AZ, that's why I'm sayin' you gotta test your personal boundaries.

Besides, with your strong opinions you wouldn't stop wearing something that an analyst said wasn't in "your season" anyway.

If I'm blatantly honest I've read many personal color values/contrast writings repeatedly and they never stick. But I keep re-reading!

My cheat advice that I personally believe works for everyone is to wear combos or prints that repeat two or more colors from you hair, skin, eye, and natural blush/lip shades.

With my strong opinions -- hehehe Guilty as charged. I try to tone it down though.

I like your cheat advice. It seems like it would work.

Yes, Aziraphale, it upset me because that color was actually a little lighter than my natural hair color and people were still saying it looked too dark. What was up with that, I'll never know, but my colorist decided to go a little darker this time, which is nice because the roots are no longer darker than the rest of my hair. Coloring brown hair is tricky, and it seems like it takes a while to get it right. Even when I was coloring it myself, I had to mix different shades and levels together to get the right color. That's why I ended up going to a salon to have it done. Until I have a lot more white hair than I presently do, I choose to keep it the same color as the roots. When it's mostly white, then I'll go with a lighter brown. No way will I let it go white. My skin is too light for that to look good, IMO. There are people who differ with my opinion on that, but it's my hair and I have to live with it every day. See photo below, taken right after I had the color corrected. It's not dark brown. Or not. The photo failed to load.

The cheat advice is very helpful, but that would leave me with a very limited color palette. I always try to include one personal color in my outfit--usually my hair color if I can--but I love color too much to be that restricted. It's a great place to start, though!

Aziraphale - I don't have any helpful advice but I'm following this post with interest. I've never been able to figure out my season either. I have ashy dark brown hair, green eyes and pale skin. But whether my skin has pink or yellow undertones I can't tell. Like you, I have both purple and green veins in my wrist. I wear mostly silver jewelry but it has nothing to do with whether it's more flattering than gold, but that it's more readily available where I live. I"m going to examine some of the links people have responded with when I have more time and see if any of them help.

Sara, based on photos, my guess is that you are some kind of winter, if going by seasons.

Admittedly, I see you most in the cool light of your laundry area!

Elisabeth, cool picture! (or no, make that warm picture!) It's so great to see some of your amazing work. Thank you.

I think you're some kind of warm muted, probably soft autumn. Maybe autumn veering to winter, which is why you can wear black.

As far as that goes, I'm not "supposed" to be able to wear black, either, as a "summer" -- but I've always worn it surprisingly well, providing it's the right black and providing there's some skin showing as well. I think in my case, the coolness of my whole whatever just makes it work, despite its strength...and then there is personality. Technically, I'm low to medium contrast, but I have always, always looked good in outfits with some high contrast -- not in a big bold pattern, but something you've talked about, i.e. white collar and cuffs against dark...that kind of thing. Contrast in the details. This is something that tends to work for gamines (so now we have the whole Kibbe ball of wax again...)

All I know is that this figuring out a personal style that works thing could take a person a lifetime!! We all deserve advanced degrees in it around here. I think Greg should make us up some certificates.

There are, of course, all different kinds of blacks. I'm seeing very few saturated blacks at retail lately, and lots of washed/faded ones. This is partly because it's S/S, and partly zeitgeist, I think. I'm wearing a "washed black" sweater right now. It could probably stand to be a little more saturated for my winter-ish coloring, but I'm not gonna sweat it (hah) because it's a perfect sweater otherwise. Is it possible the blacks you like best on yourself are slightly muted, smoky blacks, rather than deep inky ones?

Also, like Suz says, I think color analysis is more useful in the context of body type a la Kibbe. There are a handful of style consultants who do the two in tandem in a somewhat integrated manner. Rachel Nachmias (http://www.bestdressed.us/blog/) is the one I've read most closely; her Pinterest is fun to peruse too.

Oh the Kibbe thing, lol. Yes, we all need certificates. Calling on Greg!

Then there's practicality. I think I have a pretty good handle on which colors look great on me, but finding them in the stores in the size I wear, in my price range, and in the style I like is nigh impossible at times. Sometimes I find exactly what I'm looking for, but I don't always get lucky.

BC - I completely agree with your last paragraph!!

Az, for what it is worth I like how I look in black and not in pure optic white either. I think it is partly that I am tall and not a small frame - but I don't mind looking a little washed out but I don't like my ruddiness coming through too much which white tends to do,

And I would put you in the Autumn-ish box from what you are saying broadly...I am sort of in the spring box but I like to jump around between the boxes a little bit too:)

Responding quickly -- to clarify my "cheat advice" re wearing some combo of hair/skin/eyes/lip/natural blush shade to hit the right level of value + contrast was meant to be one example.

Lots more ways to get it right, of course!

Since my hair is now grey + dark I've expanded the above option by +1.

On the downside it means I find my former value/contrast of tonal combos needs at least some light accents or accessories. On the upside it means it's easier to justify any print that has colors that work *and* contains white/silver/grey.

VIx, I could not agree more about white/ silver/ grey in prints. It's a slam dunk now!!! You know that AT blue/grey leopard print blouse we both have? The taupe used to make it work okay for me (though it was a bit strong for my overall lighter colouring) but now with the grey hair? It's brilliant!!! (Love you in that dress, by the way).

Az, enjoying this discussion ... Color analysis is maddeningly addictive if I had to hazard a guess based on the colors you say work on you and your personally description, I'd say you're a soft summer, with a leaning towards the deeper side of that season. In one system, this would be a shaded summer, and unlike other summers they can pull off black!

Az, this post is so interesting. Also because you really know art and colours. One could think that the translation would be easy, but it's not.

For me, colour analysis is an opaque area. I don't know my season either. I don't know if my colouring is cold or warm. I wear mostly silver, but also gold if I feel like it. It's more about my associations to silver (more RATE) and gold (more pretty, classic).

I get compliments when wearing saturated colours. Tomato red has become a favorite. And I can appearently wear yellow without being washed out. Whites and cream lightens my face in a nice way. Black goes with my hair, not sure about how it impacts my complexion. Dark chocolate is also a good colour, especially when it kind of has dept or intensity. Maybe because of my brown eyes (almost black around the edge of the iris). I've always found blush/nude/beige/pastels difficult, but that could also just be my personal preferances and personality. I've never been a fan of beige and pink easily gets into sweet-little-girl-territory (at least in my mind). But recently I bought a blush blouse and a blush/beige dress that the SA said worked really well. Anyway, this territory is really blurred.

ETA: here is a lengthy explanation of 16 seasons (4 seasons, each with 4 sub-categories). I'm still uncertain about my season. According to my answers to these questions, I think my complexion might be warm (but with cool toned areas) with deep and muted (or clear?) as sub-categories. Still, the description fits only partially. http://fonfabulous.blogspot.no.....r.html?m=1

These are great posts to read. I am probably a very easy person to classify in terms of colour analysis. I do enjoy reading about different theories of colour analysis and have realized that analysts use different methods to determine a person's season.
I am very golden and warm. My hair was a reddish blonde colour when I was younger and now is golden blonde. I have a warm complexion and I tan very easily. I have not tanned for decades though. I never burnt in the sun which surprises people because my skin is fair. The dermatologist said this was because of the golden colour in my skin . My eyes have golden flecks in them and the main colour is a warm teal.
I have been to have my colours done and in the system I like the best I am a Warm Autumn.
I can wear any olive green and chocolate brown. Burnt orange looks great on me. I do not look great in pastels or colours that are really pale except cream. Pink and I do not get along.

When it comes to knowing what colors work well for me I rely on my eyes. If a garment makes my eyes glow, sparkle and change color, than it's a winner. The colors that reliably do that are in the light summer category. My skin is at the fair end of medium, my eyes are probably also at the lightest end of medium value, my hair is obviously grey, but with a variety of silvery shades that vary from light to the light end of medium. That sadly makes me low to medium value and low to medium color contrast which I hate. Unlike Suz, who says she thinks some high contrast looks good on her low to medium contrast coloring, I think it makes me look tired and worn out. I cannot wear black. Dark Navy may look nice in pictures but in person it's problematic. I end up wearing a lot of makeup to compensate. The pastels that work well for me are not sophisticated. Many prints are too cluttered and busy for my low contrast coloring. I have mostly limited my color,palette to greys, blues and whites and use the pastels for accessories. I agree with Vix that using my personal coloring helps pick the colors that I should wear, but those colors aren't always so obvious. My natural blush tone for example, it is hard for me to judge. I think it's easier got me to look at the color of the inside of my lips. That actually works as a perfect red/pink for me.

I've studied various color systems, and have some color fans. What irritates me is that the colors are not the same from one system to the next, so I can't look at a set of Soft Summer colors and know for sure that's the season for me. I think it is, but I'm not 100% sure. It all depends on which system I choose to go with. So irritating. If it's such a science, you'd think the color fans would be similar enough to figure it all out.

I have a pony tail cut off in high school and it was not dark brown, and had red and gold highlights. My eyes were described as brown, yet now they are definitely olive with brown rings in the center. i don't know what this means, but maybe our coloring can change over time.

"But people aren't paint chips! Our skins have a complex blend of colours."

AZ, I think that comment of yours hits on the problem with this whole business of trying to lump ourselves into colour categories. Take that complexity of skin tone, and add to it the complexity of hair and eye color, then throw in factors like personal preferences, the lighting conditions under which we are viewed, the influence of adjacent colors--in short, all the myriad factors which go into how our brains respond to, and interpret, the color relationships we are viewing and no wonder we have trouble plopping ourselves into 6, or 8, or 15, or whatever number of categories the system has decreed for us.

I personally think clearing our minds of preconceptions and looking hard to see what is really there is a more sane approach. If my eye, and brain, perceives a pleasant harmony between the shirt I'm wearing and my face, that color is my color. The "same" color, though, in a different texture or in a different color combination, or when my skin is ashen because of stress or illness may still be satisfactory, but perhaps not as wonderful. A color which I totally reject in a Northern winter might be a "hmm, not bad" in the light of a Caribbean beach.

There will always be some combinations which I feel are disasterous on me, but others may see it differently. I gravitate towards purples, blues, and silvery greys, but take that same purple and mix it with yellow in a print, and I'll start gagging. That purple is, and isn't, in my palette--and only I get to make the call, not a colour theory.

ETA: Ha, I just realized it didn't answer your question "Can eye color be used as a cheat sheet?" Of course, if your eyes sparkle, then wear the color! But know it might be the pleasure you are taking in the color itself which could be influencing your brain--and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, at least in my books!

Gaylene - I like your take on this!

Nodding along with Gaylene, as I often do. This is a very inexact science. It helps to think in terms of classic colour theory: hue (warm/cool), saturation (soft/bright) and value (light/dark).

I think I'm probably a Winter but it took me ages to figure this out. Like you, I'm a very visual person, and the interactions of light with skin tone are so subtle they're almost invisible. That said, once I saw the effect I was looking for I found it very hard to ignore.

I've been all over the colour wheel in my time but only relatively recently realised that I'm best served by crisp, cool high contrast colours. Winter wasn't a slam-dunk given my appearance but then the prediction that acid yellow would suit me turned out to be correct. Who knew! And I look perfectly fine in black, thank you very much.

I'm still not 100% convinced though. There are always exceptions and nobody is going to fit perfectly into any one palette. It's a very useful rule of thumb, it's given me some cues as to how I can wear colours that don't suit me, but I try not to take it too seriously.

I like Gaylene's take, too. (surprise surprise)

I'm always amazed at the degree to which the ambient light affects how I perceive colour and how it seems to look on me. I love blues of all kinds but I can wear brighter blues more easily in summer's bright light.

I think the light is why people in
- Queensland wear brighter clothes than in Victoria (Australia)
- Auckland/Tauranga wear brighter clothes than in Wellington (NZ)
- Florida/Texas wear brighter clothes than Chicago/New York (USA)

I know there is a bit of a city (dark, moody, chic, intellectual) vs coastal (breezy, holiday, beachy ) aspect as well but the light does play a big difference.

I grew up in Florida, but still didn't wear really bright colors. We didn't live on the coast, though. It was still more cheerful than other places I've lived.

Whoops, runaway thread that I didn't respond to! Sorry, I failed to see all the new replies yesterday. Anyway, yes, Gaylene, you make some excellent points (as usual!) which make me once again decide that I don't need to worry about seasonal colour analysis. I especially get what you mean about personal preference playing a role. Perhaps one of the reasons I think grey looks good on me is because I like it so much.

I also think you make a good point, Sal, about how in sunny places tend to dress in brighter colours. This applies to other things, like buildings, too. My partner and I noticed this long ago on a trip to Italy. In our home in Vancouver (which is technically in a temperate coastal rainforest), there was a brief trend in the 1980s for Italian-style pink and yellow houses. They looked totally tasteless and were a popular subject of mockery. But when we went to Italy, we noticed that houses coloured this way looked absolutely harmonious in the sunny landscape. They were really quite lovely!

I think color analysis is interesting and addictive, but not an exact science and not something to obsess or worry about. Personal preference comes into play, and I don't think it's possible for color analysts to be completely objective.

Help! I may have touched the wrong thing on this screen and reported this post. How do I check to see if I did so, and if I did, how do I undo it???
Aggggh! Due to computer problems using phone with small screen.

I had my colors done in person before I heard anyone talking about it. A long time ago. I was 60% winter 30% fall 10% Summer.
That explains how we don't fit into just one box.
It was unbelievably helpful as no one had ever taught me that certain colors looked better on people than others. It immediately helped me have a wardrobe that worked better and greatly improved how I looked.
I was told that the analysis would work forever but I am considering having it fine tuned do to changes in skin tone and hair.

Some colour analysis take eye colour into consideration & some don't (SciArt for one). If I work from my eye colour then most soft/denim blues work for me but if I go from my skin colour/s then teals are much much better. For me it is a matter of seeing what particular colours do to my skin - the wrong colours or contrast levels make me look tired, older or wan.

Agreeing with Gaylene too, her points about personal preference & lighting are spot on.

I am categorised as classic "summer" colouring. I was once told by a colour analyst that I was the "text book example of summer". There is absolutely now doubt that these colours are best on me. However, style is so much more than personal colouring. I am happy to rebel from time to time. I have a black leather jacket that despite being the "wrong" colour for me, I always feel great when I wear it. Somehow in another colour it would lose its edge.

Not all are classic textbook examples of a season. Many of us are not. That's why they keep coming up with all these different systems. Even with all that, it's still difficult for me to figure it all out. Years ago I was analyses and told I was a Summer, but the makeup and color fan I was given didn't work, and people asked me if I was sick.