Part 1
Blue green is a colour family with variations in all 12 Seasons or groups of natural colouring in people. The colour flatters many people, which can make choosing your best version both more flexible and more challenging. Today, we'll look at tips and techniques that will help.
12 Season Map
5 Steps for Choosing Your Colours (with your Season palette)
My process is always the same and applies to any Season or colour that I'm considering. I hope some of these ideas work for you.
The product category that is too particular to be chosen this way may be foundation makeup, although guidance with contour and highlighting products can be found.
Imagine that you're in a store considering a sweater in a colour that you think might be a good choice. You open your palette to see all the strips and lay it on the garment. looking for an agreeable overall effect, Think of the palette as your face and the overall effect as what others see when you wear this colour. You may notice colour combinations that you think would be pleasing, with none that are obviously odd, like apple pie crust brown and baby blanket blue together, and you decide to look in more detail.
1. Can I find a colour like this in my palette?
Look for a colour in the palette that seems to be a close match for the sweater.
2. Could I slide the colour of the garment (or cosmetic) into the palette strip with the most similar colour and nobody would notice?
There should be a general sense of agreement with all the colours in the strip. If the terracotta pink of the lipstick seems a good match for one swatch but the other colours of the strip suddenly look warmer or more orange, adding it to the strip would create an interruption, a sense of a bumpy road where before, it was smooth.
3. Do colour combinations work along the entire strip?
For example, the sweater may be robin's egg blue, a version of which could be found in several Seasons. Lay that palette strip on the garment and consider combinations with each colour, one by one. Could you picture each pair in a balanced outfit?
By this, I don't mean beautiful, which varies by person and opinion. I mean if one were the shirt and the other were the pants, would your attention be divided equally or would it be pulled towards one or the other?
Other changes might happen. The lightest colour of the strip could look faded or the darkest colour look too dark either in the combination or relative to the rest of the strip. One of the colours in the strip might suddenly look uncomfortable or out of place, where before the colours seemed comfortable. In essence, you're looking for mutual enhancement with no detracting changes.
4. Can I make outfits with different strips?
So far, we've compared the sweater with the strip with the most similar colour. Next, try comparing it with a different colour family, such as red or green.
Try it with 3 or 4 different colour families, as if you were assembling an outfit. You might separate strips with a light neutral, dark neutral, and blush colour, perhaps adding a more colourful accessory. You can include the strip with the most similar colour or hide it (I generally do both).
Neutrals should remain the same colour, rather than looking greenish, unhealthy, or incompatible. Reds should not look more orange or blue, and the brighter colour should be belonging and easy to imagine within the outfit.
Be aware of the colour of the garment as well. If the garment overwhelms the palette or your attention becomes unevenly divided among palette colours, another comparison might be a good idea before committing to the purchase.
5. Spread the comparison colours further apart.
For this, you will need colours from the neighbour Season or whichever one you're comparing with.
Having one palette is perfectly sufficient and what most people choose to do, but there is value in having a few colours from more than one Season. You can purchase palettes with a harmony strip from all 12 seasons, or wallet size or 4x6 inch cards, with many colours from each Season.
NDU Coloursin the US and True Colour International (TCI) in AU make outstanding products with plenty of variety available.
To be clear in my own limitations, I have not seen or worked with palettes from the many other PCA systems and companies. If you were draped by those systems, best to follow their instructions for how to use the palettes.
Back to our colour test. You feel comfortable that the sweater belongs with the Light Seasons and you have colours from those palettes, Light Spring and Light Summer. Our tendency is to compare the most similar strips from the two Seasons, but try the opposite. By choosing the colours in each Season that are the least compatible with the other group, for example, the warmest greens of Light Spring and the coolest greens of Light Summer, the decision may become clearer.
True Summer to True Autumn
In the larger groups above the line, we have items from each of the 4 Seasons shown. The items below the line are an example of Step 2 above: In the strip with the most similar colours, could you add the colour of the item and nobody would notice the difference?
Thinking about the larger groups first. True Summer colours are cool, medium light to medium dark without being extreme in either direction, and medium soft meaning that you notice the amount of pigment in the colour and you also notice a soft gray quality in the colours.
In Soft Summer to the right, you may notice more of the soft gray and that the overall effect is darker than True Summer. Soft Summer is warmer but it's not a large amount of warmth and may be more visible in some colour families than others.
Next we have Soft Autumn where the warmth is more visible in half of the palette colours, the other colours being cooler. Blue and green are cool-associate colours and may always appear cooler.
True Autumn colour is warmer again, but again, warmth can be challenging to identify with colours like blue and green that we associate with coolness. We see that they become greener, the result of adding warmth by mixing yellow or gold with blue, or we may find gold or orange tones within the textile.
For the items below the line, can we slide them into the group above?
The shoe for True Summer, I would say yes or certainly at the 80-20 level.
The sweater in Soft Summer? Yes.
The sweater in Soft Autumn? Yes, although it may be at the border of coolness and softness with Soft Summer. It may be a bit too cool for the warmer colours of the palette, but has enough common ground and could work depending on the rest of the outfit and natural colouring of the individual.
The shoe with True Autumn? As with the sweater in Soft Autumn, the shoe may be a touch too blue but the material and softness work well. Overall, it's a good enough fit to belong in a wardrobe. In large area directly under the face, we might want to see the person wearing it before committing.
Back in the larger groups, looking at the lower item in Soft Summer, the soft shouldered light turquoise blouse. As I slide my eye up and down the five items, I hesitate on that item. Perhaps I snag on the lightness compared to the other items, or it seems a little brighter. Something jumps forward or apart. My next decision step would be to try it with True Summer, which we'll see in Panel 5 below.
Repeated in Soft Summer and Soft Autumn, we have a blue V-neck top. The Soft Autumn version looks brighter or more pigmented. I notice this difference in textiles between these Seasons more in certain colour families (yellow, blue, some greens) than others (neutrals, reds). I don't know the reason and wonder if it's a result of the lightness and addition of yellow to create the added warmth, giving an impression of brightness.
The vest in True Autumn would be hard to imagine with any of the other groups and it does look distinctly warmer. The stone in the ring also looks warm, like turquoise. The metal is a warmer silver or pewter, and jewelry can often work in more than one Season, particularly when it is made of different colours or materials. The shoe is a medium brightness blue green that feels comfortable here. The handbag below might be at the brightness and darkness limit for True Autumn, even slightly above perhaps, but I liked the greenness of it and the colour of the hardware. Like the shoe below the line, the success of a turtleneck next to the face may depend on the person, for example, how dark are skin tone, hair and eye colours or how near to Dark Autumn do they drape in a colour analysis, but a handbag may cooperate perfectly well.
True Summer and the Soft Seasons 1
We have more choices of blue green, spread across a wider light to dark range. We wear clothes with other clothes so I've added a blue item in each group as an example of comparing with colours from another colour family. Rather than imagining how they might work, the necklaces will be added directly to the groups in the next image.
The blue top in the centre of the lower row represents Light Summer to give you a brightness calibration for a Summer with Spring colour. Soft Summer and Soft Autumn blend Summer with Autumn, resulting in softer colour groups. Picturing the necklaces with the Light Summer top, the blouse looks brighter than the bead necklace on the left, which might fade into the blouse or be hard to see. The silver necklace on the right might look rather cool or dark, perhaps not the best choice for this blouse.
In the main groups, a few items have been duplicated. The soft light blue and gray scarf in True Summer and Soft Autumn may balance better in True Summer. It appears feathery compared with the other items in Soft Autumn, without the velvety quality of the blue blouse further down. True Summer often has a watercolour impression, which we might recognize in the scarf.
A zip up green hoodie appears in both Soft Seasons. The colour may be a touch richer in Soft Autumn but if you said the opposite, it would be absolutely fine. A successful closet takes full advantage of how much is shared between neighbouring Seasons and this item passes the 80-20 test in both.
In the lower right corner of Soft Summer and the lower left corner of Soft Autumn, we have two sleeveless tops. The Soft Summer colour is cooler and bluer and although the Soft Autumn top may not look obviously warmer or more golden, it has a glowy quality, and looks too warm to be added to Soft Summer.
True Summer and the Soft Seasons 2
Here we've added the two necklaces from the previous panel over the garments, in keeping with how necklaces are worn. Try pausing your gaze over each combination and registering your first impression. Since the six combinations are plausible without obvious discord, let's look for more subtle clues.
Across the top row, in True Summer, I find no difficulty in seeing both the item or the necklace. Beyond compatible, a mutual enhancement is occurring.
With Soft Summer, do you sense a step forward or step back compared with the True Summer effect? I found a step forward because the connection happens right away rather than having to stop and think about it. In everyday decision-making, both Seasons would be fine, with the colours appearing to be extensions of one another and the necklace visible without being too much or not enough for the clothing.
With Soft Autumn, the first impression is that some combinations work, but less with the warmer avocado green, so perhaps this item would be better with the cooler side of this palette.
Across the lower row, the scarf at the bottom of the True Summer group is an automatic fit. The effect with the handbag is intriguing, with the same tones in the metal and the colour, yet comfortable. The necklace may not be the ideal choice with the turtleneck but if these items were separates in an outfit, the colours appear cooperative.
With the Soft Summer items, I sense a step back. It's good with the cooler turquoise and blue, and less comfortable over the dark green sweater. With Soft Autumn, the combination with the warmer greens is not convincing and may be more compatible with the blue tops. A certain severity may be felt with the Soft Autumn colours, part of which may be related to the styles of the garments and jewelry.
Soft Summer or Soft Autumn (with red)
From the 5 Steps outline above, this image illustrates spreading the colours further apart, with a soft terracotta from the warm side of Soft Autumn, a colour too warm for any Soft Summer, and a cool plum that will be too cool for Soft Autumn. We are also working with a different colour family than the item we're considering, namely red.
With the vest at the top, I prefer the plum, with the terracotta appearing too orange to make as nice a pairing.
With the jumper (dress), I prefer the terracotta, not only because of the rope belt, but also because we can almost see similar tones in the fabric. The vest, which appeared earlier in Panel 1 with True Autumn, is easier to look at with the Autumn lipstick, with less sense of sharing or continuity when we rest our eyes on the garment together with the Summer colour.
On the other side of the line, the hat at the top resembles the dress with the rope belt by having similar tones or reflection of light as the Autumn red. However, the warmth seems less a concern than the brightness, meaning the hat is more pigmented than either of the lipstick choices. The Summer lipstick seems rather blue and also faded relative to the same colour to the left of the line.
Next item down, I would choose the warmer colour red. This purse is similar to the vest on the other side but it's cooler, bluer, and feels most comfortable with Soft Autumn if looking at both colours at the same time. For the final item, the Summer plum appears fresh and elegant, more so than the Autumn terracotta.
PART 2
In this part 2 of 2, we will see more blue greens for the 12 Seasons, and more ideas for how to guide and refine your colour choices.
True Spring to True Summer
Here, we'll ask the same question we did in Part 1, "Can I add the item below the line to the group above without any disruptions?" As well, we'll add Step 3, “Do all colours in the same strip work?”
Beginning with the main groups, True Spring is a warm Season, so blue tends to be greener. Light Spring has Summer's cooling influence and blue does look blue, with many aqua and turquoise blue greens. We see similar colours in Light Summer, but softer. Light Spring often has a fresh quality or may look creamy or milky, whereas Light Summer is more recognizable as a Summer colour, with a softer hazy or watercolour quality. True Summer cools down yet another step, and softens too, and darkens too.
As in Part 1, a couple of items have been duplicated in this image. You see a green zip puffer vest in Light and True Summer. In terms of Big Picture shopping, both could work nicely. The colour may appear a touch brighter in Light Summer but from these images, I could choose either for different reasons, a sign the colour could participate in both or should be verified in person.
In True Summer, we have the soft shoulder blouse that we saw it back in Soft Summer in Panel 1. In that previous image, it looked light or bright, somehow apart from the other colours. Moving the eye up and down through the group here feels smoother, the item comfortable as part of the group without being more or less.
Now, let’s look at the items below the line. For the tie front top in True Spring, the first impression is good enough to keep considering it. We can find a colour like that in the palette but as I try it with the other items one at a time, I’m not so sure. It's within the light to dark range for True Spring, but what’s not feeling right? Light is being reflected differently, as if it’s pulling light inwards whereas the other items are sending light out. The fabric is also dark in the folds. Spring and Summer colours and reflectivity generally stay about the same darkness in the highlight, the main colour, and the folds, expressing the person’s and therefore Season’s narrower light to dark range. The lace blouse, the lower item in the group, is dark, yet with more consistency with the other items. Decision on the tie front blouse if I were a True Spring: not purchasing.
For the earrings in Light Spring, they are easily imagined with the racerback top, under the hat, with a good choice of gold too. Yes to this purchase.
The tunic in Light Summer appears again in True Summer. Pairing it with the items in Light Summer one item at a time, the colour looks too soft for the brighter items, and darker than the palette or as if it were standing in the shade. A faster and more positive connection happens between the tunic and True Summer.
We have two items below the line in True Summer. The scoop neck T-shirt is too soft for this group, grayish and with a reflection of light that's more velvet than watercolour. The handbag material has a thick or opaque quality, which seems more related to the textile than the colour. Leather will have a heavier quality next to cotton or light knits, but the colour could fit into the group and does seem too soft for Light Summer.
True or Light Summer (the sweater)
This image is practice for placing the palette strips directly on items we’re considering buying.
As a Light Summer, we find a colour like the sweater in our palette. We have a palette, mini-palette, wallet card, or harmony strip for True Summer and find a similar blue green in that Season.
The small items on either side of the sweater are standing in for the colour swatches in the palettes to see how the colours look on their own, without the influence of the sweater (or the influence of our own colouring because the palette ultimately represents the colours in the person, with profound influence over how colours appear when we wear them.)
Regardless of how the True Summer hat looks on the hanger or shelf, a person of the same colouring as the hat wearing this sweater looks like the picture above. They become literally harder to see compared with the hat alongside the sweater.
None of the 6 items are maintain their colour energy on the sweater. They’re fading into it rather or the viewer is distracted by the brightness of the clothing. The True or Light Summer person seems overwhelmed by the sweater. The Light Summer colours are more visible but still hard to make out. We want our clothing to define us, to help us be easier to see rather than experiencing a tug of war for the viewer's attention between us and our clothing.
As colours get darker, they’re easier to see, less sinking into the sweater, but the idea isn’t to only see dark colours. If you’ve said or thought, “I’m a Light Summer but can only wear the dark colours of my palette.”, you may be looking for yourself in the wrong palette. And yes, all of you is in one Season.
So far, we could say Light Summer is better than True Summer. The sweater is brighter than both, probably more Spring. Shopping decision: No if I belonged to either of these groups. We’ll see the sweater again later.
True Autumn to True Winter
In this image, we have several duplications among Seasons, so we won't practice sliding the items below the line up into the group.
Beginning with the larger groups, in True Autumn, the V-neck sweater is a gorgeous example of the greener blue green and worth visiting the URStyle link below the image to enlarge that item. The tie-front top returns from Panel 5 where we saw it with True Spring. Here, the first impression is neither better nor worse. It looks bright with the top above or the scarf at the bottom of this group. The darkness in the folds is less severe, although still high compared with the other items, and this blouse may belong in one of the Winter-influenced groups.
The next item is the scoop neck T-shirt from Panel 5, where it seemed too velvety for True Summer. The colour is more belonging here, although softer and grayer than the others. My guess would be Soft Autumn. Next, the dark wrap blouse is good, at the brightness and darkness limit for True Autumn, while the cami to the left steps over these limits with too much black or blue or both relative to the others, and possibly a better fit in a Winter-influenced group. The circular scarf is next and appears again in Dark Autumn. The colour shares a lot with the other colours and doesn't detract from them, along with being a great textile for Autumn.
In Dark Autumn, we see the hat from Panel 4, where it was too pigmented for the Soft Seasons. Dark Autumn may wear more pigment than this but the group will make great sense of the colour, textile, and black band at the rim. Next the cardigan, repeated in Dark Winter where it blends slightly more congruently, although wearable by many Dark Autumns.
We saw the shoe in Panel 1. The fit is better here with Autumn. If you’re thinking, it’s too blue for True Autumn or soft for Dark Autumn, these may be true but they share enough to participate in the wardrobe and shoes are a small item worn far from face.
The T-shirt with embroidery is repeated in Dark Winter. The texture may be more congruent in Autumn but Dark Winter has easily enough Autumn influence to wear this well. Depending on the wearer, it could work for both Seasons. Next item, the skirt looks good for Dark Autumn.
Moving over to Dark Winter the blue blouse at the top may be a jewel tone for this Season. The other items, ruffle top, cardigan, and dress, all look good. The hat takes a jump of saturation from the skirt in Dark Autumn, in keeping with the colour dimensions of these groups.
In True Winter, we have a similar blue green in a sweater and a sleeveless top, shown in different textiles. We’ll try the sweater in Bright Winter too, though it seems to work here and may be too bright for Dark Winter. A sweater is next, more blue than green in this cool Season. The cami is cool green but softer, and softer than it looks on its own (at URStyle), perhaps a colour just beyond the True Summer to True Winter boundary. The foil effect bag is easily imagined with black and white in an outfit and beautiful for this Season.
Many viewers enjoyed the comparison with reds in Panel 4, Part 1. Here, rather than using cool to warm extremes of the 2 Seasons being compared, we're looking at natural lipstick colours. There are no iconic lip colours for any Season and the palettes offer 15 or more reds, so this exercise may be less practical in a shopping situation. I think less about light to dark since that’s a personal choice and palettes have such range, and more about brightness and warmth. Lip colour must be tried and cannot be predicted, but we don’t want lipstick turning orange if the colour is too warm for the person, or blue if too cool.
For True Autumn, the lip colour is Rio from the 12 BLUEPRINTS (12B) shop on this website. As I compare it with each item, I again suspect that the second item, the tie front blouse, is too bright for this group. The scoop neck T-shirt could work with the lip colour, or a softer or a sheerer version, supporting the idea that this top belongs with an Autumn group. The darker cami at the bottom looks too dark for the lipstick and for True Autumn, supporting our previous impression.
The lip colour for Dark Autumn is Black Honey from the 12B shop. In trying it with each item, the circular scarf may be better with True Autumn, it doesn't quite hold up to the lip colour. The cardigan is better with Dark Winter because the lip colour seems too soft. here, and Black Honey is very sheer, formulation being another consideration with cosmetics. Otherwise, the combinations seem reasonable.
The Dark Winter colour resembles the Body Shop Don’t Settle, too blue for the warm side of Dark Autumn, too earthy-dark for Soft Summer, and could be a natural lip for many Dark Winters. Urban Decay Vice in Ravenswood is similar. Here, the lipstick with the clothing colours seems to work. Both lipsticks are fairly opaque formulations, meaning the brightness is intact when the product is applied. I might choose a cooler tone with the blouse at the top, person depending.
For True Winter, we have a medium dark, cool red pink, a variation of a natural lip for many in this Season. As with the Dark Winter colours, this may be natural to the point of invisible, depending on the wearer and how we define a natural lip. With the clothing group? It looks fine, quite good with that foil bag.
About lipstick looking too warm or cool on a particular face: Colour is never only about warmth. Brightness is important in how cosmetics look. Sometimes we try a colour and it turns orange because it's too warm, but it could also be that the lip colour is brighter and our colours are less saturated. Example, Spring and Autumn are both warm but a Spring lipstick will look bright on an Autumn because Autumn is less saturated. The same can happen between neighbour Seasons, True and Dark Winter, with a colour that looks neutral pink on True Winter and peachy or bright on Dark Winter. One might ask, how could that be, Dark Winter is warmer….yes but it is also less saturated so the brightness of the various pigments, including yellow, appears to increase.
Spring or Autumn (the dress)
In this situation, we would like to decide if the dress is Spring or Autumn. We have seen comparisons with red, a good choice as a natural part of skin tone. Here, we’re using green, also useful as a complementary colour to red with a more obvious Yes/No reaction than many other colours.
Prints are more challenging for having several colours, which may be in different Seasons, and having design elements that can be distracting or appear less settled than comparing a single solid colour with the palette, although the harmony is good.
We have found similar turquoise and brown tones in True Spring and True Autumn.
Of the four hats, I prefer the Autumn side. The Spring hats, with Light Spring above and True or Bright Spring below, would be discordant or distracting, like wearing parts of two outfits together. The Autumn hats enrich the impression and make it easier to imagine a bag and shoes or the jewelry we might add.
Autumn is overall darker than Spring, but it’s the Spring brightness that seems distracting. I prefer the lower hat in Autumn for being more belonging. The upper hat is dark and would weigh down the impression, even in a different style.
In many comparisons, the colours need not be ideal for the two groups. Colours the other Season wouldn’t wear are often more helpful, for example black or pure white, which cooperate with Winter-influenced groups.
The lower hat in Autumn is my favourite with the dress.
True Winter to True Spring
True Winter is primarily a cool groups of colours, with a blue green selection that could work in this wardrobe. For the cardigan below the line, although dark for the True Winter palette, the fit seemed best here. It looks dark for Bright Winter, and possibly too bright for Dark Winter. However, Winters wear this colour family well and manage high darkness, so the final decision will depend on the individual's colouring.
Next is Bright Winter, which is brighter and warmer than True Winter. Exaggerated effects like synthetic brightness as the first top, or high shine, as the patent shoes, are a credible extension of the natural colours. Matte colours and textiles always work for everyone, but there’s a space here for modern or costume effects. The blue top below line that we saw in Panel 7 with Dark Winter may have worked better there, because here it feels thick or heavy and doesn’t reflect light in the same way as the other Bright winter items.
Bright Spring is a step warmer than Bright Winter, and a step softer though we notice the warmth and overall lightness more. The blue green of the wallet with the coppered orange logo is great inspiration for a print or combination in an outfit. The blazer below the line is a print with turquoise and white and looks like an easy fit, reflecting light in keeping with the other items.
True Spring is a colour family with many options for blue green. Would you have any concerns with the sweater below the line? I wouldn’t, it’s like the cami at the top.
Spring + Summer or Winter
Shopping information: https://urstyle.fashion/styles/3674967
Blue green is such a key colour for Spring that it exists in many textiles and items. One decision that may be challenging is knowing whether the colour is a combination of Spring with Summer or
Winter. For example, Bright Spring and Light Summer have similar versions of blue green that may be hard to identify with confidence.
Telling Seasons apart by the ways they’re different can be more productive than comparing the most similar strips of colours. The easiest difference here is brightness. In Spring with Summer, colours are softer. In Spring with Winter, two groups of high brightness, items are very bright (more pigment, less gray), however light or dark they may be.
The Light Seasons sometimes appear to create opacity with white compared with Autumn's opacity with gray. Another tip is that blends with Winter will be reasonable with black. Picture the Winter sunglasses or rings with the Summer items, or vice versa, and how discordant they would be.
Looking at the flip-flops in Summer compared with the puffer jacket in Winter, we see a similar colour and darkness, with higher brightness in Winter. We have the same experience comparing the necklace in Summer with the emerald sweater in Winter.
When comparing brightness between items of the same or different colours, I ask myself, 'Is this as blue as the True Spring glasses are green?' With the Light Seasons, the answer is No, the glasses are more green than the items are turquoise. With Winter, the items are more pigmented than the glasses, therefore the glasses look softer by comparison.
The turquoise sweater from Panel 6 is here with True Spring. It was too bright for True and Light summer, and feels better here. The socks may be an Autumn colour but they share enough to work here and the viewer understands the effect and purpose of the textile. The coat is another example of a style and textile that may be more often associated with Autumn, but the colour fits easily, as do the light yellow wood toggles.