Clear and Muted Orange in Eyes
August 23, 2010 by Christine Scaman
I am very excited about this post because eyes are so magically beautiful. If Personal Color Analysis is a window into our truest self, then eyes are the lenses through which those colors are projected back out into our world as our feelings, memories, and histories.
On our Facebook page, I once called a dark green-brown eye ‘swampwater green’. The eye color is particular to some people in the Bright Spring and Winter Seasons. One day, I will find you that eye color, but today is not the day. (The article How Springs Intensify Eye Color gives a link near the end to Heather at coloruza.com; her eye is as close a photo as I’ve found.)
It’s this particularly confusing concept of eye clarity where people get hung up. In 12 Season, or 12-Tone Color Analysis (I’m working at changing my terminology), these ‘clear eyes’ are often found among members of the clear (high saturation) Tones, namely Winter and Spring, and their 2 blends of Bright Winter and Bright Spring.
The fascination with these Tones is because of their rarity, and that very arresting quality of clearness. We recognize that it’s different, but it’s hard to describe verbally.
Here is a man’s eye. You’ll meet him in another article. For now, notice the color of the eye. Look at the quality of the orange tones.
Now, look at this woman’s eye. She is a Soft Autumn.
And now these 2 items.
Can you see which item matches the orange in which eye?
I once said that Spring’s eye makeup browns are not orange-y, which is true, because orange-browns tend to look earthy, the bane and blight of a Spring’s color existence. However, Springs certainly can wear many oranges in clothes and respect their tropical palette quite gorgeously. So too can there be orange in a Spring eye, but it’s not the same orange as Autumn’s.
Autumn’s is a dull rust, right? It’s the opaque, heavy-feeling, quiet, solid brick. Even in a faraway Autumn blend like Dark Winter, the orange has this same thicker, denser quality.
The orange in a Bright Spring or Bright Winter (or True Winter or Spring) eye is the beer bottle. Clear Tones (Seasons) have clear colors. They are reflective of light, not absorbing, as the Autumn seems to be, and more fragile looking perhaps.
The orange (because brown is just dark orange) of a True Winter eye is usually not as clear as that in a Bright Winter eye. That’s because the Bright Winter palette is even more highly saturated (i.e. clear) than True Winter’s. Is is so in every single case? No, there are always exceptions and degrees.
A reader sent me this most amazing eye photo.
Medium-dark brown hair, reddish in the sun. Lashes are light. The orange is beer-bottle clear, right? Notice too the yellowness of the skin tone (quite possible that it’s just from the lighting) and the generous heaping of sunshine yellow in the rest of the eye color (unlikely to be as influenced by lighting, though transparency might be). Without drapes, this could be a True Autumn for all I know, but I sure get a Spring feeling.
Eye effects are much easier to see in a light colored eye. Green can be more complicated. Brown is downright difficult.
Can you draw conclusions about Season from eyes? No. Many saw the man above as Dark Autumn before the drapes. In shade, the clarity of that orange was all but lost and it seemed more hazy.
I try so hard not to look at eye color during a PCA, because the drapes don’t always confirm those leading assumptions that objective color analysts should never make. ANY of the 12 Tones can have ANY hair and ANY eye color. That’s Rule No. 1.
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hi Christine!
so the only really important base is a skin tone and skin undertone?
I don’t comment so much anymore as I’ve I yet to be formally analyzed, though I’ve narrowed it down to some degree of winter influence, but basically warm. This leaves me with bright winter/bright spring, or dark winter/ dark autumn. I’m fairly certain that by traditional CMB standards, I’d be a dark autumn (dark warm hair and eyes, light skin), but those colors feel “heavy” on me.
I’m fascinated by the eye in the first picture. My eye color is similar to orange/brown surrounding the pupil, but my entire eye is that color. In photos, they look jet black, and in natural light, they look more amber, but I don’t have “colors” in my eyes like ones shown. The man in the first picture is a bright spring, right?
I’d love to see some examples of darker-skinned, dark-haired, dark-eyed people who weren’t dark autumns or dark winters.
Eyes are so fascinating
in those clear eyes photos, eyes seem glassy, highly reflective mirrors of water…is that also a “clear” hint besides color and pattern? It’s like they are not easily overpowered by anything and stand out also without the help of make-up…they’re gorgeous 
My eyes are a soft blue/grey/green color (not sure of the actual color lol) and have a yellowish ring around the pupils…It’s a good thing that any season can have any eye color, otherwise I’d be more confused about my season than I am at the moment lol I think I am a True Summer but I should find some colors to make sure I am not a Soft Summer instead…Maybe golden jewellery? Golden jewellery doesn’t harmonize with my skin, it just sits on top of it…Could a Soft Summer present the same reaction? In your post about Soft Summer jewellery you said that Soft Summer can wear golden jewellery, provided that it’s not too yellow/golden…Can this season wear it as successfully as the silver one?
Maja,
Not certain what you mean by “base”, but it is right to say that only skin matters in determining Season. Factoring eye and hair color will make you correct sometimes, but incorrect other times – my opinion only. Others will certainly disagree
Kathy,
Audrey Hepburn, Liza Minelli – probably not Autumn blends. The man is a Bright Winter. Bright Spring is often dark-hair and dark-eye too.
Chiara,
It depends on the person. Theoretically, Soft Summer should contain enough heat in the skin for bronzer and gold jewelry, but I don’t prefer it on them. Sometimes, it’s a very tight call between Soft and True, sometimes it’s obvious. Depends if the person is on the warm or cool side of the Season, or right in the middle.
Christine –
Audrey seems like a bright winter, while Liza, I’d guess, is a true winter. I don’t see warmer colors flattering her at all. My dad has olive skin, dark, ashy-black (now salt and pepper) hair, and dark brown eyes, and I suspect he is also a true, not dark, winter. He’s dark for sure, but nothing about his overall look is “warm,” and even the slightest hint of autumn color turns him green. (I mean, literally, like his skin takes on a greenish hue.)
From the examples I’ve seen here, I can’t tell a bright winter from a bright spring at all. Bright winters have just a bit more depth to their coloring?
What I was actually asking about was women of color who, by traditional color analysis, get lumped into dark winter or maybe dark autumn. The CMB system is flawed, in that respect. This site is one of the few I’ve seen that address that: http://www.thechicfashionista.com/color-analysis-seasons.html
I’d agree with your guesses about Audrey and Liza, Kathy. I can’t tell the Brights apart either without the drapes.
I don’t see many women of darker ethnicities. One African-American woman was Dark Winter. One Asian woman (Chinese) was Bright Winter. I may be wrong, but I think Imogen Lamport writes the Chic Fashionista, no? I respect her a lot. She uses a different analysis system than I do. Sci/ART is no different, regardless of skin color. You need to be draped or it’s a guess. Educated guess, yes, but you’d be amazed what the drapes can reveal (and conceal).
Hi, I would love to read a complete post dedicated for bright springs, how you can know if you’re a bright spring, the colors that suits them, makeup tips, everything you can say about this.
Thanks a lot!
Very cool demonstration! You have a gift for teaching, Christine!
Am I the only one who is finding it difficult to analyze the colors in my own eyes? It’s strange; I’m really good at identifying nuances in colors normally, but with my own eyes, I lose all perspective.
I know the over all look of them is sort of a medium jade color, but I can’t tell if it’s the gold in the center making mostly blue eyes look green? Or if the eye itself is green-blue anyway, and just ALSO has gold. I also find it hard to narrow down the exact shade of gold.
Loved this post. Just a little fyi to add: thechicfashionista is Anna Villaruel, and insideoutstyle is Imogen Lamport.
Ah I see it makes sense.I wear Clear/Bright Winter colors the best. But it didn’t seem to make to others sense due to my eyes not being bright blue or something. But none the less I have a very clear hair color,eye color,and skin color. And this article helped quite a bit. My eyes look like his! Thank you for these articles I will continue reading on!
I have greenish eyes with orange spikes around the center. I’ve always wondered why my eyes have orange in them, bur I’ve never really found out.