Attention Clothing Retailers
September 26, 2009 by Christine Scaman · 6 Comments
Undue caution
When I was looking for a room in a spa or salon to do PCAs, I spoke with 9 different businesses. 8 were run by women, 1 by a man. Know how many were even curious? Know how many said “That sounds interesting.” or “I remember it from the 80s and it didn’t work. Has it changed?”, let alone saw an opportunity to expand their own business? One. 1. That’s it. (Proud to say she was a woman.)
I encounter so much more resistance to the concept of colour analysis from the women who sell to other women than I do from anyone else. More than from men who sell to women. More than from the clients themselves.
I understand caution about new ideas. I have it myself.
I understand that retailers have negative memories from the old days. Women would come in with those annoying swatches. If the item didn’t match the swatch, they wouldn’t buy, and neither would their friend. What a headache. When it finally died down, they celebrated.
Clearing the air
There is one source of doubt that I’d like to dispel.
Colour Analysts are not your competition. We are not selling clothing or hair colour. We are selling knowledge that can’t be acquired any other way – but information that is invaluable to you as you advise your client.
Your GP is not competing with your dermatologist. They are helping you in different ways.
Nobody is saying that you are not good with colour. You are as good as anyone can be without a true analysis of the client. Nobody can see anybody’s undertones. The more people you analyze, the clearer that becomes. It’s not a flaw or a fault. Nobody is capable of it by just looking at someone.
Elementary marketing
It is not an accident that the genius marketers at Macy’s employ colour analysts. It is a new spin on the very prestigious and successful concept of personal shopping. They’re not firing them for lack of consumer interest or any other reason.
A good marketer sees selling opportunity everywhere. They don’t fight a rising tide, they ride it. If your antennae are up, you can turn anything to your business advantage.
Consumers will want you to understand how PCA works. You can’t wait it out or pretend it’s wrong. Other stores will join in. Your client will shop at those stores because she’s happier with every single purchase. She’ll go out of town to shop because the big stores will get in on this first.
Just as corporations were finally forced to learn and participate in social media, anyone who dispenses clothes or makeup advice will eventually have to make some room for seasonal colour analysis. In the beginning, the corporations didn’t know how to talk to their market, so they stayed silent. They paid a price for that and are still trying to catch up. Is your business so good that you can ignore this marketing occasion? There is barely any investment. What in the world is there to lose?
Use this to your advantage. Step out from the crowd and start a conversation. PCA’s can help you help your client. If you empower your client, she will love you. If you save her money, your word will be gospel. If you save her time, she will tell all her friends about you if she hasn’t already. She will return again and again and spend money because she is never disappointed.
If we allow our marketing juices to flow, we can help each other. Our clients will be overjoyed.
The Colour Analysis. What Happens? What Do You Get?
September 22, 2009 by Christine Scaman · 2 Comments
Qualms
The idea of having your colours analyzed sometimes meets with fair skepticism. I get that. First, you’re wondering if it’s a gimmick and whether you’ll just end up wasting money. It didn’t work overly well in the 1980s. What makes 2010 so different? (That question, and many others, is answered in PCA FAQs.)
The possibility that a change might be asked of you also creates a little hesitation. I get that too. Your suspicions are correct. Change (is Progress a better word?) will be asked but you can choose to make it as big or small as you are ready for.
Another source of doubt comes from the uncertainty about what actually happens. This is especially so among those who too young to remember the last big wave back of 4 Season Colour Analysis in the 80s.
Back then, more women figured out their season from a book than from an actual draping, so the whole notion of the drapes is quite foreign. The process has been refined to make it far more scientific and extremely accurate. The advent of better colour pigments and reproduction processes produces a swatch book that is light years ahead of what it used to be.
This is what happens.
You are in a grey room. You wear a grey cape like a hairstylist’s cape. I wear a grey coat. Your hair is hidden by a grey hat. I prefer to hide my hair as well. I like there to be nothing going on in the room colour-wise except the drapes and the reaction they provoke in your skin.
Your face is lit by lamps like those in a photographer’s studio. They emit a full-spectrum light, meaning that they render every wavelength (colour) of light accurately. The overhead lights are turned off.
And away we go.
It begins with coloured boards over which we float your hand. It allows people to start looking at how skin responds to colour. I’ve had women pull their hand away like it was burned when the colour of the board was changed. What they saw was their hand age 20 years before their eyes.
Then it’s on to the drapes. The drapes are the size of big bath towels and we lay them across your chest. It takes time to see how each person’s features will respond. Will they toggle between old/young, oily/glowing, rough skin/smooth skin when the colour is changed from bad to good? Or will it be something else on your face?
(The colour reproduction has been altered in these photographs.)
There are 21 sets of drapes used for the analysis, and each set might have 3 to 5 individual drapes in it. We would normally use about 12-15 of the 21 sets to arrive at the final answer.
We spend a lot of time at the beginning deciding whether you might fit into one of the 4 True Seasons. We move through a precise system of drape colours and see the response in your skin.
Reactions
I have had people who feel wrong colours to the point of feeling nauseated and asking me to change them quickly. For them, as for me, colour is something they FEEL. Some people see no reaction in their skin whatsoever.
I’ve had women in whose skin I could see little reaction. They make me nervous. I’ve learned to keep going. The drapes will tell me if I’m patient.
Some find the process hypnotic and fall asleep, like a moving meditation. Others provide huge feedback and see the reaction before I describe it.
Some disagree with me. Most don’t. Good thing. I’ve learned to trust myself.
Some people are so clearly of one Season that they’re easily analyzed. Some straddle two neighboring Seasons so evenly that I have to work harder to decide which side of the border they fall on.
Target
What we’re really trying to do is determine what the colours that look most perfecting on your skin tone have in common. They will compose your personal colour palette. Are they light? How light? Are they light and dusty? Or dark and dusty? Or medium in light/dark, medium in clear/soft, and medium in warm/cool? For instance, you could call these pictured below Light and Cool-ish and Clear-ish.
Once we have you pegged to a perfect season, we move on to a different set of drapes. Known as the Masterpiece collection, these are 15 drapes (12 different sets, so one for each season) of your most gorgeous colours and your most stunning fabrics.
I tell people not to look at the drapes. Look at your skin. The first time people see the colours, they can’t help but look at them. Yes, they are very beautiful, but very importantly, people FEEL a sense of recognition or familiarity, of having been truly seen.
We end up looking at the Masterpiece drapes about 5 times. The first time, you look at the colours. The next time, look at your skin. The third time, think about becoming acquainted with those shades in stores, and appreciating how they make your face look. You will learn to recognize the effect in dressing room mirrors even if you’re not sure about the colours themselves. That takes time.
We let your hair out of the hat and look again. If the beautiful skin effect is lost, then your hair colour is wrong.
We put on makeup for No. 5. Even if you don’t wear makeup, it’s worth doing this. Colour-analyzed cosmetic colour ratchets the whole transformation up that much higher.
Aspiration
You will see yourself as you never have before. You will see yourself as you could be, every day.
Result
Or, What Do You Have When You’re Done?
You have
- the knowledge of your position among the 12 Seasons
- a complete understanding of the best shades of every colour that is perfect for you and how to recognize them in clothing and makeup
- a Colours Book of 60 colour swatches, exclusive to your Season only, with which to choose clothes and makeup,
- an 8-10 page PDF document for your Season that describes the particular radiance and edge of that Season, the clothing style that suits you and your colours best, how to choose hair and makeup colours, the pitfalls to watch for, the perfect jewelry, the colour combinations and power look for men, and a segment on personality traits very common to people of this colouring.
- a list of the makeup, including brand name and colour, that you should be wearing in blush, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, lipstick, and lip gloss – to help you get started, as your eye learns to pick the makeup that looks custom-coloured for you
- the revelation of having seen yourself as you never have and the knowledge of what you are supposed to look like – your own easiest, most authentic beauty
- the power of knowing what NOT to buy and which trends to bypass (or how to customize them for you)
- the first step of a journey of self-discovery about who you are, and how to use clothing and makeup to tell the world about the real you. This is the “life-changing experience” people describe about Personal Colour Analysis.
Warm and Cool and Colour Analysis
September 20, 2009 by Christine Scaman · 2 Comments
This may seem like an obvious question but it’s worth thinking about because it is the foundation for so many decisions in personal design.
Any color can be make cooler (by adding blue) or warmer (by adding yellow). Even shades that are inherently cool, like blue, can be made warmer.
The primary colours behave a little oddly.
Red is easy. Add yellow or blue, and predictable things happen. You get an orange-red or a purple-red, respectively.
Yellow be made cooler by adding blue, and it turns greenish. A warm yellow is orangey.
Blue is really weird. If you warm it as you would another colour, by adding yellow, it turns blue-green-but, wait a sec. Green is on the cool half of the colour wheel, isn’t it? And yet, blue-green, or teal, often appears among the Warm Season palettes.
If you add red to blue, you get purple-blue. But red is warm, so why don’t we use this to warm up blue instead of yellow … and yet, we usually think of purple as a cooler colour.
It all seems contradictory. The answer is that among a group of otherwise warm colours, the green-blue feels like it belongs better.
And remember, to further confuse things, you can have warm and cool teals and purples.
Here’s a question : Can you make a cool colour cooler? You can only add so much blue to an already blue-based colour. The more blue you add, the darker the color gets. So the answer is yes, to a point, and depending on the darkness of the colour you begin with.
In the 4 Seasonal Colour Analysis system, the warm colours belong to Autumn and Spring. The Cool colours belong to Winter and Summer.
The Spring blue is clear, not dusty. It’s pretty light too, like all Spring’s colours.
Summer’s blue is dustier, but still light. I could have made that blue dustier – meaning grayer. So are all Summer’s colours light and grayed a little. They tend to be cool too.
Autumn’s blue got warm. And it got dark. And more soft than pure (we’ll talk about Soft and Clear in an upcoming post).
Winter’s blue. Nobody can wear this unless they’re really a Winter. It is dark and cold and intense.
Colour Analysis is about discovering what the colours that transform your skin tone to perfect-as-possible have in common.
Appointments
September 8, 2009 by Christine Scaman · Leave a Comment
Colour Analysis appointments can be booked by e-mail or telephone.
Please contact me by e-mail at : christine@12blueprints.com
You can reach me by telephone at :
P: 519-436-0287
C: 226-626-1344
Appointment schedules are very flexible, from 6AM-6PM, depending on the day of the week. Presently, most appointments are booked on Monday or Friday, at 9.30AM or 1.30PM. With one month’s notice, any day can be available. 2 appts. per day is the most we can manage.
The PCA will tell us what your perfect colour of hair should be. In addition to the other documents, you receive hair color pictures. Since I’m not a hair colorist, I can’t tell you the technical process and color formulas needed to adjust your hair. If you would like a technical hair colour consultation with one of the staff members at the salon (and they are all very good), then the appointment should be booked during salon business hours (Tues. – Sat., approx. 9AM-5PM). There is no additional charge for this consultation.
The studio is located in City Lights Hairstyling, 264 King St. W., Chatham, Ontario. The staff of the hair salon do not make appointments or scheduling adjustments.
Please do read the page of FAQs. The most commonly asked questions have been answered there. If you have further questions, I am happy to answer them at the e-mail address above.
The cost is $200CDN, cash only, all taxes included. I am happy to accept US currency, if you know the exchange rate and do not need change.
Colour Analysed Cosmetics
September 7, 2009 by Christine Scaman · Leave a Comment
The best makeup is invisible. It should enhance your features without needing to be noticed.
Am I meaning “Neutral Makeup” here? No, not in the sense of the nude or flesh-toned, neither-cool-nor-warm, often slightly grayed colours, that most neutral collections offer. Any given colour is still only right on certain people, “neutral colour” or not. Wrong colours will sit on the top of the skin and look like an island of obvious colour.
In the hands of a makeup artist, beautifully sculpted faces are possible with “neutral makeup”. But I’m neither a model nor a makeup artist. Are you? For most of us, neutral makeup just feels safer when we’re not sure what real colour to wear. The problem is that it looks flat and lifeless.
What I mean is “Natural Colour”. When the makeup colour is right, it will disappear into your skin. It will fuse with your face believably because the colour is already there. That’s the magic of Colour Analysis. We can identify the precise shades that are present in your natural skin coloring and give them to you in your Colours Book. Match those shades when you buy makeup and you will never look “made up”.
What if you knew exactly what cosmetic colours would look custom-made for you? No more hit-and-miss or believing wrong advice. No more having 5 tubes of the same shade of lipstick at the bottom of your purse. No more drawer full of makeup you’ll never wear. What if you owned 3 eyeshadows, 2 blush colours, 2 lipsticks, and a gloss, and they looked so perfect that you never stopped at the makeup counter again? With PCA, this is so easy.
Eyeliner and eyeshadow are any shade of brown or grey. That’s it. Now, that still gives you access to about 50,000 different colours, and includes blends with white, yellow, peach, mauve, orange, and black. How do you know which shades of brown and grey are yours? Don’t worry, the answers are in your Colours Book.
You will never get blue, green, or purple makeup from me. You might get navy or eggplant, but in a shade that will not be obviously blue or purple to the viewer.
Why not? Isn’t green more interesting than grey? Maybe, but interesting in the wrong way. People look at the green line, which demands the spotlight because it doesn’t belong on a face. It competes with what they should be looking at, which is the colour of your eyes. If you’re dying to put turquoise around your eyes, the right shade will be in your Colours Book.
You will never get frosted makeup from me, with the possible exception of a softly shimmering gloss or eyeshadow highlight for Winters, Springs, and their blends.
Why? Isn’t shimmer makeup pretty? Shimmer looks appealing in the package or tested on your hand. By comparison, the matte colour seems terribly dull. On a face, it’s the opposite. It’s the matte colour that enhances without drawing attention to itself. Shimmer can take over. On Summers, it looks hard because the complexion is too delicate to compete. Unless your skin is as tight as a 15 year old’s, and mine certainly is not, painting shimmer over it is a good way of making sure people see every crease and crinkle.
Lipstick should have more colour than “nude”. If you’re 25 or less, with the great lip definition of youth, you can wear flesh-toned lip colours. Even then, the only women who can wear lip colour that is lighter than the skin are on the pages of magazines. If you’re mature, you lose lip colour and lip definition, and a brighter shade looks more youthful.
The trick is getting the brighter shade that is so right that is matches your skin, eyes, and hair perfectly – and you’ll find it, all laid out in the gorgeous choices of your Colours Book. Armed with the knowledge of your perfect lip and blush colours, who wouldn’t choose those? It looks sophisticated, fresh, and younger.
Are there makeup colours that everyone can wear? NO! Your natural coloring dictates your perfect makeup and there are 12 different types. If you wear the wrong shades, it’s like wearing someone else’s size or style of clothes. The effect is disorganized, which translates as weak. It does nothing.
Are there makeup colours that are shared between Seasons? Not in a perfect world. Unfortunately, the cosmetics industry offering is mostly disorganized. Even when you know what’s right on you, it can be hard to find.
Why don’t they teach it? The fact is that it cannot be taught. For each woman, it must begin with a PCA. Nobody can tell your undertones, overtones, or true colours without it. Nobody. There are too many variables and too many confusing distractions.
Once you know your precise inborn tones, you’re no longer going out on a colour limb when you buy makeup or choose a hair colour. You’re making educated choices empowered by self-knowledge.
So, do you sell makeup collections for the Seasons? No. I’d have to deal with too many different companies. I do give you a list of specific products and colours to test. I often go makeup shopping for you.
Colours Books for Men
September 6, 2009 by Christine Scaman · Leave a Comment
Do you choose colours because you know they look amazing or because they’re safe? Did someone once tell you that you can wear blue shirts because your eyes are blue? That may have been 25 years ago, but you still own shirts in every shade of blue. People may be tired of seeing you in blue but it can be difficult to experiment with colour. A mistake can cost in money, confidence, and reputation. The problem is that “safe” may not be the feeling you wish to convey about your character. “Safe” has very little impact.
The Colours Book for Men is remarkable. Like the Women’s book, the colour analysis swatches are painted on cotton canvas, using archival inks. This ensures a constant colour appearance, with any fabric, in any lighting. The books are easily slipped into a pocket, washable, flexible, and lightfast for 100 years.
The Men’s books are special because they expand the masculine colours of your personal colour palette. While you will find many choices for casual wear, the “career success” tones for suits, coats, pants, shoes, belts, and sweaters are more numerous than in the Women’s books.
The Men’s books are also distinctive because they provide the five 3-colour combinations that create the power look for men of that colouring or Season. These shade trios can be used to guide choices in ties, in suit/shirt/tie outfits, or in stripes or flecks in suits and sport coats.
In your wrong clothing colours, you look older and heavier. Your face appears more doughy, shadowed, blemished, and oily. Haphazard use of colour demonstrates a weakness in personal knowledge and command. PCA is simply too easy to excuse yourself from leveraging the power of getting this right.
Instead of guessing, or using colour in a hopeful but disorganized way, ultimately to your disadvantage, consider this : You have the choice of using colour in a deliberate and profitable manner every single day.
Appearance sells. An exciting appearance that holds people’s attention sells more.
Learn to use the communication of colour to control the impression your appearance makes. PCA is the basis for understanding how to manipulate colour to leave the most pleasing sensation with a viewer.
You will find answers to the most commonly asked questions about your PCA appointment at www.12blueprints.com/pca-faqs/.
Colours Books for Women
September 6, 2009 by Christine Scaman · 5 Comments
What if I could give you a catalog containing all the colours that look more flattering on you than any other? You can use the colours to match clothing, of course. In no time, you will have a wardrobe that makes you look slimmer, younger, stronger, and more coordinated.
Knowing how to achieve a beautiful and powerful exterior is completely within your control. It begins with a Personal Colour Analysis. Learning your unique personal colour palette is the foundation for every colour decision you will ever make about yourself. Guessing at your best colours will mean you will be wrong most of the time. Why choose that when you can deliberately influence the impression you make so effectively? PCA is easy and empowering. Once you know what to buy, you will feel comfortable in your clothes because your image will express who YOU really are.
The book of colour swatches you receive once your PCA reveals your season is unique. It is unrivaled in the industry because it is made using archival inks. These are guaranteed to be lightfast for 100 years. The book is flexible and washable.
Very importantly, the colours are applied to cotton canvas, rather than being made from fabric. This ensures that the colour appears constant in any lighting and can be reliably used to colour match any type of fabric.
Your Book is entirely exclusive to your season. It contains 60 different colours for each of the 12 Seasons. The book fits easily into a purse or clutch, within a durable, protective plastic envelope.
The colour analysis swatches can be used to easily match clothing, cosmetic, accessory, and shoe colour. Shopping will be a pleasure once you learn to use your Colours Book. That will come quickly. You will find that you remember the most youthful version of you that we found during your PCA. You will remember also that in your most gorgeous drapes, with cosmetic colours that look so natural, they seem to fuse with your face, you saw yourself and your potential as you never have before. You will be able to replicate that with the help of your Book. You will be amazed at the self-discovery doors that will open as you venture into colours you never would have tried.
You will receive by e-mail a document that outlines the particular edge and radiance of your season and how to achieve it. You will find information about choosing makeup and hair colour that accord best with your seasonal color analysis, and pitfalls to be avoided. There is a section on jewelry choices and, just for fun, about the personality traits often found among individuals in your Season.
You will find answers to the most commonly asked questions about your PCA appointment at www.12blueprints.com/pca-faqs/.
Personal Colour Analysis
September 6, 2009 by Christine Scaman · 2 Comments
Let’s begin with the short version:
Everyone has an inborn colour scheme. I do not have the same colours in my hair/skin/eyes as you, or my children, or my parents.
You wouldn’t put certain colours together, because it is ugly, or at least not nice to look at. You wouldn’t decorate a farmhouse and a villa the same way. Those styles would look crazy together.
When the colours you WEAR in makeup/clothes/hair exactly match the colours you are already ARE, it is 100% guaranteed and proven that you will look, feel, and present better. Much better.
When you wear colours that would look better on someone else, it looks disorganized. To the viewer, that translates as “out of control”, “weak”, “too much effort required, look away”, “older, fatter, blotchy skin, more tired”.
Once you know the exact shade of every colour that looks most flattering on YOUR colour composition, you also need to know HOW to wear it. The colour combinations and the clothing style matters. If I did lavender and lace, or beach blonde, it would be completely unbalanced with who I really am. Most people look that way.
To you, it means you’re wasting big time and money on items that detract from how good you could look. Since clothes that make you look old and tired cost as much as those that could make you suddenly very easy on the eyes, communicating the message you want heard about you, why are you wasting another second?
OK. So how do I find out what colours I already am??
Answer : there is ONE way. There is ONLY one way. It always works. It is a Personal Colour Analysis (PCA).
Most people have 20% or less of their clothes, makeup, and hair colour correct before a PCA. Think about what that cost you. After a PCA, you will be 90% or better, and improve to 95% within 6 months. You will know what NOT to buy.
Our aim during your Colour Analysis appointment will be to discover those colours that make your skin tone look as glowing and perfect as possible. The edges of your face (and body) will appear crisp and focused, the edges look sharp, so you look 5-15 lbs. thinner. Shadows on your face will fade away, so you will instantly look healthier, younger, and more rested. Imperfections like ruddiness, oiliness, yellow or white casts, acne scars, and large pores will blend away, as if you were already wearing concealer on those areas.
We will continue to narrow our colour field to those shades that make your skin appear evenly coloured, calm, and in balance with the tones and intensity of your natural design. At all times, the perfection of your skin will take priority. In second place, but still vital, will be the discovery of those colours that particularly intensify the colour strength and luminosity of your eyes.
The point is this: we will identify the exact shades of every colour that are present in your natural, inborn colour scheme. We will give you those colours in a book so that you can replicate them in clothing and makeup.
When your personal decoration is in exact synchrony with your natural personal colour palette, the result is a picture that is extremely pleasant, but highly compelling, to look at. Others will notice the energy and harmony of your completely and perfectly coordinated appearance. They will not be able to recognize why your look works so effectively, but they will be highly sensitive to seeing it nonetheless.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Colour Analysis. Maybe you have read some books or have been analyzed in the past.
The 4 season system of 30 years ago laid the groundwork. BUT, only about 25% of the population is a pure, or True Season. Everyone else is a blend, or a Neutral Season. If you could never feel comfortable being one of the four True Seasons, you will have concluded that the technique must be inaccurate or entirely ineffective.
Let’s move from the 80s to the present. The Sci\ART PCA method is a scientific, systematic series of colour tests that self-checks as you proceed. It will correctly analyze every person, regardless of age, sex, or race. It uses a set of drapes (coloured fabric about the size of a bath towel) that are laid across you, when you’re seated in front of a mirror. The drapes are precisely coloured according to the 3 parameters of colour (warm/cool, light/dark, soft/clear) to assess exactly how YOUR coloring fits into those 3 parameters.
The first impression you make has an enormous impact on how others feel about you. You are not judged on whether you resemble a movie star. Whether you have made the best of what you have been given is most certainly noticed.
You will find answers to the most commonly asked questions about your PCA appointment at www.12blueprints.com/pca-faqs/.
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