What a color guide should show before you pay
A page count tells you a size. It does not tell you a reason.
By Ximena · 4 min read · Updated Oct 29, 2026
Before you pay for a color guide, look for four things: real pages you can read, the colors named with codes, your skin depth on its own page, and plain limits, including what happens if your season turns out wrong.
The rest of the answer
A guide that shows these is easier to judge than one that lists a page count. The guides here show them on their guide pages, and the free test is enough to start if you are still unsure.
Four things to look for
- Real pages
- Named colors
- Your skin
- Plain limits
Four things you can check before you pay, in a minute.
Tradition
Real pages
Read sample pages, not just a cover or a promise.
Why, and how solid
The rule: Read real pages from the guide before you pay, not a mockup or a cover.
Why: a description tells you what the seller says. A page shows you what you would use, and whether you can read it on your phone.
Tradition My own checklist. I found no study of what readers need to see before they buy a color guide.
Colors you can use
Look for colors that are named and coded.
Why, and how solid
The rule: Look for colors that are named and coded in HEX, RGB and CMYK, so you can match them on a screen, in print and in a store.
Why: a swatch you can only look at cannot be searched for or sent to a printer. A code can go into a phone, a printer or a search box.
Tradition My own checklist. Codes are exact, and how a screen or a printer shows them is not.
Your skin, on its page
Look for a page written for your depth, not a footnote.
Why, and how solid
The rule: Look for a page written for your skin depth, and not a note in a footnote.
Why: the tests that exist were mostly built with lighter skin in mind, and deep and olive skin are where they tend to miss. A page of its own shows the guide looked.
Tradition My own checklist. See the skin pages for how I handle it here.
Plain limits
Look for what it will not do, and what happens after.
Why, and how solid
The rule: Look for what the guide will not do, what happens if your season is wrong, and what you get after you pay.
Why: a guide that names its limits is easier to judge than one that promises a result.
Tradition My own checklist.
A page count tells you a size. A real page tells you what you would use.
What the guides here show
Two books and phone files for one season, with the colors named and coded.
Why, and how solid
A Palette Girlies guide is two PDF books and phone files for one season. Book 1 has your palette with each color named and coded in HEX, RGB and CMYK, two neighbor palettes to compare, a page for each skin depth, and makeup, hair and metals. Book 2 has outfits and color combinations. The guide page shows real pages from the books before you decide.
You pay once. There is no subscription and no photo upload. A wrong season swaps free within 30 days of buying, and instant downloads are not refundable.
Open the guide page and read the sample pages before you decide.
Why: the sample pages are the guide, so they tell you more than any description of it, this one included.
Our policy This is what the guide page promises, and the guide page is the place to check it.
What a guide does not do
A guide you read cannot see you, so it cannot pick your season.
Why, and how solid
A guide does not size or cut a garment, match a foundation shade for you or write a dye formula. It gives you the words to look for, and the words to take to a colorist. It does not replace a person who can see you in daylight, and if you want that, a consultation is a fair choice.
Ask what a guide will not do before you pay, and expect a plain answer.
Why: a guide that names its limits tells you where to use your own judgment and where to ask a person.
Our policy This is what the guides here do and do not do. It is a promise, and not a claim about color.
A guide that names its limits tells you where to use your own judgment.
pages first. adjectives later.
but you can read ours before you pay.
Questions people ask
Is the free test enough?
It is enough to start. It finds your season with no photo and no email, and says how sure it is. A guide is the plan after that: the colors with codes, makeup, outfits and a page for your skin.
What if I am between two seasons?
The free test names both. Each guide sets your season beside its neighbors, and a wrong season swaps free within 30 days of buying.
Can I return a guide?
Instant downloads are not refundable. A wrong season swaps free within 30 days of buying, once, for any season.
Would a consultation be better?
A person who can see you in daylight can do things a PDF cannot. A guide is a plan you keep on your phone and open in a store. Which one fits depends on what you want to decide.
Sources
- Palette Girlies guide pages and their spec sheets, for what the guides include and what happens after you buy. The season guides
I found no study of what readers need to see before they buy a color guide, so the four checks are my own. I describe no one else's product here. How the evidence seals work
Each guide page has real pages from the books, so you can read before you decide.
