Oops, worst colour ever - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Shopping

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Oops, worst colour ever

Aziraphale

Veteran

Ever had the experience of looking in the mirror and clearly seeing that what you are wearing is NOT your colour? I think I might have found my absolute worst colour. I popped into Aritzia the other day because I needed a couple of new breezy summer tee shirts, and they always have lots. I wanted a black one and a white one (of course) but they had run out of white, so instead I bought what I thought was light grey. (The shop has dim lighting). I got it home and realized it was a pale, icy lavender, which I thought was rather pretty, so I cut off the tags and wore it. But when I eventually got a good look at myself in the mirror, I wished I hadn't. Talk about NOT my colour! It makes my skin look both ruddy (in a bad way) and sickly. I'm not even sure how that's possible.

It wasn't an expensive tee shirt, and it's drapy and comfy so I can still use it for exercise, so it's not a total loss. And it was a good lesson in the power of colour. Whatever "season" can wear pale lavender, I'm not it!

Shopping

30 replies

Latest reply was from rachylou

Anonymous

I hear you. That's so not my colour either! Maybe a spring or winter? I'm soft autumn I find that when someone wears a colour that doesn't suit, you notice the colour before the person and the person looks ill!

Thistle

Veteran

The color that does that to me is yellow. Some fabbers look so fantastic in that color, but put it on me, and you'd think I was ill.

Does go to show the power of color!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Citron. Looks lovely on other ladies here but makes me look like death warmed over.

Actually, the color you describe sounds like one that doesn't work well for me either.

Windchime

Veteran

Well, that's a bummer! I keep admiring all the beautiful blush pink items which are so prevalent this spring. I've tried on several tops and toppers and they all really wash me out. It doesn't seem fair that we can love a color but not be able to wear it.

Vildy

Veteran

Got a fun vintage cashmiracle faux cashmere topcoat. Hard to tell exact color in thrift shop's yellowish (spaghetti bulbs) light. Dusty mauve. The horror! Passing it along.

Gigi

Veteran

Hmm, pale lavender...I might go for that! I don't generally look good in pastels, but I have a lot of mauve undertones to my skin, so sometimes I can get away with lavender. Baby blue, on the other hand...now that's a different story.

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

(website)

Veteran

Heathered gray. My BF ordered us matching, lounge-around Coca-Cola sweatshirts, with a really cute logo. Very comfy too - until I get a glimpse in the mirror and realize I look feverish and sallow and exhausted, all at the same time.

But that sweatshirt does not set foot out the door, not even to take the garbage downstairs.

Elizabeth P

Veteran

I have a really nice lavender exercise top. Every time I wear it I don't even want exercise in it, it makes me feel so drab and low energy. Funny thing that!

cinnamon fern

Veteran

I sympathize. If I have the right mental image, that's a color I love but look truly awful in. I made up for it by painting my home office that color.

And, like LBD, heather grey is pretty awful too. Which is too bad, because I really like it.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Diane, I don't know what "season" I am. I kind of wish I knew, just out of plain curiosity. How did you find out yours? I'm not even positive about my skin tone. I've asked the drag queens at the MAC counter a few times, and they have a hard time answering. They usually say it's neutral or warm-ish, but they never say cool. So I guess that means I'm not a "winter".

Interesting to hear other people's worst colours! Janet, I have a feeling I'd look bad in citron too, but I've never tried it on because I don't care for it. It's funny (and unfortunate) that sometimes the colours we like and the colours that look good on us aren't the same. Or how the colours we don't like DO look good on us!

Windchime, I read somewhere that everyone looks good in blush pink. Maybe there is a shade you could wear? A slightly darker blush? I know I've read that there is a shade of red for everyone, and when you get down to it, pink is just watered-down red.

Echo

Veteran

I know exactly what you mean. Baby blue/ice blue is that colour for me, and regardless of how many times I've tried it, everytime I look in a fitting room mirror I almost literally recoil at how awful it makes me look.

I've never done colours or had my colours done, but I would imagine I am a warm of some sort, simply because I overwhelmingly look better in yellow gold. I am very pale, so I think my face looks like it could be cool or at least neutral, but I do tan so I think I have to actually have some yellow undertones. Whatever the reason, I can never wear pale blue. They say there's a red for everyone, which may be true, but I can tell you from experience that there is NOT a pale blue for everyone!

Aziraphale

Veteran

Echo, that's weird, because I think I look better in yellow gold too (although I prefer white gold), and I know I suit a lot of colours that warmer skin tones look good in, like mustard yellow, olive green and teal. However, pale blue is one of my very best colours. There must be more than one kind of "warm" skin tone, I guess?

I don't understand this colour thing!

Echo

Veteran

Well that completely blows what little I thought I understood about colour, too! I used to work with colour theory in printing, but never as to how it related to people, so I am completely out of my element when it comes to understanding how a colour looks good or awful on two seemingly similar skin tones.

Lavinia

I found that a little make-up can help colours that are "not your best" to look slightly better
For instance, I have a tomato red (so, a true red) winter coat that I look dreadful in. It completely washes me out. However, after putting on some simple eye make up, blush and perhaps a light lipstick, it's not so bad anymore.

I was also thinking that you might try a lightweight scarf over the tee in colours that are more suitable for your skin tone. Or perhaps wear the tee as a layering piece.

catgirl

Veteran

Pale lavender is on my worst list, along with any shade of beige/tan and most pastels.

Helena

Veteran

Aziraphale, I wish I had that eye for color - great when you can identify its effects like that!

Based on the fact that your skin is likely warm, a cool pastel makes you feel you look awful, and looking at the photos of yourself, I thought perhaps you were a deep autumn. The I looked at a color analysis site, and it says if dusty lavendar is a bad one, you may be a dark autumn! So that may be a good season to explore if you are interested, or if that's not the one, perhaps a warm autumn

http://www.truth-is-beauty.com.....e-you.html

http://www.prettyyourworld.com/deep-autumn.html (aha - this one also notes lavendar as a bad one for deep autumns.

EveningMood

Pastel pink. I have a natural dislike for pastels and I won't go near them normally, but this make-up artist in a French Sephora decided he was going to give me a Parisian pout. It was this super washed out light pink lip pencil that made my face look so newly made vampire. The guy deepened the color when he noticed I was horrified, but I have never forgotten how bad it looked.
I don't know my season either, but from my color preferences, one could say that I want to be a dark winter even if I am not

JulieJohn

Veteran

Icy pastels. Just ghastly. Never sure what color season I am but I have warm skin and low contrast looks.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Thanks for the links, Torontogirl! I read through them. Still not sure if I'm a deep autumn, but a lot of the colours on the list work for me.

Echo

Veteran

Thanks, torontogirl! I am almost certainly a deep autumn or deep winter, although I still cannot figure out which.

Helena

Veteran

Echo, I'm like that too - sort of straddling some different seasons (deep soft summer and cool summer).

Thanks to the Fabbers' patience with my infinite color questions, I've learned that, at least for me, it doesn't much matter -having got it down to two or so, there is then quite a bit of overlap. You might find you could pick your faves from the two palettes (deep winter/autumn), and they would all look pretty great!

Aziraphale

Veteran

I think that's the bottom line. Pick colours that look nice. What "season" you are doesn't matter for anything other than idle curiosity -- sort of like knowing what zodiac sign you are.

Neel

Veteran

Dusty *any color* makes me look ... Washed out, sick and like I haven't showered in a week.

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

Yes, the tan/beige/camel group has that effect on me. A great color to wear if I ever want to get sent home from work for looking ill

rabbit

Veteran

For me it's yellow and neon anything, and any earth tones that are more often seen in the landscape of hot climates rather than somewhere cool and rainy like Scotland.

I like the seasons (I'm some kind of winter) mainly because they solidified what I'd been noticing for awhile and gave me some new colors to try. But it's not exact, hair dye skews things a lot :). Some lavenders are good on me, some not so much. The same with pale gray, but sometimes I don't mind looking ghostly.

Aziraphale

Veteran

rabbit -- I'm like that with blue. I look great in light blue, but not pale, icy blue. (I don't know about lavender; this is the first lavender top I've ever owned).

Lavinia

I look ill in "muddy" colours - anything that seems to be mixed with some kind of brown, including mustard. I also dislike wearing bright red, bright green, kelly green, apple green - I gues anything that doesn't have any blue in it ...

I love purples, plum, raspberry, violet, lavender, pink, dusty pink, blush and all shades of blue, teal, turquoise, anything pastel, and black and white.

According to the definition from one of torontogirl's link, I am a "dark winter".

Alassë

Veteran

Yep - Air Force dress uniform top, pale blue.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Shudder. I have had this experience.

For me, anything yellow or yellowy-green (citron) is deadly. Equally, I look awful in coral or orange. Anything neon is too strong. I guess I could echo everything rabbit said. Even though our colouring looks different. Skin tones must be similar in some way.

12