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UPDATE: Second guessing my color palette

Anonymous

I just have to post this, in hopes someone will empathize. I think I've been wrong about being a Soft Summer. I think I may actually be a Soft Autumn. The reason is that when I took stock of my closet last week, I came to the realization that most of what I now wear (with only 1 or 2 exceptions) falls into the Soft Autumn category. Also, in looking at my childhood and young adult pictures, I realize that I always looked good when wearing Soft Autumn colors. I looked dreadful in obviously Warm Autumn colors, but I rarely wore those colors because I instinctively knew they didn't work. I look drained and washed out in Summer colors, and totally wrong in the bright Winter and Spring colors. Again, I didn't wear those colors much, either. Additionally, in the rare times I went warmer with my hair color, I looked better. When I went cooler and/or darker, I looked worse. Finally, there's the makeup. I look best in neutral makeup colors and warm foundation. I look weird whenever I go too cool or too warm or too light or too dark with my colors. Of course, a lot of this self assessment is based on how I look in photos and on compliments received from people.

So... SIGH...

Dressing

23 replies

Latest reply was from

Peri

Veteran

I don't know these terms so I can't help! But I had some enlightenment along those lines myself.

I love teal...the very cool green with a tinge of blue. It's not my favorite color at all...those would be cobalt, the red grape end of purple, and moss green. But I love teal enough that I was happy to buy a T shirt in that color and have worn it a lot this summer. Except that every time I did I noticed I looked washed out, a whiter shade of pale, and needed more makeup to compensate. Meanwhile the moss green T made me look better every time I put it on.

Duh...teal super clashes with my eyes, which are moss green. The moss T flatters because it is a warmer tone and makes my eyes really stand out. The icy coolness of the teal acts like a fluorescent light and takes all my color away. And I don't have a lot to begin with.

I was turned off by color seasons when my mom went hog wild into Color Me Beautiful in the 80s. Even that name makes me cringe! But I'm starting to think there is something serious behind color theory and I need to start paying attention!

celia

Veteran

I feel your pain. Until this day I don't know if I am a Deep Winter or a warm Autumn.
Yes, they are very different but some colors of both pallets look good on me.

nancylee

Veteran

Ruth, I think I'm a Soft Autumn, too. And I'm actually going to have my colors done next Tuesday by a Sci/Art certified color analyst. I'll let you know how it goes and try to help after my session.

I just got tired of trying to analyze myself and decided to get the definitive word once and for all....enough second guessing! 12Blueprints.com has a list of certified color analysts if you're interested in getting a professional opinion.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

The most important thing to remember is that colour is relative.

Ruth, while I believe that certain colours are best on certain complexions (there is no doubt that is true) - it all depends on which other colours you wear with them. How your hair colour changed, and how you applied your make-up with those colours. "Your Colours" is never a boxed category. It's a series of shades that change depending on how you wear them. Colour Analysis is a useful starting point for sure. But in my opinion, it's limiting and too one dimensional. It's important to understand the difference between hot and cold hues - but again, those hues become hot and cold relative to another colour.

So that's my long way of saying don't worry about it. Find ways to wear these so called off colours with other shades that make them more flattering. For example. I look awful in a flat blush (like my workhorse leather jacket). As soon as I wear it with black, white and cream, a brighter pale pink, yellow or tomato red - it comes alive. My so called taboo colour just became flattering.

Gaylene

Veteran

Good reminder, Angie. For years I thought orange was a big no-no for me. Turn out it is a bad choice when I wear it with tans and browns, but pairing a clear, bright orange with white and cobalt blue magically transforms the color into one of my best.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

There you go, Gaylene. A perfect example. Now imagine if you had your colours done and orange was identified as your taboo colour. Think of how you would miss out on combining it with white and cobalt. Sacrilege.

Beth Ann

Veteran

Ruth: During the early 90s, in the midst of Color Me Beautiful's hey-day, I was told I was an Autumn, a Winter, and a Summer. I was so confused, although their was no doubt that my skin was light olive to the point of sallowness, and I looked great in strong jewel tones.

Years later, a makeup line called Prescriptives had a custom-foundation program based on skintone. YO (yellow orange) to BR (blue red). They, no surprise here, said I was a "Yellow Orange" tone. What they said next was most interesting. They suggested I focus on earth tone makeup for a natural look, and cool tones (plum lipstick, grey or purple eyeshadow) for high contrast looks. So --- either work will the warm tones in my skin, or counteract them for a more dramatic look.

My skin is now less sallow (at least one benefit of age), and I'm finding myself shifting a bit in my color choices. Also, if I love a color, I never hesitate to try it on. If it's questionable, I try in several different lighting situations.

Most important? Have fun with color and fashion, and wear what makes you feel beautiful. A limited color palette is, of course, helpful for building a working wardrobe. Wear colors that make you feel alive!

Vildy

Veteran

Here's an interesting piece from 12 Blueprints - a SciArt analyst - that concurs with what Angie says.
http://12blueprints.com/an-inc.....is-result/
"I believe there are two major reasons why analysts can have conflicting results. Both reasons are found in The New Munsell Student Color Set under the heading of Observer Metamerism:

1. No two people see color exactly the same. This is something
that can never be altered. There will never be a set of drapes or even
training that can ensure the same visual perception will be had by two
different analysts.

2. Our visual perception of a color changes, based on what color was last viewed. Just making up this example: If you are comparing Blue #1 for TW and Blue #5 for TSu, the reactions you see in the mirror are made on that comparison. If I have Blue #1 for TW and Blue #3 for TSu (all technically correct), the reactions I see will be based on that comparison. If Sharon has Blue #2 for TW and Blue #4 for TSu, again technically correct, she could come to a different result.

The closest way two analysts can hopefully come to the same
conclusion is to have every test drape exactly the same, which Christine
and I have talked about. But even if every drape we make for every set
is the same, problem #1 above still exists."

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I have to be honest, I never 'got' the whole seasons color thing. Add to that, I've never seen a pic of you, so I can't really comment on what colors might look good. I really do think we can see on our own, without professional guidance, what colors, or combinations (as Angie noted) work better on us than others. And, yes, when you get compliments from others when wearing colors you'd never really thought of is a good sign that it 'works'!

Krista

Veteran

Last year I decided I was really going to focus on wearing my colours. I am somewhere in the Winter spectrum and clear, bright shades look best on me and I do prefer them. However, after 2 weeks of wearing clear, bright colours, I found myself tiring of the overall look and craving muted shades of tans and soft pinks. To say that it threw me for a loop is an understatement. Here I was, supposedly in color nirvana, and I was tired of it?!? Yikes.

Anyway, I went out and bought myself a tan sweater, a rust v-neck and a soft pink/grey patterned shirt. Not really my colours, but they appealed to me and I started occasionally wearing them. I really came to appreciate having the variety because sometimes I just felt like wearing a softer, less intense version of a color rather than its clear and bright shade. It made me realize that how I feel wearing a color is as important as how I look. And it's okay to wear colours outside of my palette if I want -its better if I pair them with shades that are flattering FOR me (like Gaylene said) but its not the end of the world if I don't.

It sounds like you have a good idea of a suitable color range, so why not work with that? Have fun and enjoy the journey!

And, the fact that Angie used the word sacrilege in a discussion over the color orange totally made my day

rosee

Veteran

The color analyses can be helpful, but limiting as Angie and others have commented. Personality counts too. I am supposed to be a deep Winter, so deep jewel tones for me. But I don't really like wearing them, I feel too conspicuous. I do tend to wear a lot of cool neutrals though: charcoal, grey, navy, ink and some black. I don't mind red, and prefer cherry or cranberry to tomato, but I have all 3 shades. Chocolate brown and taupes work better for me than rust browns, but they belong to a different season than mine. I still wear them because they flatter.
I guess I have to say: I like knowing the rules so I can then learn to break them when needed.

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

I disagree that color analysis is limiting. It's a tool, and just like any other tool, it must be used correctly in order to be useful. It also requires practice, just like any other tool. I think the point of color analysis is to learn and see for yourself which colors make you look amazing without even a shred of makeup, which make you look ill or old, and which are just meh.

I'd had several color analyses where the analyst didn't explain what she saw. It wasn't until this May when I took Christine Scaman's class, that I was draped slowly, with a clear explanation of what to look for and where. Then I could see it and things really clicked. I'd say insist that the analyst show you so that you can see it for yourself.

And there really aren't taboo colors for anyone. Even after color analysis, you're free to wear whatever colors you choose. Only now you're choosing them knowing the effect they'll have on how you appear to others. Want to get sent home from work? Wear the colors that made you look ill and like you just got done crying. Think you might see you ex with his new girlfriend? Wear the color that made you look absolutely radiant. You know which color did what because you saw it with your own eyes.

So definitely not limiting. I'd call it liberating and empowering.

Anonymous

Thanks, everyone--especially Angie.

@nancylee: Please do let me know how your consultation goes.

I'm pretty much back to wearing all the colors I used to wear before I had a color analysis done in the late '80s. I'm convinced that color analysis was wrong. The analyst classified me as a summer, but the summer colors washed me out and the makeup she advised me to wear made me look bad--to the point that people started asking me if I felt okay. Since then, on the advice of other analysts and hair stylists, I've tried the Spring and Winter colors. No better--the bright colors overwhelmed me, and I felt the need to tone it down and soften my look.

I'm really happy with the colors in my closet right now, and have no intention of changing. I guess the perfectionist in me wants to label the pallette; Soft Summer or Soft Autumn? or both? I guess when you narrow things down to 2 out of 12 possible seasons, the differences are subtle. The Sci-Art soft autumn colors are a lot cooler than you'd imagine, and the colors are richer than those of Sci-Art soft summer.

I've spent years trying to figure this all out. I do believe there's something to it. We've all worn colors that aren't our best, and we've all received compliments on flattering colors. Still, I think a lot of it is indeed subjective and that like Angie said, a lot depends on how we combine our colors. Personality plays a role, too.

Which leads me to my final point. I don't have a Summer personality. If personality has anything to do with it, my personality fits in the Autumn category more than anything else. The only Summer-like quality I have is that I hate conflict and want everyone to get along. I'm a peace maker at heart, and will speak my mind as long as I'm sure I'm not hurting someone in the process.

Anonymous

Now I'm really second guessing this whole Summer thing. Yesterday, I took the time to examine my personal coloring more closely and reread The Triumph of Individual Style.

If that book is correct, I am indeed a mixture of warm and cool. My skin colors fall into the warm category, my hair into the mixed warm/cool category, and my eyes fall into the cool category. I guess my eyes would be considered blue, and blue is considered a cool color. However, they are a very soft blue. I have trouble wearing most blues because they make my eyes look dull. Anything in the red or orange category will make my eyes look blue; just about any green makes them look greenish. In most photos, my eyes look grayish. The only time my eyes ever looked blue in photos was back when I wore blue contact lenses.

The book says that people who have a mixture of cool and warm body colors can wear both warm and cool colors. If so, then I'm not losing my mind after all.

Joan Joplin

I think the best color advice I ever heard was that "your colors" are the colors that make you look like you just put makeup on. They're the colors that add color to your cheeks and so on. Colors that make you look tired and zombified are not your colors. I've always been suspicious of the idea that there's a scientific approach - with a limited number of categories, etc - that will find "your colors." But from personal experience, I know that lipstick red, rich jewel tones, warm grays, olive green, leaf green, warm brown and warm or bright blue look fabulous on me. If I wear black, navy, burgundy, etc, then I need blush and so to compensate because the colors make me look tired and blotchy. And that holds true for what people tell, compliments, etc. I know that I can wear most colors if I find the right shade, richness, depth, and so on. I didn't need a professional to tell me that. On the other hand, I've been to my whole life that I have an unusually keen eye for color. If you're unsure about colors, analysis might be a good place to start. But please don't rule out all the colors on your "don't" list. Every color you try on will have different undertones, saturation, depth, and it's just about finding the ones that make your features sing.

Pawprints

My view of my colors recently changed--again.

I was a spring back in the day. That was about 70% useful. As I aged and the seasons theory expanded I became a soft. Maybe 80% useful.

I'm another one who was always mixed with warms and cools and never a pure anything, not even pure soft.

Recently someone pulled me back into a colors discussion and told me the theory has expanded to 16 types. After mulling it over, taking pictures of myself in all kinds of colors and looking at the pictures more critically, I decided I was the new soft summer deep, or shaded summer.

I was convinced enough by my pictures to pull all the black, white, camel, the deepest midnight navy, and a number of iffy pale tones from my closet. Big, big step leaving behind my buttery black leather jacket and other treasures that were stylish and still fit me, but that honestly weren't making me glow, but aging and tiring me in the photos.

I've been in a closet transformation stage anyway, wearing a size or two different from last year in pants and skirts, and also finding myself thinking very differently about my style persona. The color change came at a good time. While I've been picking up new replacement things for fall, I'm trying out deep browns, and expanding my deep plums and burgundies, and letting grey stand in for black. Also avoiding florals, ruffles, bows, rounded collars, puff sleeves, full skirts, fussiness and cuteness in general and most prints.

My shrunken closet is very different from a few months ago, and my happiness factor when I stand in it or dress from it has doubled at least. Tripled, maybe more. Letting go of colors I relied on was hard, but my new ones feel fabulous.

Anonymous

I really don't want to pay for another color analysis. I'm skeptical about just how scientific it really is. That said, I do feel there's something to it. I definitely look better now that I've softened my colors. I'm not sure how warm I can push my palette. I do know I can't push it too cool. My wardrobe is now mostly midtone, subdued colors. I have a few dark-colored pants. My darker-colored tops and dresses have lighter colors mixed in the prints; the overall effect is not dark.

Lyn D.

Veteran

I recently bought a second hand copy of 'Colour Me Beautiful' and enjoyed reading it. I would only follow the guidelines very loosely, but it was a fun way for ladies to get together and have some fun 'me' time at the height of its' popularity.
It is also important to take into account whether our colouring is high or low contrast too. A lower contrast means that if you wear say, black and white near you face others will only see your outfit and not you!

Anonymous

Well, I think I may be more of a soft summer than a soft autumn. However, today I'm wearing the following items, and feel completely comfortable in the colors:

Top:
http://www.coldwatercreek.com/.....38;refLink

Pants, in Vine Color:
http://www.coldwatercreek.com/.....70&re

Shoes (note they're a lot less green than they look online; they're actually khaki):
http://www.zappos.com/dansko-n.....st=fcl%3A0

Jewelry: Chunky amethyst and abalone necklace with silver hoop earrings

Elly

Veteran

I think everyone here has a good point.

I know that color anaylsis (done by me with various guidelines, never by a pro) has helped me figure a few things out.

According to many systems I would classify myself as a Dark or Deep autumn, which makes sense. I do have dark hair and am high-contrast (fairly light skin) but I have olive undertones and red in my hair. Having the additional categories beyond the 4 seasons really helped me feel comfortable, because I never "fit" prior to discovering that. I'm also glad that many systems now recongize that people with coloring like mine can wear other colors (particularly those in sister palettes) and look great.

For the most part, I've used color analysis to break out and try new colors that I never would have originally been drawn to or thought looked good on me. It's also given me the confidence to wear colors that many people look "bad" in or might be tricky (i.e. camel and some tans). Still, I wear what I like and what I feel I look good in, and I still wear my deep fuchsias even though that is a winter color, and still eschew certain shades that should work but for some reason make me feel crudy. I do agree with Angie that colors play off of each other.

I'm also lucky like Beth Ann that I seem to have a mix of features of both warm and cool, which allow me to feel good about wearing both famiilies--- having mixed tones in my natural hair and eye color and having olive skin sounds familiar. I know I had a heck of a time with finding makeup for most of my life because although I'm very pale, I don't have PINK OR ORANGE undertones, and true olive or neutral makeups in really PALE shades are right up their with makeups for other types of ethnic skin with being hard to find.

Anonymous

For now I'm dipping into both the soft summer and soft autumn palettes. My overall look is soft, but I feel my personal coloring straddles that cool/warm dividing line very closely. I've read that no one is truly neutral; that everyone falls into either the cool or warm category. I'm not sure I agree with that statement. I know I can't push my colors too cool or too warm.

ManidipaM

Veteran

Ruth, you are certainly not alone in being close to neutral...or maybe it's better to think of it as straddling the divide. It makes biological sense to me too---bell curve suggests there actually have to be a fair few of us bang in the middle even if the sum total of those on either side make us look like a minority.

Like Beth Ann and Elly said, I have distinctly olive and sallow skin. But also dark eyes, very dark hair with strands of crisp white and extremely clear, translucent skin (surefire Winter?). AND I have reddish casts to eyes and hair in bright light, plus muted purple-pink lips and greyed dark circles. Go figure!

Traditionally analysed, I should be Deep Winter or Clear Winter or Deep Autumn. Thing is, I can only wear some shades off each palette well...and those I wear well, I wear very well. Meanwhile, warm-toned lipstick makes me look like an Oompah Loompah and cool ones like jewel reds and garnet pinks or purple make a vampire out of me. I look best in muted toasted soft pink and a slightly warm but not reddish brown!

My favourite colour is teal. Suggestive, yes. But I can only wear some teals well. Others make me seem jaundiced or zombiefied.

It's not you. It's the palettes. As with body shape, no one is exactly a bell or brick or apple or pear. We all have aspects of a few others besides the dominant. So I am an apple but have the chunky straight legs and arms of a blocky rectangle and the waist indent of an hourglass in the back. I suspect this need to individualize is true of palettes too. How could it not be?

Anonymous

I love your bell curve analogy, Mandipa! I think of color as a continuum. We have to figure out where on that continuum we fit, and there's no reason I can think of that some of us (perhaps a minority, but still) aren't right smack dab in the middle.

I have the exact same problem as you, Mandipa. I've purchased several swatch books over the years, and have found I can't wear all of the colors of any particular palette successfully. Trying to narrow it down has only led me to one conclusion: Soft. That's the only truth I know, and it's from experience, not from some analyst or book telling me what I'm supposed to wear.