Feeling Imbalance
I went to a meeting. As the women arrived, one woman distinguished herself immediately as a leader in any crowd. Her physical presence was noticed first because she was quite tall and strongly built. Her face was equally strong, in the colours of coffee, cream, and golden piecrust, with clove brown eyes. Wearing bronze eyeglass frames with copper glints, her only makeup a beautiful deep cinnamon lipstick, she was striking and beautiful.
She moved through the crowd with confidence. She had the business savvy to put in a plug for her company, as smooth as could be. Her natural qualities of character were as manifest as her beauty. Her choices in clothing and jewelry, although of high taste and quality, were confusing.
Nobody is ever unattractive. Every woman is truly a beauty in her face and her heart and I can look straight in your eyes to say that. But there are better choices. Better ways to spend our money that look more truthful and less artificial.
In a white dress with splashy flowers in primary colours, suddenly, the random blonde hits in her hair stood out as disorganized. The coloured glass bead necklace looked plastic because our energy modifies not only colour but also texture and everything else that comes near it.
In the white jacket, we find our thoughts drifting to skin that's seen too much sun. It's uncomfortable now. We have thoughts we don't want to have. She, in turn, alters simple white to become strident and look, well, a little cheap. Thoughts we don't want to have.
We love this woman. It doesn't feel right that we can't settle in her presence but our visual system is on a roller coaster with too much to process. I'm always reminded of a light-coloured person wearing those Christmas sweaters in strong reds and greens with shiny ornaments appliqued on the front. Like wearing garland. We're feeling effort and distraction. Subconsciously, we're scanning the room for somewhere easier to be. She is an Autumn, probably True Autumn, wearing colours and feelings made for another woman.
Where's the balance? How can we know the way to enhancing what we are in a way that attracts people into our presence?
By wearing the colours and lines that we are. Cool Shimmer
Summer skin is most beautiful when it's smooth, silky, and dry.
Summer skin's reflection of light is the diffusion of moonlight. There, we can find no sun, no hardness, no glitz, no wetness. There's no winking of fireflies (that's Bright Spring), no sharp gleam of platinum (True Winter), no dew (Light Summer), neither iron or lead (Dark Season feelings), and on it goes. Moonlight is not blingy (that's Bright Winter's normal).
Moonlight is very cool and very soft. In a morning sky, it's a sheer cloud-white curtain moving in a breeze. At night, a cloak of pearly, silvery light.
[caption id="attachment_2297" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: Bongani[/caption]
In the way of Summer skin to mirror the colours and textures it wears, it will shimmer in brushed silver, pink, lavender, or blue, since these are the notes found through the entire palette, including the grays.
Even satined makeup requires caution. Satin on Summer skin can convert into frosty because these colours are already so extremely cool and the complexion is delicate. Only you see your clothes on a hanger or your makeup in the pan. The rest of us see them compared to your own colouring right under your face. We look best when we continue the colours, harmonies, and colour feelings that we possess innately.
Textile that mutes colour is effective. Summer is more swirly than thick, straight, or hard. It sweeps like a porch swing, a branch in a breeze, the lines created when you pour liquid slowly into liquid.
The Best Skin Finish on Summer Colouring: dreamy.
Summer colours are light (compared to Autumn and Winter), cool, and soft. Summer surfaces look muted and lightweight, with brushstrokes or a gently buffed texture. The softness is feathery. Fluffy is good. Downy is great. Good dreams have fleecy edges.
Shiny surfaces shift colour to appear lighter and brighter. That's great on Spring but makes no sense with Summer's colours. They don't cooperate. Since those same colours exist in Summer skin, it won't cooperate either. White feathers can be almost blue in moonlight but they're never the colour of lightning (Winter).
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: ilco[/caption]
The Summer Skin Finishes
Integrating Summer into the Spring and Autumn we've already done,
Bright Spring: glass
True Spring: persimmon
Light Spring: petal
Light Summer: peach
True Summer: cotton
Soft Summer: flannel
Soft Autumn: suede
True Autumn: velvet
Dark Autumn: leather
True Summer
Paper to pearl finish.
Use face powder for a matte translucent effect.
The Shine Stopper at Paula's Choice is very good. It works well on the T-zone.
Stay with calm, fresh, gentle contrasts. Summer light colours are pastels, meaning more pigment than Winter light colours that are closer to white. Avoid too much distance between lightest and darkest elements in hair, cosmetics, and clothes. Keep them closer together.
It's quite important to settle in your mind how far from white your lightest colours are. Look at them and notice that it's a long way to white from the coloured pastels for all three Summers. The eyeshadow highlight for Winter is some version of ice. On Summer, choose pastels for the brow bone, as muted (grayed) shell pink, where the amount of graying depends on the Season.
Use eyeshadow instead of eyeliner or diffuse the liner well by applying shadow over it.
Light Summer
Pearl to petal, as daisy, as butterfly wing. A little more fluff than Spring, a little more dry-down.
[caption id="attachment_2296" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: mcoot[/caption]
The True Summer section applies. There is more warmth here as a first warm weekend in May. Outdoor glows are great but controlled. A pale pink gold gloss or an uplight on the cheeks is plenty. You are a Summer, not a Spring, so restraint is needed. A May picnic isn't the same as the beach in July. Stay cooler than warmer in everything you add.
Every palette has light and dark colours and should wear both. For the Light Seasons, the dark colours don't get very dark but they are still important, as eyeliners, for example. Dark colours may appear darker than it is on this colouring, so try to match your palette in daylight and don't exceed the darkest level. Draw the product on white paper and smear it out to see the nuance in the colour.
Face powder still applies. Use translucent, perhaps with a slight piny peach tint.
The Spring stroke in Light Summer often places the outer corner higher than inner. Follow that with the liner if your eyes have that shape, but again, use an appropriate colour. A too-dark choice and a cosmetic effect may feel artificial or forced. The effect is better in eyeglass frames than eyeliner. Another great option is a cloud of aqua or cornflower blue at the outer corner of the upper lid.
Many True Summers have a very round eye, almost square. If the outer eye corner seems to pull downwards, then don't extend the line at all, just keep it close to the rounded outer corner of the eye.
Soft Summer
Paper to flannel finish.
From our textures above, Soft Summer becomes more woven, drier, and thicker as we move deeper into Autumn. Cotton to waffle weave.
Contour is an excellent effect on all Autumn-influenced colouring by enhancing the 3-D effect that Autumns do so well. Choose a cooler-than-peanut-butter, matte colour. A powder foundation 2 shades deeper than you would wear can work well. Since Soft Summer contains golden warmth, albeit a small amount, a medium-dark pink-gold powder can mesh well with the face and other cosmetics.
[caption id="attachment_2299" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: riceguitar[/caption]
On Summer, application is gentle and swirly. There are so sharp lines or edges. Diffuse one product into the next. The canvas is drier, using powder to ensure that products don't catch and jump. If using cream products, apply them to the skin before the powder so they appear from within.
4 Season recap
Summer:The skin is soft and dry, setting up gentleness and gradual muting. The features are blended into the skin with colours that create a soft flow or diffusion instead of sharp definition. As colours flow into each other as hazy mists, it feels difficult to tell where one feature ends and the next begins.
Autumn: The skin is contoured, setting up lowlights. The features are defined from the skin by colours that are warm and velvety and the judicious use of metallic glints.
Spring: The skin is dewy, setting up highlights. The features are fresh, lively, distinguished from the skin by being very colourful, moist, and vibrant.
-----
I went to a meeting. As the women arrived, one woman distinguished herself immediately as a leader in any crowd. Her physical presence was noticed first because she was quite tall and strongly built. Her face was equally strong, in the colours of coffee, cream, and golden piecrust, with clove brown eyes. Wearing bronze eyeglass frames with copper glints, her only makeup a beautiful deep cinnamon lipstick, she was striking and beautiful.
She moved through the crowd with confidence. She had the business savvy to put in a plug for her company, as smooth as could be. Her natural qualities of character were as manifest as her beauty. Her choices in clothing and jewelry, although of high taste and quality, were confusing.
Nobody is ever unattractive. Every woman is truly a beauty in her face and her heart and I can look straight in your eyes to say that. But there are better choices. Better ways to spend our money that look more truthful and less artificial.
In a white dress with splashy flowers in primary colours, suddenly, the random blonde hits in her hair stood out as disorganized. The coloured glass bead necklace looked plastic because our energy modifies not only colour but also texture and everything else that comes near it.
In the white jacket, we find our thoughts drifting to skin that's seen too much sun. It's uncomfortable now. We have thoughts we don't want to have. She, in turn, alters simple white to become strident and look, well, a little cheap. Thoughts we don't want to have.
We love this woman. It doesn't feel right that we can't settle in her presence but our visual system is on a roller coaster with too much to process. I'm always reminded of a light-coloured person wearing those Christmas sweaters in strong reds and greens with shiny ornaments appliqued on the front. Like wearing garland. We're feeling effort and distraction. Subconsciously, we're scanning the room for somewhere easier to be. She is an Autumn, probably True Autumn, wearing colours and feelings made for another woman.
Where's the balance? How can we know the way to enhancing what we are in a way that attracts people into our presence?
By wearing the colours and lines that we are. Cool Shimmer
Summer skin is most beautiful when it's smooth, silky, and dry.
Summer skin's reflection of light is the diffusion of moonlight. There, we can find no sun, no hardness, no glitz, no wetness. There's no winking of fireflies (that's Bright Spring), no sharp gleam of platinum (True Winter), no dew (Light Summer), neither iron or lead (Dark Season feelings), and on it goes. Moonlight is not blingy (that's Bright Winter's normal).
Moonlight is very cool and very soft. In a morning sky, it's a sheer cloud-white curtain moving in a breeze. At night, a cloak of pearly, silvery light.
[caption id="attachment_2297" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: Bongani[/caption]
In the way of Summer skin to mirror the colours and textures it wears, it will shimmer in brushed silver, pink, lavender, or blue, since these are the notes found through the entire palette, including the grays.
Even satined makeup requires caution. Satin on Summer skin can convert into frosty because these colours are already so extremely cool and the complexion is delicate. Only you see your clothes on a hanger or your makeup in the pan. The rest of us see them compared to your own colouring right under your face. We look best when we continue the colours, harmonies, and colour feelings that we possess innately.
Textile that mutes colour is effective. Summer is more swirly than thick, straight, or hard. It sweeps like a porch swing, a branch in a breeze, the lines created when you pour liquid slowly into liquid.
The Best Skin Finish on Summer Colouring: dreamy.
Summer colours are light (compared to Autumn and Winter), cool, and soft. Summer surfaces look muted and lightweight, with brushstrokes or a gently buffed texture. The softness is feathery. Fluffy is good. Downy is great. Good dreams have fleecy edges.
Shiny surfaces shift colour to appear lighter and brighter. That's great on Spring but makes no sense with Summer's colours. They don't cooperate. Since those same colours exist in Summer skin, it won't cooperate either. White feathers can be almost blue in moonlight but they're never the colour of lightning (Winter).
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: ilco[/caption]
The Summer Skin Finishes
Integrating Summer into the Spring and Autumn we've already done,
Bright Spring: glass
True Spring: persimmon
Light Spring: petal
Light Summer: peach
True Summer: cotton
Soft Summer: flannel
Soft Autumn: suede
True Autumn: velvet
Dark Autumn: leather
True Summer
Paper to pearl finish.
Use face powder for a matte translucent effect.
The Shine Stopper at Paula's Choice is very good. It works well on the T-zone.
Stay with calm, fresh, gentle contrasts. Summer light colours are pastels, meaning more pigment than Winter light colours that are closer to white. Avoid too much distance between lightest and darkest elements in hair, cosmetics, and clothes. Keep them closer together.
It's quite important to settle in your mind how far from white your lightest colours are. Look at them and notice that it's a long way to white from the coloured pastels for all three Summers. The eyeshadow highlight for Winter is some version of ice. On Summer, choose pastels for the brow bone, as muted (grayed) shell pink, where the amount of graying depends on the Season.
Use eyeshadow instead of eyeliner or diffuse the liner well by applying shadow over it.
Light Summer
Pearl to petal, as daisy, as butterfly wing. A little more fluff than Spring, a little more dry-down.
[caption id="attachment_2296" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: mcoot[/caption]
The True Summer section applies. There is more warmth here as a first warm weekend in May. Outdoor glows are great but controlled. A pale pink gold gloss or an uplight on the cheeks is plenty. You are a Summer, not a Spring, so restraint is needed. A May picnic isn't the same as the beach in July. Stay cooler than warmer in everything you add.
Every palette has light and dark colours and should wear both. For the Light Seasons, the dark colours don't get very dark but they are still important, as eyeliners, for example. Dark colours may appear darker than it is on this colouring, so try to match your palette in daylight and don't exceed the darkest level. Draw the product on white paper and smear it out to see the nuance in the colour.
Face powder still applies. Use translucent, perhaps with a slight piny peach tint.
The Spring stroke in Light Summer often places the outer corner higher than inner. Follow that with the liner if your eyes have that shape, but again, use an appropriate colour. A too-dark choice and a cosmetic effect may feel artificial or forced. The effect is better in eyeglass frames than eyeliner. Another great option is a cloud of aqua or cornflower blue at the outer corner of the upper lid.
Many True Summers have a very round eye, almost square. If the outer eye corner seems to pull downwards, then don't extend the line at all, just keep it close to the rounded outer corner of the eye.
Soft Summer
Paper to flannel finish.
From our textures above, Soft Summer becomes more woven, drier, and thicker as we move deeper into Autumn. Cotton to waffle weave.
Contour is an excellent effect on all Autumn-influenced colouring by enhancing the 3-D effect that Autumns do so well. Choose a cooler-than-peanut-butter, matte colour. A powder foundation 2 shades deeper than you would wear can work well. Since Soft Summer contains golden warmth, albeit a small amount, a medium-dark pink-gold powder can mesh well with the face and other cosmetics.
[caption id="attachment_2299" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Photo: riceguitar[/caption]
On Summer, application is gentle and swirly. There are so sharp lines or edges. Diffuse one product into the next. The canvas is drier, using powder to ensure that products don't catch and jump. If using cream products, apply them to the skin before the powder so they appear from within.
4 Season recap
Summer:The skin is soft and dry, setting up gentleness and gradual muting. The features are blended into the skin with colours that create a soft flow or diffusion instead of sharp definition. As colours flow into each other as hazy mists, it feels difficult to tell where one feature ends and the next begins.
Autumn: The skin is contoured, setting up lowlights. The features are defined from the skin by colours that are warm and velvety and the judicious use of metallic glints.
Spring: The skin is dewy, setting up highlights. The features are fresh, lively, distinguished from the skin by being very colourful, moist, and vibrant.
-----