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Still searching for "my" colours--tons of photos

Ariadne

Veteran

I mentioned on Ceit and Deb's threads that after all these years, I'm *still* stumped when it comes to which colours suit me. So... I tried to do some DIY draping at home the other day with a bunch of my clothing. These all show me in no makeup (YIKES), hair pulled back off my face. My natural hair color is a very cool, almost grey-green tinged medium ash blonde. I dye it a medium neutral brown at the moment, but am considering switching that up.

I'm not sure if these photos really help or not. I used cool low winter daylight and a very basic camera to take them. It's amazing to me how different the lighting appears from shot to shot, even though these photos were all taken within seconds of each other. This is why I get so confused! Is my skin warm, cool, neutral? Do my natural hair and eye colours matter?

The last four photos show me in the makeup colours I usually wear: warm peach blush, coral sheer lipstick, brown-black mascara and brown colour. I was trying to get a good shot of my eyes. Again, look at how the lighting seems to change from shot to shot! Is that my camera trying to auto-correct?

I'd love any suggestions re: possible seasons and good/bad colours based on these photos! I'd love to have a Sci\ART professional draping session but there are no practitioners anywhere near me.

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49 replies

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Anonymous

You have such pretty eyes and lips!

I like you in the navy, the light blush pink, and the other pink 8, 9 and 14.

I think based on your photos we have a similar skin tone. I'll have to try and get a photo when it isn't low winter morning light!

I am useless when it comes to deciding colours also.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

You are young & pretty which makes this difficult I would need the lighting to be exactly the same in each photo & even then may not be sure.

Which colours do you feel best in?

amiable

Veteran

Okay, I'm totally guessing and making stuff up - just so you know.

I think your lips seem brighter in 4, 9 and 14...

Really, I think you could wear just about any of these colors and look terrific. Shows what help I am

AviaMariah

Veteran

For what it's worth I'm going to give you my thoughts but I don't know how much this is influenced by my own color preferences!
The ones I like the best are: 1, 7, 9, 14, 15
The ones I like least are: 2, 5, 8

catgirl

Veteran

I'm voting 1, 5, 9 and 14 as my favorites. These colors seem to make you glow to my eye. A nay on 2, 3 and 11. And the rest are all in between. I'm no good on warm and cool tones.

dustt

Veteran

I also like you in the pinks - the grey in #7 - and the navy!!

neatnic

Hmmm...this is tricky. In some of the photos your skin tone looks warmer, and in others it looks cooler (e.g. 18 looks cool, 19 looks warm). Perhaps that means you're in the neutral zone. I think you look fantastic in navy! I also like 13 and 14.

deb

Veteran

I think it is very difficult to do a self analysis because you have nothing to compare the colors to. Is the pink in # 1 god or is a pink with a little more grey better. Until you have the swatches next to your face it is hard to tell.

El Cee

Veteran

My favorites on you are #14, #9 and #1 as they seem to brighten your complexion and to focus the attention on your beautiful face. My least favorites on you are #3 and #11 as they draw the eye down and away from your face.

deb

Veteran

Do you wear yellow gold or white gold better?

Glory

Veteran

Seriously you look great in every one of these - fabulous! I say go for the colours that make you the happiest!!

carol3012

I like the dark neutrals (navy, dark brown but oddly enough, not black?), 7, white, and 14. The pinks I'm kind eh about I'm not too sure why though...

For some reason the brights aren't suiting..can't tell why but they don't work for me either but that's really to my eye.

That's all the input I got!

Helena

Veteran

hi, i have spent years trying to work out this color stuff so no expert for sure, but if i was guessing based on the photos, i would say you are a soft summer.

my reason for this is that i think you were more flattered by the more muted version of colors vs. the bright which "wore" you a little (e.g. with the blue and the red-dy tones), and the cool rather that the warm. soft summers (of which i am one - a "shaded" version) have some warmth but lean cool. your eye color is lovely and has a softness in my opinion (more jennifer aniston than courtney cox if that makes sense) and you mentioned your hair as a medium ash-blond which would also fit with this color season.

on the prettyyourworld.com site, the soft summer "power colors" are "Medium to light Grey, Soft White, Purple, Medium Blue, Raspberry, Deep Rose, light Navy". based on these photos, that seems right to me. what do you think?

is the shirt in the last few pics dark navy or black?

good luck and enjoy working it out anyways, so much fun!! at the end of the day it's all about what you feel best in!!

deb

Veteran

OK, I compared the colors in your pics to the color palettes from pinterest and this is my guess. Some over lap because I really cannot tell and I am only guessing.

#1 - Bright Spring - your pics #1, 4, 10,15

#2 - Light Spring - your pics #2, 4 14, 11?

#3 - Light Summer - your pics #3, 5, 6, 7

#4 -Soft Summer - your pics #5, 6. 7, 8

#5 Soft Autumn - your pics #6, 7, 14

#6 - True Autumn - your pics #13

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Ariadne

Veteran

My kids are keeping me hopping today, so apologies if this is disjointed, but thanks for the input so far! If there was a reliable colour person here in Vancouver I'd definitely go that route, but I just can't. Frustrating!

A couple of things:
Warm-toned makeup and nail polish always looks the most natural on me. Warm brown eyeliner, coral lips, gold/warm brown/peach-based eye shadow, peach blush (a la Nars Orgasm), coral or warm pink nails.

My eyes are definitely a soft, muted green. They are not bright.

I used to highlight my hair light blonde, but when I look back at photos I think it made my skin look red.

I'm usually drawn to navy, ink, black, olive, cream/ivory, blush, and gray, and non-primary, slightly muted colours in general. The brighter colours I like are a coral-ish bright red-orange, cobalt, berry colours, and teal/turquoise (medium to deep, not light). I'm not sure those are necessarily the colours that suit me most, though! I truly can't tell.

deb, I think I wear silver and gold equally well? I'm not sure. I usually wear yellow gold.

torontogirl, the shirt in #15 in black and the striped one in the pics with makeup is navy and cream. Hmm. I'd discounted summer because I thought I was probably on the warm side, but these colours here seem like all my favourites:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/160792649168753812/

Ariadne

Veteran

Looking through my pics again, I'm really not sure they're of any use. Some of them are so overexposed or over-warmed or otherwise skewed. Argh.

unfrumped

Veteran

You look fab in fabric wraps!

I think you are cool-based but with some neutral leanings, so have a great deal of leeway. I like the cool colors best, including the grayish white of #5, so: 1, 4, 5,6,7, 9, 14.
You are high contrast so can wear fairly deep colors though in the photos the cobalt kind of takes over--the navy lets you stand out more. You would probably look great in mid-range blues and grayish blues, denim blues.

Ariadne

Veteran

My colouring is very much like that shown in the first two posts here:

http://blog.prettyyourworld.co.....ft-summer/

ETA Unfrumped, we posted simultaneously FWIW, my colouring is only high contrast, I think, when my hair is dyed and my eyebrows and eyelashes are "done" with makeup. Without the dye and makeup I *think* I'm quite low contrast and muted. But I never go without makeup, so which contrast level wins?

L'Abeille

Veteran

I see you glowing more in the cool colours, with a medium amount of contrast--muted brights and soft darks. The pale and warm tones bring out reds and oranges in your skin (by comparison; you do have an amazing complexion). Oddly, in the makeup you look great, but I wouldn't have thought that lipstick was coral--I see no himt of orangey in it. Of course you obviously know how to do your makeup well which helps (and can cover your natural colour too).

So would that make you a Summer? I'm not sure, as a Winter--and a high-contrast one--I see the world as Winter and Not-Winter (sounds like the seasons where I live, too)

Ariadne

Veteran

L'Abeille, my lips are quite cool pink, withn almost ashy, grey-blue cast. I wonder if the warmth of the coral gloss combines with my natural lip colour to create a more neutral lip, and that's why I like it? I never wear matte or heavy coral lipcolor.

claire

I like #4, 9 and 10, I think they make your eyes pop. I know absolutely nothing about colors, but I'm guessing from your pictures you would also look good in greens. And I also like 6 and 7 with your skin tone.

I heard about someone doing colors in West Van, if I can find out more details I'll pm you.

Helena

Veteran

if you see your coloring as similar to the ladies in the pyw blog, then soft summer is a great bet. don't let some elements of warmth throw you - the soft summer definitely has some warmth to it as it flows into autumn (i am sure of this only because i had the same question myself as i too have some warmth in my coloring).

if the soft summer feel too cool for you, you could always try soft autumn - i definitely think you shine in the cool colors though - the navies especially are really good on you.

anyways, that's just my two cents, but in this case i really feel like i can see it, which i often can't!

your note around the warmer gloss on the cooler lip combining is another clue - this is the trick i have finally discovered too!!

K. Period.

Veteran

Have you tried the free quiz at Pretty Your World? (Obviously you've been to the site b/c you refer to it otherwise, just wasn't sure if you saw the quiz.) I thought it was really helpful and pointed me in the right direction. And by right direction, I saw the pictures of the celebs that it pointed out were my coloring plus looked at the color card and thought "Well, duh! Those are the women I've always thought were my coloring and the colors that I've always instinctively gravitated toward. How could I have not put those together!"

deb

Veteran

K, I went through the self quiz on pretty your world and it only added mor confusion. Mostly because it take hair and eye color into consideration and I am an anomaly with my hair and eye color. Once I was actually draped, it was clear which group I belonged in.

K. Period.

Veteran

These are really interesting too, since they show the difference between two close pallets.

carambola

Veteran

My favorites on you are 1, 9, 14, and 4, although I think I would like 4 even more if it were a shade deeper. The ones I like least are 3 and 11.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I have had the pleasure of meeting the beautiful Ariadne in person. And my best guess -- and it IS a guess, because I am not an expert -- is that you are some species of Summer. Could be soft summer -- or could be True Summer, like me.

I am also one of those who appears on first impression to have some "neutral" tendencies. I was born with red hair, had reddish highlights in my hair as a teen, wear gold and silver equally well, and when I first went to get my colours done the analyst thought I would turn out to be an autumn. (I went in wearing a cool red shirt and no makeup). She was astonished at how obviously "cool" I was when she started to do the draping. Then, she was further astonished at the intensity of colour I could wear. She thought I might be light summer. Nope. Then soft. That was much better...but still not quite right.

The truth is, no system can really tell us because we're so individual. What makes it super tricky is that store lighting can confuse us.

I do know that the navy and off-white BR sweater Ariadne is wearing is positively mesmerizing on her in person -- as is the beautiful berry toned scarf she wore with it on the day we met. SO mesmerizing that I promptly became a YLF lemming and ordered both items as soon as I could after meeting her!!

ETA: I used to dye my hair red, BTW, or reddish brown -- not far from the colour you have -- and it also suited me. But it did change which colours looked best on me to some extent. I looked a lot better in chocolate brown (which I still wear quite well) but didn't look as good in black as I do when my hair is in the blonde range.

Anonymous

Hmmm, that is interesting, Suz! I think you might be right then with your guess that I am a summer.

K. Period.

Veteran

Suz, did you like the person who did your colors? I wonder if that would be a good contact for Ariadne.

Deb--that is really interesting! (We cross posted with my second post--I promise I wasn't ignoring ) This whole sequence and your (Deb) amazing color typing had me googling color analysts near me....even though I'm like 99% sure that I'm a light summer.

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