep or dark winter has a prominent intensity ruling its features, and we can break it all down starting with a comparison from nearby seasons. 

Deep Winter vs True Winter

Deep winter and true winter come from the same family, so we already have a hint as to what they have in common. 

They are both cool, but the palette shifts and the colors vary once we weigh the level of their dimensions. 

True/cool winter leans toward the purest tones of winter colors, so it’s impossible to catch a glimpse of warmth in its palette. 

Plus, the value of the deep winters is the darkest among the entire winter seasons, way darker than the dark-leaning value of true winter.

Deep Winter vs Deep Autumn

Standing at the edge of their respective seasonal families are deep winter and deep autumn. 

Deep or dark winter is the winter transition right beside autumn, so although this is the darkest winter, you might find hints of warmth throughout its palette. 

Due to their placements, they indeed share some colors and attributes, but they often get mistaken for one another — a crucial mistake that can mess up your palettes. 

To help you avoid committing this and to differentiate them without breaking a sweat, let us examine and compare their features and dimensions. 

Deep winter color analysis reveals a clear distinction of colors that appear dark and contrasting on the body and vivid on the palette. If we summarize its technical parameters, these colors are sharp, cool, and highly contrasting.

Dark autumn colors are more on the yellower side. Although this palette also has depth ruling its palette, its colors are evidently warm; plus, the features are muted and not as highly contrasting as dark winter. 

The dark autumn color palette is composed of warmth, muteness, and moderate to high contrast.

To summarize, the deep/dark winter color palette has icier blacks, blues, and grays, while the deep/dark autumn palette has warm blacks, browns, and reds. 

Deep Winter Features

Skin

Common skin tones: Alabaster, limestone, tan, band, rose brown, deep brown, umber, espresso, deep cocoa 

The deep winter skin possesses cool or neutral-cool tones. It has the broadest range of colors, from the very pale to the very deep, with beige, alabaster, rose, olive, cocoa, or tan undertones. 

Because of its seasonal placement, however, deep winter skin tone won’t be as cool as the rest of its family.

Thanks to the influence of the dark autumn sub-season beside it, those having ashen skin tones can have a tad bit of warmth underneath.

For those with darker complexion or for african skin, the shade of your natural color would look like it has a red or neutral undertone

Eyes

Common eye colors: Dark hazel, dark olive, dark brown, black

Deep winter eyes may be dark, but it isn’t their soul’s reflection. 

This is one of the features that scream the highest contrast; therefore, the spectrum of the standard eye colors can be anywhere from dark olive and brown to black. But sometimes, the eyes can also be in the shade of dark blue.

But remember, if you have light eye color, you don’t qualify to be a deep winter. Going through other members of the season would help. 

Hair

Common hair colors: Medium brown, dark brown, cool black-brown, jet black

Just like the eyes, dark winter hair colors emphasize the contrast and depth of this sub-season: dark brown, dark chocolate brown, or brown-black are the natural colors of this season. 

Unlike the other families, deep winter hair doesn’t develop any natural highlights when exposed to the sun. 

But the deep winter hair isn’t just about the families of browns and blacks; there’s also room for brunettes and medium-dark coppers.

Contrast

The dark features going against the light ones, or the embodiment of an overall frosty darkness, set the deep winter’s contrast reasonably high. 

This can be easily analyzed by looking at the relationship of colors between the deep winter skin, hair, and eyes.

You can try inverting your photo to black and white for a better assessment. This will give you a clearer view as to which of your features leans toward light and dark and how they all go together. 

Deep winter features starkly contrast against one another in blacks and whites instead of blending toward grays.

The Deep Winter Color Palette

There are two things to remember in a deep winter’s palette — darkness and coolness. It’s slightly earthy but, without a doubt, frosty. 

It has all the darkest versions of a winter’s essence, but the range of colors is broad enough for you to mix, match, and own your style.

We study each season’s palette to help you elevate your style by generating a better combination that aligns with your features. 

The colors we’ll discuss will influence almost all aspects of your style, from hair dyes down to your shoes. 

Colors to Avoid

Warm, light, rich earthy colors will look off as these are the opposite of the dark winter palette.

Be careful when choosing your best shades and pairing your contrasting colors; there will be colors up your alley, and there will be some that are not.

Your worst colors are within these dimensions:

• Hue — Despite having a palette that overflows to the warmer season, wearing shades that are too warm and earthy can destroy the essence of your season and make you look unhealthy.
• Value — Light colors should be far from your options because they go against your natural contrast and can look flat or underwhelming on you.
• Chroma — Colors that are too pale or muted are opposed to your season’s naturally saturated and bright nature and your natural glow will drown them out.

In short, warm pastels will look off on you, and the warm, earthy browns and golden oranges will give you an unhealthy look.

Highly saturated colors won’t go well together with your natural features and will give off the impression of a different season — like pairing yellows and purples, for example.

Neutrals

Despite the notable darkness and vividness, deep winter color swatches still have a fair share of neutrals because of the sub-season’s high contrast.

Deep winter puts its mark on both the lightest white or the most versatile off-white, all the way to the coolest yet darkest version of black — these are the stars of your deep winter palette. 

And because this sub-season is also home to neutral colors of different shades and values, the extended range of colors that work for you won’t stop there. You can also flaunt the cool tones in between. 

To help you sort them out here’s a quick guide:

• Dark neutrals — Dark neutrals like deep shades of navy, green, and brown will help you achieve and maintain your seasons high contrast;
• Light neutrals — If you need to balance or diffuse your colors, light neutral shades of silver, cool beige, cream, and gray will help you. 

Best Colors and Combinations

The deep winter palette may be overwhelming at first due to its intense and vivid colors, but the truth is that these shades are versatile, so you can wear them together!

The vampy reds and the juiciest plums all belong to your deep winter palette. And so are the intense dark pinks. 

Your colors then proceed to vast jungles and deep oceans with the darkest greens and coolest blues. 

Don’t forget about the yellows! You get it from your neighboring sub-season’s palette. Deeper and/or cooler yellows like mustard and honey also give more life to your palette.

If you want to tone things down a little, do remember to be cautious about how light you’re going. Not all pastels would work for you, but we can sort them out and pick the coolest ones that won’t drain your color. Like icy pastel pinks!

Of course, some combinations will stick out.

So before we do the matching, let’s get through the best shades for you according to their true colors:

• Red, orange, or pink — wine, brick red, ruby, boysenberry, fuchsia, magenta
• Yellow or green — mustard, honey, canary, butterscotch, marigold, sand, beige, ocean, dark green, forest, jungle green
• Purple or blue — royal purple, mulberry, purple, royal blue, aegean, cerulean

In creating a custom combination that hits all the deep winter-appropriate spots, you can use this formula: value contrast + hue contrast. This will create a contrasting effect that flatters your sub-season’s corners.

An example is combining your light neutrals with a dark accent or vice versa. You can also slide in your bright accents.

Since a highly contrasting look flatters you best, going for monochromatic, all-black combination is approved for this sub-season, except if you have a darker complexion that would blend with it. 

If you fall under the latter, go for a white-dominated ensemble instead to keep the high contrast.

We bet you already see what’s in store for your makeup staples!

Deep Winter Hair Dyes

For your crowning glory, darkness still rules this sub-season, which is why a cool-toned black and shiny raven hair is one of the best hair colors for deep winter.

If you want to try out other hair colors while staying in this season, just make sure the shade you choose won’t be warm and light, or at least keep your roots darker than the rest of your hair.  

Deep winters with African skin look best with natural dark hair colors. 

Fashion colors such as red-violet, black-violet, blue-black, or burgundy would still look good on you. You can have them as an overall color or as balayage or ombre shades.

Deep Winter Makeup

Complexion Makeup

Your complexion makeup is always at the same tone as your natural skin. Most of the time, it comes in matte and has more pink-based undertones. 

Your foundation and concealer should also be under these distinctions. 

Eyeshadow

A dark, edgy look revolving around the medium-cool tone families of brown, green, plum, and purple would be perfect for a dramatic deep winter eye look.

But if you want to keep it sleek and simple, neutrals such as taupe and gray are right by your side. 

You can skip the full mattes and opt for a slight shimmer, but never go to the glitters. Glitters may drown out your season’s contrast.

Smokey eye makeup also tends to look natural on you.

The best eyeshadow shades for deep winter are white smoke, dark navy, cobalt, onyx, dark pine, plum, dim gray, steel, petrol blue, bottle green, dark purple, and dark chocolate.

Eyeliner and Mascara

Deep winter eyes can handle all the depth you can throw at them. And this means black eyeliners and mascaras can always give extra definition right to those eyes.

If you want to step out of the basics and go for a bolder look, eyeliners in the range of dark navy, chocolate, or dark purple shades will flatter your peepers. 

But when applying mascara, dark and intense should be the look you’re going for, but keep them neat and avoid doing spidery lashes. 

The best eyeliner and mascara shades for deep winter are tap shoe, after midnight, and jet black.

The best eyeliner and mascara shades for deep winter are tap shoe, after midnight, pageant blue, ponderosa pine, limestone, nautical blue, grape royale, aubergine, dark pine, dark navy, dark chocolate, steel gray, onyx, blackcurrant, and raisin.

Cheeks

Dark winter makeup is all about the pigment, and blushes are no exception. 

Your complexion will dictate the right blush shade. The fairer you are in the dark winter spectrum, the pinker the blushes are for you. And the darker you are, the more you’re into the cool reds.

Avoid the peach and warm, and apply the product lightly so it doesn’t go over the top and become overwhelming. 

Best blush shades for deep winter are pink blush, fandango, rose, maroon, mulberry, plum, plumeria, fruit dove, red bud, flamingo plume, rose of sharon, baked apple, cowhide, and beaujolais.

Some would tell you to keep off the bronzer because they have a reddish or orangey effect that may lead you towards the autumn. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a little splash of contour. 

Remember, we’re giving warmth, dimension, and sculpt to a cool season, which may get tricky as it is ironic. So you might want to stay away from those with overly warm and too orange tones, and apply your product gently.

A cool orange shade can be a good shade to try and can give you enough shadows. Just don’t build it up so much that it would give you excessive warmth.

Light-brown shades with cool undertones or a grayish brown shade will suit you even better. 

Best contour shades for deep winter are tortilla and hazel gray.

Cool-toned highlights can also give you a more dimensional look. If you opt out of the shadows, you can proceed to this step instead.

Lips

Lipstick is the central makeup element of this season. 

Even when you’re going for a natural look, you must never go for nude lips.

Dark winter lips can tolerate color intensity. Don’t be afraid of going for the darkest sides of purple, burgundy, and pink. They will not overwhelm your look, but rather, they’ll accentuate the color of the depth of your eyes. 

The best lipstick or gloss shades for deep winter are chili pepper, blood red, garnet, sangria, boysenberry, dark purple, rose, deep pink, wine, scarlet, and cabernet.

Deep Winter Nail Polish

Nothing gives off the feeling of power than having nails polished to perfection. The realm of deep winter nail polish is versatile yet visible and dark.

You can refer to the darker and metallic aspects of your palette and match them with the style you’re going for. 

The best nail polish shades for deep winter are winter white, gray, space, scarlet, wine, sangria, pink, fuchsia, lavender, light blue, navy, and midnight.

Inside a Deep Winter’s Closet

Wardrobe Basics

When discussing a deep winter wardrobe, black stands out. 

When it comes to black tie events, suits are your best classics, but you can also explore having them in navy, steel, or dark gray.

When thinking corporate, you can play with more neutrals accented by some of your darkest plums, burgundy, and dark greens.

It’s an excellent choice to have black leather in your closet staple, but pine green, silver gray, petrol blue, and midnight slate can be equally flattering. Your preferred deep winter denim is a solid dark navy with any fade or gradation.

Your eyewear can give you a better vision, not just literally but also in style.

Black frames would look stunning on you, but so would navy, dark chocolate, black slate, and dark gray. Cool metals that are matte, powdered, or shiny also naturally blend with your facial features. 

Be cautious of wearing rimless, overly colored, or very warm metal frames, as they may all send you to a different season.

Prints and Patterns

Try adding prints and patterns if you want to take your style up a notch! It won’t be as easy as classifying your worst and best colors, but it will surely change how you dress.

For this category, we’ll be maintaining your sub-season’s high contrast. 

First, pay more attention to the print’s dominant colors. They should be clinging more toward the deep winter version of their true colors, or they should go toward the neutrals that contrast your skin. 

Next, medium to big-scale elements will synchronize with your look better for the prints and patterns. Ditch the florals and make room for abstracts and geometrics. Remember, you’re majestic and elegant, not soft and delicate.

If there’s one pattern that a deep winter is meant to wear at least once in their lifetime, it’s the classic houndstooth. Once you try one, we bet it won’t be the last one you’ll ever put on. 

But when playing with combinations, the overall pattern shouldn’t include too many colors. Otherwise, it’ll be distracting rather than contrasting. 

In every season, prints and patterns are one thing, but the fabric and material of fashion pieces are another.

For deep winters, some of the most flattering materials are in the form of slightly reflective pieces like rich velvets, deep leathers, dark snakeskin, and suedes.

Jewelry and Accessories

As a deep winter, the metals to wear and play around embodies your cool attribute. These are commonly found in silver and pewter but can also be titanium, platinum, and white gold. 

But since you are considered to have a generally neutral-cool aspect, you can also wear warm metals like gold that aren’t too yellowish.

Shiny metals are still within the contrast we’re aiming for, but antiqued, tarnished, oxidized, or textured metal finishes also give a sophisticated effect on you.

To complete all the elements of deep winter jewelry, stones will emphasize your elegance and luxury. Look for rubies, emeralds, garnets, amethysts, and sapphires.

Diamonds are also never away from the winters, but be careful not to go too translucent. 

If there’s one piece of jewelry that epitomize your season, it’s marcasite, a shiny blackened metal that’s worn as the perfect bling for a dark winter.

Curated pieces of abalone shells or paua shells also hit the right spot if you’re into accessorizing. 

FAQs

Is there a seasonal relationship between deep winter and light summer?

Light summer is on the opposite side of deep winter, making them cousin palettes. 

They look slightly alike since they both manifest cool colors and overlap a little bit on light shades due to deep winter’s high contrast. 

However, deep winter has more depth and saturation, while light summer is light and has a moderate chroma.

Can deep winter wear rose gold?

In terms of jewelry, rose gold can be too light for a deep winter and should be avoided. Bronze can also be too brown, and copper can be too yellow.

Is gray a usually deep winter eye color?

Gray eyes can be too light for a deep winter attribute. However, those who belong in the winter season, in general, can have gray rims around their iris. 

In terms of wardrobe colors, deep grays like iron, charcoal, pebble, and shadow will work.

Were you able to list down the most important points of this sub-season’s analysis? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!

Read more seasonal color guides and lessons in these articles:

• Soft Autumn Color Palette: Makeup, Fashion, & Hair Guide
• Deep Autumn Color Palette: Makeup, Fashion, & Hair Guide 
• Warm (True) Autumn Color Palette: Makeup, Hair, & Fashion Guide