I kept noticing that certain tops or dresses looked amazing in photos, but the second I actually wore them out, I looked kind of drained. It bugged me enough that I went looking for a way to actually pin down which colors don’t fight my face. That’s how I ended up trying a couple of seasonal color analysis quizzes — free ones that ask a handful of questions about your features and hand you back a color palette you’re supposedly meant to look good in.
The two that kept coming up were Laurie Loo’s quiz and the set of quizzes over on seasonalcolorquiz.com (the one people just call the free color analysis quiz, or free color quiz). I ran both over a couple of days, answered as honestly as I could, saved the results, then went through my drawers holding stuff up to my face in daylight to see what actually worked. Here’s what happened — no fancy formatting, just the notes.
Just My Notes From Actually Sitting Down and Doing Them
I kept noticing that certain tops or dresses looked amazing in photos, but the second I actually wore them out, I looked kind of drained. It bugged me enough that I went looking for a way to actually pin down which colors don’t fight my face. That’s how I ended up trying a couple of seasonal color analysis quizzes — free ones that ask a handful of questions about your features and hand you back a color palette you’re supposedly meant to look good in.
The two that kept coming up were Laurie Loo’s quiz and the set of quizzes over on seasonalcolorquiz.com (the one people just call the free color analysis quiz, or free color quiz). I ran both over a couple of days, answered as honestly as I could, saved the results, then went through my drawers holding stuff up to my face in daylight to see what actually worked. Here’s what happened — no fancy formatting, just the notes.
The Whole Point of Seasonal Color Analysis
It’s pretty simple once you get past the jargon. Your skin carries either a warm undertone (golden, yellowish) or a cool one (pinkish, bluish). Your overall look reads either bright/clear or soft/muted, and there’s some level of contrast involved too — high drama versus low harmony. Those three things together sort you into Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter.
Spring: warm + bright → lively corals, clear greens, light golds Summer: cool + soft → dusty mauves, gentle blues, cool grays Autumn: warm + muted/rich → earthy oranges, deep olives, spiced browns Winter: cool + bright/deep → sharp reds, icy silvers, true blacks
A lot of sites split each of those into three, so you end up with 12 options total. The color palette you get back is supposed to be the shades that leave your skin looking even and fresh instead of adding grayness or redness to it. It ends up helping with shopping (fewer returns), makeup choices, and generally feeling like your clothes actually match your vibe.
Just My Notes From Actually Sitting Down and Doing Them
Hers is called “What Season Am I?” and it lives on her blog. She bills it as fast and no-nonsense — and it genuinely is.
Just eight questions. Things like:
Hair color when sunlight hits it What stands out about your eyes Skin — does it tan quickly or burn first Gold jewelry or silver — which one feels right
Took me about five minutes, maybe less the second time around. The results page loads instantly. It gives you your main season and points you toward one of the 12 variations. There’s a short write-up on the colors that should suit you, a couple of sentences on the basics of seasonal color analysis, and photos of celebrities in the same season so you can actually visualize it.
No catch — completely free, no email box, no “premium version” tease anywhere. She’s got other posts on the blog too: one for each season’s full palette, some outfit-building ideas built around those colors, and notes on what to watch out for while shopping. The tone is straightforward and kind of warm, like she’s just passing along what she figured out for herself.
Free Color Analysis Quiz – Different Versions, Big Color Blocks
seasonalcolorquiz.com runs a main free color analysis quiz plus a few extra ones (12-season, 16-season, and a photo upload option if you’re up for it).
The questions are the usual suspects:
Skin reaction to sun Hair — warm tones or cool tones Eyes — bright and distinct, or blended and gentle Gold vs silver again
The short version is done in about four minutes. You get your season (or sub-season on the longer quizzes), a screen full of color squares making up your palette, bullet lists of “colors that work” and “colors that usually don’t,” plus a line or two on clothing and makeup. The swatches are big and clear — I actually screenshotted mine to compare later.
All free. No sign-in, no payment prompt. You can close the tab and jump into a different quiz right away just to see if the answer holds up.
What I Saw When I Put Them Side by Side
Both are fast and free. Laurie Loo gives you sub-season info right in the single quiz and links out to more reading on her blog. The free site shows you color blocks immediately and makes it easy to flip between the different quiz versions.
My main season came back the same on both. The exact variation was off by one notch between them, but not enough to actually matter. To settle it, I pulled out scarves, shirts, a couple of jackets — held them up close to my face in window light during the day. Checked the mirror, took some phone pics. The pieces that made my skin look smooth and my eyes look clearer were obvious right away.
My Advice – Just Run Them
Takes almost no effort.
Start with Laurie Loo here: thelaurieloo.com/blog/what-season-am-i. Then head to seasonalcolorquiz.com and run the basic color quiz (try one of the longer versions too, if you’re curious).
Read both palette results. If they agree on the main colors, start leaning into those. If they’re close but not identical, test real clothes the way I did. Whatever genuinely makes your face look better in natural light is the one to trust.
It’s small stuff, but it adds up — fewer clothes you never actually wear, faster mornings, and a better feeling when you walk out the door.
Anyone else tried both of these? Did your season line up across the board, or did you have to test fabrics to figure it out? Curious what you got.