Suz's taupe greige success has got me thinking

After looking at Suz's fantastic success with taupe, her comments on her hair having taupe/greige lights and everyone's comments, my mind contnutes to turn to how I can incorporate a lighter neutral into my wardrobe now I am no longer a cool brunette but a cool tone 'greige' with a bit of bottle blonde... Has anyone else made such a move and how did they use lighter colours? When I was brunette about the only light I could do was white so relied on brights with black and charcoal. I have slowly got more charcoalss and greys in the mix, my reds are being replaced with magenta/fuschia, and have a new found blast with turqoise and greens that sit alongside my blues (thank goodness they like playing still!). Black is ok with bright silver jewellery but overall it leaves me feeling blah now. You can't wear white all the time (well not me anyhow I am a grub!)... Greige would pick up the grey and white in my hair, tone with my blues for my eyes and work back with my blacks, greys and brights... Here is a photo I posted a few months back when I was trying out 'ginger' tones - ok but not really year round neutrals for me... Would love to hear of any experiences. I am 8 months into my full hair colour transition.... Yeah and my celtic brunette kids DO tell me I just changed hair colour to match Ed the wonder dog!

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13 years ago

Veteran

You seem to have a similar colouring to me, although photos can be tricky. I am still exploring my colours, after realizing that my changing hair made a difference, as have the new glasses. I am experimenting with white, black, and grey, predominantly, all of which lend themselves to blending with bright colours. Have you tried silver and grey, or is there too much blond in your hair for that to work?

You could be on to something with "greige". Have you tried playing with it? Or how about tan, rich enough shades to not qualify as beige? Or even Mo's blush?

Anyway, I hope my meanderings prove useful in some small way.

celia

The thing that occurs to me is that not only your colors change but also the contrast between the colors you wear change.
When you are a brunette with light skin you tend to choose more contrast between the color and with the lighting of the hair that contrast diminishes like you so well portrait in the picture you posted.

Caro in Oz

When I stopped colouring my hair about 5 years ago I had all sorts of problems with the colours I wore - nothing looked right any more. My hair was a light brown with lot of natural highlights, I loved chocolate brown accessories- belts, boots etc. but these do not work so well now. I think celia is right it isn't just the colours it is the contrast that changes as well.

Imogen Lamport has talks about the importance of value contrast on her blog. I am theorizing that I am getting away with high contrast colours, because my glasses provide that element of value contrast to my face, even though my natural colours have become more muted.

Scarlet

Sounds to me like you are on exactly the right track. I remember reading in "Elegance" (I think this is in the YLF book store.) how a woman should change her colors as her coloring changes over time and it reminds me of that (softening and shifting the palette).

jenanded

Thank you. I will readyour wise comments again, ponder, and keep trying new variations

tarzy

I just wanted to say that I think your hair is really beautiful!

Anonymous

Tarzy is right, your hair is beautiful now. I love that it matches Ed, lol! I like this kind of nude color on you, but I would also experiment with a taupe that's a little bit darker, so that there is a bit of contrast between it and your skin/hair. Your new wardrobe and colors are really coming together!

Suz

(website)

First of all, your hair looks gorgeous and so do you! What a beautiful woman!

I love the colour you are wearing as a neutral for you, but it might be difficult to find a lot of it, especially in bottoms.

It can be really hard to tell from photos, but it looks as if you could wear grey (or greige) quite beautifully.

I think that Celia's right; the level of contrast is almost as important as colour itself. As we age, typically we get "mousier." I'm one of those who has been mousy from the start, so in a slightly different position! I have always longed for greater contrast. The grass is always greener, right?

In your case, although your hair is light now, you still have darker brows and eyes, so you can probably still handle some black. And I'll bet you look stunning in charcoal.

Give a darker taupe a try; you never know. It's worth a shot!

Angie

Fashion Stylist

You look so pretty in that photo with Ed

Blush pinks, taupes, silver greys, white and bones are going to look great on you! Probably all shades of blue, deep red and off tone pinks too.

To answer your question, I wear lots of white and cream throughout the year (have forever) - those are my light colours. I just bought a blush leather jacket. It's not my best colour, but when I wear it WITH my right colours, it works well.

Hi again... Since I looked at your lovely comments, I popped to the store and taupe-y greige is not really happening alas... Anyhow I am quite happy to have come home from the store (with swaps not news!) in white/winter whites which DO work!, with various shades of greys to charcoals. Angie you are right, these look great back with blues and reds which I love. And Suz, yes with my charcoal and blacks... happy one here! Thank you for your compliments (Tarzy and Claire) - it has been a massive change from dark brown to this colour and I have been surprised with how it has worked out. Here I am (a bit thinner) but with dark hair and in red... I must add, after going out looking for greige, I came home with a red dress - will WIW soon.

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