How Can I Be 3 Seasons?
December 7, 2011 by Christine Scaman
I get many emails with many terrific questions. I may not always know the answer but I’m better for trying to find it. Thank you for sharing your perspectives with me. To maximize the usefulness of PCA for you, it’s important for us to know where it lets you down.
This week’s posts are aimed at a 3 of the most frequently asked questions.
How can you be 3 Seasons?
Definite answer: You can’t. You’re not. You’re ONE Season ONLY. Everybody, all the time.
As many of you know, this topic gets emotional, inflammatory, even explosive. Even defamatory. So, a little digression:
#1 : Getting different results from different analysts…
I’d like to say I’m always right. I’d like to say everybody’s always right. About everything.
I’d like to say that I’ve never met a woman who got 3 different Season verdicts, and this is from 3 different Certified Sci\ART analysts, in person even. Not in this reality. Shouldn’t even step out our door if that’s what we’re expecting.
Of course I think Sci\ART is the most correct system or I’d have changed lanes by now. I never hear the places we disagree as criticism and I never intend it that way.
I sure have read some rants aimed at analysts whose Season IDs disagree or who use other systems – and this from members of the public, not even other analysts. It’s fine to point out mistakes, it’s vital, so we can all learn and grow, but there’s a way to do it without fanning the fire more than necessary. Everyone’s just trying their very best. That should be respected. Colour is real hard to do, even with a great set of drapes. Accusations drag everybody down. Kurt Vonnegut: “Rage and loathing over a book is like wearing a suit of armor to attack a hot fudge sundae.” If you have vented or accused, consider taking down your comment – and I don’t mean on this site, where I have no problem with rage and loathing.
I very much appreciate the many ” Please help me understand how I can be 3 different Seasons?” emails I get regarding every PCA system, including Sci\ART. They’re a valuable reminder that every belief system needs to be open to questioning and that every ideology is potentially flawed. I also appreciate women of intelligence who can react with composure and curiosity, rather than falling to pieces and succumbing to their evil twin’s inclination to point fingers and fling insults and curses. That looks bad on all of us and the whole world of colour analysis. Knowing we behaved elegantly feels so much better.
——
Time to lighten the mood.
#1a. So, the question was: “How can one analyst see me as 100% cool and another as 100% warm?”
An in-person analysis is surely best but it’s still a bit of a minefield.
First, there’s the accuracy of the drapes if the 2 PCAs systems were different. The test drapes aren’t intended to be pretty. They need to create reaction in the skin and be exactly suited to the colour parameters of only ONE Season.
Second, what might be very accurate but being called True Autumn in one system might correlate better with another system’s Soft Autumn colours. So maybe Company A’s Cool Winter would contain many colours shared by Sci\ART’s True Summer. Or Company B’s drapes for True Autumn would have fit better into Sci\ART’s Soft Autumn and Color Me Beautiful’s Warm Spring.
I haven’t studied every other company’s palettes but I’ve seen quite a few. It was Kalisz’s work as Sci\ART that got the 60 different colours in the 12 palettes nailed down. Finally, there was exactness and consistency in all 3 dimensions of colour in every colour in every one of the 12 palettes. A division line, almost a physical curtain, appeared to separate what PCA was and what it is now.
I still see colour collections from other systems that contain imprecise colours, shared colours, or the use of materials that make colour accuracy near impossible. If the colours aren’t right to begin with, the whole system becomes debatable and the tools are moot. This will be among the most common causes of misdiagnosis. Those 12 Sci\ART palettes that Kalisz began with, and the 8 Neutral Season colours she developed, are very VERY exact. She eliminated terms like pale yellow, Chinese blue, sienna brown, or cool red and replaced them with 12 exact different versions of each one. This is what raised the benchmark. Her achievement was no small thing and the importance of it for a correct Season ID can’t be overstated. It really is huge. Whether they’re called flow or Neutral or whatever, it’s not the various names or number of Seasons that are the sticking point between companies. That becomes “My philosophy is better than your philosophy.” “Is not.” “Is so.” The issue drills way deeper than that to the very colours themselves.
In her excellent comment to Can Natural Hair Colour Ever Be Wrong?, Denise suspects that different analysts look for different things. I’m certain she’s right. The thinking process that decides how the drapes are used, in what order, to draw which conclusions, will vary among analysts and how they were trained. The logic tree guides the conclusions so it has to follow a consistent path.
I use drapes that contain only a single colour at a time because every single colour is telling you something. Too many colours at once overwhelms the logic system. Might be that True Winter’s drape set looks acceptable until we get to the darker ones. The meaning of that would be lost with too many of a Season’s colours being evaluated together. Would I get the same results with napkin-size drapes than the larger ones I prefer? Maybe.
Even with custom-dyed drapes, the eye of the analyst and their interpretations will vary. This does happen. As you know if you’ve had a Sci\ART analysis, the drapes were hand selected by a master and are freakishly accurate. Despite that, I’ve had a woman leave one Sci\ART analysis a True Spring and leave me a Dark Winter from the very same drapes.
More power to the people who can standardize the colour system – but even then, even if the palettes and the drapes were custom-coloured and you could convince every analyst to sign up, how you remove the human element of error, I do not know. Computers can’t do this, only a human eye can pick up the subtleties. Towards the end of the session, when the worst colours have been excused, the answer is unveiled among layers of subtlety. Could any colour analyst, Sci\ART or not, honestly claim that they got every single person right? I’m sure some could. Perhaps they could add their name and business link to the Comments at the end. You should go see them, not me.
It’s not practical to have 2 analysts weigh in on every person’s session, which is why I’m so happy when people arrive with a friend whose character won’t just agree with everything I say. The more eyes, the better. Re-draping or continuing the following day is useful but many people make travel plans to come just for one day. The analyst has to wrap it up that day.
—–
#1b. Another good question: “If I was analyzed in another system and I trust the result, does the information from other companies or websites like this one still pertain to me?”
I don’t necessarily believe my way is the only way. It’s just that those are the results I understand and those are the palettes I can move around in. Those are the people and palettes in my head when I pick makeup and hair and clothing. But they can only apply to Sci\ART colours and therefore people analyzed in that system. How useful are my words if you were analyzed by a different system? I guess they’d have some value. But for choosing items to buy, you might rather stick with the company that analyzed you.
For the consumer, this is, of course, a complete frustration. As CCR sang, “…clouds of mystery pouring confusion on the ground.” How could it be otherwise? But you know, every industry is this way. This doctor gives you diagnosis A, the other one is convinced of diagnosis B. This makeup artist swears you’re cool, the other that you’re warm. What’s the answer? I think it’s to pick one system and stick with it. Hopefully, they have support materials to help women analyzed with those drapes make decisions about their appearance. You can pick whomever appeals to you but then you need to commit to that system afterwards too. They’re not interchangeable, though I know women would love it if they were.
All this colour talk is an academic exercise unless it helps you make better purchase decisions. You should be able to walk into any store, salon, boutique, or makeup counter, announce your Season, and trigger a whole set of clues in the sales staff’s mind. For store staff to bother learning it and feel successsful using it, one regulated system must prevail. I expect that work is underway to equalize colour analysis once and for all. I hope it works – and that the producers reach out and survey some analysts for ideas. They would hear many a good suggestion.
As ever, I’d be very grateful to hear your viewpoints. They always add to the conversation.
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thanks for great article, Christine. beauty is within the eye of beholder. but some eyes are better trained to see the beauty, what makes the difference.
I agree with you, one can never make a real progress in his/her life (or closet) while thinking about all that says otherwise. draping is really a begining of the journey and we dont have to agree with it, but in the end it is always about what we decide to do with draping outcome than with stylists abilities…
Thought provoking post.
When I had my colors done in the 80′s, there were 4 of us, 3 having colors done that day and one who had already been done. We turned out to be all 4 seasons, and it was so interesting to see how each of us differed and how clearly we could see what colors were right for each person. So we had a total of 5 in the room, 5 sets of eyes to see and comment. The analyst was a rather quiet and very nice lady who did not force her point of view on us, she let the colors speak for themselves and allowed us to weigh in as well, although mostly we all watched quietly. 3 of the women there were artists, and their visual talent was very helpful.
I think that one reason color analyses results differ is that color sense and color memory is something that not every one has. It is an ability, like musical talent or a head for mathematics. And color talent ought really to be a prerequisite for this type of work and perhaps not always is. Also, there are varying color systems and some may be more accurate than others. And of course there is always the person who is difficult to pinpoint.
Anyway, it is a fascinating field and I know we all wish for the day when retail will get on board and make it easier for all of us to find the colors that suit us and help us to look our best.
I recently read Munsell’s “A Color Notation,” and I was so sad that the public schools didn’t pick up on his lesson plans and implement them. Wouldn’t it be great if we could say RO62 or some such, and each imagines the same color? If clothes had, on their labels, their color notation, and the same mentioned in the online and catalog listing, so we wouldn’t have to worry about fidelity of color issues in printing or on screen?
I think the comment about different analysts looking for different things is right on. I have not had a PCA, but for years people (sales assistants, friends, family) have tried to put me in cool, pale colors. More than one person has commented that a pale, cool pink is perfect for me because it “brings out the color in my cheeks.” Personally, I think the color makes me look feverish-what skin isn’t pink looks uneven and somewhat gray or colorless. I can see why people kept putting me in these colors, though. Most colors seem to turn me gray or colorless, so I guess any sign of life was an improvement.
Since reading about color analysis and paying more attention to the impact of color, I’ve started wearing darker, warmish colors; I think I look healthy and alive when wearing them and my skin looks even and not gray. However, rather than add colors to my cheeks, these colors seem to remove most of the pink from my complexion.
Many people associate pink cheeks with being healthy, so I could see someone with that association easily mistaking the feverish look for a healthy glow, particularly since under bright lights the “not grey” impact of the right colors might be easily missed.
Ann, I have a similar response to cool colors – at first they seem to look good because they connect with some surface pinkness or bring out some pinkness, but when you look closer the rest of my face is either pale or uneven.
My experience gave me the idea about analysts looking for different things. The analyst who said bright winter pointed out things like “your face is so defined in these colors – see the clear edges.” and “look how white your teeth look.” while the analyst who said soft autumn said things like “look how your skiin looks even, it looks like you’re already wearing makeup in these colors.” and “look how soft and harmonious the colors look with you.”
Denise,
I have exactly the same experiance and results in different draping sessions (bright winter / soft autumn) and honestly I do not feel good in any of those types.
Ann,
Take a look at light spring. Just an idea . . . .
Oops, I meant Maja!
thanks for using my image
Great article, thank you. It’s amazing how deep it goes when you become confused about your appearance, just as people talk about the sense of self and identity they get when they really click with their season, your sense of self can’t help but be affected when you’ve had different answers and know in yourself that something doesn’t quite ‘fit’ while also having trust in the analyst that their expertise knows things you haven’t got your head around yet. I’m very sure different analysts look for different things that give them the ‘yes, that’s right’ cues, I’d love to listen to a discussion and draping session between two analysts who saw different seasons in the same person, it would be fascinating to hear them work it through and see if they could find a point of agreement, and how they might go about it. Your advice to pick one season and set of advice and go with it is good and very helpful to know, it’s easy to forget that the harmony comes in the consistency of that particular colour grouping. Thank you, this is an article I’m book marking.
This is a great article. I wonder if the conversation about accuracy in color analysis would benefit from distinguishing between consistency within a system and accuracy of the tools in a system. I can see that distinction in how you are talking about it here. Clearly the tools within a system should be accurate relative to the goals of that system. (If the goal is to identify the exact position of your skintone on chroma, hue and value, the tools should do that well.) Within a system, consistency would be very important. That would mean that if the tools (e.g. drapes) that an analyst uses place you into a particular category, then the parameters of the color space of the drapes should be consistent with the parameters of the fan the customer receives. Across systems, the parameters may be different, leading to people falling into different seasons in different systems (i.e. the relative coolness of the parameters for soft summer could affect whether you are a soft summer or a soft autumn in a particular system.) I think it is probably important to remember that these parameters are chosen by people and could legitimately differ across systems. That wouldn’t render any one system inaccurate. One system may even be better for one person than another if in that system they fall more into the “middle of their season.” It would probably also help customers to know more about the goals of different systems. If systems have different goals (e.g. are focused more on contrast of hair skin and eyes than skintone), that would help people understand why they get different results, too.
Hi,
Having been assigned three different seasons (Generic Spring, Clear Spring and a darkish Soft Autumn), I would completely agree that it depends on what the analyst is ‘looking for’. It has all been a very interesting learning curve – although I must admit to some resentment at the cost (in analysis, clothes and makeup) when I was analysed the wrong season.
The woman who declared me Clear Spring (CMB), talked about the pale clarity of my skin, and even said that it was a look that she herself aspired to. We talked about how bright the makeup colours were on my skin, and how colours showed up so strongly. When offered a choice of lipsticks to try, I chose the most muted (and it STILL looked bright), and she declared it ‘perfect’.
2 years later, I consider myself a Soft Autumn (on the dark side) which is worlds away from Clear (Bright) Spring. SA makes me look healthy, relaxed and comfortable – none of which seemed to appeal to the CMB analyst. The analyst (Nikki Bogardus) showed me how she was looking for rested, even skintone, bright clear eyes and a look of ‘ease’. Soft Autumn definitely does that to me – I look my authentic natural best.
But there are times when I don’t actually WANT to look my ‘authentic natural best’.
– I know that if I want to look professional (difficult meetings) I can draw on the clear pallor, with the right suit and a slightly stronger lip. It isn’t Soft Autumn but it is d*mn effective. I did a role-play training session a while back, I wore the Navy, a brighter lipstick and a pale foundation – got several compliments and was told I should be promoted. Power dressing has always played to the Winters and Clear Springs, hasn’t it?
– If I want to look approachable (Sunday casual, or informal office) I will wear my Soft Autumn sand, moss and brown with natural lips. But people don’t listen to me in meetings and waiters don’t notice me so much.
– If I want evening drama then I emphasise the darks…
Its a game, just like body language, and the better I understand it, the better I play.
And did I mention how much FUN it is?
Jo
So interesting. I think that the very name “Sci/Art” itself also holds some of the answer – that the result of a PCA is some part science and some part art. For example, if we hired 3 artists to paint our portrait each would be unique. We could then choose the one we liked best to hang on our wall for all to see. So it is with art, we EXPECT differences. The se even with photography – each has their own style
I think a big problem arises when the client goes to their PCA expecting ONLY science, like some sort of DNA test and NO art. This situation also being exascerbated by consultants who don’t allow for the “art” aspect or human aspect of how they read or interpret the light and colors and shadows
for this reason, just like a photographer or artist, I feel that each consultant should have a huge offering of ‘befores’ and ‘afters’ available for possible clients to look at. In so doing, they can judge for thselves of they personally like the”look” a particular consultant goes for -because yes, I do believe that with enough ‘befores’ and afters a pattern will emerge.
My comment was written on my tiny iPod screen so pls excuse spelling errors
Thinking more about analysts looking at different things, and I think this is just restating what everyone else has said, but I thought I would share it anyway. Some people clearly have one season. That season makes their skin look even, gives their cheeks color, brings out their eyes, whitens their teeth, etc. But what if not everyone has an ultimate season that does everything? Beauty is somewhat subjective (and fashion more so), and different analysts would disagree on what are the most important things for a season to do.
So I don’t get caught up in definitions of beauty, I’m going to use the Hollywood stereotype that has goths looking ultra pale & corpse-like. For some people, the same colors both make them ultra pale & corpse-like. For others, the colors that make them look their palest also bring color to their cheeks, and the colors that make them look the most dead also make their skin look a little less pale. So if goths got PCAs, for some it would be obvious for some which season’s black they should wear, while others it wouldn’t. One analyst might decide on the season that maxes out the paleness, while another might decide on the season that maxes out the deadness. A third might try to find a season that strikes a compromise between paleness and deadness. So all three analysts would agree on the season for the person who has a season that makes them look both pale and corpse-like, but would disagree on the season for someone where some sort of compromise had to be made.
fascinating discussion here. Esther, your post gives some great ideas and a very helpful way to look at multiple diagnoses! I would have found before and after pictures a very helpful way to see what the analyst saw, and an objective way to look at the effect different seasons had, particularly to be shown the less good seasons compared to what the analyst felt were good seasons. For those who found it difficult during the draping to ‘see’ the difference in the mirror, and I’m one, pictures to look at objectively afterwards, particularly weeks and months afterwards, might give a lot of help.
Christine, as you might remember, I have been analyzed many seasons. From True and Warm to Clear and Cool, and many in between.
I know that every color consultant did her very best. I also understand the great importance of the tools that are used, but…..each and everytime one of these consultants showed me my best colors, and I agreed with their findings. I have been analyzed a soft person. “Do you see how beautiful soft colors look on you?” Yes, I see that. I have been analyzed a clear person. “Do you see how wonderful the clear colors make your eyes pop up?” Yes, I can see that.
Now, all these consultants were great, did a good job, and putting aside that draping sets are different, wouldn’t you agree that a soft drape would not be a clear drape in another system? Or a cool drape in one system but warm in another? I suppose there are many similarities. The point is that I saw it happen every time. I can see myself as a soft person, but also as a clear person. I know that both yellow based and blue based colors look good on me. Nothing in the extreme though!
My point is, that I have seen the drapes do their magic each and every time. And after all this time, my conclusion is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Your comments illustrate perfectly the difficulties, not only in doing the analysis but also in creating a worldwide standard. Not a monopoly, maybe a franchise. With staff dedicated to continuous training. Ineke, we’d fly you in as our #1 model, because this article was written for the many women like you. You’re absolutely right, a clear drape is a clear drape. I do not know where the glitch is, I really don’t. Unless the drapes aren’t coloured precisely enough. We are always manipulating 3 colour dimensions AT ONCE, never just 1. So, the drape they used as True Cool…was it too muted? The drape they use as pure clear…was it too warm? Those test drapes, ALL 3 colour dimensions MUST be exclusive to ONE Season ONLY. Otherwise, there’s no point.
The eyes popping…again, I can see where the hang-up could be. Brown eyes will intensify in any brown drape, even a Bright Spring in an Autumn drape. Soft Summer blue eyes will intensify in a Winter blue drape. Is the analyst remembering to IGNORE that completely until the skin is perfect? Well, I just do not know this.
Do analysts out there have specific criteria when they look at a face? I use these:
#1: How does it feel to look at this? Have this colour and this face any logical reason for being together?
OK fine but not enough.
#2: Next, I divide the face in 3 horizontal bands or zones and pick apart every feature, shadow, blemish. Surely, this is how everyone does it or similar version. Especially near the end, as we deal with the best colours for the person, just dealing in how attractive it looks isn’t specific enough.
Your conclusion is most certainly reasonable based on your experience, Ineke. It’s the input of women like you that will help us fix all this – who are sensitive to colour and can look at the different drapes…hey, when you’ve had various PCAs, did you notice if the particular drapes were different colours? Were the True Cool Muted blue or green or yellow all the same between systems?
I’ve had a few Color me beautiful draping sessions, so I think these drapes should have been the same. But I bet the other systems uses different parameters for the drapes.
What I think happens is this. I believe I have both warm and cool parts in my coloring (my last consultant said 51% warm, 49% cool) so put one of the many neutral (in temperature) colors on me, and it probably will look alright. My skin color is light and my hair is grey(ish) so that puts me on the light side for many consultants, or on the soft side because there is not much contrast. But I used to have dark hair (with a red glow) and that makes me contrasting to other consultants. My clarity or softness is a puzzle. You’ve seen my eye pictures and I bet you thought they were as soft looking as a summer’s meadow! And yes, soft, gentle colors make me look chic. But….put a clear drape on me, and my face comes alive. One of my consultants said that my clarity level is somewhere in the middle between muted and bright.
I believe it’s the consultants personal preference that makes her decide on a season for me. Some like to see people dignified, chic, rich looking. Others like to see you sparkle, lively, va va voom. I think I’m one of those persons that are in the happy medium of the color universe. Nothing too this or too that. It’s like that song goes “I’m every woman, it’s all in me” .
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I think I have all the color aspects – light/dark, soft/clear, warm/cool – in me, and in a percentage that makes me a fence sitter. One thing is certain: every color that has a very obvious characteristic, throws shadows on my face. Too warm, too cool, too bright and too muted, too light and too dark, all are bad on me. I’ve promised myself never to do PCA again, because what would it teach me? But I think I will make an exception if someone would start up a Sci/art business here in Holland. Haha, yes, that would be the one and only exception.
This article and the various posts has been running round in my head, and frankly, it has been bothering me.
I know that Sci/Art has distinct colours for each season (unlike other systems, which can use overlap and flow) and I know that it is based on the principles of light, dark, soft and bright with all the variations between.
BUT all PCA uses artificial systems designed to categorise (for our convenience) such an enormous range of visible spectrum colours that there is no point counting them. Within that range there are colours NOT precisely calibrated to fit the 12 seasons – the ones that are combinations of neither light OR dark, soft OR clear, warm OR cool. One such colour is the Neutral Grey used to neutralise surroundings during an analysis. I am sure that there are other, similar shades – I can visualise a brown, a blue and a green that demonstrate the same qualities to my human eye.
Since such colours exist, in shades that can occur in human skin, hair and eyes, I think that it is perfectly possible for a multiple Neutral human to exist – heck that is why the Neutral Seasons exist, isn’t it? So that people can be categorised better when they don’t fall into the True seasons?
PCAs (bless ‘em) have businesses that they are running for money as well as love, and they have paying customers sitting in their chairs, looking in their mirrors, paying good cash for a RESULT.
So, lets say this mythic Neutral Grey person arrives for a PCA. Some colours look awful (too hot, too cold, too dark…) but lots of them look good. They play on the skin. They have different effects… but but how to weigh one effect as better than another?
Our Analyst is human, with their own natural preferences, and they HAVE to come up with a result. At the same time, they can’t send their customer home with two or even three seasonal palettes – so they pick a season, probably for reasons that seem very sensible – and voila! Neutral Grey is now Soft Summer. Except that Soft Autumn might have been just as good… or maybe Light Summer, except that there were those Dark Autumn shades which went well too…
(Ineke, I am thinking of you here)
Sorry to ramble for so long.
I guess I am saying that if I can accept that a person’s colouring can fall centrally within a season, then I have to accept that someone else’s colouring must be able to fall between two seasons – or even in the Neutral Grey between three or more seasons. And if that is the case, then there must be a tiny minority of such Neutral Greys who are unsuitable for PCA as it exists today (although I do accept that these people are probably VERY rare, and may only exist in theory).
However, even those people could surely benefit from learning this about themselves? How wonderful would it be for them if the PCA said ‘You are Neutral Grey, one in a million! You can wear almost any colour, but if you do, then you need to be aware of…’
What a precious gift!
But it would require that the PCA step outside their safe zone to explain that no humanly constructed set of rules can encompass the infinite variety of Nature.
And Christine – I know you well enough by now to realise that (even though we disagree on this) you will not take this as a criticism, but merely the expression of another point of view. So thank you for your open mindedness, and for providing a forum for this kind of brain unravelling and re-ravelling.
Jo
Ineke,
I must have been writing my last post as you were posting yours – we seem to agree.
Maybe you are that mythic Neutral Grey, One-In-A-Million!
Jo
Responding to Jo – I may be saying the same things in different words. Let’s say we can draw a circle that includes all colors. The original 4 seasons folks divided the circle into quarters. Worked great for some, not so great for the people we now call neutral seasons.
Then Sci art divided the circle into 12ths. Works great for most and when it’s great it’s really terrific! Some of us, looking for terrific and the benefits, have been analyzed several times with several results. Like Ineke I’ve seen (in my case sci/art analysts) see me as terrific in bright and terrific in softs. I’ve seen it in the mirror; I can see what they see. Except when I work on a wardrobe – black and white and royal navy are bad; camel and avocado and muted soft brick-red are bad; etc.
What if people like us need to place our slice of the pie somewhere else – like right in the middle so that it would include the colors closest to center from several of the 12 slices, more of some, less of others. Or horizontally near an edge, including the colors closest to the edge? Or 2/3 of the way down horizontally moving across several seasons but avoiding the colors closest to the edge and the center?
I wish I could draw a picture to say this more clearly. It’s like if I had a pie, instead of cutting a neat 12th for my dessert. I cut a slice somewhere from the middle instead of neatly from the edge to the center.
I understand that the system has to be do-able and pragmatic. But a way to address the people it misses would be useful.
Christine, I so appreciate your making a forum for intelligent discussion and hopefully new ideas that will help.
Wouldn’t shopping for clothes become a nightmare, when you are looking for colors that are exact in the middle of everything?
Besides, I’m not sure I belong in the exact medium. These colors would not look bad on me, but what I meant to say was, that I can look good in soft and clear. In yellow and blue based colors. They don’t have to be in the exact medium.
My eyes for example, look very soft, and when you put a grey blue drape on me, that is very harmonious to look at. But drape me in a clear blue color, and my eyes are going to sparkle and the color intensifies. Yellow based colors harmonize with the warm tones in my coloring; it makes my skin look creamy, but blue based colors pick up the berry tones in my face and it defines my jaw line.
Certain color characteristics react to that part of my coloring that is pushed forward by these (draping) colors. I also can wear gold and silver. I believe both look almost equally good on me.
Christine I wonder, what is decisive to you when you are analyzing? What if you see a woman’s skin looking creamy and smoothing, and that drape will make her look harmonious and pulled together, but other drapes will push her forward? I mean, that moment when you say “Ahhh, there you are”?
Ineke,
Oh boy, do I know where you’re coming from! I’ve been there myself. Each and every time I saw what the analyst saw: my eyes intensifying in Winter’s purples, my warmth coming forth in Autumn’s browns and peaches, etc, etc. Three IRL drapings plus several guesses from well-known analysts online have resulted in an equal amount of seasons for me, or close to it.
So I’m thinking about what you said in your last post about which factor should be the deciding one. I’m sure Christine will say perfecting the skin. Now I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
I have lots of broken capillaries, which makes my face ruddy and always darker than my neck. Not once have I seen a set of colors that fixed that problem – until the other day, when I tried on some really warm bright colors that I had at home. It was a huge revelation for me.
I know Christine says that “It’s not what you look like, it’s how your skin reacts to the colors”. I’ve seen it happen now, at long last. One of my daughters said: “It’s like somebody has turned a spotlight on your face, you just light up!”
The Cinderella effect wore off immediately as I was back in my white t-shirt and charcoal gray sweater (Winter colors). Within seconds my face aged 15 years.
So I’m thinking that maybe where my analysts (and yours, seemingly) went wrong was when they focused on the eyes, the hair or that “pulled together” effect, when they ought to have looked for that moment when suddenly you were lit as if a spotlight had been turned on. For me, it’s the bright colors. For somebody else it’s the softs, or the warms, etc.
Believe me, Bright isn’t the word that first comes into mind when you see me, although I’ve been told a thousand times that I have “sparkling eyes” (something that might indicate Bright in a world where appearance is the guide, not skin’s reaction).
To clarify: I don’t mean just the smoothing skin effect or the sudden definition of the jaw line. For me the change was almost violent in its intensity. Maybe it’s not like that for everybody, I don’t know. Maybe some experience a gentler aha moment. What I wanted to point out was that when the revelation finally occurred – after all these years – it wasn’t something that could only be seen from up close. It was potent enough to be observed (by my astonished family) from across the room.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
I’ve watched a number of friends and family get analysed now (not Sci/Art, House of Colour, although as Christine points out the system/company doesn’t really matter) and I think that some people are easier to analyse than others. One of my friends turned out to be a Winter, and she really was a wham-bam in your face Winter, no mistaking her in any other season. Another friend turned out to be Spring, couldn’t have been any other season. I did have a friend who was a tough one to call though initially and I suspect her colouring is more subtle (skin undertone colouring that is). However, once she had been diagnosed (Autumn) she put the make-up on and it looked so right. I have to say that all the PCAs I saw were revelations and I went away feeling completely confident in all of them. Skill of the analyst has a large part to play I feel.