The short answer is, No way.

People who look similarly don't all come into this world with similar personality traits. It's just not the case that all Winters are born serious, focused and determined. Frankly, this kind of thinking sounds racist to me.

In a country where almost everyone has black hair, a cool skin tone,  and brownish or black eyes, surely a good portion of those people would be some sort of Winter. Would that mean tons of people in that country would share the same basic personality traits? No. That's nuts.

Other people do  sometimes expect us to have certain personalities based on what we look like. 

For example,my sister is a Dark Winter. Growing up, people often seemed to expect  my sister to be quiet, serious and determined. My son is a Light Spring, and people seem to expect him to be bouncy and cheerful.

But the bottom line is this: you are you.

Color analysis won't do a thing to reveal your personality to you.

It will help you see your true physical beauty, though.  That makes all kinds of personalities pretty happy. :-) 

​

Sometimes people ask me, "Is color analysis just for white people? Is it relevant for people of African descent or other people of color?"

The answer is that color analysis is absolutely relevant for POC. 12-tone color analysis is applicable to people of every skin tone, from very light to very dark

It's a sad fact that some  websites and books about color analysis don't address people with very dark skin tones. But I'm striving to right that wrong here on my site. I'm also striving to correct some common misconceptions about color analysis for people with skin tones on the darker edge of the spectrum.

For example, despite what you may have heard, not all people of color are Winters. 

In some systems, anyone with skin that's rather dark gets immediately shunted into the Dark Winter category. 

And it is true that many people with very dark skin will need a high-contrast palette to look their best. Often, that will be a Winter palette.  

But it won't always be Dark Winter -- and sometimes it won't be Winter at all. 

​Other palettes with high contrast, such as Bright Spring and Dark Autumn, are certainly possibilities for people who need a lot of contrast. 

And many people of color have a gentler tone to their skin that is most flattered by muted colors. ​

Here, I have examples of African-Americans and other people of color who are Dark Autumns, Soft Autumns, True Autumns,  Light Springs, Brights Springs, True Winters, and Bright Winters. 

Your color season doesn't depend on what box you check on a census form!

Your color season depends entirely on which colors flatter your skin. That's it. 

Don't know your season? Try at-home draping!

Figuring out the color season of a particular color in a store can be difficult.

When I'm trying to figure out a color's season, and I don't have swatchbooks in front of me, I try going through the three dimensions of color one at a time.

I ask myself "Is this bright or soft? Is it light or dark? Is it warm or cool?"

Sometimes I'm stuck on one of those questions, but answering the other two makes things start to become clear.

This is all harder to do with lights and neutrals, but in those cases I try imagining alternate versions:

"Could this be dirtier? (More greyed?) What would that look like?"

"Could this be purer? (Less greyed?) What would that look like?"

"Could it have more yellow? What would a more yellowed version of this look like?"

"Could it have more blue? What would a more blued version look like?"

Warm and cool -- yellow/orange-tinted or blue/pink-tinted, to be simplistic about it -- can be tough to decide until you've memorized a warm and cool version of each hue. Once you have those mental images, it becomes easier to determine temperature because you can compare a sample to those mental images.

For example, for brown I have memorized mental images of  caramel, a warm brown, and cocoa, a cool brown. When I see a brown in a store, I can ask, "Is this closer to caramel or cocoa?"

For blue, I have memorized mental images of aqua (a yellowed blue) and periwinkle (a purpled blue).

I can analyze whites pretty easily without a swatchbook if I can first identify what the white is tinted with.

So, for example, if I figure out a white is blue-tinted, I can ask myself, "Is that drop of blue more aqua-ish or more periwinkle-ish?"

It's also a good idea to compare colors in a store to other nearby colors.

See the red in front of you: is it the brightest red in the store? Or is it "dirtier"-looking than many other reds?  Does it seem to have more orange in it than other reds, or does it seem to have more violet?

Commercial products, like Coke cans, are great reference points for this kind of comparison because they are often purely saturated. If you're looking at a red that's as bright as a can of Coke, chanes are it's a Bright season red. 

So you're a Natural Gamine, a "Tomboy." But that's not your personality at all! Is your style ID all wrong? 

Naw.  In the Truth is Beauty system, personality isn't correlated at all with style identity. 

Which isn't to say you can't dress like your personality -- if that's what floats your boat, do it! 

But if you want to dress in the way that best visually flatters your natural physical form, be guided by your visual self only. Let who you really are be a delightful, additional layer that complements your surface beauty. 

I'm a tomboy in my soul.  But I don't look like a tomboy, and I wouldn't be flattered by most tomboy-looking styles. "Tomboy" as an archetype for a style identity is about appearance only, as are all of the archetypes. 

If you're not sure of your style type, try the Style Identity Calculator!

​

Having trouble making this decision? These two seasons are often confused -- probably because people in both seasons are flattered by warmer colors and can take a lot of saturation. 

There are a few colors that will distinguish them, though. 

If you're a Dark Autumn, you will look good in some light golden browns, while Bright Spring can't do any kind of brown. As a Dark Autumn, you'll also look good in dark rust red, while Bright Spring doesn't have anything close to that. 

If you're a Bright Spring, you can wear a whole value range of fuchsias, from pretty deep to very light. (Dark Autumn has some coolish reds, but they're very dark -- more like wine.) As a Bright Spring, you can also wear a light, sunshiney yellow, while Dark Autumn's yellows are more like gold.


Still can't figure out your season? Try at-home draping. 

Some Style Identities call for you to steer clear of "earth-toned" color schemes. For example, such color schemes would be aging on an Ingenue, and too heavy on an Ethereal.

But hey -- some of us are Autumns. Our colors are earth tones, right?  What are we supposed to do?

To resolve this seeming contradiction, we'll first remember that color is always relative. Just because you're an Autumn,  it doesn't mean that your colors always look like "earth tones" on you. Next to your Autumny skin, they just look like colors.

So, to avoid looking like you're wearing an entire earth-toned color scheme, just avoid the combinations that create that effect. Google "earth tones" and look at the images:  you'll see that the "earth tone" effect is generally created by combining your browns and neutrals with blues and greens -- basically, earth and sky. Occasionally you'll add some yellow or red for accent.  All of this worn together reads as "earth toned."  

Wear just your blues, or just your blacks and whites, or just your pinks and purples, and you definitely won't have an earth-toned effect, even if your colors are coming from that "earthy" Autumn palette.

The reverse of this is true as well:  if you're a Natural, and your Style ID calls for earth-toned color schemes, combine your greens, browns, blues and neutrals together and you'll create an appropriate effect -- even if your palette is objectively cool:

​Next to True Winter skin, this kind of palette will look plenty earthy. :-)

Interestingly,  it can seem that way.

We say True Summer colors are purely cool.  But next to True Winter colors, True Summer colors actually appear a tad bit warmer.

This has to do with the fact that True Summer colors are less saturated --i.e.,  more greyed.

To desaturate or "grey" a color, we add its opposite color. For example,  to mute a purple, we add yellow.

By doing so, we draw the  color a tiny bit across the color wheel, bringing it closer to the warmest color on the wheel.  So, since it's closer to the warmest color, it appears to be a bit warmer.

 Here are some True Summer pinks:
​

And here are some True Winter pinks:

Those True Summer pinks look a little warmer, don't they?  The warmth is a result of the tiny bit of yellowish-greenish color that is added to the True Winter pinks to desaturate them. 

Here's the practical application of this for you: if you think you're a True Summer, but those "purely cool" colors still feel too warm for you, you might want to try True Winter.

:-)

​Still unsure of your season? Try affordable at-home draping.

 Oh yes. Millions of brown-eyed Winters look bad in brown. 

Part of the explanation is that our actual eye color is rarely what we call it. If you take a picture of yourself and use a color picker (like in MS Paint) to pick out your eye color, you'll discover this.

(For example, most people would say my eyes are green. But when I use a color picker, the color I get is always some variant of grey. My eyes just read as green in the context of my skin and my Soft Autumn colors.)

The other part of the explanation is that eyes aren't the key factor that determines our beauty; the key factor is the apparent health of our skin. 

There's no use in wearing a color that makes your eyes pop if those eyes are "popping" out of an otherwise unlovely look. Case in point: here, too-dark hair and black jacket make True Spring Cameron Diaz's eyes stand out, but at the expense of her overall impression. The rest of her seems a little lost.

​Don't match your eyes; match your skin. The right colors for your skin will always make your eyes look amazing -- and might reveal in them colors you never saw before.  :-)

​Try at-home draping!

"Soft Natural" seems to be almost a catch-all category for women with some Natural and some feminine influence. That's because it's a style type that collapses features of several types into just one. This creates confusion for a lot of women.

"Soft Natural" is essentially Natural with Romantic. Romantic is sexy, womanly femininity. Now, that kind of feminine beauty isn't the only kind. But some systems believe it is.

In a system that only has one feminine essence, all manifestations of feminine beauty end up getting assigned to Romantic.  So women whose feminine beauty is of the Ingenue or Ethereal variety end up getting categorized as Soft Natural, and the recs don't all work. 

For example, Soft Naturals supposedly get light, floaty fabrics.  Those don't work well on women with a lot of Romantic, but they're great on women with a lot of Ethereal. If you're an unsatisfied Soft Natural who looks great in light-as-air fabrics and the most mystical aspect of Soft Natural, you might be Ethereal Natural instead.  

Soft Naturals also supposedly get puff sleeves.  Puff sleeves are girly, even princessy -- in other words, they're Ingenue. If you're an unsatisfied Soft Natural who's great in puff sleeves and other girly aspects of Soft Natural, you might actually be a Natural Ingenue. 

​Still lost? Consider a virtual analysis.

Gamine and Ingenue are the two style essences that embody youthful beauty. If you are often taken for much younger than you are, you likely have a strong dose of one of these essences. But which one? 
​

• A Gamine often looks adorable with a cheeky or wicked grin (like Ginnifer Goodwin), while an Ingenue looks lovely with an innocent, full smile (like Lupita Nyong'o).  

​

•  Gamines look gorgeous with very short hair, while Ingenues look beautiful with longer hair -- especially when it' has some curl.  ​

 Clockwise from top left: Winona Ryder, Natalie Portman, Milla Jovovich, and (of course!) Maisie Williams all sell it as boys. Google these women, and you'll see they're flattered by Gamine styles.

Keira Knightley and Angelina Jolie, by contrast, couldn't really pass as boys:

(Although in each of their cases, I think it's both the lack of Gamine and the presence of Romantic that makes them fail this test. I don't think either one has much, if any, Ingenue either. That's mature beauty, there.)

I hope this helps those of you with youthful beauty sort yourselves out!

:-)

Have you tried the Style Identity Calculator?

It can be hard to know which Style Identity category a given outfit  falls into.  Here are some unexpected questions you can ask yourself to help you narrow it down.

"Could I do a walking tour in this?"

The essence of Natural style is relaxation, freedom, and uninhibited movement.  If an outfit is something you could wear for a walking tour of a hilly European city, it probably has a lot of Natural. Clothes you could comfortably take a nap in are also usually Natural. 

"Do I have an irresistible urge to touch this?"

Romantic fabrics often beg to be touched. This absolutely relates to the fact that Romantic style is the embodiment of feminine sexuality. If you can't wait to run your fingers across a fabric, chances are it's part of a Romantic ensemble. 

"Does this scare me a little?"

Dramatic ensembles are avant-garde, outside the norm -- and we humans are naturally intimidated by stuff that's outside the norm.  If an outfit makes you feel like taking a step backward, it likely has a strong Dramatic influence.
​

"Can I imagine this on a girl in a Norman Rockwell painting?"

Ingenue style is an archetype of traditional girlishness. Almost anything that's Ingenue looks as if it emerged from a Norman Rockwell painting -- or from the closet of Sandy in "Grease." (Before her makeover at the end, LOL!)  

"Could a little boy wear this?"

Gamine style is boyish.  If an ensemble looks like something a little boy could conceivably wear to school without raising eyebrows, it probably has a lot of Gamine. 

"In a movie, would someone ascend into heaven wearing this outfit?"

That may sound ridiculous, but Ethereal styles make the wearer look as if she can take flight.  

"Would I wear this to my first day at my Wall Street job? (Or to the boss's barbecue the following weekend?)"

Whether formal or casual, Classic ensembles always look conservative and rich. In a Classic outfit, you'd never be embarrassed to run into the C.E.O. of your company.  There's never anything attention-seeking, objectionable, or out of place in a Classic look. You're above reproach. 

Not sure of your style identity? Try the Style Identity Calculator, or get a Virtual Analysis. 

Actually, that's not how it works! Don't pay too much attention to systems that try to tell you otherwise. 


Your hair color doesn't make a darn bit of difference in determining your season.  A person with red hair might be found in any season, depending on her skin tone.

Here's a redheaded Light Spring:
http://www.truth-is-beauty.com/uploads/4/7/6/0/4760820/7761500.jpg

A redheaded True Spring:
http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2005/specials/emmys05/bestworsthair/mcross.jpg


A redheaded True Autumn:
http://images.totalbeauty.com/content/photos/20-totalbeauty-logo-red-hair.jpg


And I personally know a redheaded True Summer.

Redheads tend to have warm-toned skin, which puts them into Spring and Autumn categories. But it's theoretically possible that a person with genetically red hair could have Winter or Summer skin. 


​Unsure of your season? Try at-home draping cards. 

Every one of the 63  style identities can be manifested within every seasonal palette. (Though your coloring may play a small role in your style ID.)

The trick is to read each recommendation for your style identity's color schemes and adapt it by adding your color season's name  somewhere in the sentence. 

For example, I would recommend deep reds and purples to create a Romantic look; if you're a Dark Autumn Romantic, you would think to yourself, "Choose the deep reds and purples from my Dark Autumn palette." 

To create a Classic look,  head-to-toe-conservative neutrals is effective; in the case of a Dark Autumn, she would choose from the most conservative neutrals from her Dark Autumn palette. 

You can find more information about your style identity's palette recommendations in the shopping guide for your type. 

The short answer is yes.

The more complicated answer is that not every single color in your palette will look good in every application.

For example, my Soft Autumn tan isn't great on me as a shirt, because that's the same color as my skin and it makes me look naked.  (Generally, wearing tops or bottoms in the same color as your skin tone is a non-starter for daytime, because of the "nude" effect.  Go a few shades lighter or darker.)

But my SA tan  is great for me in makeup, and as an accent color.

My lightest pink isn't my best lippie, because it's lighter than my lips, but it's pretty in a dress, or as lingerie.

Combine the colors you're given with your own common sense about what particular combinations look best on your face and body. 

As a floral, rose is a note that's inherently feminine. All floral notes are feminine, first and foremost.

What kind of feminine, though? Innocent Ingenue femininity? Abstract Ethereal femininity? Or sexy Romantic femininity?

You probably guessed it -- rose's femininity is the womanly femininity of Romantic. 

Some florals have added masculine elements: for example,  carnation has an element of spiciness that brings in some Dramatic, and geranium has a bit of a lemony element that brings in cheerful Gamine.

Rose is interesting in that it has an added powdery and refined element that brings in Classic.  So rose, as a note, combines passion and sexuality with restraint and sophistication.  

If you're a Romantic Classic, this is a definitive fragrance note for you.! If you're not, a lot of rose in a fragrance may add more sexiness or conservatism than you feel comfortable with.

​Want to know what your best notes are? Check out my Fragrance Guides!

I'm an Ethereal Natural.  I love my style identity -- both halves of it.  

Discovering you're strongly Natural can feel like a bummer, for a couple of reasons:

 - Natural is a masculine essence, and we woman often feel that if we look "masculine," we're unpretty

- Natural feels so unexceptional. What's there to get excited about?

To the first point: Gisele Bundchen. Very strongly Natural, and stunning. Google her.

To the second point: Here are some of the reasons I love, love, love being a Natural...

•  I love that comfortable clothes actually look good on me. I can't stand being constrained or buttoned up or confined,  and, as a Natural, I don't have to be.

•  Same with shoes -- the most comfortable shoes are actually flattering on me. Thank goodness! Heels drive me nuts.

•  My clothes are less expensive, because the less expensive fabrics tend to be Natural fabrics. 

• Nothing I own gets dry-cleaned.
  

• It's unfortunate but true: women with very feminine faces are sometimes taken less seriously and given less respect. I think the Natural elements of my face make it easier for me to be heard.

•  If I'm in a hurry, I can skip jewelry without worrying that it's ruining my look.

•  Similarly, if I'm in a hurry, I can throw on some gloss and blush and know that I'm looking my best.

• I can keep my hair very, very low-maintenance and know that it looks right for me. I just comb it when I get out of the shower;  that's literally all I do. 

This is the stuff I remind myself of if I ever find myself wishing I was a more "exciting" or "feminine" type.

​But that doesn't happen too often, now that I've had several few years of practice being comfortable with who I am.

I want that feeling for you too!   <3 

I'm not always comfortable tooting my own horn, but this letter from a reader made me feel so proud of the work I do that I want to share it.
​What she achieved is what I hope for all of you -- that you can use my tools and ideas to find your own authentic beauty.  :-)

 - Rachel

 - - - - - - - - - - -  - - - - - - - - -  - - - - - - - - -  - - - - - - - -

About a year ago, I took a look in my closet and thought "What on earth is going on in here?" I owned nothing I liked, and nothing that suited me or my job. I decided that it was high time for me to "figure out my style." A bit of internet research and a free quiz or two later, I seemed to fit the profile of a Bright Winter Dramatic Classic. I had my doubts, but that sounded suitably corporate and bold. I attempted to dress as such. I spent a good bit of money on it, too. (Ugh.)

Except... it didn't feel right. So I tried messing around with Natural Dramatic... No. Soft Dramatic? Surely I had to be some kind of dramatic, since I'm tall and on the lean side. Every free quiz said that I had to be dramaticish. Fast forward to a few months later when someone snapped a picture of me. I had on a sharp black blazer, a severe platinum bob, and chunky jewelry. And I just looked lost in that outfit. I also looked old. Back to the internet I went, now a lot less confident in the entire style-analysis process.

I found your blog, Rachel, and each post seemed to click something into place. First up: dress for your face, you said. Well... yeah. That makes sense. Dramatic Classic clothes looked good on my body, but competed with my face. Then came your blog post about how ethereal elongation often gets mistaken for dramatic elongation. Light bulb moment for me. No wonder I look better in white linen than black pleather. I went on, using your explanation of color analysis and lipstick draping suggestions to find my right season (cool summer, so I wasn't that far off when I thought I was a winter). Armed with my 'right colors', I shocked my friends by dying my hair back to its original dark ash blonde. But then they all agreed it did look a lot better that way.

I then took the plunge and got your style ID calculator. I felt pretty nervous about it, since all those free calculators had pegged me so wrong. Now, in using it, I wasn't just pleasantly surprised. I was giddy. 

First of all, I love the way it worked. It was a way to analyze myself against the clothes themselves - not against some standard set by the latest popular celebrities. I appreciated this, especially considering how so many celebs have had work done or are photoshopped or whatever. Further, I loved the lack of assumptions. Many other style calculators and blogs are western-centric, white-centric, and cis-gender-biased. Not only is that completely unhelpful and damaging for women who don't fit that stereotype, but it's not helpful for women who do. All my life I was told "Oh, well, you're tall and blonde, so you can wear anything." Only, I can't (and I'm not that blonde anyway) and I could never explain why I couldn't wear the 'in' clothes. I figured there must be something wrong with me -  with my face and my body. But after using the style ID calculator, my view on that changed. There's nothing wrong with me. It was the clothes. Popular styles don't suit me at all - not when I was a kid and certainly not now. And without that knowledge, I didn't know how to describe what I needed.

I walked away from the calculator realizing that I am best flattered by a complicated blend of styles - and that's not only okay - it's awesome! I need something quite different from what's at the mall - something uniquely my own. I've since stopped shopping at my old haunts, and instead found ways to revamp my current clothes or order things from niche internet shops that I'd never even heard of before. My work wardrobe is slowly transforming from a dull, aging uniform into a blend of 'work appropriate' and my own quirky self. I love that.

Most of all, I've loved exploring your site. It's wonderful that you have a range of suggestions and insights for women of all body types, features, hair types and lengths, races, color seasons, and so on. This site didn't type me - it invited me to find myself. 

So thank you, Rachel. You've made me feel a lot more beautiful. And that is, itself, beautiful.

If your Style Identity consists solely of Natural Dramatic, and/or Gamine, and you've purchased your What Not To Wear guide, you've probably seen that your skirt no-no section is really long. 

If you think about it, it makes sense -- all three of these essences are masculine, and, in our culture, skirts are iconically feminine garments.

So what skirts do you get to wear?

What I'm going to say next may sound weird, but it's really good advice to understand which skirts will look best on you:

Anything skirt-like that a man could pull off will probably work for you. 

All around the world, throughout history and continuing today, men do wear skirt-like garments -- and they make them work!

​Dramatic, Natural, and Gamine women, men's skirt shapes are our skirt shapes. 

Now, I know that this may be a difficult idea for some of us to accept, because we want to feel pretty, and we are invested in the idea that pretty = feminine. 

But it's my goal to destigmatize "masculinity" for women, so that we can accurately acknowledge those features in ourselves. 

In style analysis, see, "masculine" and "feminine" are not two discrete groups at opposite poles of a binary.

Instead, there are "masculine" features and "feminine" features.

Many, but not all, men have predominantly "masculine" features.  

Many, but not all, women have predominantly "feminine" features.

​Most of us have some of both. And we look awesome!  

Check out models: the most gorgeous female models often have a lot of masculinity in their features, and the most gorgeous male models often have a lot of femininity.

If you're a strongly Natural, Dramatic, or Gamine woman, you have masculine elements in your appearance. Own it and love it!  :-)

    -      -       -       -        -       -       -       -       -       -    
​
​
Anyway... for us women with a lot of Natural, Dramatic, or Gamine, the skirts that complement "masculine" features are the skirts that will look great on us. ​

​The outline of a masculine skirt will always resemble a rectangle, square, or trapezoid.

​If there is draping, it's elongated and subtle. If there are gathers, they are similarly subtle -- there's never a bouffant effect at the hips. And if there are pleats, they are large and sharp, like kilt pleats.

 

Absolutely!

​Your season isn't about your eye color -- it's about your skin.  Period. 

Here are some beautiful examples of Summer and Winter (i.e., cool-toned) women with seemingly warm eyes. These pics are from Elea Blake's Facebook page. (Elea Blake's makeup quality is amazing, just FYI. I don't understand how a gloss can be glossy and still stick to my lips for so long!)

 - Here's a  True Summer with warm eyes...

 - and another...

 - and another! :-)

and

 - a True Winter with warm eyes...

 - and another...

 - and another! 



The only determinant of season is how the colors look with your skin.

If they are right for your skin, they will be right for your eyes too.
​

Not sure of your season? Try at-home draping!

If you know your personal style identity, chances are you've bought the corresponding shopping guide.

(If you haven't, I recommend it! And if you don't know your style identity, try the Style Identity Calculator. Or consider a virtual analysis.)

I recommend using your shopping guide to create a Pinterest board.  Doing this helps you really visualize the full extent of your wardrobe's potential.

I used my Ethereal Natural Shopping Guide to create a Pinterest board.  I searched for  individual items recommended on the list, and pinned those that conformed to other EN requirements laid out in the guide.

For example, I searched for "rolled sleeves," and pinned a pic of rolled sleeves that were cotton (Natural) and very light in color (Ethereal.) 

Paging up and down through the board, letting my eyes float gently over all of the images, I get a strong, clear sense of the Ethereal Natural look. I feel  like I'm seeing for the first time exactly how much the femininity of Ethereal and masculinity of Natural really contrast with each other. It's striking and beautiful. I feel inspired to stretch myself a bit more in my daily choices.

When you make your own board, pin items that only include the garment or accessory in question -- nothing else.  Nonconforming items in the pictures will improperly influence your sense of your style identity. 

You can see my Ethereal Natural boardhere. 

Have fun!

 I've been making word clouds out of the color names found on my seasonal makeup lists. 



​They're interesting to look at, because they help you see which colors are key in a season's makeup palette.

Like the other 11 makeup lists, Light Spring's list has hundreds and hundreds of products.  Among all Light Spring cosmetic products, here are the color names that occur most frequently:

If you compare this word cloud to the Bright Spring cloud from a few weeks ago, you'll notice that both seasons prominently feature "coral" and "pink" -- but a key difference is that Light Spring has many more products called "brown." That reflects the fact that Light Springs have a few great browns, while brown is mostly a non-starter for Bright Spring. 

It's not common to meet women of color who fall into the Light seasons, but Alicia Keys is one such, I believe. She looks her most natural in Light Spring's delicate, light, pure and warm colors. 

If you think you might be a Light Spring, but you're not sure, try the affordable at-home draping cards. When you know your season, you save a lot of time and money.  :-)

In last week's post, I shared my Bright Spring makeup list word cloud.  This week, I want to show you the word cloud I made for Dark Winter.  

The Dark Winter makeup list  has hundreds of cosmetics that have been matched to color-accurate Dark Winter fans.  

As you page through the list, you'll notice that certain color words pop up again and again. Here are the colors words you'll find most frequently on the Dark Winter list:
​

"Plum" is the clear winner, huh?  Dark Winters are indeed all about the plums. Dark Winter makeup is cool-toned, rather saturated, and generally pretty dark (as you'd imagine!)

Of course, on a Dark Winter, these colors don't look dark -- they look exactly right. 

Each of  my 12 seasonal makeup lists features hundreds of individual products that have been matched to color-accurate palettes. 

I thought it would be fun and instructive to create a word cloud for some of the makeup lists, using all the words from the list that are color names.

​Here's the word cloud for the Bright Spring makeup list:

Neato, right!?

If you don't yet own a Bright Spring makeup list, seacrhing for cosmetics with these words in the title might help you increase the odds of choosing a product that will work for your Bright Spring face. 

Notice that "pink" and "coral" are the two most frequently occuring color words in the names of Bright Spring cosmetics.  Pinks (both cool and warm) and orangey-pinks are so important for Bright Spring.

Bright Spring makeup colors are pure, warm-toned, and generally not very dark. (Thought Bright Spring can wear black, particularly as a liner or mascara, other colors on her face tend to be on the lighter side.)

In your correct seasonal makeup, you'll look like the most gorgeous version of yourself.

​Not sure what your season is? Try the at-home draping cards -- they're an affordable way to figure out your color season.  :-)

Last week I talked about the fact that, though all of your palette colors are gorgeous on you somewhere, they don't all look natural on your lips. 

Now I want to describe a good way to figure out which of your palette colors are best on your lips. 

In a nutshell, the colors that will look most natural on your lips are
 - your MLBB,
- darker versions of your MLBB, and
- a handful of colors very close in hue and value to these

Your MLBB is your "my lip but better" lip color. You may already have a lippy in your stash that you know is your MLBB. If you don't, stand in front of a mirror with your palette and locate the peach, pink, red, or violet that is precisely as dark as your lip and the closest to it in warmth or coolness. (Your natural lip color will be less saturated than any  of these palettte colors; you're basically finding the more saturated version of your natural lip.) 

A lippy that's an  MLBB will always look natural on you. Additionally, colors that are the same hue as your MLBB but darker will also look natural on you. Going very dark within your MLBB hue might be your evening lip, but it won't look unnatural.

In general, avoid opaque colors that are lighter than than your MLBB. This usually looks unnaatural. 

The other colors that will look most natural on your lips will be the colors closest in hue to your MLBB, and as dark or darker.  So if you're a Bright Spring whose MLBB is on your fuchsia strip, you may indeed be able to wear one of Bright Spring's violets as a lippy; the violets are close in hue to the fuchsias. You will find less luck with one of BSp's orange lippies, because orange is pretty far  from fuchsia. 

My MLBB is a neutral Soft Autumn pink that's medium-dark.  I'll wear other pinks and reds that are very close to this color in hue, but I won't go all the way to a Soft Autumn brown -- even though those lippies exist.

If I feel like it, I''ll go somewhat warmer or somewhat cooler within my palette. But I won't stray super-far from this central MLBB hue, and I won't go lighter in value, unless it's a gloss.

And this is what I recommend you do as well:
Find the hue that looks most natural on your lips, and choose lippies that stay relatively close to that hue.

For example, if your MLBB is an orange, experiment with your reds -- but don't stray all the way to a violet, unless you  want to make a statement.  :-) 

And if your MLBB is a violet, experiment with your reds and purples -- but don't stray all the way to orange.

When you know your  MLBB, use your seasonal makeup list and a computer to find the lippies from the list that will look the most natural on your face.

(Computer images aren't completely color-accurate, but you don't need them to be if you have the seasonal makeup list; if it's on the list, it's a color from your season.)

Just check the computer image to make sure the hue and value of the lippy seem right for your lips. Then buy it!