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Need major colour help.

Ariadne

Veteran

I really feel like I'm floundering when it comes to selecting flattering colours for my wardrobe. I would really appreciate some serious help from you wise women. I've read lots about how to choose your best personal colours and I am just more confused than ever. I trust you all more than some random website anyway.

SO. To get started on Operation Colour, what should I do first? Would certain types of photographs be useful? If so, what exactly? Natural light photos? Photos with flash? Photos of me wearing different colours or something like that? I'm clueless and I'd really like to begin get a handle on this before I purchase any more clothing.

General

26 replies

Latest reply was from Ariadne

Inge

(website)

Hm, not sure if I know what's the best way to go about it Brianna, but I'd love to help.

Perhaps you could start with posting a close-up of your face, so we get a good idea of your current hair and eye colour and your complexion?
I believe colour consultants always advise to wear a white top for this kind of thing. (then they start to add all sorts of colours).

And maybe it would help if you posted a few pictures with tops you think look flattering on you/you love?

I think pictures in natural light are always best for this. Correct me if I'm wrong ladies.

Can't wait to get started;-)

Mac

Veteran

Something ideal to tell us is not only what's your CURRENT hair colour, but what's your NATURAL hair colour, too : ) And, are there any colours / shades that you simply love to wear? That you always feel drawn to?

RoseandJoan

Veteran

Brianna, I have only just stated using this method with regards to colour and photographs certainly help. My rule of thumb is that if you notice me in the photograph the colours are probably good, if you notice the clothing first the colours are probably bad. Good colours make my colouring appear slightly more intense, blue eyes and pink lips and cheeks. Good luck Brianna and of course we are here to help.

Scarlet

Veteran

I would think photos of you in different colors in natural lighting would be the best.

taylor

Veteran

A good place to start is ...what colors do you buy/wear over and over that you feel good in, and what colors do you feel blah in. I think their is always a bit of instinct in all of us. Then just sorting out the "why" of these colors that work here with Angie and the rest.

Vix

Veteran

Going off (increasingly decrepit) memory here, but IIRC as a starting place it's helpful to have photos:

* In natural, indirect light vs *strong* sunlight (so outside or near a window; no flash) wearing colors you think are flattering on you

For the more intense version:

* Same lighting as above + makeup-free with hair pulled back (yikes, I know!) draped in any solid fabric that's black, warm tan, white, cream, orange, cool pink, grass green, mint green (to get a sense of whether cool vs warm tones work best)

Polly (thunalata)

Veteran

I don't think you're as clueless as you may think.

I did feel completely clueless and found a start with staring at the pages of the original (?) color-me-beautiful book until I could tell the difference between warmer and cooler colours (drove friends mad in the following 6 months talking about 'blue based pinks' and 'yellow based reds' and the like).

Once I understood that I was able to move on to what my skin tone was and then which colours suited me.

Trust yourself! Will be really excited to hear your conclusions!

garmenta

The advice about "colors you're drawn to" is great, but I'd add the notion of "what colors give you pleasure to look at"? Most of the colors that give me profound pleasure to see are colors that also suit me to wear.

Ariadne

Veteran

I'll do some photographing and color-brainstorming later today or tomorrow!

April

Veteran

I need help with this too, Brianna, so will be following your thread with interest. It's find it very hard to judge these things on a computer monitor, but I'll chime in if I think I can add anything.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Brianna, I remember that in your pictures I have seen so far some colors were screaming your name. I have to go back to your post to identify them!
I am not an expert in this as well but I can tell you how this started for me. I was trying on coats in the store. I put on a long black one and quite liked the style on me but wanted a shorter one in a similar style. They had a shorter one in brown only. I put it on and was blown away by the difference! Brown just brought my face to life. That was the first time I realized what a difference colors make.
So I would try the following test. In day light with a good mirror try different colors you have near your face. Watch the eyes and skin color. Look if your eyes become brighter or you get dark circles under them. Watch if you skin begins to glow or becomes dull. If you play with enough color variety you should spot the difference.

OK, looked at your old posts. I think these colors are flattering on you:
http://picasaweb.google.com/10.....9321282674
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/10.....5477175026

and I think you look good in purple too:
http://picasaweb.google.com/10.....4827191634
E.g. when I wear coral color I do not need any blush - my face just becomes alive. When I wear black or navy near my face my dark circles intensify.

Mellllls

Veteran

I know nothing about what colors are good for me and would love to learn. Thanks for starting this thread.

Sveta, someone told me once that coral is a universally flattering color; it looks good on everyone. I used to hate wearing coral but I am coming around. I think just knowing it looks good on me helps. Plus Angie said it was on trend this spring.

Maya

Veteran

I really believe women underestimate their own instincts and that is a crime. Spending hundreds of dollars on "color analysis" is a waste. I know a lot of people here have found them helpful but I won't mince words here: I am appalled at the idea. I agree with Taylor all the way. If you feel good in a certain color, chances are there is a reason for it. I knew as early as middle school that I never felt good in light blue, even though I really liked the color, so I didn't wear it. OTOH I always felt fab in bright, vibrant red, so I wore it all the time.

All the stuff you hear about undertones, etc. is a very, very loose starting point. In my opinion you are more likely to put unnecessary limitations on yourself by following these guidelines. That's all they are after all--guidelines. But what inevitable happens is that women become too dependent on them and cling to them as though they were carved in stone. They get too analytical about it. The amount of hues, shades, tints, and saturation levels on the visible spectrum are infinite! Limiting yourself to 20 or even 60 colors is suffocating.

You are inevitably going to pass through all kinds of lighting throughout your day, so don't worry about that. I know what I said is probably the least helpful, but I'm going to be arrogant here and insist that it is the best way. It will take some time to find your instincts regarding color, but it is so much more fulfilling than going by a book of swatches.

Kate

Veteran

I agree with Maya that women waste a lot of money on color analysis (and all kinds of things that are supposed to make us beautiful) and that sticking to any rules too stringently is indeed suffocating. However, I think it's possible to commit to wearing your best colors without spending extra money and without limiting yourself to the colors on your swatches.

I do limit myself to warm colors, and try to limit myself to muted warm colors (though I let the occasional clear warm color in). It's about the tone of the color, not the color itself. Everyone can wear green and look fab! The difference is the quality of the color green. My mom is a "winter" and needs a clear cool true green or pine green. My sister is a "summer" and needs a cool powdery green that is more pastel or minty. I'm an "autumn" and rock the army green and chartreuse, which are warm and muted. And the "springs" out there get the warm clear greens like yellow green or lime.

Honestly, I don't find this limiting, though it can be frustrating when I love clothing that isn't sold in a shade that's good for me. But at the end of the day I can't change which tones I look good in, and which tones make me look washed out, so it's much more liberating to embrace the warm muted color tones than to waste my money on clothes in shades that don't make me look my best. I also limit myself from buying clothes that don't fit well (and that I can't alter to fit well), do not have a flattering cut, and clothes that are beautiful but do not fit into my style or lifestyle. I think wearing the right shades of colors is just as important as choosing clothes that fit well, are flattering, and that I will wear.

Ariadne

Veteran

I love this thread already. Thanks everyone. Keep it coming.

Sveta, I kind of feel the same way about you WRT the colours and photos you picked out. Interesting.

Maya, I think those are really good points.

The main thing that has always thrown me is that I am fairly sure I have either warm (yellow) or neutral undertones to my skin. I tan easily and I feel my skin has a yellowish tone (but the yellow is sort of underneath a cooler/pinker cast). Does that make any sense? I never know what kind of makeup to get when it comes to powder, foundation etc. When I try several types the warm or beige tones often suit me best. I think I look best in warm-toned makeup like copper, warm brown, bronze, army green metallic, plum, coral. BUT my eye tone is a light sage green, which I believe is considered cool, and my natural hair colour is also neutral or cool. This is the main thing that confuses me. If my skin is warm and my eyes and hair are cool, what the heck am I supposed to do when it comes to choosing colours?

Photo-wise, this is as far as I could get today. My hair is not normally this dark. I usually color it a medium cool or neutral brown. I tried a new brand of dye and it did not turn out so well. My natural hair colour is a very neutral, almost "colorless" ashy medium blonde. When my hair has no color or highlights in it I often feel like it has an almost greyish or greenish tint. This photo is in indirect natural light, NO makeup. My eyebrow colour here is basically my natural hair color. I think my skin looks more fair here than it does IRL. Bonus: weird expression! You can magnify it to get a closer look.

http://picasaweb.google.com/10.....1409092674

I don't have any colours that I think look really good on me, which is why I'm confused. I just don't know. I sort of think I look better in in-between or muted colours, at least when it comes to red, green, yellow, orange and turquoise (I think I suit coral red better than lipstick red, for example, and a turquoise or teal with some grey or brown in it better than pure clear turquoise). I sort of think I look better in ivory and cream than in white. Purple, plum, magenta and various blues I think I MIGHT be able to wear in a purer, clearer form, but I am not sure. I think I can wear both silver and gold but I gravitate to silver. Other times, though, I think I'm totally wrong about all of what I just wrote. This is what's in my closet right now:
BLACK
Charcoal grey
Heather/light grey
Chocolate brown
Medium blue (1 item)
Orange (2 items)
Mustard (3 items)
Dusty purple
Olive green

These are some colours that I like, off the top of my head:
Blue violet
Ink blue
Cobalt blue
Olive and army greens
Turquoise
Plum
Pale silvery purple (wisteria)
Coral
Coral red
Tomato red
Black
Bitter chocolate brown
Cognac

Colors I DO NOT like at all in any situation:
Forest green
Pastels
Easter egg colours (lilac, lavender, various mid-level clear colours)

Does that sound pretty rambly and unfocused? Because that's what's going on in my brain all the time when I try to think about this stuff!

Does the photo I posted spark any ideas or suggestions?

Ariadne

Veteran

Ooh, Vix! I checked out your blog and I have to say I LOVE the palette in this post:
http://buildingacolorfullife.w.....-out-pt-4/

Don't know if it would suit me or not but I LOVE it.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I like to eyeball it, Brianna. I'm a feeler and not a thinker (ENFJ all the way).

I’d put you in:

o Burnt orange
o Teal blue
o Cobalt blue
o Turquoise
o A blue red
o Deep olive
o Eggplant
o Magenta purple

Kate

Veteran

I agree that your skin tone is warm! Generally freckles are a dead give away, and if your skin tone is warm don't worry if there are some cooler aspects to your hair or eyes. Usually people use their hair and eyes to help determine their skin tone when they're really not certain what their skin tone is. But your skin tone is distinctly warm, and so don't get worried by your eyes or memory of your natural hair color. I think I can see some yellow specks in your eyes, which are warm, and it might be that the warmth of your hair only truly comes out in direct sunlight, or it's just truly neutral. If you went for a warmer hair color I'm sure you would look fab!

The colors you like are almost ALL autumn colors! If you look at this palette: http://fireiceearthandair.file.....earth2.jpg I think you will see most of them there! Also, non-autumns usually look disastrous in mustard, so if you're rocking the three mustard items in your closet I think it's a pretty good sign that you're an autumn.

What do you think?

Scarlet

Veteran

I dispute the notion that people look good in the colors they like and take my mother and my husband as exhibits one and two. I think this color attraction theory only works if you also are kind of person who actually sits backs and assesses how you look (I refer you again to exhibits one and two.)

Having said that, Brianna, I think you are on completely the right track in the colors you mentioned. When I looked at you in the photos Sveta picked out I was thinking along the lines of rich but muted colors. I find the photo of your face alone harder to call, although it made me laugh when you wrote about the bonus

Vix

Veteran

How gorgeous are you in NO makeup, geez!

>I think I look best in warm-toned makeup like copper, warm brown, bronze, army green metallic, plum, coral. BUT my eye tone is a light sage green, which I believe is considered cool, and my natural hair colour is also neutral or cool.

I can see why colors could be tricky for you, though FWIW I see neutral/cool tones in your skin. You call your eyes cool and that's how they look on my monitor, too. [Freckles don't throw me, I've known a few befreckled types who glowed in cool tones.]

I do think the darker hair color creates a more holistic "flow" (for lack of a better word) and evenness than the particular reddish tone you had before; to me, the red really made your skin look ruddy.

My .02 is that I think you're on the right track with muted tones -- which can still be *relatively* bright, as you saw with my friend's palette! I'd just try out the warm vs cool ones and continue to keep on with your open mind.

Itari

(website)

Hey, I'm a Winter with freckles! Freckles are nothing.

I agree that you have warm skin undertones. Nevertheless, your eyes and hair look more neutral. So, relatively warm, but more muted colours would probably be right.

Mustard yellow, teal, dusty purples, olive, plum, coral, chocolate brown?

Ariadne

Veteran

Angie, I am an INFJ, very heavy (like over 90%) on the intuitive N. Your introverted twin! A couple of questions: by eggplant do you mean deep saturated purple? More of a blue purple or red purple? And were you thinking clear, pure turquoise? I really like all the colours you listed; they make me smile. I just got a cobalt (or maybe it's ink, or indigo?) tunic in the mail from Esprit, and I think it looks good. I'll take photos later.

I wonder if I could dye my traffic cone cardigan burnt orange. I have a bit of experience dying fabric.

I really appreciate the input so far from everyone. It's interesting to me that some people think my skin/hair/eyes are cool and others say they look more warm. My confusion has been validated, LOL.

Kate, that palette is interesting. My first impression is that most of the colours in the palette you linked to are distinctly more warm than I was thinking of; many of them are colours I instinctively shy away from, and so haven't tried before. I did just pick up a couple of Ts in the soft lime green colour to try to pair with my traffic cone cardigan. I have never worn that colour before.

That leads me to a second question. When this current dye job either fades or grows out, should I go for a warmer brown, a neutral one or a cool one (or the wild card, back to blonde with highlights?). My issue with warm browns is they always fade out to a brassy red I dislike--the colour you can see in my recent outfit photos.

I am going to list the colours that you have all suggested for me so far, to help me consolidate the input.

Generally:
Warm but muted / autumn / rich but muted

Specifically:
- Burnt orange
- Teal blue
- Cobalt blue
- Turquoise
- A blue red
- Deep olive
- Eggplant
- Magenta purple

- Mustard yellow
- Teal
- Dusty purples
- Olive
- Plum
- Coral
- Chocolate brown

Teal and olive both get two votes--clearly I need to give those more of a whirl.
I'll take these lists with me today when I go to the mall.

Anyone else want to chime in?

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Brianna- I think your skin tone is fairly close to mine, and those are the colors that I tend to like on myself, too.

Vix

Veteran

Good luck at the mall!

I wouldn't rule out "cool but muted" given you have a lot of grey in your current wardrobe and did look quite good in the cool brownish top (er, dress maybe?) you posted recently.

I can't be much help other than that because color names translate to SUCH variety and proximity really helps one say, "oh, I thought that was a rich warm muted color but next to X it looks cool and muted!" Or "cool and muted" ends up being cool and BRIGHT/clear....

Here are teals -- yes, I quibble with some -- for example:

http://tinyurl.com/teal-variations

So which one(s) are people recommending you try?

I think having a pure white and a definite ivory as a control might help you while you're shopping.

Ariadne

Veteran

Angie--what neutrals and metallics would you put me in?

Khris, that's helpful. I will look back through your posts and see what colours you wear.

Vix, I will try to take some pics in white and ivory later today or tomorrow. I do have a good amount of grey and greyish taupes right now. I'll take some pics in those too, as daylight and my rampaging toddler permit.

Ariadne

Veteran

Bump for Angie