The Best Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer for Your Colour Season
A Colour Analyst's Guide
Disclaimer: I purchased every shade of Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer myself. This is not a sponsored post and I have no affiliation with Burt’s Bees. Just a colour analyst who wanted to do the work so you don’t have to.
If you’ve ever stood in the drugstore holding two lip colours and genuinely not known which one was right for you, this post is going to make your life significantly easier.
One of the most common questions I get after a colour analysis session is about makeup. Specifically lip colour. Women want to know how to translate their colour season into practical, everyday product choices without spending a fortune or needing a makeup artist on speed dial.
So I did the research myself. I bought every shade of Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer available and tested each one against the four home seasons – Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter – to identify which shades work best for each palette.
Here’s what I found.
Why Lip Colour Matters More Than You Think
Before we get into the shades, it’s worth understanding why lip colour is such an important part of your overall colour palette.
Your lip colour sits directly adjacent to your skin, your eyes, and your hair – the three elements that define your colour season. When you wear a lip shade that harmonises with your natural colouring, your whole face looks more balanced, more vibrant, and more alive. When you wear the wrong shade, even a beautiful colour can make you look washed out, tired, or slightly off – without anyone being able to pinpoint exactly why.
The good news is that once you know your season, choosing the right lip colour stops being guesswork. There are clear principles that guide you toward shades that work and away from the ones that don’t.
And Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers happen to be a wonderful accessible option – sheer enough to be forgiving, pigmented enough to make a difference, and available in a range of shades that map surprisingly well onto the four home seasons.
The Four Home Seasons
For those new to colour analysis, the four home seasons – Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter – each have distinct characteristics that determine which colours are most harmonious with your natural colouring.
True Spring is warm, clear, and light
True Summer is cool, soft, and muted
True Autumn is warm, deep, and rich
True Winter is cool, intense, and high contrast
These characteristics apply not just to clothing but to makeup, including lip colour. A shade that looks stunning on a True Autumn can look muddy on a True Summer, and a cool berry that pops on a True Winter can look harsh on a True Spring.
This is why understanding your season first makes every makeup decision easier.
Note: This post covers the four home seasons only. If you’ve had a professional colour analysis and know your specific palette or “flow” within your season. True Spring versus Light Spring versus Bright Spring, for example, your most flattering shades may vary slightly from these general suggestions.
The Best Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer by Colour Season
True Spring: Caramel, Peony, Cherry
True Spring colouring is characterized by warmth, clarity, and lightness. Spring palettes are golden and fresh. Think the colours of a bright warm morning in early May. The skin tends to have peachy or golden undertones, eyes are often clear and bright, and hair ranges from golden blonde to warm light brown.
The best Burt's Bees shades for True Spring:
Caramel – A warm, peachy nude that sits beautifully against Spring’s golden skin tones. It enhances without overpowering, which suits the lightness and clarity of this palette perfectly.
Peony – A fresh, warm pink with just enough brightness to complement Spring’s characteristic clarity. This shade brings out the natural flush in Spring skin without pulling cool or muddy.
Cherry – A warm, clear red that Spring colouring can carry beautifully. The key word here is clear – Spring needs brightness and warmth together, and Cherry delivers both.
General makeup principles for True Spring:
Look for warm, golden-based foundations and concealers with peachy undertones. Blush in warm coral and peach tones. Eye shadows in warm browns, golds, soft greens, and peachy neutrals. Avoid anything too cool, too dark, or too muted. Spring’s palette calls for warmth and clarity in every element.
True Summer: Guava, Watermelon, Champagne
True Summer colouring is cool, soft, and gently muted. Summer palettes have a delicate, understated quality – think the hazy colours of a warm overcast afternoon. The skin tends to have pink or rosey undertones, eyes are often soft blue, grey, or muted green, and hair ranges from ash blonde to cool light brown.
The best Burt's Bees shades for True Summer:
Guava – A soft, cool pink that complements Summer’s rosey undertones beautifully. It’s muted enough to feel effortless and cool enough to harmonise with Summer’s overall palette.
Watermelon – A gentle, slightly deeper cool pink that adds a touch of colour without the intensity that would overwhelm Summer’s softness. This is a go-to everyday shade for True Summer.
Champagne – A cool, sheer shimmer that works as both a standalone shade and a gloss over other colours. For Summer, Champagne reads as soft and luminous, enhancing without adding warmth that would clash with cool undertones.
General makeup principles for True Summer:
Look for foundations with pink or neutral cool undertones, and avoid anything too yellow or golden. Blush in soft rose and cool pink tones. Eye shadows in soft mauves, cool taupes, lavender, and soft greys. Avoid warm browns, oranges, or anything with strong yellow or golden tones. These will clash with Summer’s cool, soft character.
True Autumn: Fig, Plum, Raisin
True Autumn colouring is warm, deep, and richly muted. Autumn palettes are earthy and abundant. Think the colours of falling leaves, warm spices, and late afternoon golden light. The skin tends to have warm golden or olive undertones, eyes are often warm brown, hazel, or warm green, and hair ranges from warm brown to deep auburn or rich dark brown.
The best Burt's Bees shades for True Autumn:
Fig – A warm, muted berry that sits beautifully in Autumn’s rich, earthy palette. It has the depth and warmth that Autumn colouring craves without pulling too cool or too bright.
Plum – A deeper, warm-toned plum that complements Autumn’s characteristic depth. This shade has the richness that Autumn skin can carry effortlessly. Shades that might look heavy on other seasons look completely natural on True Autumn.
Raisin – A deep, warm brownish-berry that is quintessentially Autumn. This shade honours the depth and earthiness of the palette and looks incredibly grounded and sophisticated against warm skin tones.
General makeup principles for True Autumn:
Look for foundations with warm golden or olive undertones. Blush in warm terracotta, peach, and bronze tones. Eye shadows in warm browns, rusts, deep greens, gold, and olive. Avoid anything cool, bright, or icy. Autumn’s palette is grounded and warm, and cool tones will clash with the natural richness of this colouring.
True Winter: Rhubarb, Strawberry, Champagne, Grapefruit
True Winter colouring is cool, intense, and high contrast. Winter palettes are bold and striking. Think the clarity of a cold bright day, deep jewel tones against snow white. The skin tends to have cool pink or blue undertones, eyes are often dark and striking or icily pale, and hair is typically deep brown, black, or stark contrast between light and dark.
The best Burt's Bees shades for True Winter:
Rhubarb – A cool, deep berry with intensity that Winter colouring can carry with ease. This is not a shade for the faint-hearted, but True Winter isn’t either. The depth and coolness of Rhubarb is exactly what this palette needs.
Strawberry – A clear, cool red that suits Winter’s characteristic intensity and contrast. Winter can wear true reds beautifully – the key is that they stay cool and clear rather than warm or muted.
Champagne – Interestingly, Champagne also works for True Winter, but for entirely different reasons than it works for True Summer. For Winter, Champagne reads as icy and luminous rather than soft and delicate. The coolness of the shade harmonises with Winter’s cool undertones and creates a striking, high-gloss effect.
Grapefruit (not shown in photo) – A cool, bright pink with icy undertones that suits Winter’s palette beautifully. Grapefruit has the coolness and brightness that True Winter colouring can carry without it looking washed out or overwhelming.
General makeup principles for True Winter:
Look for foundations with cool pink or neutral undertones. Avoid anything warm or golden. Blush in cool rose, berry, and cool pink tones. Eye shadows in deep jewel tones, icy pastels, true black, white, and cool greys. Avoid warm browns, peaches, or anything muted. Winter’s palette calls for clarity, contrast, and cool intensity.
What If You Don't Know Your Season Yet?
If you read through these descriptions and found yourself nodding at one, trust that instinct. But also know that self-assessment has its limits.
The reason professional colour analysis exists is that what we think we know about our own colouring is often shaped by habit, by what we’ve always been told, or by what we’ve always reached for, not by what actually looks best on us.
I’ve had clients come in absolutely certain they were one season and leave as something completely different. Not because they were wrong about their colouring, but because seeing the drapes against your skin in proper lighting, with a trained eye guiding the process, reveals things that a quiz or a mirror simply cannot.
One client came in convinced she was a cool Summer because of the redness in her face and her blonde hair. Within minutes of draping warm tones against her skin it was immediately clear she was warm. True Spring, in fact! The warm colours softened the redness into beautiful rosey cheeks. The cool tones made the overall redness more pronounced and her skin look flat.
She would never have guessed it herself. And now she’ll never go back to the wrong colours again.
If you’re ready to stop guessing – at lip colours, at clothing, at everything – a professional colour analysis session will give you a precise, personalized palette that takes the guesswork out of every getting-dressed decision you make from here on.
Alexa Jackson is a branding photographer and certified colour analyst serving women in business across the Blue Mountains, Collingwood, Meaford, and Grey County areas. She specializes in helping established women in business stop blending in and start showing up boldly and beautifully in their business and their life.