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I have dark hair and blue eyes, so I'm supposed to wear "jewel tones", which I generally don't, though I do have this dark teal sweater that I get lots of "you have beautiful eyes" compliments when I wear it. I'll take what I can get.
Hmmm....I have dark hair (but with gold/red undertones), blue eyes and fair skin...but my skin has a yellow undertone rather than a pink undertone....I can't wear most greens, oranges and yellows...although a few look fine. I get the same comments re my eyes when I wear blue....
JustJulia, from what you say, you sound like one type of Autumn. The best way to tell is to do the entire "color fabric under the face draping technique" that is done in color analysis. Which is better on you? Black or chocolate brown? White or ivory? Black and white look great on Winters--not on Autumns. I have light golden brown hair with red highlights, very fair skin, and grey eyes. Thought I was a summer until I had a color analysis done. The skin tone can be misleading. Autumns can have ruddy skin, too. Autumns can have truly swarthy skin tones (gold-brown) but not olive toned. My first husband had black brown hair, choc. brown eyes, swarthy skin and tanned beautifully. Thought he was a winter but he looked terrible in black and gorgeous in choc. brown--he really was an Autumn. Can you wear teal blue?
JustJulia, from what you say, you sound like one type of Autumn. The best way to tell is to do the entire "color fabric under the face draping technique" that is done in color analysis. Which is better on you? Black or chocolate brown? White or ivory? Black and white look great on Winters--not on Autumns. I have light golden brown hair with red highlights, very fair skin, and grey eyes. Thought I was a summer until I had a color analysis done. The skin tone can be misleading. Autumns can have ruddy skin, too. Autumns can have truly swarthy skin tones (gold-brown) but not olive toned. My first husband had black brown hair, choc. brown eyes, swarthy skin and tanned beautifully. Thought he was a winter but he looked terrible in black and gorgeous in choc. brown--he really was an Autumn. Can you wear teal blue?
I look better in chocolate brown than black (despite my wearing a lot of black--brown seems more seasonal), and better in ivory than white.
As for teal, no, not really. It might look OK on me, and it's better than peacock blue, but I'd never select it as a flattering color. My middle daughter is blonde with pink skin and blue-grey eyes, and she looks beautiful in teal. I would choose apple green or olive instead of teal.
I look better in chocolate brown than black (despite my wearing a lot of black--brown seems more seasonal), and better in ivory than white.
As for teal, no, not really. It might look OK on me, and it's better than peacock blue, but I'd never select it as a flattering color. My middle daughter is blonde with pink skin and blue-grey eyes, and she looks beautiful in teal. I would choose apple green or olive instead of teal.
You really do sound like an Autumn. The Color-Me-Beautiful trained rep. who did my color analysis also emphasized that there are different types of Autumns and that not every one of us can wear all the same shades in the Autumn palette. For example, I wear hunter green better than olive and warm camel tan better than yellow-gold. Just experiment a bit and have fun with the colors.
The recent thread about eye shadow several women mentioning their "season." I've assumed I'm an autumn for years, but I'm puzzled now, after reading more about it yesterday. I had thought springs were pale/cool and summers were warm, probably because of the actual seasons (golden tan skin in summer, springtime skin that's still pale from being covered up in winter). I seem to have had that backwards, and summers are the paler ones? It's so confusing.
My hair is medium brown, with gold and red in it. I used to color my hair red, which looked very natural on me. My eyes are hazel (brown-green). I look good in brown, green, purple ... lots of earth tones. So I think I'm an autumn. But my skin tone is throwing me off, and that's supposedly the biggest piece of puzzle, even more important than hair. My skin has a lot of pink in it--I'm a quarter Irish/Welsh, and I have that ruddiness. I do not tan, but I flush easily. I have some pale freckles on my cheeks and get more freckly in the sun (my skin's sad attempt to tan). Still, despite all the pink I have going on, I think I have a warm skin tone; I look better in gold and ivory than silver and white. That's a way to tell, right?
Several of the descriptions I read described autumns as more golden- or olive-skinned, and that is NOT me.
Are seasons just oversimplified categories, or do I just not understand them very well?
I worked at Polo Ralph Lauren for years, we would design for 4 seasons through out the year: Spring, Summer, Fall, Holiday/Resort. (Last season had 2 parts as you can see).
Although each year was different, as a rule of thumb, Spring colors were always lighter and more pastel than Summer. A lot of it has to do with current trends. Not necessarily cool vs warm. For example, we could have in Spring pale peach color, blue sky color, and some shade of pink (notice that base colors like black, cream are always offered). Summer colors would be brighter and more vibrant, like turquoise, hot pink, etc...
Also notice that most designers design by months, even within Summer season, the first delivery would be brighter, while the last delivery would start getting darker and we would start offering almost like a safari feel colors.
Fall would most of the time be olive, brown, navy, wine, plum colors. Followed by Holiday where we would go into deep reds, gold, black, white...
So this is a basic rule of thumb, but as I said, a lot of it is trend driven too.
With that said, JustJulia, it does sound like late Summer/Fall are best fitted colors for you.
I used to be a "color me beautiful" consultant...and I still believe in their philosophy about color. These are the basics...
Summer (3rd most common in US) - Cool tone. best colors are pink/blue. Look good in lighter rather than dark colors, pastels are very good. skin undertone pink. Silver jewelry. Off white looks good. Navy is the darkest color a summer should wear.
Winter (most common in US) - Cool tone. best colors are black and white. Look good in darker rather than lighter colors. True jewel tones look great, clear colors. skin undertone pink. Silver jewelry. Pure white looks good. Only winters should wear black near the face. Brown is aging on winter. Looks awesome in white or grey hair.
Autumn (2nd most common) - warm tone. best colors brown/green. Look good in darker rather than lighter colors. Colors should be muted down, not bright. skin undertone yellow. Gold Jewelry. Beige white looks good. Black near the face makes an autumn look older.
Spring (least common) - warm tone. Best colors peach/tan. Look good in lighter rather than darker colors. Skin tone yellow or peach. Colors should be brighter, not muted or pastel. Creamy white looks good. Gold jewelry. Looks awful in black. If you really, really can't figure out your "season", then you are probably a spring.
If you look at the veins on your inner arm near your wrist, if they are blue then you are usually a cool tone, if greenish then you are usually a warm tone. Jewelry is usually a good indicator as well, silver or gold. Hair isn't because most women color their hair. Skin tone is the best indicator but it is very tricky because most women have some element of pink and yellow in their skin.
To this day I can't figure out what "season" I am - from what I can figure my veins are bluish/greenish - getting older hasn't helped, just feeling like a totally washed out rag at this point. When I look at pictures (a couple yrs. ago) I wore a variety of colors: black, white, coral, brown, cream, red, etc. and didn't notice that any particular colors looked bad.
Maybe my issue is figure out what to do w/hair color? Depending on how much time in the sun (it lightens extremely easily) - it's (I think) a light brown w/ natural red, blond and unbelievably some black strands naturally. Of course, now it's gotten shiny silvers, some that are bone white half/coal black root end half, and white.
get two large squares of fabric, one true magenta (cool) and one true orange (warm). In natural sunlight, with no makeup on, wrap one around to frame your face and cover your hair and look in a mirror. Do your eyes pop, your skin look glowing? Or are you overwhelmed by the color? Switch to the other fabric, ask the same questions.
If you look best in the magenta, you've got a cool complexion and are a summer/winter. High contrast (dark hair, pale skin)=winter; low contrast (blonde & pale) = summer. If you look best in orange, you've got a warm complexion and you're a spring/autumn. Because a much higher percentage of African-American and Mediterranean heritage people have warm complexions, the high/low contrast rules don't apply so much. If you color your hair, work with the N or G for warm complexions, A or N or cool.
I don't know what season I am. I look best in reds, oranges or greens.
Blues and blacks don't work so well. Pastels and whites leave me
looking washed out.
I have natural honey blond hair and hazel green eyes, very light warm skin
tone.
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- getting older hasn't helped, just feeling like a totally washed out rag at this point. When I look at pictures (a couple yrs. ago) I wore a variety of colors: black, white, coral, brown, cream, red, etc. and didn't notice that any particular colors looked bad.
