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Great thread--I've been doing this for years too. Years ago I came to the conclusion that I'm a summer b/c I look best in cool pastels and I look sick in beige and apricot type colors. One point of confusion for me though--I have a very ruddy complexion because I think i have a fairly mild case of rosacea, and to tone it down, I've been advised to wear a foundation with a bit of a yellowish tone, and I wear it every day. How would this influence my choice of colors? It doesn't really look yellow on me and I've been told by different women at BeautyFirst that this is def the color that looks best on me. Also, I read in a book for women over 50 that even if we looked best in pastels when young, that the deeper colors make us look younger. So should I switch from summer to winter or just wear the darker summer colors? Someone told me the other day that the bluish teal shirt I had on was my absolute best color ever.
Another interesting thing is that a very cool clear bright orange looks pretty good--it really makes my eyes look blue, but as far as I know it's not on my color palette. Well I"m not religious about it, but I certainly keep it in mind while shopping.
I think this is regional. Here in Florida, summer colors are almost always available year-round. Spring colors only if they happen to be "in" that year. Autumn colors only near Halloween/Thanksgiving, and the winter colors are constantly available if you mean black and white, otherwise it seems like it's like spring shades - only in the stores if they are "in" that year. I wish clothing manufacturers would make sure their clothes came in a wide range of shades so there was at least one color for every season. Land's End seems to carry cool tones almost exclusively. I used to really like their clothes as they were so sturdy and well made, but they never seemed to have a good shade for me so I stopped buying from them.
I took a look at L&L's links above about eyes and again it is so hard because of the multiple shades in my eyes. But if we go with the "apparent" shade of my eyes at normal viewing distance, it seems to be a deep warm green consistent with a warm spring or warm autumn (although I think the soft autumn colors suit me as well) and those are indeed the colors that work best on me despite my ashy hair.
I agree. I love the stuff from Long Tall Sally; I get their catalog and love almost everything. Good-looking pants, tops I like, really long skirts, etc. But most of their stuff is cool-toned, with lots and lots of stuff in blue. Their spring line is full of turquoise and navy, neither of which I can wear. In the autumn they have purples and olives, which I can wear (the skirt I just bought on clearance is plum). Lands End is also heavy on the blue.
Great thread--I've been doing this for years too. Years ago I came to the conclusion that I'm a summer b/c I look best in cool pastels and I look sick in beige and apricot type colors. One point of confusion for me though--I have a very ruddy complexion because I think i have a fairly mild case of rosacea, and to tone it down, I've been advised to wear a foundation with a bit of a yellowish tone, and I wear it every day. How would this influence my choice of colors? It doesn't really look yellow on me and I've been told by different women at BeautyFirst that this is def the color that looks best on me. Also, I read in a book for women over 50 that even if we looked best in pastels when young, that the deeper colors make us look younger. So should I switch from summer to winter or just wear the darker summer colors? Someone told me the other day that the bluish teal shirt I had on was my absolute best color ever.
Another interesting thing is that a very cool clear bright orange looks pretty good--it really makes my eyes look blue, but as far as I know it's not on my color palette. Well I"m not religious about it, but I certainly keep it in mind while shopping.
90% of people with Rosacea are summers. You probably have your season right. I can't imagine why wearing a warm toned (Yellow based) makeup would be a good idea.
Once a summer always a summer. Your season doesn't change, however you may find that certain colors in you palette may look better than others as you age. I'm pretty sure the standard advice is to just wear the darker colors in your usual palette.
I admit I am a bit thrown by the fact that you wear yellow toned make-up an look good in clear bright orange. That a spring tone. That's one of my colors. Also teal is a spring tone. I think there may be a chance that you are one of the 10% of people with rosacea that is a spring. The website I posted before, Color intervention, I think has an email. I'm pretty sure you can send info to Curt and he will try to figure out your season. He is dead on usually
I will break with color theory again! I think its possible that stepka looks neutral with yer yellow base and that she can still be summer who needs to counteract rosacea, but I agree that it would be wise to try a neutral color and decide for herself.
Teal-many many people look good in teal. A bluish teal is especially good on summers. My mom is a blue eyed ruddy skin summer, and she can wear teal well and some bright orange OK too. She looks pretty good in greige. If you can wear greige/taupe OK but not golden camel,you are probably a summer.
Now my controversial stance. Orange!!! I am a warm winter and sometimes I love to wear bright orange. Its a vibrational thing. Orange is just a feel good color and if a its summertime and you are a bit tan, feeling energetic and happy-orange can be awesome on many people. Hard to pull off if you are pale though, or feeling down. But I can see a blue eyed summer with lots of color to her skin looking well in orange. Or she could be a Spring, but I'll bet not. Try the camel vs. greige test.
90% of people with Rosacea are summers. You probably have your season right. I can't imagine why wearing a warm toned (Yellow based) makeup would be a good idea.
Once a summer always a summer. Your season doesn't change, however you may find that certain colors in you palette may look better than others as you age. I'm pretty sure the standard advice is to just wear the darker colors in your usual palette.
I admit I am a bit thrown by the fact that you wear yellow toned make-up an look good in clear bright orange. That a spring tone. That's one of my colors. Also teal is a spring tone. I think there may be a chance that you are one of the 10% of people with rosacea that is a spring. The website I posted before, Color intervention, I think has an email. I'm pretty sure you can send info to Curt and he will try to figure out your season. He is dead on usually
Green is the color that really cancels the red of rosacea, but if used alone it creates a corpse-like pallor. The yellow tones are almost as good as green and have a much more natural looking result if used alone. But these are both used to create a neutralized result rather than a warm one, both the greens and yellows used for this application tend to be a cool tones rather than a warm one - the redness is warmth enough!
Remember she said she could wear very cool orange, that's not the same orange as a spring would wear. Think creamsicle instead of mandarin.
Last edited by tilli; 03-24-2011 at 10:31 AM..
Reason: added quote, spelling fixes
Not true here. Grey eyes, brown hair with warm red highlights...
Really the best website I've found that explains color theory in an in depth way that gets away from over simplification is Irenee Riter's website The Science of Personal Dress.
This website explains the 12 color season theory in a way that is very complete. I posted the link to the test earlier in the thread. I have dark hair and golden skin but am not an autumn due to the fact that I have no gold/red tones in my hair. I'm a winter with spring influences:
INTER-SEASONS (http://www.thescienceofpersonaldress.com/inter-seasons.htm - broken link)
Once you know your season you can refer to this website to understand how you really can wear any color, it's the depth and shade of the color that makes all the difference:
COLOR OVALS (http://www.thescienceofpersonaldress.com/color_ovals.htm - broken link)
Was wondering where you got that swatch book? (see pic above)
KK
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