Colour · Winter season

Bright Winter color palette.

Vivid and high-contrast, with a slight cool lean. Clear, icy and saturated colour. Six illustrative swatches with hex codes, their measured lightness, chroma and warmth, and how Bright Winter differs from the seasons next to it. Also called Clear Winter.

Read this first: the 12 seasons are a popular style guide, not science. These swatches are our own illustrative values.

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Bright Winter swatches

SwatchL*C*b*h°
#E0115F48.475.414.111
#0057FF44.398.6-88.0297
#00A88F61.642.62.6176
#7C3AED43.4102.2-79.1309
#FF2D2D55.491.752.835
#F8FAFC98.21.2-1.2256

Measured profile

Average of the six swatches
Lightness L*58.5
Chroma C*68.6
Warmth (mean b*)-16.5
Hue angle h°335.4

Clarity leads with a cool lean: electric blue, hot pink, pure white. Dusty or muted shades look dull.

How Bright Winter differs from its neighbours

The three seasons whose reference points sit closest to Bright Winter in this tool's warm-cool, light-deep, soft-clear space:

Compare any two seasons side by side

How the numbers are computed

  1. Each swatch's hex value is converted from sRGB to linear light, then to CIE XYZ under D65, then to CIELAB (L*, a*, b*).
  2. Average lightness is the mean L* of the six swatches (0 is black, 100 is white).
  3. Average chroma is the mean C* = sqrt(a*² + b*²) of the six swatches. Higher means more saturated.
  4. Warmth is the mean b* of the swatches: positive is toward yellow, negative toward blue. The hue angle h° is the angle of the mean (a*, b*) point.
  5. ΔE*ab (CIE76) is the straight-line distance between the two palettes' mean (L*, a*, b*) points.

These numbers describe TNAADO's illustrative swatches, not skin, hair or any person. Other sites draw the same season names with different colours, so their numbers would differ.

Sources

Cite this page: TNAADO Tools, “Bright Winter Color Palette,” tools.tnaado.ca/color/bright-winter-color-palette/. A style guide, not a validated instrument.

Bright Winter palette FAQ

What colours are in a Bright Winter palette?

In this tool, Bright Winter is shown as six illustrative swatches: #E0115F, #0057FF, #00A88F, #7C3AED, #FF2D2D, #F8FAFC. Vivid and high-contrast, with a slight cool lean. Clear, icy and saturated colour. These are TNAADO's own values, and other sources draw Bright Winter with different colours.

How is Bright Winter different from Bright Spring?

The biggest separator is warmth (b*): Bright Winter is cooler than Bright Spring by 41.1 units. Next is lightness (L*): Bright Winter is deeper by 7.9 units. The full side-by-side is on the compare page.

Is Bright Winter also called something else?

Some sources call it Clear Winter. Naming varies between stylists, so check which palette a source means.

Do I have to wear only Bright Winter colours if I am Bright Winter?

No. A season is a style-guide suggestion, not a rule. Colours near your face matter most, so a shade outside the palette is easier to wear as trousers, shoes or a bag. Taste, occasion and what you own count for more than a label.

How do I find out if I am Bright Winter?

Hold swatches from the palette near your face in daylight, ideally next to a neighbouring season's palette, and see which looks healthier. This page cannot confirm a season; the system is a style tradition, not a measured fact.

What this is, and what it is not

This is a popular style guide, not a scientific test. No peer-reviewed research validates the 12-season system, and results vary with lighting, screens and the system used. The palettes are our own illustrative hex values and will look different on different displays. Use them as a prompt to try colours in daylight, not as a rule.

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