I vote cool shades look best.

kkards, it was a fun exercise, even if I'm stil a bit confused. Give it a shot.

Thanks, Catnip. I think you're right that there are in-betweens for those of us that don't fit in the main four.

Thanks, Angie. I appreciate your input. I really thought I was moving more toward warm. Other peoples' perspectives are so useful. I'm so grateful for the Forum.

I think that you trend cool. Though you look great in that brown, it could be the undertones in it !

Every single time I thought you looked better in the warm color. The purple and pink were almost tied but the warm won out. I think you might have a neutral undertone like me which is why warm or cool don't immediately pop out to you. I wear both successfully and have veins that appear both blue and green. Gold and silver look equally good. What finally made me realize I was a winter ( I was torn between autumn - warm and winter- cool) was understanding that I looked awful in muted tones and that vivid crisp, deeply saturated colors were my best friends. I think because all of your test colors were vivid/clear the distinctions are harder to make.
What might make it easy for you is to recall before all this color theory stuff you learned what color did you know without a doubt you looked your best in (not thinnest ;-)) but what color made you light up? Find out what season that color belongs to and go from there.

I think you're like me: Mostly neutral. I veer slightly warm, but the really warm colors that flatter DH who is Filipino look terrible and feel too heavy to me. I think you may veer a bit cool. I can wear and feel comfortable in shiny silver and shiny gold, but brass and bronze feel too heavy to me. Pewter seems okay.

So what does this mean? You have options! Your warmth probably comes from your eyes, and the coolness comes from your skin.

Day and Donna F, I'm starting to think you may be right. Although...Day, the first color I remember loving and being complimented on was a deep, bright orange. I think I was 12. It had a backgammon board on it. Loved that tee! Donna, I love the positive slant for options. I started this wanting a clear definition to limit my options, but I'm not a big fan of limits, so go figure;-)

I vote for the Cool colours.

I was told by a Colour Consultant years ago that I should not buy the colours I LIKED, but the colours that suited me. This puzzled me until she had me choose colours, and then showed me which colours liked me.

I had always gone for warm colours until then but when I (reluctantly) got rid of these and went for the Spring colours instead, people commented favourably.

It is surprising the effect a colour can have on one. The wrong shades now depress me.

A really interesting experiment.

Harder than I thought it would be - at first I thought warm - but some of the cool colors do look good. Warmer colors seemed to make your face warmer (to me), except for the pale beige and the light green which I don't love.

I go back and forth on all of this too and usually end up choosing neutrals - navy, charcoal, black, flax and ivory with some deep red and emerald thrown in when I need a color fix.

I've been told I was a Summer, a Winter and an Autumn and, actually, I think our coloring is quite similar, down to the hazel eyes.

Years ago, while buying foundation at a Prescriptives counter, they classified me as a yellow/orange -- the warmest skin tone. However, they said something interesting. They indicated that warmer tones would create a natural effect, but, if I wanted to create contrast and cut the sallowness of yellow-toned skin, I could use the contrast of cool colors. That stuck with me.

My skin is less sallow these days -- and I think coloring does change.

As for the swatches, I think it's a draw on my monitor. This is something far easier to see in "real life." What colors seem to make your eyes and skin glow and pop? For me, it's easy: deepest purple, sapphire, burgundy, cobalt, raspberry, teal.

Carter, I'm late to this thread, and no expert, so probably no help. I am impressed that you've done this set up work and the drapings. Unfortunately, I think it's still really difficult to tell. The light changes so fast (as someone mentioned about the black and brown drapes, the lighting feels different); our monitors show different colour values, and, well...argh.

As Liz said, some of these are not warm/ cool pairs. I agree with her assessment -- the ones in 3 are both cool (I know because I wear both of those colours well) and the ones in 6 are both warm.

My hunch is that you are probably on the cool side ...but may be one of the "transitional" palettes, veering to autumn. That might mean soft summer or deep winter -- I'm not 100% sure of the terminology.

I've always been almost certain I'm a winter - Anne Hathaway coloring - but I can wear almost all of the colors you posted - not the oranges and both greens would be harder for me (although not impossible). But I can wear pinks which lean more corally/watermelony. When I look at the distinctions between different kinds of winters I get confused - since I don't neatly slot into one, and I see different color palettes posted for 'clear winter' for example different places online. So the same subset won't have identical colors.

I find it easier to rely on certain colors at certain saturations which I know work, then to go by those color charts after awhile.

I am so bad at this but my first impression was the warm colors were better. Although I know I look better in cool colors despite also having hazel eyes and warmish skin.

Oops I forgot to add my followup. I think you look great in all of the colors, except the yellowish pale green and paler true orange. You don't look bad in those two, but they are a little less in harmony with your skin tone on my monitor.

I vote cool, although I agree that 3 look both cool and you look fab in both and 5 look both warm to me....

Another vote for Cool here.

No doubts here: cool wins!

I haven't read responses above, and by now you and everyone are probably confused more than ever, but I prefer the warm colors on the right sides in all photos except the last one, where the beige is just your same skin color. The taupe on the left looks nice to me. So, which colors do you prefer to wear? Which ones make you happy and confident? Does it have to do with the actual colors, or more with the shape, fit, outfit and accessorizing possibilities with the particular garments?

Sometimes a color just feels off to me. For instance, I like dark greenish teals fairly well, and other true turquoise shades, but a color I call peacock blue is just not comfortable. The same with some reds - cherry red and winey or rosy reds are good, even orange red- and those are both warm and cool. There is a red I call "dead red" that makes me wish I hadn't chosen it.

So sorry I didn't get back to all of you yesterday. It was a very long day.

Eirlys, I think you've hit on part of my struggle. I'm strongly attracted to color. Honestly, it's the first criterion for anything I choose to try on. I suppose that would be ok, but it's so often the only reason I buy something. SO I end up with something in my closet in a color I love that doesn't love me back and may or may not fit well or play nicely with other items in my closet.

Tex, I've been thinking the same thing about the warmer colors making my face warmer.

Very wise advice, Beth Ann. I do feel brighter in warmer colors and more pale/neutral in cooler colors. I need to think about this some more.

Suz, I think I'd be most happy with in-between. There are deep saturated colors in each palette that cry out to me.

Rabbit, I am right there with you on the confusion.

Thanks, Golden. Perhaps I should have said "cooler" and "warmer" on those. There is more of a distinction IRL.

Lyn D and Rute, love your decisiveness!

cjh, thanks for your thought-provoking comment. There are colors that I know without a doubt do not work for me. Those are also the colors I don't really like just as colors. Then there are many colors that I love. My challenge is to match my color love to the colors that love me back:-)

WOW. It's so interesting how incredibly subjective this is, Carter. In my mind, there is no contest. Cool wins hands down (high five Rute). Yet others strongly vote polar opposite. Amazing actually.

Hmm, I've looked a couple of times, and on iPad as well as my laptop monitor, and it's really hard to call. I think you lean slightly towards cooler tones, but it's so close that I think you can wear all kinds of colors successfully. Lucky you!

Angie, this has been very interesting. On the one hand, I would have loved 100% agreement, but on the other, it is somewhat reassuring that there may be a reason I've never been able to figure this out on my own! I'm not an indecisive person, so trying to figure this out has been driving me up a friggin' wall!

Thanks, Janet. I suppose that's really the best of both worlds for me, but it's going to require much more self-control in the dressing room than I've been able to muster so far!