A reader asks, "There are a lot of nuances between Soft Summer and True Summer. How do you know that Kristen Stewart is Soft Summer and Emily Blunt is a True Summer?"

This is a really good question.

I often find Summer celebs difficult to narrow down into subseasons - perhaps because the differences in the muted colors of Summer are harder to discern on a computer screen than the differences in the vivid colors of Spring or Winter.

But after a lot of thought, I eventually came to the conclusion that Kristen's a Soft Summer and Emily's a True Summer.

I'll describe my thought process:

To my eye, both look obviously coolish, but not particularly saturated. Cool and muted is Summer.

But my first impression might be wrong. To determine season, we can't rely on what a person looks like; we have to examine how a person looks in certain colors. So I'll check the other seasons.

Could either woman be a Winter?

Well, both are clearly overwhelmed by black.  That rules out all three Winters.

I do make note of the fact that Emily is less overwhelmed by black than Kristen. So I think perhaps Emily has a higher natural saturation.

How about Autumn?

Hmm. I think both are meh in Autumn colors. 

Notice, though, that Kristen is almost pulling off Autumn color, while Emily isn't at all. So I'm thinking Kristen has more Autumn-like warmth than Emily.

Spring: Testing Spring will be tough, because it's very difficult to find either woman in sure-fire Spring colors like peach, lime, or sunny yellow. So I need to test Spring for them in another way.

I've already seen that both women are overwhelmed by black, so Bright Spring's unlikely for either one. (Black alone is not a great look for Bright Spring, but it's not so much overwhelming as it is boring.)

How can I test Light Spring and True Spring? Hmm... Well, neither woman is a convincing blonde, to my eye. Most "blonde" True and Light Spring celebs are actually brunettes, but they do typically make convincing blondes. Yellow is Spring's soul color, so it makes sense that yellow hair would work on Springs.

Yellow hair is clearly not right for these two women, though.

 So I think my initial idea was correct: both women are Summers.

But what kind of Summer - Light, Soft, or True?

I'm thinking Light Summer is unlikely for Emily, for the same reason I think Spring is unlikely: I don't find her a convincing blonde. Light Summers can often pull off blonde pretty well. Their palette contains many lovely light yellows, so this makes sense.

Again, Emily Blunt with blonde hair: not her best.

On Light Summers, yellow hair can emphasize the delicacy of their coloring; Emily's skin seems to be calling for more depth.

So, Soft or True for Emily perhaps?

In weighing these two seasons, I think about how Emily often wears super-bright colors that look a little but not a lot overwhelming. Here she is in some high-sat choices:

I notice that she can tolerate some brightness of color.  In these two pics, she's certainly farther away than the color - but not miles farther away.

So, of Soft and True Summer, I think True Summer  - the more saturated of the two seasons - is right for Emily Blunt.

Yes. I like her in these purely cool, somewhat muted colors.  They certainly don't look muted next to Emily Blunt - they're exactly the right saturation for her.

With Kristen Stewart, one of the things I notice is that neutral-warm colors aren't awful on her.

On the left, the eyeshadow is warmish, and in this pic it's not glaringly disharmonious. (The skin might appear more even with a cooler shade, but as-is, it's not so bad.) On the right, I could almost believe her as an Autumn.

So I suspect True Summer, which is purely cool, is unlikely for her.

I already decided that a big block of yellow next to Kristen's face was not her best, so that makes Light Summer seem unlikely as well.

That leaves Soft Summer.

Does Soft Summer make sense for her?

Well, Soft Summer's TMIT is softness or mutedness of color. Is Kristen awesome in very muted tones?

Yes, I think. The more subtly colored her makeup and clothes are, the better she looks. She seems so natural in very, very soft shades.

Is she overwhelmed by very saturated colors?

Oh yeah.

So, I say Soft Summer for Kristen Stewart.
Let's see her against a Soft Summer palette.

Oh, yes. I love this.





This post originally appeared in January of 2014. 

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• Ethereal beauty is otherworldly and delicate

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Ethereal woman are often described by admirers that they are "unusual-looking." Other adjectives they might hear are "otherworldly," "exotic,"  "fascinating," or "magical." 

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• Ingenue beauty is pretty and girlish.

Many Ingenue women received compliments on their appearance throughout their childhoods, and they will have heard "pretty," "precious," "darling," "cute," and "adorable" a lot, even as adults.

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• Gamine beauty is cute and boyish

Gamine women, like Ingenue women, will have heard "cute" and "adorable" in adulthood.  They'll also get adjectives like "feisty," "spunky," or "sassy," and "loveable" seems to pop up a lot.

Romantic beauty is feminine beauty in its mature, womanly form. 

It may be the easiest type of visual feminine to spot, because it's the kind of feminine beauty hetero men are most interested in -- so it's a beauty we often see portrayed in popular culture.

Other systems call this type Sensuous, Soft, or Alluring. They're beating around the bush.                   

The straight truth is this: Romantic beauty is sexy beauty. 

I initially searched for a better way to word this, because I have been afraid of coming across as objectifying Romantic women. 

Of course, it could be argued that Style Identity Analysis is inherently objectifying, because it analyzes women based purely on their physical qualities. 

I don't  believe this is true, though. We're not ranking women, or judging their inherent worth, based on their appearance; we're analyzing appearance for the purpose of helping all women have tools to feel simultaneously authentic and beautiful -- if that's something they want. The point of Style Identity Analysis is to empower women in their own authentic beauty.

Yet talking about Romantic women's appearance is difficult for me because, traditionally, women have been judged by how well we conform to the standard of Romantic beauty. And we're all pretty sick of it, aren't we? 

Even the Romantic women, who "win" in that system of judgment, may be tired of being valued for their feminine beauty.

Is it possible for us to celebrate Romantic beauty without implying that Romantic women's worth lies in that beauty? 

I believe it is. I hope it is. 

Because there's no way around it: Romantic women embody sex appeal. 

It goes without saying that Romantic women are no more or less sexual than any other women. But visually, they read as pure womanly sexuality.  Romantic women tend to have sensuous mouths, smoldering eyes, narrow jaws, and large foreheads.

Think about what happens to the female body at puberty. Push those changes to the extremes, and you're picturing a Romantic's best look.  Romantics are flattered by clothes that create the impression of an extreme hourglass figure. They benefit from cinched waists, hip emphasis, cleavage emphasis, and butt emphasis. 

Let's put aside that this may be the embodiment of the hetero male fantasy. What's important is that it's the Romantic woman's particular form of beauty. For that reason, and no other, we celebrate it. 

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Dark hair tends to read as Romantic because human hair naturally darkens with sexual maturity. (Just as light hair reads as youthful because prepubescent children tend to have lighter hair than adults.)

​A flush in human skin is an indicator of sexual arousal. Palette-appropriate reds, which echo that flush, look perfect on Romantics.

​Romantics look like themselves with half-closed eyes, a cocked eyebrow, and a knowing smile -- or no smile at all. This "come-hither" face is silly on pretty much everyone else, but on Romantics it's perfect. It looks wise and confident.

Feminine beauty is defined by the curving line. Perhaps because a curved line is more visually complicated than a straight line, Ethereals and Romantics look great surrounded by a lot of detail. (While Naturals and Dramatics are unattractive in highly detailed contexts.) A Romantic looks gorgeous in ruffles, gathers, ruching, elaborate hair, and ornate jewelry.

​Red roses symbolize romance and sexuality, and a Romantic woman's beauty is like a red rose: beautiful, delicate, detailed, and composed of curving lines.

So you're a Romantic, but you don't want to be defined by your sexy appearance. As a woman, I completely get that. 

But if you instead choose shapeless, roomy clothes, you risk looking dumpy and unprepared. (Though a Natural could pull this off.)

When you honor your Romantic beauty by choosing feminine, figure-hugging clothes, it reads as dignified and self-aware. 

But you can also perfect your Romantic beauty with an over-the-top use of jewelry or profuse detail near your face. This is a great choice for Romantic women who don't want to wear figure-hugging clothes.  

The more jewelry you put on a Romantic, the better she looks. The rest of us start to look silly or mannish very quickly. 

​If you know what looks good on you, but you don't know your style identity, try the Style Identity Calculator.


​A version of this post was published in May of 2015.

The Ethereal type embodies a variety of beauty that exists, but that most systems don't allow for: feminine beauty that's neither youthful nor sexual. 

Some systems describe the Ethereal type as the most "yin" -- a synonym often used for "feminine." But I don't think that's accurate.
 

Physically, the Romantic type -- not the Ethereal -- most closely embodies a physical form with exaggeratedly estrogenized features. So Romantic, I think, comes closest to being the most feminine type. Romantic is certainly the most womanly type.

Ethereal beauty, like Ingenue beauty, reads as distinctly feminine but not overtly sexy. Ingenues are girlish and perpetually youthful, while Ethereals are at the other end of the spectrum:  even at a young age, they have an air of great maturity and wisdom. You might use the word "ancient" to describe them, but in the sense that they seem to be old souls. It's easy to imagine that they've traveled here from a far-distant time.

Physically, Ethereals are defined first by the curving line, as all feminine types are. But their curving line is an elongated S or oval. Their faces tend to be long and gently sculpted. 

Ethereals look very much like themselves when they're looking into the distance, with a knowing half-smile or an air of distraction. One gets the impression they're actually looking inward, or seeing something others can't see.

Faded-looking, subtly colored hair and skin read as Ethereal, for a few reasons:

- Subdued colors suggest age, since human coloring naturally fades with age. So muted coloring helps create the ancient or timeless quality that Ethereals have.

- As objects move farther away in our vision, they appear less saturated. So people of low saturation often have the Ethereal quality of seeming to retreat or fade into the distance.

 - Misty coloring on an Ethereal contributes to the impression that she is a misty entity, only partially present on this plane. 
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Look at actors who have played magical beings or figures from myth or legend, and you'll likely see people with Ethereal qualities. Casting directors know how important appearance is in communicating a character's nature.

Ethereal beauty is aesthetically appealing but not erotically appealing. It's passionless. For this reason, Ethereal women are often the women that other women find beautiful but that some straight men find weird-looking. If a rude guy has ever looked over your shoulder at a fashion magazine and asked, "Is she supposed to be pretty?" you were probably looking at an Ethereal.

Ethereal beauty is often confused with Dramatic beauty, because it's unusual-looking, and rare, and because both types tend to have long faces and frames. 

Ethereals are flattered by light-as-air fabrics, translucency, ornate detail, and anything suggesting flight, such as winged shapes or feathers. Ethereals look like themselves when they look as if they're clothed in clouds, mist, starlight, or moonbeams.

And so ends my series on the seven basic style identities. Most people aren't a pure type, but rather a blend of two or three. If you know what looks good on you but don't know how that translates into a style identity, try the Style Identity Calculator!



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Originally published July 2015

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Your palette seems inherently gentle and graceful. Yet your Dramatic or Gamine Style Identity calls for a bold use of color. Can you do that?

Sure you can! 

Definitely wear your Light Spring colors. 
But wear them in solid blocks, rather than in watercolor or ombre effects.

This would not be so good for a Dramatic or Gamine:

This use of Light Spring blue is excellent for an Ethereal blend, but not so fitting for a style type with a more aggressive energy.

A use of Light Spring color more like this ,  below, would be more appropriate for a Dramatic or Gamine:

The color is in solid blocks, not gently blended.  It's still the Light Spring palette, but on a person with Light Spring skin, the effect will be bold.

Even better, consider doing head-to-toe charcoal, vanilla, or raspberry (Light Spring's versions of black, white, and red)  to create a Dramatic effect. Or try unusual combinations of your palette's "primaries" and "secondaries": ocean blue with popsicle orange, butter yellow with grape purple, and so on. 
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Your seasonal coloring does play a small role in your style identity -- people with highly contrasting coloring tend to make a more intense visual impression, and people with very low-contrast coloring tend to make a more gentle physical impression.

But your coloring isn't determinative of your Style ID. Light and Soft seasons are definitely represented among Dramatic and Gamine style types.

Hope this helps! 

:-)


​First published November 2017

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! 




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This post was originally published in March of 2017. 

In seasonal discussion groups, women spend a lot of time working out which palettte-matching lipsticks and glosses are their best colors.

Why should they have to spend time answering this question? Aren't all of the peaches, pinks, reds and violets in your palette automatically good lip colors for you?

Not exactly.

Every color in your palette is a color that harmonizes with your natural coloring somehow. 

But not every color will actually look good on your lips. 
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Your right colors look right because they look natural. So if you wear them in an unnatural way, they won't look right.

​Consider my Soft Autumn palette:

To bring Bright Spring into a fragrance, try adding:

• Lemon
• Black currant 
• Grapefruit
• Pineapple
• Linden blossom 

To bring True/Warm Spring into a fragrance, try adding:

• Peach
• Plum
• Honey

To bring Light Spring into a fragrance, try adding:

• Tangerine
• Apricot
• Cherry
• Hibiscus

​To bring Light Summer into a fragrance, try adding:

• Snowdrops
• Apple blossom
• Cherry blossom
• Lotus

To bring True/Cool Summer into a fragrance, try adding:

• Calone
• Water hyacinth
• Water lily

To bring Soft Summer into a fragrance, try adding:

• Mimosa
• Ivy
• Aloe
• Saltwater

To bring Soft Autumn into a fragrance, try adding:

• Sandalwood
• Rosewood
• Poppy
• Tobacco blossom

To bring True/Warm Autumn into a fragrance, try adding:

• Marigold
• Sage
• Fenugreek
• Praline

To bring Dark Autumn into a fragrance, try adding:

• Pepper
• Saffron
• Black tea
• Tannins
• Guaiac wood

To bring Dark Winter into a fragrance, try adding:

• Incense
• Black elder
• Chili
• Cypress

To bring True Winter into a fragrance, try adding:

• Metallic notes
• Sour cherry
• Cassis
• Mineral
• Slate​

To bring Bright Winter into a fragrance, try adding:

• Caraway
• Ginger
• Pomegranate
• Gin

For the essential fragrance notes and fragrance families recommended for your style type, check out your Fragrance Guide. 

To search for fragrances by specific notes, try these sites:

The Perfumed Court
Fragrantica



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If you're not sure of your style type, try the Style ID Calculator, or consider a virtual style analysis. If you're not sure of your color season, try At-Home Draping Cards.

Not all of the colors in your correct seasonal palette will be your absolute favorites.

Depending on your depth of coloring, your level of contrast, and the specific colors of  your body, some will be more useful to you than others, and in different ways.

A dark-skinned Winter, for example, might use black as an accent, while a fair-skinned Winter might wear it in large blocks.

But no color in your palette will be awful on you.  The colors in your palette are all harmonious with each other, and if it's your proper palette, they'll all be harmonious with you too.

So for those of you still searching for your season, I give you colors that are seasonal deal-breakers.

If the given color absolutely doesn't work for you, the deal's off. Move this season to the end of the list.

You can't use this list to identify your single best season. But you can use it to rule seasons out.


If you can't rock hot pink, rule out Bright Spring.

Bright Spring has a handful of pinks in this general vicinity.  You may not associate pink with Spring. But moving Spring reds toward Winter means making them both darker and brighter. Reds that are both deep and very bright are purple-reds. So in Bright Spring, we find hot pinks.

If you think you're a Spring but hot pink is no good for you, True Spring may be your home.

If you're not fabulous in lime green, rule out Bright Winter.

Taking True Winter's greens lighter and brighter, all the way into Bright Winter, moves them toward yellow. One of the results is a sort of fluorescent lime. On Bright Winters, this color is amazing. It contrasts beautifully with both very dark and very light skin.

If this color's not right for you, but you think you're a Winter, try Dark Winter next.

A handful of the seasons have some sort of mint. True Summer's is not a pure, saturated mint that's close to aqua. Instead it's a delicate and slightly hazy mint. It's lovely with a delicate fuchsia lip.

If this feels all wrong to you, perhaps vivid mint is beter? You might be a Winter.

Dark Winter yellows are tricky. They're not clear and pure like True Winter's. They're not blindingly bright. They're just slightly warmed, a little rich - but not Autumn rich. Penelope Cruz is lovely here in what looks like one of Dark Winter's elusive yellows.

If you need your yellows purer, try one of the other Winters. And if you need a more delicate yellow, try one of the Summers.

This Dark Autumn color always surprises me. Call it orchid or begonia perhaps. It's not a color I would label Dark Autumn if I saw it in a pile of a hundred other colors. Yet it's gorgeous with the intense dark olives and vivid teals of the season.

Dark Autumn Natalie Portman's been photographed in three or four dresses in something like this color. They're all great on her. If it's not great on you, perhaps try True Autumn or Bright Spring.

Was it Christine Scaman who said Light Spring colors are popsicle colors? It's true. But every season has neutrals, of course. This unusual Light Spring color is like your usual khaki, but with a suggestion of green and gold. On a Light Spring, it may pick up tones in the eye or hair.

If this color's a no-go on you, perhaps look at Light Summer instead.

Light Summer doesn't get very warm, but in the pinks it does go as far as a pinky coral. It's a bit pinker than what you see here, but still warmish. On a Light Summer it picks up healthy color in the face.

If you think you're a Summer but can't wear this light, delicate, warm tone, look at True Summer.

True Spring's colors are Crayola colors. You can see them in this picture of Nicole Kidman: blue dress, yellow hair, red-orange lips.  In these simple primaries, True Spring is gorgeous.

If you struggle to articulate the names of your best colors, they're not True Spring's. You might consider Summer or Autumn. 

True Autumn has a few beautiful burgundies that go beautifully with the rich greens and oranges of the season. You can see all those colors here, in Noa Tishby's face.
Those burgundies make good lippies too.

If this burgundy overwhelms you, try something from Soft Autumn.

This is not a warm golden brown or a milk chocolate brown. If you're a Summer, none of those browns will work for you. Browns are generally bad for Summers, as a rule. But if you're a Soft Summer, you will be lovely in cocoa brown. It's a brown that looks both slightly greyed and slightly purpled. It may pick up tones in your hair.

If this color just isn't right for you, try True Summer next.

This blue feels both rich and muted, and quite medium - neiher purpley nor greenish. I's similar to the color you get if you Google "French blue."

Though it's a subtle color, on Soft Autumn skin it's just as powerful as it needs to be. Notice how rich it looks on Natascha McElhone.

If you need a blue that's much richer than this, you might try a Winter or a Spring.

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For any of these seasons, Google the season's name in quotes to see images of the palette. Images that say "Sci/Art" are usually quite accurate. Or order sheets of color from all 12 seasons to try the seasons out in person.

As always, I hope this helps you find your correct season.  :-)


This post first ran in April of 2013. 

If you're not sure what your style type is, check out the Style Identity Calculator, or consider a Virtual Analysis.

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Ingenue

   hair neat curls medium -frizz -wild

Other Ingenue keywords to try:  sweet  girlish  ringlets

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​Classic

    hair mature medium  

Also, this one works well:

    hair tv anchor

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​Dramatic

   hair sleek

Other Dramatic terms to try: "slicked back" futuristic  -men 


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Game of Thrones!

I'm a huge fan of the George R.R. Martin book series and I can't stay away from the TV show either.

So, Emilia Clarke. You've been wondering too, right?

I love Daenerys. But that white-blonde Targaryen hair is so not her. Her coloring's not delicate like that. It makes her seem ghostly.

So probably no Light Spring or Light Summer here.

The natural brown's so much better, isn't it? Just look at this. So real. So beautiful.

The black blazer isn't quite the thing, though. Much darker than she is. Ixnay on any palette that contains black. (That's all three Winters, Dark Autumn and Bright Spring.) 

Just to belabor the point: NOT a Winter.

My very first thought about her was Soft Summer. My first thought is often wrong, but in this case I think it may have been correct. 

These Summery colors are not at all bad, but don't they need to be just a little deeper and warmer? Emilia's skin is a tad richer than these hues.

This is fantastic. Is that one of Soft Summer's teals? It looks like it could be.

True and beautiful. These look like Soft Summer colors to me.

Soft Summers, what do you think? Is Daenerys Targaryen one of you?



Try figuring out your own true colors at home.



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