Ever since I was little, I would always remember my mum referring to herself as being a "winter" and whether something was "her colour". At first that may seem a little silly but it is actually in reference to colour analysis a.k.a colour coding.
What is colour analysis?
Colour analysis has been around for over 30 years and was extremely popular in the 90s. Essentially it's a 90 minute session with a trained colour consultant. They sit with you to discuss how wearing certain colours can either highlight the amazing aspects of your face (eye or hair colour, smile, glowy skin etc.) or how it can emphasise all your imperfections (wrinkles, blemishes, redness etc.).
What happens in a colour analysis session?
During your session, a consultant will place a plethora of coloured fabric swatches alongside your face while you stare in a mirror. They do this so that you can see what colours (and importantly the undertone within that colour) suits you the best... or in some instances doesn't suit you at all. Once you've gone through the assessment, you'll then be told by the consultant what season you are. Yes that is right, you're told that you're one of the seasons that we experience in nature.
What are the seasons?
Check out the image below, you'll see that certain seasons will favour certain colours or tones. Spring's palette contains bright, pops of colour while the colours in Autumn are representative of the change in season, falling leaves, more autumnal tones. Summer's colours are lighter more pastel-like, the days are longer and there is more light (wait did that just rhyme? 🙃) . Whereas in Winter's palette, it's all dark, richer tones including black (longer nights) and white (snow).
What season am I?
So from when I was little, my Mum had mentioned to me that she thought I too was a winter just like her as we had similar toned skin and hair. So going into my colour analysis, I did go in with a preconceived idea of me being a winter. But so I go the best out of it, I was open to the whole process as I wanted to make sure I actually knew what season I was and didn't want to confuse the process. Turns out mummy was right, as I am a winter!! Here are some examples of other winters:
What happens next?
After knowing what your season is, the consultant then sits with you to show you why certain colours look better on you as well as how to work out the undertones of a particular colour. What's that I hear you ask? Isn't green just green 🤷🏻♀️? Nope you're absolutely wrong! There are soooo many variations of green, some cool toned, some warm toned... others neutral. In the below example, you'll see two different greens. The one on the left is a cool-toned green (it has more of a blue-ish tint). Whereas the green on the right is a warm-toned green (it has a yellow tint). The one on the left would suit cooler seasons like Winter whereas the one on the right is more suited to a warmer season, say Spring. So for yours truly, I am better suited to the green on the left. If I were to wear the green on the right, I would seem sick or have a sallow appearance.
Afterwards, the colour consultant provided me with a free make-up tutorial. In this tutorial, she ran through the types of colours that best suited me, my skin tone, eye colour etc. You can bring in your own makeup to the consultation... but you know me I have too much to cart along 😂! They also have their own makeup products that are designed exclusively to suit the four seasons. What's great is the ladies don't force you to buy anything so you can simply just have the makeup applied and leave it there.
The last parts that the colour consultant goes through is things like what coloured metal suits you for jewellery, colour of frames for glasses as well as hair colour. So for me, I was told silver jewellery suits me best, black rimmed glasses and either mahogany, cool dark brown or black hair. To help remember all of this, you're also given a cute little compact colour guide that has swatches of colours that are best for your season. You can keep this little guide in your handbag so that you can compare things when out shopping for easy reference.
Is it worth it?
I definitely think it is was worth it. After my analysis, I went home and studied my wardrobe. I didn't automatically get rid of everything that wasn't one of my colours. I was just more aware of what did and didn't suit me (although I did get rid of somethings that were totally not my colour). Now I am more intentional when buying clothes and selecting colours that I know suits me. I also notice that when I am wearing "my colours" that I get compliments on how I am looking that day. It may be the most simplest of outfits but I will get so many "You look really good today" or "I love your outfit" comments and on the days I am not wearing a colour that suits me, I get "You look tired" or "You don't seem well, is everything ok?" comments... who would have thought!!
It's been around five years since I had my colours done and at that time it was around $200 for the session. I even made a day of it and went with a girlfriend. It was a great life experience that is for sure.
Have you ever had your colours done? I'd love to hear if you enjoyed the experience and learnt from it in the comments below.
Toodles 💋
Jess xx
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