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Color analysis navel gazing

Traci

Veteran

I've always been fascinated by color analysis, probably in part because I can never figure out my season. There are colors in every grouping that work for me and other colors that look awful on me.

I think my colors are seasonally confused. My mom is a green eyed blond with pink skin undertones. My dad has golden skin, almost black hair and brown eyes. I seem to have a mix of their skin tones that leaves me with a peachy colored skin that has yellow tints in thin areas, like around my eyes, and red tones where it's thicker, like my chin and cheeks. My hair is a dark chocolate brown that picks up hints of red in the sunlight and my eyes are just a medium golden brown.

I started a running list of colors that work and don't work and I think I decided that if I wear a warm color it needs a dash of cool and a cool color needs a hint of warmth. Here are some examples....

Emerald works, teal doesn't
Cream works, white doesn't
Burgundy works, rust less so
Fuscia works, cobalt doesn't
Dark denim blue is better than navy
Charcoal yes, silver gray no
Blush yes, peach no

Here's a face shot with no make up for a clear picture of my natural coloring. Most of my hair here is my natural color, with the tips having just a bit of leftover highlights.

So what do you make of all this? Do I have a season?

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Dressing

29 replies

Latest reply was from Chris

RobinF

Veteran

I've always found the season analysis interesting also. And I have changed my mind several times about what season I am. I don't remember a lot about it but are you maybe on the edge between spring and summer? I would definitely rule out winter and autumn. Then again, maybe I'm way off!

Anonymous

Here's a place to start that helped me figure out that I'm probably a soft summer, although I think you might be warmer than I am.

Do you look good in most of the colors shown in this post (scroll down, there should be a graphic with a bunch of color boxes)? http://www.30somethingurbangir.....utumn.html

Or this one? http://www.30somethingurbangir.....ummer.html

ETA: Here's warm spring: http://www.30somethingurbangir.....pring.html

Traci

Veteran

Of those, I think I'm closest to soft autumn. Is hard summer a thing?

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Soft autumn could well be it, Traci .You look wonderful!

In the Sci/Art method of analysis, the categories are "soft", "deep", "true" (or cool) and "light" and "bright" in addition to season.

So there's soft summer and soft autumn, deep fall and deep winter, light spring and light summer, bright spring and bright winter, true summer and true winter. They are the "bridge" between.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Not to be obtuse, but... if you know what colors work and don't work, why do you need a season?

Believe me, I absolutely understand the desire to put words and labels on things, but it seems to me like this might just be a matter of being willing to trust your gut.

Traci

Veteran

Jenn, it's more about the why than the label for me. I'm wondering if getting to the label would help me see the why, which in turn would let me make color choices without having to try them in person. Sometimes there are two colors close together, one works, one doesn't, but I'm not sure what it is about my coloring that makes the difference.

Thanks, Suz. I think soft autumn may be close, but not exactly. It certainly made for fun lunchtime discussions with my kids.

Anonymous

I can name a handful of colors that good on me, but I'm clueless otherwise. I bought a red/black check wool coat last year that I rarely wore because - as I FINALLY realized - the red/black did nothing for my soft coloring. I wanted to stop making those mistakes. I like having a color palette to look at. Shopping by color gives me some direction. That's why I think it's helpful to figure out one's season, especially if you're color-challenged!

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

That makes sense, Traci. Although, while it might make you more accurate about color choices, or encourage you to try some that are outside of your comfort zone, I think you pretty much always have to try in person. Online colors just aren't accurate enough, and monitors too differently calibrated.

Anonymous

l wish I could be of more help. I'm still trying to figure out my season. I do like the Sci-Art system the best, though. I'm caught between Cool Summer and Soft Summer. I agree that online colors aren't as accurate. They don't usually look like the color fans I have at home.

MsMaven

Veteran

I looked at your photo and saw soft autumn--which is what I am, well, more or less. For many of us there is no sharp demarcation between seasons. Nowadays I try for colors that make me feel good, no matter how I look or what other people think I should wear.

DonnaF

Veteran

Traci, it sounds as though you have an excellent handle on what colors work and don't work for you. Back in the day (1980s), I had my colors *done* mostly because I couldn't figure out which beiges and similar neutrals would work for me. I also had DH's colors done because his coloring is quite different from mine and I couldn't figure which were his best colors and he HATES to shop for clothes so we couldn't *test*.

The place I went to was highly individualized and wouldn't slot anyone into a single category. I think they said I am 70% Animated (like Spring), 20% Rich (like Autumn), and 10% Striking (like Winter). My husband is 80% Rich, 15% Animated, and 5% Striking. Neither of us has any Soft (like Summer). His skin color is very warm/olive, and mine is neutral that gets a bit olive when tanned. Our daughter's coloring is more like her dad's, but she can wear fuchsia and other gem tones that neither of us can. Go figure.

Another thing: I am not comfortable wearing my most dramatic colors which are my most saturated colors. They make me look fabulous and very alive. For whatever reason, I prefer less energy and what in my palette are called my understated colors. Those and my neutral gray palette. If I lived in the tropics, perhaps I would gravitate to my Dramatics.

Sal

Veteran

Soft autumn or light spring could be possibilities....in looking at the palettes I do not see you as a cool or soft summer, nor any of the winters, nor the clear or warm spring.

I have been diagnosed as a spring as a teenager...and I now see myself as a clear spring (self diagnosed). I think this is also partly my personality too. I am not totally prescriptive about it but there are colours I avoid due to preference (purples, tans, rusts), and others that I know do not suit me (optic white, khaki, grey marle, lemon yellow).

.

Style Fan

Veteran

I am very interested in colours. I love how they work together. It seems that you have a good handle on what colours look good on you. Maybe you could look at the colours in the different seasons and work backwards. There are some seasons that are warm with some coolness. Soft Autumn or Soft Summer.

I think I am one of those people who are pretty easy to analyze. Everything about me is golden. I am a Warm Autumn. I went to someone who worked with a 16 season program. In Sci/Art I think I would be True Autumn but I am not a fan of Sci/Art.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I think the systems can get a bit silly, to tell you the truth -- but I do think it's great to have a general sense of what the key factor is, for you.

It's so hard to tell on the internet. Photos don't tell the whole story.

Anonymous

I can attest to that. I've posted pics of myself that look different online than IRL due to lighting, and don't think trying to figure out your color palette by looking at pics of celebrities is accurate. I'm not sold on the idea of submitting photos for an online color analysis, either. There's just too much room for error.

Gaylene

Veteran

Colour analysis systems are so variable that it's hard to take the palettes as anything more than a general guideline. It was a colour theory class that finally made me realize, once I started thinking of shades, hues, tints, and undertones, my potentially "flattering" colours went way beyond any of the suggested palettes. I also learned the truth of what Angie always maintained--that an "unflattering" colour can transform into a flattering one (or vice-versa) depending on what colour(s) were next to it and the available light sources.

My big aha moment was when I put on a light-yellow and white sundress and found it oddly flattering. Normally yellow is disasterous on me, but that dress in a (1) light-yellow with a hint of a grey-greenish undertone, (2) in a textured linen, (3) banded in a bright clear white, and (4) with my slightly tanned skin tones brought out the blue-green tones in my eyes and made my skin glow in summer daylight. It took a village, as it were, to get yellow work its magic on me.

It was precisely the same dress which turned on me with a vengeance when I tried it on in the depths of winter. The silvery blue-grey winter light turned the light-yellow a muddy greeny-yellow, and, next to my bluish winter skin tones, transformed me into a leading lady for a zombie film. Even ever-so-tactful Mr. G recoiled at the sight of that dress which he had earlier voted one of his favorites.

It took a color theory class to help me figure out what had happened, but that experience also made me realize finding my "flattering" colors by using my eye wasn't such a crazy notion. The color theorists are right that wearing the right colors can be magic, but their prescriptions can be awfully limiting and, sometimes, just plain wrong. So much depends on fabric, the time of year, and how you style an item. Only you are in a position to judge all the factors

Anonymous

So true! I have several color fans from different systems, and none of them is alike. Also, fabric does make a difference. Also, figuring out how best to combine colors to your best advantage is a valuable skill.

Freckles

Veteran

When I had my colours done many years ago I waffled between summer and fall so the real test colour was camel to pin down the season. The analst also numbercolour coded my fan, 3 next to the face 1 only on the bottom. In this way I learnt that even though a colour is my season it does not mean that I can just wear it anywhere on my body. I also look horrible in all my neutrals and in this way while I am really this particular season I use the style guide for another summer as it recommends a print top with a blend of at least three colours and this looks best on me. Fabric and style also have to be taken into account. In a stiff fabric structured style even my best colour looks horrible. Make that a flowing style in a soft fabric and it is perfection.

Anonymous

Thanks for bringing that up, Freckles! I totally agree that not all colors in a palette can be worn successfully near the face. and some colors look best in small doses. IMO, the color fan gives you a better idea of what colors you can work with, but from there you have to determine how to wear them to your best advantage. I'm still figuring that out, but I'm getting closer and am trying not to overthink things.

Traci

Veteran

So, it's starting to sound like Jenn may have been onto something from the start. I think I'd always thought of color analysis as some amazing map that takes all the guesswork out of what colors work and don't work. Instead it sounds like the reality is that it just points you in a direction, and I've already got the directional part down.

Maybe I should start reading more about color theory to get more of an understanding of the why. It was fun discussing this with my kids yesterday over lunch because I realized how much opinions play into this. We decided my youngest is definitely a summer and she fought against that hard because she's in a dusty army green and black phase of her life right now;) I do find myself having a hard time separating which colors look good from which colors I just really love.

Gigi

Veteran

You're very pretty. Nice pic!

I spent a while trying to figure out my season also. I seemed to have a lot in common with autumn, but some of the autumn colors looked dreadful on me. I eventually settled on deep (?) autumn, which is basically autumn moving into winter. I think that there can be many gradations, because I still cannot wear all the colors in the deep autumn palette, but there are some in the true (?) winter palette that work. So it's nice to have a starting point, but it's not a prescription.

One of the best things I did was do the color analysis in the book The Triumph of Individual Style. It takes into account colors vs. neutrals, as well as whether your eyes, hair, and skin are cool or warm. I found that one of the reasons I had trouble putting myself in a single season was that my eyes were warm brown while my hair was a cool brown. My skin also had both cool and warm attributes. So I was a mixture. I was able to make a color wheel-type chart (they show how in the book) that showed that my coloring stretches across cool to neutral to warm, with slightly more in the warm section. The wheel showed which colors were going to be the closest matches, as well as which colors were going to be the toughest matches.

The book also talks about what Gaylene mentioned: tints vs. shades and other stuff that I can't remember. I learned that I didn't have to put a color always on the "bad" list but could potentially find a very flattering version. I don't remember all the ins and outs of it right now, but if you're interested in your own personal coloring, I would recommend checking out the book from the library.

Beth Ann

Veteran

You know when you start to think about a post, and your mind just sort of takes off? Yeah, well, sorry about the length of this post! Use what is helpful and toss the rest!

The lighting in the photo (and the limitations of the computer monitor) make is difficult to read your skin tone well, but I think you read as a low to mid-contrast, with mostly cool tones. From your list of colors, I suspect that you like a bit of softness in the color (hence the charcoal and denim) and a bit of warm to the brights (fuchsia instead of cobalt, emerald instead of teal). Rust might range into earthy, rather than soft, and be too muddy and warm.

Like many others, I had my colors "done" multiple times in the late 80s and early 90s --- I was apparently hard to categorize, since some placed me as a winter, others as a summer, and one as a spring.

It took me 15 years to wear beige again. One day I realized that my butt wasn't a winter, and I could wear tan pants if I wanted to!

I encourage you to think of wardrobe palettes, because I think the cumulative effect of color in our outfits and closets is more important than the flattery of any particular shade. I'm feeling a bit less "high contrast" this summer, for example, but I'm liking the brightening effect of white on my palette. Last winter, I chose to use more burgundy and deep plum than cobalt -- I realized that burgundy was my "earth" tone, and I wanted my outfits to seem a birth more "grounded." I even brought in a pair of deep olive pants -- because my butt never looks sallow!

Truly, my face looks best and my eyes pop in high contrast, but it tends to be pretty dramatic in real life to go about in deep purple or cobalt (the colors that are most flattering) with green eyes. I struggle because I think the high contrast, jewel tone palette can seem kind of Chico-tastic if not done well. And, while these colors might truly flatter my face, they aren't always as approachable or sophisticated as neutrals -- particularly when presented in garments I can find in my size and price points.

What to do? I often use a midtone as "bridge" between my high contrast, or a neutral accessory to "ground" them. So, my cobalt is appearing with my earthier burgundys, or with brown sandals, instead of black -- sometimes with white. I'm loving chambray for it's softening effect, particularly when paired with black and white.

Curiously, I really stick to my best palette in exercise gear, wearing only cobalt, raspberry, purple and teal as toppers. hen I'm sweaty and makeup free, I really want all the color boost I can get!

Traci

Veteran

Thanks, Gigi. That was one of those vulnerable, hard to post pictures (along with butt and tummy shots in my jeans thread) that really took a few deep breaths to post, so your compliment is very appreciated from here under the table with my eyes closed tight. I will look for that book. It is so helpful to hear others don't fit neatly in one category either.

Beth Ann, every word was helpful! I think since I've met you irl I was reLly able to understand and nod along with exactly what you were saying. Thank you for taking the time to respond with so much thought!

Anonymous

This is all so interesting! I was surprised, Traci, that you can't wear cobalt. I just always assumed that it, and blues in general, are universally flattering. What kind of effect does cobalt have on you?

Anonymous

I have read about color analysis, but do not know all the facts. What I do know is that once I found my best makeup shades everything fell into place. I can thank Sephora for that. My makeup colors are soft and muted and reminiscent of fall. Once I had that figured out, I just used that to pick out my best colors to wear.

Traci

Veteran

Danusia, that is interesting that you bring up make up colors. One of the first areas that I was aware of with my colors was with lipsticks. Certain colors look very garish on me and I've never been able to quite pinpoint what the color is. Generally I've noticed if I lend my most flattering lipcolors to family members the color reads much more brown on them than it does on me. I can wear some raspberry shades, but many nice looking shades in the tube turn very orange on me. I'm not sure what that means.

Xtabay, I'll have to play with cobalt to see if I can define it. I think it makes me look washed out...kind of the same way I look in ashen hair colors. I think that much coolness just goes flat on me. Maybe it's part preference too, though? I find the preference piece really muddies all this.

Anonymous

OK, that's interesting. It's just that I've never seen anybody look bad in cobalt, but maybe I haven't been paying attention! Keep us posted on your color exploration. It's fun to explore along with you! (The color thing drives me nuts sometimes. There are days when I just have to go with black and white!)

Anonymous

Cobalt's a bit too bright for me.

Yes, makeup colors do help determine your season, as makeup is applied directly to the skin. I did that, and it really helped me narrow things down.

Chris

Member

Great pic Traci!
I experimented with makeup as well, lipstick draping as they call it in the facebook groups, and that helped a lot actually. Some colours made me look so bad that half of the options were pretty easy to eliminate! For the last part I kept going back and forth between 2-3 seasons though so in the end I decided to have a Sci\ART draping to put the dot on the i. It was amazing to see the various effects of the different drapes actually so if there is an analyst near you it's worth it for the experience. I had mine done at Chromology but it's in the UK, so it's probably not useful for you. There are loads of really great colour groups on facebook I learnt most of the lipstick draping from there, so it's a great place to start!