The Smokey Soft Winter

The Smokey Soft Winter possess a unique blend of coolness and depth that are typical of all Winters, but with a need for some softness. Their palette mirrors winter’s softer moments—dustky skies, twilight shadows, and frost-dusted landscapes.

Here are the basics of the Smokey Soft Winter season

Temperature: Cool
Value: Deep
Chroma: Mostly clear but with a slight but definite need for softness.
Sister Season: Smokey Soft Summer

Best colors: Black, soft fuchsia, black cherry, cool burgundy, pine green, deep charcoal blue, boysenberry.

Worst Colors: Avoid warm, pale colors like light brown, soft peach, sage green

The Smokey Soft Winter is a Winter that, unlike other Winters, has a muted quality to its coloring.

The palette of colors is a mix of 'traditional' winter colors like black, true red, and emerald, but they are worn in a way that creates lower contrast than most Winters.

In addition to the traditional winter colors, this season has deep, rich colors like black cherry and toned raspberry. They have little to no warmth in their coloring.

The Smokey Soft Winter's palette is a mix of some lighter soft colors, not usually associated with Winters. But paired with the much deeper traditional colors of the palette, a slightly toned-down effect is created. Wearing colors that are too pale will not be strong enought for this season's coloring.

Hallmarks of the Smokey Soft Winter

This season is defined by its all-cool undertones and slightly muted appearance.

Eyes: Typically grey, grey-blue, cool soft brown with a soft, smokey quality. This is unlike the typical Winters, whose eyes are often clear.
Skin: Ranging from fair to dark with soft, pinkish or neutral-cool undertones.
Hair: Often ashy brown, deep taupe, soft black, dark black or cool dark brown. Some Smokey Soft Winters may have subtle cool highlights, but they never appear warm or golden.
Overall Look: Cool, blended, and subtly rich and grounded.

Building the Smokey Soft Winter Wardrobe

A wardrobe based only on your best Smokey Soft Winter colors ensures you will save money and time by having a items you know will complement your coloring.

Core Neutrals

Charcoal, navy, or dark cool taupe are great choices to serve as core pieces around which to add your best palette colors.

Power Colors

Muted berry, rich plum, smoky teal, and cool burgundy are some great choices to add variety and personality to your wardrobe.

Wardrobe Tips

As a Winter, you can always wear black but its much better with softer colors of your palate. If black is too stark for you, you can replace it with deep charcoal or cool navy for a softer alternative.
You can add softer shades of white instead of pure white if you would like too.
Invest in high quality pieces like tailored suits, coats, and dresses for the base of your wardrobe and add more affordable and trendy pieces in only your best colors.

Accessories for the Smokey Soft Winter

Smokey Soft Winter wearing soft blue-charcoal dress and glasses.

The right accessories can add just the right polish to your look.

Metal/Jewelry: Silver, white gold, and pewter are better choices than gold.

Gemstones choose cool gems like amethyst, moonstone, sapphire, and smoky quartz to align beautifully with your rich cool look.

Eyewear: In addition to the cool metals, choose frames in soft cool blues and greys, charcoal, or deep navy, or any other of your best palette color. Avoid anything too bright so that it won't clash with your soft blended coloring.

Accessories close to your face, like scarves and hats should always be in one of your best colors.

FYI: If you haven't noticed yet, many images I use on this site are marked "ColorBreeze Art". This is part of my new artwork and visuals I have created with the help of AI, among other digital photo software. I will be slowly adding more images over time. Here are some for this season. Please share on Pinterest if you like them!