You Know Your Colours – Now What?
September 24, 2011 by Christine Scaman · 16 Comments
You’re driving home from your colour analysis, in deep processing mode, trying not to run the reds. Even a massage doesn’t put you in this much of a zone. It didn’t turn out like you were expecting. This brand new person who looks like you, has your name, and moves when you move, appeared in the mirror. She doesn’t look like any of your ID cards. You feel like you met your long-lost twin. You’re a Light Spring.
“OK, fine”, you tell yourself. ” I wanted this. Wearing whatever and loving none of it was the last 10 years. YEARS?? Of being harassed by my closet? I want to be amazing at the job interviews I’ve lined up in after Christmas. The thought of looking like this depresses me so much. I want to look my age and my education but how can I find a suit made for me that’s not black and doesn’t make me look like Alice in Wonderland?
I feel braver just for getting to the other side of sitting in front of that mirror. And my hair is bugging me big time. When I pulled off that gawdawful gray cap and saw myself get older in my Miley Cyrus hair, I almost cried. Is Bethany going to even understand what I want? She says I look great and I know I don’t. How am I going to describe the hair I want and not hurt her feelings? Hang on here, it’s my money, my hair, and my life. Beth and I can learn this together or I’ll find someone new.
What do I do first? The mall is screaming my name but I’m pretty sure I have some work to do at home first. Do I have to throw out all my clothes? My friend, Cheryl, did that, but I’m more sentimental. Plus, I don’t feel sure of what’s right and wrong anymore. Well, I know for sure that camel is out, it looks like I’m wearing a couch cushion. Got my money’s worth out of it twice over. And bright colours, like the scarf Mom gave me…Sorry, Mom. I love you more than anything and I know you love me…
but I’m about to find toughness.
I’ll make a plan. I’ll open a bottle of wine, put my Crazy Straw in it, lock the door, and make a plan.”
1. All the stuff I’m keeping to make Mom or somebody else feel good can go.
2. So can everything I never felt good in anyway… No, wait. My better colours might be in there and I don’t know how to feel good in them yet.
New plan.
1. All the stuff I’m keeping to make Mom or somebody else feel good can go. The only thing I’ll hang onto is Mom’s voice saying “Do not buy so much as a jellybean unless you can return it.”
2. My analysis started by looking at my hand change over different colours. I’ll do that too. Nail polish. I can get used to seeing my colours attached to me. Feels safer than my face, having them out there where I can keep an eye on them. Any accessories would work for this, like a bracelet, a shoe.
Do I have to pull that Colour Book out of my purse in a store and hold it up to stuff? And explain it to the 50 year old sales person staring at me over her glasses like I’m a kid? Yes. Yes, I do. I know things about me that she doesn’t. I might catch a little heat from her but is she brave enough to sit in front of that mirror? Not very likely. I did that and I can do this.
3. My hair. I can’t even look at it anymore. It’s always there, like clothes that are glued to my skin. It’s getting done this weekend. I’ll take pictures of the colour I want and what I don’t want so Beth can see the difference. My analyst said women usually can’t be held back from fixing their hair, though it should probably be one of the last adjustments because it’s more personal and permanent. She said to expect it to be wrong 4 times and to treat it like a learning thing, not freak out, or Beth will get nervous and her creativity will fizzle. I’m ready to not be blonde, I’m ready to not be blonde, I don’t need to be blonde, my hair colour doesn’t make me stronger, having Barbie’s hair won’t make me look like Barbie, a 5 year old’s hair looks right with a 5 year old’s skin, take a big slug of wine, make the appointment, Ommmmm.
4. Got together a bag of clothes to donate. Weirdly, I couldn’t name what’s in it, like it’s gone from my consciousness. Pretty easy. Got the new nail polish, quite nice, feeling good, can see it matches nothing I own. Can almost laugh. Almost. Got the hair appointment made, will deal with that later. Now, sitting on my bed looking at my clothes. I’ll start with the colour I could see was my absolute worst.
Black. Oh, God. I saw it make the bottom half of my face look old and shadowy, with no respect for the fact that bankers need black to be bankers. Or was that 20 years ago too? Accepting that it doesn’t look elegant on me is going to be hard. Lord have mercy, it almost made puckers around my mouth. Close my eyes and put it in the bag. Put it 3 bags. Need a rest. Lie down till room stops spinning. Why do I feel like Marge Simpson in an isolation tank?
5. White. Oh, who cares? After losing black, out it goes. At least I can tell my whites apart. Sort of. Pure white, I can see. Mine is like custard, doesn’t sound too hard.
6. I feel overwhelmed. I can see I’ll be left with like, five things to wear. I’ll do this one colour at a time so I can compare the different shades to each other. If I’m not really sure whether it’s a match to my palette, I’ll keep it. If I always loved it and got compliments every time, I’ll keep it.
Had to move beside a big window to really trust my decisions. Mom was right about being able to return stuff, there’s no reliable lighting in a mall. Done red and blue and need to think about something else. Cheryl always makes that apricot cake recipe her Mom gave her to calm down. She says that creative outlets are essential, especially for women. They’re stabilizing and spiritual at the same time. Our brains can percolate in privacy while we feel calm and good. They make us feel whole when we’re unraveling. She’s so smart, that Cheryl. I’ll take my camera and go for a walk so I don’t brew and stew about this colour thing anymore, and find my best red lipstick outside.
7. Didn’t find the lipstick but did find the highlight. The wheat field, do you suppose that’s the light yellow beige my analyst meant? Pulled out my pastels/quilting fabric/embroidery/tabbouleh ingredients/ wallpaper catalogs, starting to see colour everywhere. I’ve read that we all express our real colours somewhere in our life. Noticed that all my cheap clothes are my right colours and everything I paid a lot for isn’t. Why?
8. Today’s plan: 3 piles and get to the end of the wardrobe. They’re feeling more like someone else’s clothes all the time. Sit with the swatch book and match colours. Yes, No, Maybe. Focusing on colours, forgetting about the style ideas for now. Needed a 4th pile: Not Sure What That Colour Is. I know I’m letting perfect get in the way of good enough, but feeling stronger, going to brave the mall.
9. Now, I’m after a day at the mall. Practiced ignoring black, white, and stuff I could easily tell was too bright and poster paint. Would not let myself touch it. Would only let myself try on what I thought might be a good match for my Book. The saleslady actually left me alone for a bit and watched me use my Book. She came to help and I thought “Why not?” and asked her if she had any tops in my blue. Cheryl said salespeople are either curious and will turn out to be really helpful, or suspicious and they’ll leave you alone. Good both ways.
Come to find out, she needs practice matching the colours too! It’s not just me who feels a bit trapped by those dots of colour in my Book. It’s everybody. But everybody can pick out bluejay blue. Instead of showing her swatches, I gave her word pictures that I made up myself ahead of time. Funny how I can look at colours and not really see them. Making associations forced me to decide what the colour is and isn’t, so I could lock down this new thing by using ideas I already understand. I came up with ”carrot and green onion, not sweet potato and avocado”, “iris purple, not royal purple”, and “nothing darker than a hazelnut”, “yellowy grey and faded denim, not moth, steel, or pinky”. She started enjoying the challenge and made the colour associations really well. I didn’t buy anything but thanked her a lot and plan to come back. If you want to go fast, do it alone. Check. If you want to go far, do it with somebody. This saleswoman’s input will be great. Still feel like an earthquake victim but getting more used to seeing better colours right under my chin all the time.
Bonus week at the makeup counter and my analyst gave me a list of good lipsticks. Wanted to try my new look on Monday so I was buying something or dying trying. At every single counter, the salesperson was amazing at matching the swatches. Sometimes the colour made me uncertain, but they showed me some products I never would have picked out on my own. If they can all do that, it’s going to help me a lot.
I tried to remember my keywords : blossom, candy, milky, peachy. Cheryl is a Dark Winter. She bought Dior Stiletto. I knew the reason behind it. After so many mistakes, can there really be logic to shopping? No wonder I feel so rushed now, making up for lost time. Can this key actually crack the shopping code for the next 50 years? I bought Pink In Love blush at the Dior counter. I was surprised that I felt so happy, like we really belonged together.
What else is easy? Brown mascara, simple, go to Target. Pick up a cheap eyeliner there, if I don’t like it, I’m out $3. If I like it, I can match the colour with a longer lasting product or know where to move for my next eyeliner. Got some fun grey walking shoes with pink and purple accents. Drove home feeling awesome.
10. Went to class. Wore only clothes from my Yes pile and my new blush. Nobody said anything. Does this colour thing not work? Is it only me who can see the difference? Did I not make enough changes yet? Do they need time to adjust too? Well, at least I must not look bizarre. I don’t need to be recognized, my self-esteem comes from inside me. I’m not imagining that I’m clearer in my head. It’s still 2 steps forward, one step back, but I know my sea is changing. I like it.
11. Haven’t worn the Maybe pile in a week, donated it. Had the hair appointment today. It wasn’t so good. Bethany was a little defensive. I actually thought she might be angry with me. I showed her all my pictures and explained how I wanted to go back to my natural base colour with just a few highlights, threads of light, not too much yellow. I didn’t want caramel or gold. I wanted yellow beige. I could tell she thought darker would look unsexy and old. I didn’t know what other words to use. I really wanted to get out of there.
I’m trying not to look at it. It feels way too dark but it might be a perception issue, I can’t seem to know anything anymore when I look at myself. All I see is a big question mark. That’s what bugging me most. The highlights are ok, I guess. Are they too cool and ashy? I don’t know. Maybe I should have waited. I feel really frustrated and helpless. I called Cheryl and heard about her Goth hair month, the shopping bag full of makeup she gave her daughters, how she had to get used to feeling like somebody else, but she looks so gorgeous now. You know what else she looks like? In control. That’s the part I want most. I guess I’m going to have to take back control. It wasn’t given to Cheryl, she took it. I guess everybody goes through wrong to learn right.
12. Next day at class. I was scared to go. Hey, 3 !! women told me they’ve been wanting to go back to darker hair and I inspired them. Wow. I can’t look that bad. I think my lipstick and blush actually match each other and look classy with my hair. Forget the hair, it will fade. I got Beth to write down the exact formula so whether I see her next time or not, I know my start point and just need to go lighter. I know I’m beige-based, not brown. I know I’m a lemon cream pie highlight, not butterscotch pudding. I know quite a friggin lot more than I did a month ago.
Maybe I won’t go back to Beth, even though I’ve seen her for years and years. I need a colourist who will do this journey with me, who will graduate right along with me. She didn’t even seem interested in my swatches. She just dismissed the whole thing. It made me uncomfortable to have a door shut in my face when I’m working so hard to push mine open. I wonder who took Cheryl from red to Goth to perfect cool dark brown.
13. Either my hair is fading or I’m getting used to it because it doesn’t feel so dark today. I’m dedicating the day to something I dread more than bathing suit shopping: foundation. My analyst told me I’d meet the most resistance from the hair industry and the most confusing labels from the foundation industry. Cool is hardly ever cool, warm can be too warm, and that’s before the ones that are just too yellow, peach, and pink. I’ll go when the mall’s not busy. If they won’t give a sample to try in my bathroom, I’ll walk away. I’ve had it to here with makeup counters that act like they’re doing me the favour.
Had pretty good luck at the department store but I wish they were a bit less sure of themselves, it just made me nervous to be honest, like I had to explain myself or justify my colours to try their makeup. It’s intimidating and I feel uncertain enough as it is. MAC were nice. Tried Sephora. They’ll give you a sample of anything. I was there 3 hours, got 17 samples of stuff, didn’t buy a thing, and they were still super nice. I’m waiting for a day off that’s not sunny and I have the house to myself to try everything out in front of the window.
Sat down with a big Starbucks and watched people. Is it possible that everybody’s off? Fashion came into being to be as useless as possible to prove you had extra $. I guess it still is. Asian women don’t tan to show they don’t have to go out and work. American women tan to prove they can afford to go away. I’m learning that it’s easier to be everybody else than being only me. I practiced finding women who look like me, really looking at what they were wearing, and what items were most unhappy in the picture. Celebs are tough because we’re so brainwashed into thinking they’re never less than perfect, I like real people better. I found a picture of me and I’m going to pretend I’m the stylist shopping for her. Dress somebody that looks like me.
Here’s a pic of me that I like from quite a few years ago. The analyst said that when she sees a child’s skin on an adult, she often thinks of Spring. I take pictures of colours and hold them near this photo. I like this eyeliner but I can see that darker wouldn’t be better. Pictures help me stand back and separate from the me I know too well.
14. Progress report: It’s been 4 weeks. I now have a cream foundation and a powder one. In fact, I have at least two of all my makeup staples, except eyeliner, but I have one and I know what I’m looking for. I know what to do to fix my hair. I’m finding it really easy to get rid of clothing in colour that isn’t even close. I’ve noticed that I might have to guess with some items but my friend, Rachel, reminded me that it doesn’t mean the difference between pretty and ugly. I’m still so much more beautiful than before.
After a few shopping trips, I pay attention to my judgment errors. It’s always going after too cool and dark, even in makeup. Maybe because that’s what’s in the stores and on everyone around me. What I don’t always remember are the right warmth and how gentle my best look is. I found a picture that really feels like me to hold in my head. I look for colours that feel like this. I’d make a really beautiful Tooth Fairy.
The styles make such sense that they’re easier than I thought. Nobody would put the same frame around my tulips and the flowerpots below. I’ll need to practice a few work looks and evening outfits so I don’t look like a Mother’s Day cake, but I can pick out a definite Do Not Buy. I actually feel taller. Mom has learned to respect my taste and even asks before giving me things. I talk to her and Cheryl a lot. I’ve learned that whether it’s eyeshadow or shoes or a coat, if I gather up several choices in similar colours, it’s a lot easier to see the subtle colour differences. I don’t buy expensive stuff if I’m not sure. I find the item online and think about it away from the store for a few days. I might make different choices in a year, but for today, I’m doing fine. I feel like a flower that’s more open each day and knows where to find the sun.
15. It’s taken me 4 months. I started out feeling really frail and irritated at myself. I couldn’t see what the analyst saw, what my family saw, I couldn’t see me. I haven’t lost the memory of how I looked before. My hair colour feels comfortable to me. I took lots of pictures to compare me to me as I moved forward. I’m not sure I’ll ever see what others see, maybe I’m not supposed to. Nobody does.
Some things will always be tough and I can accept that. I’ve tried three times to find a nude lip and it always looks heavy. I emailed my analyst the swatches and she said they’re too brown and muted. She showed me Soft Autumn colours and there they were, plain as day. It would be easier to pin down my Season if I learned this particular thing about the other Season. If this picture is Soft Autumn and I’m strawberry banana milkshake, it helps me know how the lipstick colours differ. I could always buy Soft Autumn’s swatches too.
16. Someone asked me today “Do you feel as happy as you look? You’re just glowing.” I had to say, yes. (Finally)
If I had to do this again, I’d have been analyzed with a friend who was having a PCA too. I think it would help me to see what someone else’s skin does. We could help each other pick colours. She’d be able to give me the feedback that would have really helped and I would have felt braver not going the mall alone.
The job looks big, like moving onto that five lane highway, but you don’t have to merge into all five lanes at once. Maybe I should start a support group.
PS: Today, I bought the most beautiful suit in the world.
The Consistent Bright Spring Landscape
September 16, 2011 by Christine Scaman · 23 Comments
Rarely do the people whose natural colouring fits into this Season realize it. When Julie Andrews played Mary Poppins, she portrayed the average of this appearance and character to perfection. Her hair was dark but the overall effect was of light and clarity. Even her speech and manner were clipped and brisk. She was elegant and groomed and made riding the carousel in a sidewalk chalk picture normal and natural, elegance and magic at once. In Mary’s world, imagination and reality were the same and make-believe didn’t exist.
Image Property of Disney Film Studios
The word Season describes your natural colouring. In the colour world, there are 12. A personal colour analysis tells you which is yours. Why use the word Season, it sounds so dated? Because you are a child of a planet whose landscapes change as it circles (actually, ellipses)the sun on an axis, and we call those changing scenes seasons. The pigments of your skin fit into certain of those landscapes without beginning or end. There is no me, there is no you, there is no line that separates us from our world. I didn’t make that up or believe it from a yoga video. They’re called mirror neurons and they’re quite real. For honouring and celebrating the amazing coolness of being here, Season is a great word.
Your pigmentation causes the same frequency and wavelength of light waves to be reflected from your body (because that’s what colour is) as those reflected from your seasonal landscape. Nature’s wizardry doesn’t end there. The waves that move in that frequency and wavelength can be absorbed by the retina of another being and create electrical energy that becomes biomolecular energy. This generates an image in the brain tissue of that other. Were that other’s eyes closed and you could stimulate those eye neurons in that same way, you’d generate the same image in their brain.
Season is not about how skin looks, it’s about how it reacts. It needs to be given something to react to, like drapes or makeup or clothes. Otherwise, I don’t have a clue. You could argue that human pigmentation can’t possibly be narrowed down to 12 groups. Sure enough, you could have 20 or 30, but at some point, a very powerful way of improving your closet and your bank account would be too weak to work. There would be too many similarities among them to make each unique. The fact is, an eye isn’t able to tell that many similar colours apart.
The pigments that make up a Bright Spring person look a lot like the True Spring colours, meaning they’re clear and pure, warmed by yellow, and fairly light. When those colours get mixed with a bit of Winter’s, they become even more clear, but less warm and less light. With input from 2 True Seasons, Bright Spring is called a Neutral Season. They have warmer and cooler versions of each colour in their skin, hair, and eyes, and so in their colour palette.
Though the Spring presence is biggest, Winter always deals a strong hand. Often, these people resemble Winters, have been told they’re Winters, and dress like Winters. Once their hair turns white, they move over to Summer’s wardrobe and would look better if they’d stuck with Winter.
Landscapes
With the great distance between the parent Seasons of Winter and Spring, the landscapes are as variable as the individuals. The colours speak to me as lush and wild, so the landscape the same, like a jungle. The overwhelming collective life force of Spring and the violence of Winter co-exist. Winter places a cool veneer on the surface but the invisible reality is of life energy gathering force to sustain the frenzy of freedom and bloom that is coming in True Spring. Tension is building, for when this spring uncoils, True Spring will very truly have sprung.
These people have a thousand variations. My picture is pretty hot, or at least building up a lot of charge. AC pictures the melting snow running among the newest flowers. In the comment dated August 23 following The Brown-Eyed Spring article, which is also about Bright Spring, she said
One of the pictures that I have of Bright spring in my mind is of a landscape with frost and the first yellow and purple spring flowers peeping through the snow, the sound of water running under the clear ice, the crisp clear wind, the feeling that it may all freeze over again, but also the knowing that eventually it will be spring. Life will prevail.
She is in fine tune with her colours because she is on the cool side of her Season, so it’s apt that her inner landscape be cooler. Most interesting that the picture she resonates with coincides exactly with her position among the Seasons.You can follow a link to her very beautiful face in the comment mentioned above. Perhaps, her colour story looks like this.
The Persona
Tinsel.
This person sparkles. They have wit, conversation, joy, and humour. Winter gives them formality, organization, and some seriousness with the darkness in their appearance, but it’s not heavy-handed. Spring’s sunshine relaxes them, still with enough cool to give them quickness of movement.
Playful, cold, and clean, it’s all fun and games but there are many reasons for not wanting to get in this water. Winter=risk. A Winter element brings an edge, something that isn’t too comfortable. Winter will never make everything too easy for anybody. Like neon, we brace for this colour. In the beginning, you need to roll the dice and have a little faith that you look years younger. Don’t look at the drapes, look at the face when you’re choosing a Season.
These persons look more delicate than they are, like the finest icicles and waterfalls. This is not daintiness, frills, or fragility. Rather, think of the morning after a freezing rainstorm. The branches are coated with a thin layer of ice, looking like frozen feathers. The world looks more tough than soft, but we feel no threat. The sun is getting warmer, we can hear the music of melting ice, and we know the tough part is temporary, almost pretend. In scenery that seems so tight and yet is so easy to snap lies a contradiction that feels excitable and exciting, almost high-strung, to know everything could change in an instant with the right touch.
Light bounces everywhere. We know the thaw is imminent. Just a little more sun, a little more time, already we anticipate the gladness of Winter’s passage, and might even miss its majestic and solitary beauty just a little. While still quiet and cold, the colour information tells you this isn’t November.
This is a charming and very social person. Spring’s easy smile greets you, more friendly than you really expected. Spring’s love of dialogue appears, less reserved and more joking than you really expected. You’re carried along by an optimistic and open personality, but one who never fully lets themselves go. Winter still has a hand on the wheel and decorum will matter. It crosses your mind to wonder why this dark landscape is so sunny. How can it feel so right to have the sun out at night?
The Clothes
Since who we are not is 90% of the inventory of any store, 97% in Bright Spring’s case, let’s get a sense of what that looks like: earthy, heathery, dusty, misty, hazy, dilute, creamy, undefined, slouchy, rough, rugged, chunky, cozy, faded, subdued, faint.
The person is: spirited, vivacious, happy, charming. They’re the can of ice cold 7Up. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, ready for action, curious, and interested in everything. The body carriage is upright and perky, movements are quick and snappy, and none of this goes with the adjectives in the preceding paragraph.
What would it feel like to be standing by those crocuses above or in the jungle at sunrise with your eyes closed? The air is clean and brisk. It’s soft and sharp at once. You smell wet ground and new life. You’d prefer to keep one eye open, having no sense of being snug or sheltered, but it’s still ok. You’re pretty sure nothing’s coming to get you. Birth always brings so much hope and promise that this feels more like a party. Life is so vital right now that it feels a bit unsteady. When you open your eyes, you expect that it will look different than moments ago. How might you do that with apparel?
Bright Spring is :
- funny, quirky, unique, unexpected, bold, bright, artistic, varied >> a deep and pure blue-purple shirt with silver writing, whirls, or sparks.
- unconventional >> if you do floral, make the flowers blue or green or extreme purple and turquoise (black flowers are a harder take on life, leave them to Winter). If you do tweed, make it pink (tweed being Autumn’s texture, but everyone needs warm clothes; think of a one-of-a-kind Chanel suit).
Bright Spring 1 by christinems featuring leather bags
- the problem with plaid is the same as with paisley, it is widely recognized as a workday fabric. It says practical (Autumn), not playful (Spring). The prominent squares say functional (A), not fun (S). Flannel is another less-than-perfect fit. By its texture, it dulls colour and says “grounded” >> Bright Spring might feel useful, sensible, and pragmatic, but others see decorative to ornamental. Crystal is not down-to-earth. The Zen moment is when everything you add to you keeps your compass pointing the same way. Compliments become holistic, about the whole you, because no element sticks out, pointing away from your True North. Pick shiny over muffled in fabric.
- Winter looks right when they’re overdressed for the occasion compared to everyone else. BSp carries some of that, though they wear informality better >> high end workout clothes are great. Jeans are often (not always) too rough. This person shines. They’d look good in a dress made of tin foil. It’s light, delicate, shiny, and hard till you touch it. Softening effects, like scalloped edges, are less good. Youthful looks work on Bright Spring with care, keeping enough formality to balance the Winter that looks bigger than it is. Polka dots to satisfy Winter’s classic style could be great in a formal and still symmetric design, or it becomes too young.
- Spring is young >> modern textile is better. It takes up more dye, not dulling fabric. The same colour is more muted in wool than Lululemmon knit.
- I want to direct you to a comment AC added, dated Sept 11, is this woman getting a handle on her colouring, I ask you??, after How Winters Intensify Eye Colour. She has realized that her colouring is assembled like a triadic colour scheme, meaning 3 colours equidistant on the colour wheel. Of course it is, the brilliant woman! Triadic colour schemes are brilliant on Springs. Anything based on a triangle is, but take care. Bright Spring isn’t that zingy. That scheme is very invigorating at any darkness level. This natural colouring is more settled. Use the 3 colours but keep one element smaller in proportion.
- The palette shines light outward, while Winter palettes always absorb more than they reflect. As light gets hotter and we approach True Spring, the sun will heat up even more. Below, you see Bright Winter on the left, Bright Spring on the right.
- anything too crayon/child’s drawing/cheery/playful is the extreme to avoid. Winter is very grownup, formal, majestic, regal, like kings and queens >> find the balance that still says elegance and excellent taste. You can wear a lot of colour well, but use those grays, small areas of B&W, and some darker colours that feel more serious.
- colours that are too soft, too pastel, too grayed – from a distance, those elements would all flow together, which is Summer’s watercolour look. Bright Spring’s facial features are very distinct from one another. Outfits look better when they are too, with adjustments for your own personal appearance >>bold elements and intense colour are better. Following The Brown-Eyed Spring article linked above, there is some great discussion for those interested in the use contrast, with links to Imogen Lamport’s excellent explanations (If you don’t know her blog, you should. I find her better than anyone at explaining fashion concepts and their practical, real world, real body, real budget application). I’m sorry, I’m not very helpful, my brain locks up, but grateful that Fil, Imogen, and others can help.
- most of you easily have the darkness to wear black. When it’s solid, it looks too heavy and dark >> when it’s lightened up, it looks more delicate and crystalline, and if ever a word described you, that would be it. This Pointelle Cashmere Cardigan is great. Every Spring should take advantage of transparency, in clothes, makeup, jewelry, hair laminates, wherever. Wear a bright shell underneath, not black or white or neutral, all of which are too serious and not invigorating enough. As much as crystalline is real and right on you, the other big word for me is glaze. So thin it could crack, transparent sugar.
Bright Spring’s Makeup
Winter’s red influence is far-reaching. Logic might tell you that this person will wear their warmer bright melon well in blush and lipstick because the Spring element is dominant in their colouring. To my eye, the pinks look better. They can be warmer and cooler but they feel more right than orange variations.
Every Season has their extremes, True Spring’s tambourine jingling hippie, Soft Autumn’s Earth Mother, Bright Spring’s harlequin, bells on the hat and all. The makeup takes some courage here, at least the lip colour. Start with sheer since transparency works. Hair can be very dark but the skin usually is light and bright and needs that in makeup. Lauder is one of my favorites for clear colour in lip products. Wild Rose, Lush Rose, Rich and Rosy, gloss in Fresh Berry and Wild Coral.
Mixing MAC Dollymix and Fleur Power is good. Shiseido RD 401 is a nice blush. Smashbox Radiance is too.
Eyeshadow is harder than anything to find, especially if you prefer matte textures or have mature skin and wear them better. Nothing here you’d call brown. The greys in the beads in the choker and in the diamond shaped earrings below are examples of good colours. The colour is mostly grey and neither earthy (which is usually an orange grey or brown, like a saddle, or a green grey or brown, like army), nor Winter’s hard, dark, cold knife grey.
Examples? Help me out here if you know of any. Become the artist and mix your pigments. Use Clarins Vanilla Beige or MAC Chamomile under the brow, and then again to lighten and yellow MAC Print a little, turn it into that cleanest yellowed taupe. MAC Mystery was suggested, a really good clean brown. Make your life easy, and mine so I don’t have to scour the makeup counters in search of something hard to find on a good day, and buy Mediatrix, Conversationalist, and Upbeat from eleablake. I’d have to buy Daisies and Diamonds too, to make colours I already own right and to bring out the yellow in these eyes. (and check out Dishy blush while you’re there).
Bright Spring Accessories
Do not have a brown or black purse. Connected to a person so sparkly, it looks like luggage. Ditto the generic brown or black shoe, suitcases on feet. Black is fine if it’s not chunky and usual.
Choose patent leather over suede.
Wear fun and colourful exercise type shoes (and clothes).
Wear coloured coats and shoes, ballet flats in fun patterns, sparkly accents, gold or silver threads woven into scarves.
One part of shopping is crazyeasy for Brights : jewelry. Wear lots of it. It looks good. You sparkle and so does it. Not matched? No problem. From Harry Winston to costume jewelry. Fancy, cheap, pretty, silly, all fine if it reminds you of the thinnest layer of crackling glass.
Look for delicate, not heavy and complicated, not 10 interwoven strands of pearls and chains. I looked for purity of colour, for colour a person would notice within 2 seconds of shaking your hand, for movement, jingle, like bells on a velvet rope, like crystals suspended in mid-air. When I think of Winter, I keep coming back to dry. Spring, I get sugary, so I looked for a little sweetness in the frost.
I like hearts. Above, they’re little twinkles. Bright Winter is big glitter, harder words for a colder Season. This is frost, not ice. Swarovski is all you really need.
Learning and becoming your Season is like hearing a language you grew up with. I had a Russian grandmother. Understood it fine till I was 10 and we moved from Montreal. Now, I get the odd word, but there’s still roots in that soil. At first, it will feel very foreign, very “I have no idea what this colour language is saying to me.” Look inward for truth and you’d admit it plucked a string. Something felt a ping. From there, you keep moving towards it. Because you already are it, you’ll move fast. You’ll find a place waiting for you that will enfold you, while another person would always stay the square peg. You can choose to stand still, but life is much more fun if you keep moving towards the heat.
Sci\ART Colour Analysis England Dates Extended
September 15, 2011 by Christine Scaman · Leave a Comment
Due to high demand, colour analyst Nikki Bogardus has extended the dates of her time in London.
You can have your colours analyzed by a Certified Sci\ART analyst from September 25 till October 3.
Contact Nikki at www.mycolorrx.com for scheduling and other questions.
How Winters Intensify Eye Colour
September 10, 2011 by Christine Scaman · 8 Comments
How the other 9 Seasons intensify eye colour has been discussed in previous posts (Spring, Summer, Autumn). I neglected Winter because I figured these eyes don’t need a lot of help, they tend to be self-emphasizing. I thought I wouldn’t have much to say (will I ever learn?). But I was wrong, there are still ways to make what you have better, and really important ways not to make things worse.
Previously, we said you can emphasize eye colour, or any colour, by repeating it, by using the complementary colour, or by using contrast.
For All 3 Winters
1. Coloured eyeliner, of course. Sometimes repeating your eye colour works, sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, it’s because there’s conflict with your inherent pigmentation, skin and eyes being usually made of very similar pigments. Stick with the personal colour palette. Once you get a perfect colour for your skin, it will automatically be perfect for your eyes and hair. At what point obvious colour in eye makeup becomes too young is your decision, and might depend on your age, your taste, where you live, and what kind of day it is.
The exact colours to buy are in the swatch book. If you try to guess at the best brown/blue/purple/green, you have about a 20% chance of being right. Think of how many blue or green eyeliners are available. If you know your Season, you could look at the colours Sci\ART analyst and makeup artist Darin Wright has posted, and sells, at eleablake.com. Go Personal Makeup Colors > Liner > Eye Liners > then pick your Season. Some of us couldn’t scroll down to the lower ones, but one smart woman pointed out that using the up/down/left/right keys works for her, and it did for me too.
You have darkness, so very dark pure plums, violets, and sapphires can look like a softened black if obvious colour isn’t to your taste.
These eyes are very hard to dominate. Heavy liner looks fine, certainly on the Darks and Trues. Bright Winter is a more delicate face, always something of the sprite, and some may need a lighter hand with dark liner. IMO, black doesn’t suit anybody unless you’re very dark, darker than Halle Berry, because it’s too hard. Very blackened browns and greys look more real and less pharaoh.
2. Wearing your eye colour in clothing, which is more effective than eye makeup since the colour block is bigger. The high colour saturation in Winters strengthens the effect even more. Winter looks cluttered and fussy wearing many colours at once but the colour(s) they do wear are very bold. Since there’s less colour distracting the eye, the one colour it does see is maximally compelling. If it happens to match the eye colour, they carry each other that much higher.
3. Wearing makeup. No group looks more heightened with makeup than Winter and they know it, often not leaving the house without a fair bit of it – but, boy, it can take them places. If any group can carry a little too much, it’s this one.
4. Generic brown eyeshadow is too hot, flat, and safe for this group. They are far more grey people. It looks cleaner and sharper. Grey includes a thousand choices from ice to near-black. The Darks will wear iron and diesel smoke. The Trues and Brights wear stainless steel and coal.
It becomes essential to learn your right greys, the colour I think is the most challenging and often the last one people get very comfortable choosing after their PCA, but such a high-efficiency engine in clothing and eyeliner. I appreciate that the idea of saturated grey is oxymoronic. Closeness to greyness is how we decide a colour is of low saturation. What does Winter do, who needs high sat everything?
It comes together in an item that looks densely pigmented, like a heavy layer of paint, not gauzy or watery or dilute or sheer. Light wouldn’t shine through it – or so it should feel, even if the item is sheer. The grey consists of B&W only, which looks harder, not bluish or pinkish or any ishes, which look softer. Sound softer. Hear ish and the whole message softens, like speaking with your head straight (no ish) or tipped (ishy). Seeing another colour with the grey, like Summer’s mauve greys, feels like the compromise we associate with softening or muting, the presence of 2 colours at once. There’s no iffiness about Winter’s colour. It is or it’s not. Water can be lots of colours but nobody argues over the colour of blood. Solid B&W grey feels like no bargain, no deal, no give…why, just like Winter!
6. These eyes can be black brown to the point that no detail can be seen in the iris and the intensity of the colour doesn’t seem much affected by colour. What is strongly affected in every one of these eyes will be the crispness around the edge of the iris. In wrong colour, it blurs and fuzzes, which, of course, is happening to the whole face. The same colour suggestions apply regardless of eye colour if the skin Season is Winter.
7. Complementary colours exist opposite each other on the colour wheel. In each other’s presence, they set up a current, almost a pulsation.
Notice the blueness of the white of the eye above? In right colour, that blueness is accentuated. It acts as a complement for orange-brown in eyes. Self-emphasizing eyes, just by pulling on the right shirt!
This seems easy. The usual pairs are,
Blue if brown eyes.
Brown for blue eyes.
Purple for yellow.
Red for green.
Be careful. You need the right complement. Every single blue and every single orange don’t come together to make the vibration of adjacent complements. It’s not just low-lying fruit. The money shot depends on getting it right. Make your blues more purple, the complements get yellower. Make your inborn blues more saturated and redder, complements get more staurated and yellower.
Luckily, once you know your inborn colours, you Colour Book contains their inborn complements. It’s actually really hard to know your exact eye colour and which pigments matter to make the colour effect work. A blue eyed Winter isn’t going to have big use for yellow in makeup, but can sure wear primary yellow in clothes. She’ll repeat the blue in liner and then contrast the white of the eye by choosing a dark blue liner.
Play with your eye colour and this tool (enter Complimentary under Scheme and play with the Sat and Brightness sliders.)
If you have a brown eye, all the blues in your personal colour swatches will complement the orange tones, brown just being dark orange. Pick the ones that make sense to you as eye makeup, like the black sapphire liner.
Green eyes are obviously not going to pick red eyeliner, they’ll pick red clothes. Many Winter greys have a red undercurrrent because red is a huge part of the undertone. I have really never seen a subtle red presence in grey in clothes or eye makeup. I doubt these items are coloured that specifically. If you could find it, it would be interesting with eyes that contain green.
8. Contrasts?
When I say contrast, I’m almost always meaning light-dark contrast, or value contrast, though there are other types. Wearing the lightest lights and the darkest darks at once is as important on Winter as getting their colour right. It applies to makeup as well as clothes and jewelry.
A very defined and precisely shaped brow is so important. It can be almost old-world movie star stylized. Elizabeth Taylor eyebrows. Casual is not so successful on Winter. Can you even imagine her in sweats? It’s almost impossible. Winter finds it hard to make jeans work and easy to dress up.
Define the brow with pencil or powder of the same colour, not darker, which can be picked out a mile away and looks cliche. Some Winters have a light brow. Go with that. To thine own self, right? It introduces gentleness that’s not expected and is extremely approachable and attractive.
Another way to define the brow is to surround it with light colour (highlight below, foundation above), like they surround the lips with light colour on makeup ads to make them jump out of the page. Always find ways to heighten the contrast on Winter. Winters will choose an extreme icy light under the brow.
You’re using very light and very dark eyeshadows. The eyeliner is quite dark, almost black. These 3 Seasons look good with dark eyeliner on the inner rims of the eyelids. Everyone else looks too vicious. Winter looks fierce, which they already look like anyhow (and are) so the stretch isn’t beyond credibility. It looks hard and they look hard, both in a good way. Great partnership (terrible grammar, sorry, Word is sending me all sorts of flags.) You haven’t altered course. The needle is still pointed the same way. You’re elevating what you are already, the name of the game.
9. Mascara is blackest black and lots of it.
Dark Winter
In 12 Season personal colour analysis, Dark Winter is the group whose natural colouring is mostly composed of the Winter palette pigments, incorporating an Autumn portion that will darken, mute, and warm the colours as though 4 drops of darkest chocolate were mixed in. They might look like Demi Moore, Sandra Bullock, or Paula Begoun.
I apologize to women of colour who get tired of being outnumbered by women of light Caucasian skin in these discussions. My own experience is with light complexions so I’m more comfortable suggesting makeup for that skin. Among my clients, one woman of Indian ethnicity was Dark Winter. Asian women have been Bright Winters and Bright Spring. One African-American was Dark Winter. I used the very same makeup for them that I do for light women and they looked great. No doubt, more intense and darker colour would have worked as well.
Eyeliner is black brown or dark gunmetal. Dark Winter is not playful, they’re functional. When I wear coloured liner, my children say “Mom, you’re just not that happy.” I just found out I am an INTJ personality, same as Bill Gates, which is weird because he doesn’t look Dark. Ben Bernanke, now, that makes complete sense. I quite love the eleablake liners in Currant, Walnut, and Midnight Blue. If Dark is going to do colour, do it right. It gets cartoony quick.
Teal matters. As a repeat to teal in the eye colour or to complement the orange tones in brown eyes, whether in makeup or clothing or jewelry, this is an important colour for everyone with any Autumn in them. Some degree of gold-orange, in this Season it’s the darkest, coolest version as darkest chocolate brown, is present in the skin and overall colouring.
Eyeshadow is dull dark grey (with an icy highlight under the brow). Clinique Totally Neutral is good. I see Edward Bess Soft Smoke and Chanel Gris Exquis online and they look good. MAC Smut is a contender, with a good name. Dark Winter grey is like a dark, dull, dirty (not dusty, which lightens as it dulls) grey.
The Darks can do a brown in eyeshadow better than the other Winters because of that browning-by-Autumn element. It is purpley. I mix Dynamic and Groovy.
True Winter
Could be Liv Tyler, Josh Groban, Elvis Presley, Anne Hathaway.
Eyeliners are black brown, coal, black if you insist, black sapphire, and dark purple.
True Winter is quiet. They are not working (Dark) or playing (Bright). Shape and outline matter more than colour. A perfectly lined eye using white and mid to darkest gray, that would look no different if seen on B&W TV, has unbelievable impact.
Red is the signature colour of the Winter group…and so eleablake gives True Winter the perfect cool, dark green liner in Eucalyptus.
Of all the Winters, True adds the fewest colour elements. They are perfectly defined and refined by B&W alone in very symmetric but strongly defined shapes. Colour in clothing can almost get in the way of the eye colour. One colour should stand alone, like one leaf left on a frozen tree, one red berry on a bush. Let that one colour be the eyes. And then the lips. I’ve never seen any other group do this B&W+eyes effect with such force. They’re just electrifying (explosive will be the territory of the Brights.)
Chanel Smoky Eyes is a good all-in-one quad. It’s sparkly, which looks good on the young. For the rest of us, it’s those cleanest greys in a matte version.
Bright Winter
Bright Winter describes the natural colouring of the person who is primarily Winter, with the faintest yellow light shining on the colours, making them lighter, clearer, and a bit warmer than True Winter’s. Who? Zooey Deschanel, Audrey Hepburn, Liza Minelli, the cute pixieness of Spring but the glamour is bigger.
Fun not functional applies to all Spring blends. Winter is the bigger gun in Bright Winter and brings with it glitz and shine. When you mix the two, the flash can’t be held back. Cat eyes, shine, colour, it all works, but stay true to Winter’s need for control and just do one thing at a time in a reserved way. Winter holds too much back to fit 100% with thrills and bright lights.
Here, coloured eyeliner to the point of crayon actually makes sense. It can also backfire if you get it wrong and take away from the eye colour. Depending on your colouring, this is the lightest of the Winters. Your eyeliners are here.
Purple is to any Spring what teal is to any Autumn: important. An element of yellow is present in every colour in the palette/person. Know your purples. Yours are lighter than TW and DW, more variations on sugarplum and poster violet than majesty purple.
The Chanel Smoky Eyes quad is a great choice here too, or equivalent colours. I think L’Oreal makes a Smoky Eyes. MAC has a number of greys, though I wish they weren’t all so dark and similar. They need to make the same grey range that they’ve done so well with brown.
Examples
First: Reminder: The importance of blush to heighten eye colour can’t be overstated.
With such strong eyes, a lip with enough colour to at least be natural is important or the eyes look spooky. The TW face seems off-balance. You’ll see the current page number above her photos and the Page option below so you can move around.
The lips should be in contrast with the skin just like every other feature. On a young girl, fire engine lips can look like playing dress up. She’ll wear clear fuchsia pinks, sheer reds, and purple glosses. The whole strong eye-pale mouth look, I never love it on any Winter. Lip colour doesn’t have to be dark, especially if lips are thick or thin, but the lips should not look like they’re wearing concealer or be chalky. Choose a sheer plum. Wear a nude look, but your nudes won’t be in the same tube as Soft Autumn’s.
The bottom of page 2 is bizarre, like Snow Princess disguised as Cinderella-pre-prince. What could be has been diminished utterly. I couldn’t find this girl till the second last photo Page 8. I can’t even talk about the one above it. Hair colour matters. Even on a Winter, spending all your time on the eyes and forgetting the rest isn’t a look that works outside of magazines, like the second one down Page 10.
As a general impression to the viewer, these colours on Elizabeth Taylor don’t hold a candle to these. The eye colour is grayed, the liner is too hot so the whites of the eyes are yellowed, the face looks pudgy. Quite possibly the most beautiful lips ever given to a woman just make you want to turn the page. The next one is the goddess. Do you know what the waterline of the eye is? The inner rim of the lower lid. It’s a makeup effect to draw a white line on it because it looks so clean and healthy (off whites and beiges on other Seasons). In right colours, it will be very white on everyone, very important effect on Summers who can be quite pinkish to begin with. See how white it is in the good photo – that’s been edited in but it just elevates what’s already there. If it were placed in the worse photo, it would look weird or sinister, it could never fit in. And yet it belongs on this woman.
Soft Autumn Landscapes in Clothes and Makeup Plus Blue
September 2, 2011 by Christine Scaman · 40 Comments
For those here for the first time, in 12 Seasons personal colour analysis, Soft Autumn is the type of natural colouring or Season that is mostly governed by Autumn’s personal colour palette, with a small but important influence from Summer.
In the previous Soft Autumn Landscapes, we thought about how perfectly Kristin’s photos of Belgian scenes depicted Soft Autumn’s palettes and colour language. How does this translate in your appearance? How do you take the beauty of how you already are and elevate it, level by level, by repeating it in perfect harmony with the original?
Very muted means nothing bold, cold, hard, sharp, super-shiny, super-sleek, super-anything, severe, or strict. White and black, both extremes, are outsiders. I hope Kristin will forgive me if I show you white and black on SA using her photos. Does your eye anything else? All the good, easy feelings go away and you feel the tension of being expected to deal with the white dot and come up with a reaction.
Though I always expect to feel more tension with black on this colouring, since SA is the light side of the Autumn group, I’m actually more uncomfortable with white. Perhaps that’s because Autumn in general goes to a medium-dark place. More so, stark white feels a bit painful because the inherently muted colouring makes the white absolutely sparkle so I feel I have to squint or look down.
What’s worse, to balance the clanging, insistent white, the person just gets grayer. When you force two things together that don’t belong, they both seem to go further in the bad direction. Something has to give to keep the balance. The white glows more and the person mutes more. On a Winter person, they can subdue that white to be just white, not phosphorescent-where-are-my-sunglasses-I-can’t-see-the-woman white.
Clothes
Colour schemes are not necessarily analogous or monochromatic, but rather depict easy, easy transitions. The very low saturation (meaning high degree of grayness) unites the colours, enabling the gorgeously unrestricted flow for the eye from one visual element to the next. Without extremes of light and dark, contrast is low.
I like feminine and masculine combinations a lot in this and Soft Summer. When magazines put lacy tops with denim jackets, I always see it best in the Softs. Summer is inherently female. Autumn is not really masculine, but they sure can pull off a suit and carry a briefcase. There is often a squaring of jaw and a straightening of brow, which is why they look so good with square handbags and jackets.
I like complements on this group too. With the simultaneous warm and cool presence of Neutral Seasons, you often see a blue-ish eye and orange-ish hair.
The coral sleeveless top: The beading is not in high contrast to the top and it’s muted, not sparkly. Peanut shells (a big SA visual for me, in texture, strength, fibers, and colour) do not sparkle. Brown is not too hot, quite grey, and not extremely dark, so Nutella brown. The fabric drapes a bit (Summer grace) but has some structure (Autumn substance). It’s not gauze. We’re aiming for a medium overall darkness effect.
The leopard cardigan: It’s quiet, not a Hawaiian print, geometric, or outright floral. You’re not wearing the whole animal, which would smother SA in the drama. Muted animal prints work well to convey the strength and texture that so defines the Season, but this is controlled and cooled, very neutral. I’d add a more substantial belt to add strength through natural texture (Autumn).
The twinset: The jeans are browned. The peach brown tank is browned, nothing candy or blossom about it, which would be Spring. Summer brings femininity and flowers are great, but not a profusion of blooms. The octagonal shapes remind of flowers, but with more structure and rigidity. On a Spring, this would look like, I don’t know, a medieval church? Too ordered, which on them proceeds to, > recurring > mechanical > heavy > clunk. A Dark Autumn can take medieval weight all the way to heavy, leaded stained glass and just look better.
Brown cardi: there are vines (Summer) in an earthy (Autumn) colour. To balance the waviness, the skirt has more sustenance, more grounding and squaring. These bodies tend to be more squared than rounded, though some have very womanly Summer bodies.
The blue top and the grey Bermudas. A reminder that all Neutral Seasons have cool and warm versions of every colour, of the importance of neutrals, and a segue into the next section.
To see an evening look, Soft Autumn Darkness Adjustments shows some choices.
Blue
Ashley asked for us to talk about the boundaries of Soft Autumn blue. Blue is inherently cool and has more options in the cool Seasons. By the time SA rolls around, Summer is leaving us and taking its signature blue with it. Once the warmth of Autumn gold or Spring yellow start mixing in, blues turn quickly to teals and then greens. A small amount of gold makes a warm, muted blue. When Summer’s blue and Autumn orange mix, colours mute more by the effect of complements. When we get to True Autumn, Summer’s blue is gone so some of the graying by mixing complementary colour lifts and colours are clearing again.
SA’s should look at Territory Ahead. Very Mesa, desert, glowing clothing. It’s not necessary to look like an ad for Frye boots, but there are some great building blocks here. Susan pointed us to this skirt. The tone-on-tone adds interest and the flowers are brought in as texture (Autumn) rather than floral bouquets. There are some great blue options there too.
In the picture below:
Soft Autumn Blues by christinems featuring a long sleeve jersey dress
Across the top, SA blues. On the left, that’s about as light as blue (or any colour) gets. The darkness range really hugs the medium section of the scale.
Across the bottom from L to R,
- the blue tyedye long dress is Soft Summer, still foggy but distinctly cooler, a little fresher
- the purple dress is too pink-red, Autumn really isn’t a pink person in the ballet pink sense; with Summer blue leaving, they have few purples till Winter red reappears in Dark Autumn, the ochre yellow base of the Season complements purple, so what they have is very muted
- the one next to the right (so 3rd from L) is better
- the last from L, blue with embroidery and gathers on right side seam is probably darker than my Colour Book shows, but I wouldn’t mind it, it has the required dullness and neutrality (at least in the photo) ; I would not go darker, depending a bit on the darkness level of the woman
Makeup
Not hot and not dark, which go to bloodshot and obvious too easily. As quiet as the colours are, they are very medium in darkness. From the blue selection above, you can see that the range of darkness for colours isn’t wide. The same goes with makeup.
Eyeliner: Nutella again. Lauder Softsmudge Brown is good. Rimmel Sable is warmer and works on some, too red on others.
On some Seasons, strong dividing lines between colour elements look right. That’s not the case on the Softs Seasons because that is exactly opposite to how Nature made them. Smoke the liner with a little eyeshadow over top if you like, to enlarge and define more in a diffused, blurred line sort of way. Darkening the line might backfire and just close in and take over the eye.
Lipstick: Bobbi Brown makes about 9 good lipsticks, as Rose, Soft Rose, Tulle Rose, Italian Rose (darker).
Again, not too orange, this isn’t True Autumn heat yet. Still a fair bit of pink. Like the roofs in the top photo, there is also a fair brown element. I start with the terracotta flower pot visual and adjust the colour to suit the individual woman from there.
At Aveda, looking for some boundaries, I wondered about not pinker, more saturated, or darker than Aveda Wild Plum or Lychee Luxe (bit sparkly, be careful of that in makeup, same discussion as with white above; matte is your best buddy). Their Rayflower could be a flesh tone. Any SAs who try these out, I’d love some feedback.
Also, Rimmel Heather Shimmer or Revlon Colorburst Soft Rose. I like definite colour. If it’s too skin tone, the lips disappear into the face, which works better if you’re under 20. The really light lips look best on the Light Season faces (same discussion as black above).
Eyeshadow: Aveda’s Gobi Sands eyeshadow and Clinique Double Date. These colours are not that hot. The stones and wood above the white dot in the photo at the top are right. As a Neutral Season, there is a warmer palette too, as MAC Soba.
Blush: Aveda Peach Lights looks like a contender (all feedback welcome). MAC Buff (bit pinker) and Clinique Mocha Pink are good too.
A Park in Paris
An inspiring closing note that another Susan shared with me for you to enjoy (and on behalf of all of us, I thank her). This is the Parc Luxembourg in Paris. How you feel sitting on one of those benches, surrounded by those colours and textures, that light and temperature, that’s how looking at Soft Autumn should feel. Could you feel yourself relax? Listen to those feelings. They’re real.
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