Why this actually works
You know the feeling. You buy a top you loved on the rack, get it home, put it on — and somehow you look tired. Washed out. Like you didn't sleep. It's not you, and it's not the top. It's the colour sitting next to your face.
A professional seasonal colour analysis figures out which colours make your skin look brighter, your eyes pop, and your features lift — and which ones drain you. A human consultant charges $200–$400 for it and you book weeks out. A good AI model can do the same analysis from your selfies in about five minutes, for free.
🪞 The old way
- $200–$400 per session
- Booked weeks in advance
- Drive across town, sit under fabric drapes
- One verbal rundown you'll half-forget by the car park
- Hard to revisit when seasons or hair change
🤖 With this prompt
- Free — runs in ChatGPT or Claude
- Done in five minutes, from your couch
- A few good selfies in daylight
- A written report you keep, search and re-read
- Re-run anytime your hair or tan shifts
The catch (there's always one)
AI is only as good as the photos you feed it. Bad lighting in, guesswork out. That's why the next section matters more than the prompt itself — get the photos right and the analysis is genuinely accurate. Skip it and you'll get a confident-sounding answer built on nothing.
Take the right photos first
This is the make-or-break step. The whole analysis hangs on your undertone and how colours behave against your skin — and lighting, makeup and filters all distort that. Do this part properly and you only have to do it once.
📸 Your photo checklist
Stand facing a window (not in direct sun), hair tied back, freshly cleansed face, wearing a white or grey tee. Take: one front-on shot, one side-angle shot, and one close-up of your eyes. Turn OFF Portrait mode and any beauty filters — they smooth and warm your skin, which is exactly the data the analysis needs to read honestly.
Why no makeup matters
Foundation is colour-matched to neutralise your undertone — which means it hides the single most important thing the analysis is trying to find. Bronzer fakes warmth, blush fakes a flush. Bare skin in honest light is the only reliable input.
The prompt
Open ChatGPT or Claude, upload your photos, paste the prompt below, and send. That's it. The prompt is built to give you a visual, scannable result — short labels, tables and HEX codes — and to finish by generating an actual colour palette board image you can save straight to your phone. Hit copy, drop in your images, and let it work.
You are an expert colour analyst trained in professional seasonal colour analysis. Don't guess based on stereotypes — analyse the actual image. I want a comprehensive personal colour analysis. FORMAT RULES (important): - Make it VISUAL first. No long paragraphs. - Use short labels, bullet points and tables. - For every colour you name, show its HEX code so I can picture it. - One line per recommendation. Keep it scannable, like a cheat sheet. - Lead with the verdict, then the evidence underneath — not the other way around. Please assess: - My undertone (warm, cool, neutral, olive) - My overtone - My contrast level (low, medium, high) - My value (light, medium, deep) - My chroma (muted vs bright) - My dominant characteristic - My likely season and sub-season (e.g. True Autumn, Soft Summer, Bright Spring, etc.) Explain why you reached each conclusion using evidence from my (keep it to one short line each): - skin - eyes - hair - eyebrows - lips - overall harmony Then provide recommendations for (bullets and tables only — no paragraphs, include HEX codes): CLOTHING - Best neutrals - Best accent colours - Colours to avoid - Best denim washes - Best white (pure, cream, ivory, etc.) - Best black alternative if black isn't ideal - Metallics (gold, silver, rose gold, mixed metals) MAKEUP - Foundation undertone - Blush shades - Bronzer style - Contour tone - Highlighter colour - Eyeshadow palette colours - Eyeliner colours - Mascara colour - Lipstick shades - Lip liner shades - Red lipstick recommendations for my colouring HAIR - Best hair colours - Colours to avoid - Whether highlights or lowlights suit me ACCESSORIES - Jewellery metals - Sunglass frame colours - Handbag colours - Shoe colours PRINTS - Whether I suit bold or soft prints - Contrast level in prints - Scale of patterns OVERALL STYLE Describe the overall aesthetic my colouring naturally supports (e.g. soft romantic, crisp modern, earthy, dramatic, playful, etc.). Create a shopping cheat sheet I could take into Sephora and clothing stores with: - Top 15 clothing colours - Top 10 lipstick colours - Top 10 eyeshadow colours - Best jewellery metals - A simple "Always Buy / Usually Buy / Avoid" table. VISUAL EXPLAINER (do this last — generate an actual image): Generate a clean, well-designed colour palette board IMAGE for me. Make it look like a professional colour-analysis swatch card I could screenshot and use while shopping. It should include: - A title with my season + sub-season at the top - My BEST colours shown as solid colour blocks/swatches, grouped and labelled by row: Neutrals, Accent colours, Best metals, Lipstick shades - The HEX code printed on or under each swatch so the colours are exact - A small "Avoid" strip showing the 3–5 worst colours for me - Clean, modern layout — readable labels, my actual recommended colours (not generic ones) Render it as an image so I can save it straight to my phone. After the image, give me the same palette as a short text list (swatch name + HEX) as a backup. If the lighting makes the analysis uncertain, tell me exactly what additional photos you need instead of guessing — don't generate the image until the analysis is reliable.
One small tweak that helps
If the model sounds vague or hedges, reply with: "Be decisive — commit to one season and sub-season, and tell me your confidence level out of 10." It'll stop fence-sitting and give you something you can actually act on.
What you'll get back (in plain English)
The report uses real colour-analysis terms. Here's what each one actually means, so the output doesn't read like a foreign language.
Undertone
The colour underneath your skin — warm (golden/peach), cool (pink/blue), neutral, or olive. This is the foundation of everything else.
Contrast level
How different your hair, skin and eyes are from each other. High contrast (dark hair, fair skin) suits bolder pairings; low contrast suits soft, blended looks.
Value
How light or deep your overall colouring is. It tells you whether pale pastels or rich deep shades will sit naturally on you.
Chroma
Whether you suit muted, dusty colours or bright, clear ones. Wear the wrong chroma and a colour will either overpower you or look murky.
Dominant characteristic
The single strongest trait in your colouring — the one the whole palette is built around. It's the headline of your analysis.
Season + sub-season
Your overall family — like True Autumn, Soft Summer or Bright Spring. This is the label you'll search when you shop.
The full breakdown, not just a label
Beyond the season, you get specific picks across clothing, makeup, hair, accessories and prints — best neutrals, accent colours, foundation undertone, lipstick and blush shades, jewellery metals, denim washes, even sunglass frame colours. It's the difference between "you're an Autumn" and "buy these exact things."
Your shopping cheat sheet
This is the part you'll actually use. The prompt ends by generating a visual palette board image — your best colours as labelled swatches with HEX codes — plus a pocket cheat sheet. Save the image to your phone and pull it up next time you're standing in front of a rack or a Sephora wall, second-guessing yourself.
What lands in your cheat sheet
Top 15 clothing colours
Your go-to palette — the shades that consistently flatter, ranked.
Top 10 lipstick colours
From everyday to your power red, matched to your undertone.
Top 10 eyeshadow colours
The tones that make your eye colour come forward.
Best jewellery metals
Gold, silver, rose gold or mixed — settled once and for all.
Plus the magic table: a simple Always Buy / Usually Buy / Avoid grid. That single table is what kills decision fatigue in a store — glance, decide, move on.
How to actually use it
Pro tips for accuracy
A few small things separate a spot-on analysis from a generic one. Do these and you'll trust the result.
Give it more than one photo
Upload the front-on, the side angle and the eye close-up together. More honest angles means the model isn't guessing your undertone from a single shadow.
If it says the lighting's off — listen
The prompt tells the AI to ask for better photos rather than guess. If it does, retake them near a window. A re-shoot beats a confident wrong answer every time.
No palette image? Just ask for it
The prompt generates a colour board image at the end — but if your model has image generation switched off, it'll skip it. If that happens, reply "now generate the palette board image" once it's enabled, or run the analysis in a model that can make images.
Ask follow-up questions
Once you have your season, keep going: "Build me a 10-piece capsule wardrobe in my colours" or "What colour should I dye my hair?" The analysis becomes a styling assistant.
Re-run when you change
New hair colour, a tan, going grey — your best colours shift with you. Take fresh photos and run it again. It's free, so there's no reason not to.
Sanity-check it against your wardrobe
Best gut-check there is: pull out the clothes you always get compliments in. They'll almost always land in your recommended palette. If they don't, push back on the model and ask it to reconsider — you know your own glow-ups better than any single photo.
One honest caveat
AI colour analysis is brilliant and free, but it's reading pixels, not standing in the room with you. Treat it as a very smart starting point — the kind that gets you 90% of the way for $0 — not gospel. Your mirror is the final judge.
Ready to go deeper?
If a single prompt can do this, imagine what AI can do for the rest of your life and business.
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