Did You Know Colors Can Make You Look Amazing?
Did you know colors can make you look amazing? This is not a sponsored post. But I have been so impressed with the job that Pamela of Style Yourself Confident did for me when I purchased a personal color analysis. That’s why I got a discount code for you to use for yourself or as a gift. It’s available one week only: through midnight Monday, December 10, 2020. Just click HERE for 10% off Style Yourself Confident 9-page online color analysis that provides a 30-page color profile, a digital color swatch and personalized color images.
Have you ever wondered what your best colors are? Did you know that wearing your most flattering colors can make your skin look clear and fresh without even wearing makeup, your eyes look brighter and more attractive, and your hair (whether natural, colored or graying) becomes the perfect frame for your face? In other words, when you wear your best colors, people see you not your clothes. Then you wear your clothes and your clothes don’t wear you. And you will likely get compliments on how well you look.
Wearing colors that are the opposite of your natural coloring can make you look tired, older, even gray!
Age doesn’t matter. The colors you were born with stay with you throughout your life because your genetics don’t change.
Click on this voucher to get your discount:
My Story
My Dad was an artist and I may have inherited his love of color. I’ve been enjoying learning about it and experimenting with it. It’s so much fun!
Recently, I received a personal color analysis (PCA) from Pamela Graham, an image consultant with her own online business called Style Yourself Confident. Pamela very quickly pronounced me to be a Spring. I was shocked because I had recently changed from thinking that I was a Spring to deciding that I must be a Soft Summer. Now I was being told that I was right all those years that I dressed in Spring colors!
It took some time to sink in (Pamela expected this because it happens a lot.) But when I realized I was really right all along, I was so excited that I took a day off to change my wardrobe back to my old colors. (That happens a lot too. She advises her clients to take their time. We can keep most of what we had, unless we really decide it doesn’t work for us. Anything outside our color palette can be made to work for us by mixing with our best colors.)
I had almost given away a lot of my clothes that were in bright Spring colors. Luckily they hadn’t gone out the door to the charity yet, so I am keeping them and giving away instead the muted cool colors of Summer that I can tell are not working for me.
What is Personal Color Analysis?
If you’re wondering what is a Spring, etc., I’ll give a short explanation now.
Personal color analysis is a system of determining what colors harmonize with your eyes, hair and skin tone to guide your choice of wardrobe and makeup colors to help you look your best. Color analysis works for everyone, regardless of how light or dark your skin is.
Carole Jackson is the mother of PCA. In 1980 she published a book that assigned the color categories four seasons. The theory was that our most beautiful natural coloring is reflected in nature. The book is entitled “Color Me Beautiful: Discover your natural beauty through the colors that make you look great and feel fabulous.”
Over time, the four seasons have been broken down into 12-16 variations because it became clear that not all people fit exactly into one of the four original categories. There are nuances in color depending upon tone, hue, saturation, etc. Each of the four seasons has varying categories of brightness, depth, softness, clarity, etc., depending on the color system used.
Pamela uses tonal and seasonal palettes to get a more precise result. In addition to the four seasons, the tonal palettes she uses are: light, deep, warm, cool, bright and muted. If you do not fit precisely into a seasonal palette, Pamela finds the correct tonal palette that brings out your natural coloring.
My Color Journey
For decades I thought I was a Spring with warm, golden coloring because I detected gold flecks in my eyes.
But then one day I went to a new hairdresser by chance, Jasmine at Bitonti Salon in Birmingham, Michigan. She insisted that I have ash tones in my hair. When I thought about it, I realized that I always did.
Jasmine told me that I have both warm and cool aspects to my coloring which actually makes me neutral. She said I need both warm and cool colors to create the perfect balance.
She made my hair look so wonderful on me that I decided to double check the guidelines for determining your season in Carole Jackson’s book. It says, “If you have ash tones in your hair, you are definitely not a Spring.” After researching further, I found that ash tones indicate cool undertones rather than warm ones and with my blonde hair I fell into the Summer season.
For a couple of years, I began to wear cool and muted colors. Meanwhile, I decided to get a PCA to confirm what colors look best on me. It’s called “getting draped.” The analyst drapes different color pieces of cloth around your face to see how each color changes how you look. I read that even personal color analysts often cannot determine their own color palette; they need someone with a trained objective eye to do it for them. But getting draped can be pricey.
So when Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style wrote about the online PCA’s she got from Pamela, I decided this was a good deal.
Online Color Analysis
Pamela offers four ways to find out your best colors:
- a free color analysis quiz,
- three questions you can answer yourself to discover your color palette,
- an online color analysis that she interprets for you, and
- e-books.
At Style Yourself Confident “Online Color Analysis,” Pamela promises to identify your Color Family whether you’re Tonal or Seasonal – with 100% guarantee.
She says that when you echo the colors of your eyes, hair and skin tone, you create color balance. So finding your color palette will enable you to look healthier and more attractive.
Here she explains how to use your best colors and yet still be able to use any other color you want:
“Color is to be enjoyed. There don’t have to be rules unless you want there to be. If you’ve got the confidence, go ahead and experiment with the boldest color clashes!
“As well as opening up a wonderful new world of color – having a color palette to adhere to can sound as though it’s very LIMITING!
“And I want to show you that it’s not!
“Color is to make you look good and feel good; to use and to enjoy.
“…The biggest misunderstanding comes when people think that they need to exactly match colors – but that’s practically impossible. The most important factor is to understand the characteristics of the colors that suit you best – and why!
“…there’s always a way to incorporate any color into your wardrobe if you want to give it a try. ” — from Style Yourself Confident, “Understand Your Colors”
My Personal Color Analysis
Pamela identified me as a Spring because I have every element of that palette: light, warm and bright. And those elements are dominant.
She said, “just because you have a few natural ash tones in your hair it does not detract from the overall and intense warmth in your eyes and skin. There is obviously plenty of warmth in your hair too because, believe me, honey highlights would look awful on you if you were Soft and Cool. As it is they just bring your natural coloring to life even more.
“When we look at people individually it’s entirely different (from trying to fit them into a particular season). In the same way that we are not made in a mold to fit into dress sizes 8, 10 or 12, every person does not fit exactly into a Color Family; there are lots of in-betweeners. This is why color theory can only go so far and ‘draping’ or ‘virtual draping’ in my case takes over and we look at the individual who’s the one that matters most and find the colors that bring them to life and make them happy.”
I like how she could tell quickly and unequivocally (just from photos!) what the best colors are for someone like me that has elements of more than one season.
Instinctively, I chose Spring colors before I ever thought about the gold flecks in my eyes and decided I was Spring! I have old photos of me in turquoise, periwinkle blue and clear red. Pamela says many of us automatically favor the colors that make them look their best.
The Results
Now that I have tried a whole new palette for awhile, I am returning to my Spring colors feeling more free to mix it up and pair opposites. Realizing that I have some elements that work outside of my palette has shown me that I can wear something cool or dark or soft if I mix it with something warm or bright. And I’m only keeping what I love.
Pamela told me, “Whatever you enjoy wearing you should hold on to…We’re different people from time to time and mood and occasion will dictate what you choose to wear; sometimes it won’t be appropriate to wear the brightest contrasts of Spring.”
Get the Gift of Color
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Do you think you know what colors work best on you, or do you think you need help with that? Is it easy for you or does it seem confusing? Do you have knowledge about color you would like to share with us? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Angie
I studied art for many years and also worked as a graphic designer so color is almost part of my DNA. While I agree that certain colors definitely highlight your skin tones I try to integrate any color into my usual black and grey palette.
Hi, Phyllis – Pamela at Style Yourself Confident encourages everyone to choose their favorite colors and then she shows how to play them up with your most flattering colors. I love black but have been more careful about using it so much, as it can drain my color. I still tend towards dark, deep colors which don’t match my lightness. And I love greys. But I’m learning what warm grey looks like to complement my warm coloring. I’ve really enjoyed playing with my color palette. I actually was able to look good in soft summer colors, the opposite of my best, when I was temporarily confused about my palette. I just have an eye for color, line and style. Thanks for visiting and offering your encouragement to use any color we like! – Angie