Show your true colours means to reveal your real character. More often it's an unmasking: someone seemed nice, but in a difficult moment behaved badly. Less often it's about something good: in a crisis, someone turned out to be more reliable than people thought.
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show your/his/her true colours; see someone's true colours; US: true colors
- He was charming at first, but he showed his true colours when he lost the game.
- A long trip with a new friend is a good way to see their true colours.
- During the crisis, our manager showed her true colours and supported every employee.
What changed
First versionWhen he got the promotion, he showed his true face and stopped helping us.
RevisionWhen he got the promotion, he showed his true colours and stopped helping us.
True face sounds like a literal translation and doesn't work as an English idiom. A real character that finally shows itself is true colours, in the plural. Only face was replaced.
Don't confuse it with with flying colours: pass with flying colours means to pass brilliantly: She passed the exam with flying colours. There, the colours are a sign of success, while true colours are a character that comes out into the open. In American English, it's spelt true colors, with the same meaning.
Your turn
He seemed friendly, but when we needed help with the move, he ___ and disappeared.
Show the answer
showed his true colours — The man seemed friendly but disappeared when he was needed, so his real character came out: showed his true colours. Showed his true face isn't an English idiom, and native speakers don't say it.
Describe someone who surprised you in a difficult situation. Say what the situation was and how they behaved.
During a power cut last winter, my quiet neighbour showed his true colours and helped every elderly person in our building.
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