I was going to give myself some more time to think about where I will go with this, before posting, because it is too soon for any conclusions but with all the posts about high/low contrast I felt that this may be helpful to anyone who is feeling confused about what works for them.

Sorry but you do need to know the back-story

A friend of mine trained image consultants in the 1980s & used me as a model for beginners & advanced training; this was under the four season system. I was “analysed” over 15 times & came out as a spring each & every time.

Some of the spring neutrals felt fine but the brighter colours never felt right to me. Well you know me even though I was told how good I looked in
those colours I never wore them because they didn’t feel right.

Since joining YLF nearly two years ago I have come to see how wonderful other fabbers look when wearing colours that relate to their colouring & personality & I started to wonder about colour again. Also my on-going struggle with black made me realise I wanted some kind of objectivity about the colours that work for me. Of course it would then be my decision where I went with that information.

So I did some research, found a system that sounded more scientific than most & had another analysis. This was under the 12 type system & is only based on skin tones not hair & eye colours.

Without a scrap of make-up, I was draped in the four season signature colours – honestly they all looked bad. So at least I knew I wasn’t a true spring, yay me! Although to be fair it was probably the best pick under a flawed system. For nearly 3 hours (yes that long) it looked like nothing was working but when we got to the last lot of drapes I could actually see my jaw-line firm & my skin become smoother when draped in certain colours/neutrals.

It turns out I’m a very neutral version of a soft autumn. Which is really not a lot like the traditional autumn colours, they are way too warm on me. So it looks like all those soft, yet rich & muted colours that I have always loved are what I “should” be wearing. It also explains why I have trouble finding colours I feel really “me” in. Many colours feel too warm or too cool or too light or too dark.

I feel very excited about this new information but I feel more excited about the fact that trusting myself was right for me.