Discover your color palette and your style type.

Why Your Best Colors Flatter Your SKIN (Not Your Hair or Eyes)

8/13/2018

Dark hair, dark eyes -- yet this dark color palette is all wrong for Selita Ebanks. Her skin looks lifeless.

Her skin requires lighter, brighter, warmer colors to look healthy and alive.

If you're like me, you're not satisfied to simply know what's true; you want to understand why it's true.

So maybe you've heard it before: it's the effect of color on your skin that ultimately matters. Your eyes and hair are along for the ride.

Colors that seem to "go with" your hair aren't doing you any good if that hair is framing dirty-looking or shadowed skin. Colors that seem to make your eyes pop aren't helping if those eyes are popping out of a washed-out face.

But why is skin appearance the most important?

Because when we look at other people, we use skin appearance - not hair or eye appearance - as our primary way of evaluating health.

And health = beauty.

The human animal seeks to maintain life and avoid death. To the human animal, health reads as beautiful because health is life.

When you look at other people, you instantly and unconsciously evaluate their health, and you do it in large part using the appearance of their skin. If the skin looks right, the rest seems right too.

Healthy looking skin = life = beauty.

Baby skin is the ideal of skin beauty because babies are new life.

And when we judge the health of another's skin, the most salient feature to that judgment is its color.

Think about all the ways we use the language of color to describe the appearance of ill health in the skin.

We speak of

the yellow of jaundiced skin;
the green of nauseated skin;
the blue of frozen or oxygen-deprived skin;
the purple of bruised skin;
the red of burned or abraded skin;
the white of bloodless skin;
the grey of dead skin.

The fact that there are so many ways that skin can look wrongly colored shows that skin color is crucial to our estimations of others' health -- and, therefore, of their beauty.

But color is not objective.

Color is context.

For example, is "salmon" pink or orange?

Here, I'd call it pink.

Here, it looks closer to orange.

The color of your skin is subjective too.

Depending on what colors you place next to your own face, you can easily make the natural healthy color of your skin look too cool, too warm, too dark, too light, or too vivid - or disappear altogether.

This looks unlovely because it looks unhealthy.

When you know your the natural palette of your body, and put the colors of that palette next to your skin, your skin 's healthy color emerges. You look beautiful because you look healthy.

First published February 2013.

66 Comments

Nouveau

8/13/2018 02:56:42 pm

Great post, and I totally agree about the importance of healthy skin color.
I have always thought that most people who color their hair are also unintentionally altering the color of their skin - and nearly always it makes them look unhealthy to me.

KatConfused

8/14/2018 02:40:42 am

Hi Nouveau, I've heared the oposite for me- the blonder I go, the healthier I seem to people, I guess because I look less pale (contrast diminishes), and my undereye bags look less purple. Same reaction when I have a noticible tan.

Melina

8/14/2018 03:46:53 am

I have similar experience to KatConfused - when I've dyed my hair (coppery) red, I've got a lot of positive comments of how healthy and radiant I look... I guess most people just consider dark blonde / light brown (my natural colour) as "mousy" and uninteresting, which is such a pity, as imo it's more beautiful than any dyed colour could ever be; but I feel we who think natural is most beautiful are very much in the minority, alas.

Katja

8/14/2018 06:02:28 am

Melina,if you dye your hair coppery red your hair will get more noticible but at the same time it will draw the attention from your face. If you keep you natural hair colour we will see your face.
In most cases natural is more beautiful. If you dye your hair don't go to far from your natural colour.

Melina

8/14/2018 08:07:19 am

Yes, I know all that (& agree), but my point was that the vast majority of people actually seem to prefer the unnatural... :/ As KatConfused had also experienced. And I'm sure we are far from alone.

Christy

8/14/2018 11:41:27 am

In other color analysis systems (like Color Me Beautiful) , hair and eye color are treated almost as more important than skin tone. They seem to suggest that by changing your hair color you change your season, which Is not something I ever bought into. SCI/Art seems to suggest that your skintone stays similar for a lifetime, and hair color is not a big factor. Sci/Art does suggest getting checked again late in life to make sure your skintone is the same, but it is more of a one and done system.

I find it interesting because I am now in my 50s. I am DA and dye my hair as closely as possible to my natural color. I did recently drape with Rachel's Sci/Art cards, and my skintone is still clearly DA. My hair, though, is naturally pretty grey.

While I can't speak to how I would look wearing DA colors with my natural hair color, I think this is a significant change in my thinking. I had assumed, based on stuff you read online, etc., that I should "go blonder" as I age, but every time I tried, it looked terrible. I now know why.

Trisha

9/1/2018 04:20:16 am

Christy, I have been diagnosed twice now by Colour Me Beautiful and neither time did they take hair colour into consideration as it was covered up by them! Mind you I was not convinced the second time got it right, as like you, I wanted confirmation of the correct colours as I got older and am now more confused. The first time in my forties I was a deep autumn, albeit with quite pale skin, but my eyes and hair have faded and the new consultant had me down as a bright spring! I wore the colours for a while, but felt them too bright for my early sixties. I am now wearing lighter autumn colours, as I come out as True autumn when doing the Truth is beauty online quiz and wonder if you can change to brighter with age anyway? The consultant did say to work with the bright spring colours, I would need to keep my hair dark, but this seemed illogical to me as who had dark hair naturally at my age and it looked to harsh and ageing, what with those bright, quite hard colours too. It would be really interesting to have some guidelines on how we change colours and colour groups as we fade and age, maybe on this website please?

Helen

8/17/2018 03:20:41 am

Hello, fellow T.I.B.-ers!

Love this post Rachel! I've been dealing with this misconception all my life! A perfect example of "eyes don't indicate season" is sweet little model Harper Tillman!! Like myself, you can see Harper's eyes are a clear and light filled black-brown (near black) color but ultimately lighter fresh Spring colors suit her skintone best. Warm blonde, warm redhead, warm fresh brown, or warmer versions of her natural Spring black-brown hair color bring out her skintone best. (Similar to the Alicia Keys light spring post you made a few months ago.) Furthermore, if I remember correctly, Harper's natural hair is also a deep neutral black-brown color. I know Alicia Keys' has stated her natural hair color is the deepish Spring black-brown we always see in photos and there's another famous L.S. model (who I can't remember the name of) who also has naturally deep black- brown hair but they're both Light Spring women nonetheless. LOL, Rachel, I remember your old post about how nearly all of our Light Spring poster girls are actually natural brunettes.. and rather dark brunettes at that!!

Nouveau and Katja-- With all due respect, I have to agree with KatConfused and Melina... The same happens to me; people think my dyed blonde is my natural color and are shocked when I show them my natural hair, which is that Spring type of deep-ish looking pewtery black-brown shade (that's the best way I know how to describe it). My natural hair color has never done any favors for my skintone and I've known that since childhood; it has always looked a bit off. Though my natural neutral hair color is not jarringly wrong or overly cool toned for my coloring... it doesn't look great on my very warm Spring skintone either. So, instead of settling for that, I am grateful that I can simply color my hair and warm it up!

Similarly, the blonde actually brings out Harper's skintone better than her natural deeper NEUTRAL hair. And the blonde doesn't look better simply because "it's blonde" or it's "more noticable". I.E., coppery red Spring hair is only "more noticeable" on someone who does not have the type of Spring coloring to suit that hair color (in the exact same way someone's natural True Autumn hair color would look "more noticable" on a True Summer). As Rachel mentioned, we must consider context.

The reason blonde looks better on Harper is because it's WARMER than her natural hair color which is rather neutral (more neutral than her Spring skintone & coloring). Some people are born with a mixed array of neutral features on their body (i.e., neutral eye color, neutral hair, lip color, skin overtone, etc). This is especially true for Springs and this kind of diversity can make it even harder to analyze these types. But for these people, warming up the hair color (even if artificially) often looks better and even more believable than their natural hair color. That's just the reality of it. Similar to how Bright Springs/Bright Winters look better and healthier when they brighten their hair to shocking "unnatural" intensities. The world is becoming a more diverse place where one's "natural" and "expected" coloring are becoming less and less indicative of season. More than ever, we must rely on the skin to analyze season!

Natural may be more beautiful in philosophy (which I LOVE), but natural doesn't always bring out the skintone... which is ultimately the basis of color analysis: to bring out the skin. I hope I'm not coming off as rude here- I'm really hoping to bring in another perspective! I just want to point out... that the "natural hair/eyes indicate best colors/season" logic that Rachel debunks here... is exactly why it's so hard for those who are atypical of their season (and for the growing population of mixed race people) to discover their best colors. As Rachel explained so well in this blog post, skin truly is the ultimate indicator of season! And wow! When people discover their best color pallete, the glow of one's skin never ceases to amaze me! :)

Beth

8/17/2018 05:29:52 am

Hi Helen,

Just wanted to say how much I agree with your comment. I really don’t get the dye hate that sometimes gets spouted in the Colour Analysis community. Yes, a true spring dyeing their hair jet black is never going to be great, but as long as you stick in the general area of your natural colour/seasonal colours I think your generally fine. Personally I’m naturally a mid strawberry blonde. I highlight my hair golden blonde. I sometimes add light copper. Personally I never cover up all my natural colour, but I’m not opposed to it as I age. Some of my best clothing colours are warm reds, yellows and golds. So I don’t understand how it’s a bad thing to have these colours in my hair. Lots of people think my hair colour is natural. It harmonises with my style ID. So I don’t get the hate sometimes directed at dyed hair.

In my experience, as long as your hair colour harmonises with your season, don’t feel you have to grow it out and experience you natural colour to be your ‘true self’ (whatever that means).

8/17/2018 08:43:52 am

I also have been somewhat perplexed by the anti-hair color bias. Considering there's no bias against makeup - and they have the same purpose? What I love about coloring my hair is my ability to go without makeup when I'm blonder. I do agree that a lot of hair color (and makeup for that matter) is done poorly, but perhaps the advice should be that, yes, if you don't want to potentially devote a good amount of time, money, and thought, natural is likely way better. But sometimes, colored hair so good that it's worth it. PCA can guide you towards the right shade more quickly. If I had known I was not some type of Spring when I first started dyeing my hair, I would have been saved from a year or so of awful orange-looking hair (that would have been a "golden" highlight on a Spring). It's important not to listen to colorists who try to force warmth on everyone. For me, the best color is basically my natural color lifted a few levels with highlights - going from medium ultra-mousy dull brown to ashy dishwasher blonde, which is a color most people don't want their hair to be, but makes my skin and eyes just radiant and healthy-looking. I don't look as unheathily pale. The color matches my lashes and brows (another reason I think my natural brunette is an issue) and people are shocked when I tell them it's not natural.

Now, I was very light-haired as a kid. So that's something to consider, from a PCA perspective. But there are women of color mentioned who suit lighter hair really well (I don't want to assume their natural hair color is necessarily darker, as all ranges of hair color are possible for anyone, but the women mentioned here are naturally brunette) - so season is a factor too.

I think the purpose of PCA and style analysis is less to be completely natural than to honor your natural colors and architecture through fashion choices. All of the formal style IDs would agree that they do not roll out of bed looking their best. I think the point is more to make fashion/makeup/hair choices that "match" you, even if they don't occur without outside tools. Honoring your natural appearance is not necessarily "easy." If you are light with darker hair, you may benefit from lightening your hair - the rest of you will be more balanced as a result. If you are a Classic with wild textured hair, you will likely choose to straighten your hair so that your features will not disappear - which is challenging. But the costs of "giving up" on styling your hair, as a Classic, are too great. The cult of "low-maintenance" is less about looking your best so much as being perfect naturally. It reminds me of a male fantasy of the woman who "wakes up like this," even though it's often presented as feminist. What I like about PCA and style analysis is that the amount of effort is your choice. You can benefit from even a few tweaks in the direction of your colors/ID, or you can go all the way. But claiming that putting in minimum effort is just wrong for a lot of IDs. You don't always have to look your best, but when there's such a discrepancy between you "natural" and you with a palette-appropriate dyed color and ID-enhancing makeup - bring it on!

Christy

8/13/2018 09:49:10 pm

I posted this elsewhere, but thought it worthwhile to add it here. I have been saying that I had a color analysis done elsewhere that I felt was really helpful. I finally took the time to take pictures of myself in different lights comparing Rachel’s DA cards, the SA cards (thought my issues might be an age thing), and the independent analysis. Rachel’s DA cards won, hands down. As often happens, the pictures revealed something my eye could not see objectively. Definitely a big help. I do still have this lingering question, though: the cards do not cover all of the shades listed on the site for DA. Black, charcoal, pewter, etc., seem to be missing. Should I assume that I can use standard CMB shades as templates for these colors?

Katja

8/14/2018 04:56:17 am

Christy, as a DA you can wear black, charcoal and perhaps even pewter,but those colours are not your best colours. As a DA you are more flattered by dark brown instead of black. And beige instead of gray.

Miranda

8/13/2018 10:28:19 pm

I've been wondering how value contrast fits into the picture. I'm trying to pick wardrobe colors from an essence for REG and Romantic colors make the most sense by the numbers, and also because I am a klutz. I've always gone for colors with that kind of contrast with my hair and skin. Lately I've begun to suspect that the darker colors are why my features disappear without makeup, but I'm also afraid that because I'm pale, Ethereal colors look strange (I may just be unaccustomed to the lower contrast against my skin though).
In such a case, would it make sense to adjust the value of the colors to some degree?
Do Gamine colors have a little more leeway in value as long as they're bright?
I ask about the other two first because I really love pink, purple, teal...not so much the primaries. But I also wasn't fond of SSu colors at first, and I have come to love the colors that help me look my best.

Miranda

8/13/2018 10:34:04 pm

I should clarify that the darker colors have the same contrast with my skin that my skin has with my hair and so they look great to me that way, if only my face didn't turn into an amorphous blob.

Katja

8/14/2018 05:41:25 am

Miranda, your best colours should have the same contrast with your skin that your skin has with your hair or eyes. And you should never go darker than your darkest feature. If for example your darkest feature is your hair and your hair is medium brown you should not wear a colour with a deeper value than that. If your overall coloring is light you should use your lighter colours of the palette because they relate to your own coloring. If your coloring is dark your colours should be mostly dark. If you are a high contrast woman with a lot of contrast between your darkest feature and your lightest feature (dark hair and fair skin) your colours should have the same contrast. For instance black and white together. If you are a low contrast woman with low contrast between your skin and hair you should put together colours with a low contrast, like white and light pink. Having a low contrast doesn't mean that you have to have a light coloring. You can be very dark and have low contrast. If your skin is brown and your hair is black your coloring is dark and your value contrast is low. And having a high value contrast desn't mean you have to be dark. If your hair is blonde and your skin is fair, but your eyes are brown your coloring is light, but your contrast is high.
I hope this helps!

Miranda

8/14/2018 10:33:44 am

Katja, I have been choosing my contrast with the contrast between my skin and hair (and eyes falls into the same category), but it makes my eyebrows and lips disappear. My eyebrows are not that pale and my lips do have color to them, so that's not the issue. I think I need to choose colors that have the same contrast that my eyebrows and my lips have with my skin, rather than the contrast that my hair and eyes have.

8/14/2018 03:58:20 am

Rachel, this post gave me nothing, Sorry to write that. For 3 years reading this blog I cannot find the answer why as TSp I look good in yellow-orange (marigold) top but this colour is awful on my lips, nails and jewellery. Hello people, are you TSp with the same problem? Why I can wear orange but not use it in make up?

Julia

8/14/2018 02:00:28 pm

I think this post and the whole Rachel's blog is awesome! I've learned so much by reading it!

But I do have similar problem with you Jn. I was analysed as True spring some years ago. First I was happy with the result but surprised as well because I had always worn blue shaded lipsticks and thought that my coloring was rather neutral. However, I can wear light, bright orange well in clothes, and coral pink & deep blued pink are the only types of pinks I can wear. But all orange, warm red, peach and coral shaded lipsticks are so wrong on me. I've started doubting if I was analysed wrong or is this normal for other True Springs as well?

Rebecca

8/15/2018 07:41:25 pm

Jn, I'm not a TS, but I think Rachel addressed your question a couple weeks ago in https://www.truth-is-beauty.com/blog/should-i-be-able-to-wear-every-color-in-my-palette Does that not answer your questions? There is also the question of style identity, such as Dramatics can go with greater contrast or bolder colors than, say, a Natural.

8/24/2018 03:02:35 am

Rebecca, thank you and of course I read it, although it's interesting, explains some issues it doesn't really answer my question. I hope Rachel will write new post about this problem. I wonder how many TSp that mismatch orange lipstick did she met.

Melina

8/17/2018 03:22:26 am

Yes, the post Rebecca linked to explains it, IMO; though I'm not sure why people would even expect that what looks good in clothes should automatically look good on lips & nails, that's by no means the case! A lot of colours that are great for clothes are very unnatural for lips, for starters.

Katie

8/25/2018 01:12:20 am

It disgust me when people wouldn't even read the question and discussion first, but pleasing themselves with stupid monologue advices.

Melina

8/17/2018 03:27:11 am

Ah, now I see that issue was already argued about (a lot!) below, so my reply was kind of superfluous... :/ But anyway, this article is even more pertinent on the matter than the one above: https://www.truth-is-beauty.com/blog/find-your-best-lip-colors :)

Katja

8/14/2018 05:03:13 am

Jn, orange is not really a lip colour. It is good for tops. You should use peach and pink for your lips, nails and cheeks.

8/14/2018 08:26:19 am

Katja, If you don't know what to write, better not write at all. I asked TSp's and I see that you are not one, so please stop being sarcastic. And NO - peach and pink is not good for TSp cheeks.

anonymous

8/14/2018 09:18:10 am

??? not a nice response to advice.

anonymous

8/14/2018 10:14:31 am

katja aka anonymous - ??? not a a nice response to somebody's asking for advice,
Learn to respond to someone without being rude.

8/14/2018 08:35:08 am

Blue, teal and violet is also not natural skin colour but it is used as an eyeshadow. What is the point in putting orange lipstick on the list for Tsp if "it Is not really a lip colour"?

Katja

8/14/2018 11:40:37 am

Jn,I am not being sarcastic. You are the one being rude when I am trying to help you. Nobody has orange lips naturally. We all have lips that are different pinks naturally. Warmer or cooler pinks. Orange is on the list for Tsp because it is a colour for Springs, but it is not meant for lips. There are different colours for clothes and for makeup on the palette.
When I wrote pink I was including coral and salmon. That is good for your cheeks, for instance. Peach and warm pink are for your lips.

8/14/2018 01:51:07 pm

Dear Katja, I see that you don't understand. Please, think! Rachel put orange lipstick on the list for TSp. Orange lipstick , I;m not writing about colour that I saw on TSP's palette.I look awful in orange lipstick, orange eyeshadow, anythink orange or yellow on myy face and I asked a question about this. You didn't give me any advice, only sarcasm, and don't attack me because I wanted to talk about lipstick.Maybe you are not bad person, but your sarcasm wasn't nice and I 'm not rude telling you this.
Peace.

8/18/2018 02:34:32 am

Jn—to paraphrase the Princess Bride: You keep using the word sarcastic. I do not think it means what you think it does.

Melina

8/18/2018 02:56:22 am

Jn, if you really do look awful in orange lipstick or anything orange, as you say, I'd definitely question you really being a TSp...!

8/24/2018 02:38:39 am

KC, I see Katja has spoken again, dont you realise that you are being really rude right now and before? I asked you

politely, but you cannot stop trolling. The essence of sarcam is the intention of giving pain by words.I came here and

asked politely about lipstick, you came and began to talk rubish about cheeks - the "advice" I didn't even asked for,

because I know - by experience what colour of cheeks is excellent for me. And you gave me really bad advices about

cheeks, so why are you writing this if you are not acquainted with the information about TSp. It's not ethical what you

are doing. Primum non nocere. I'm not going to take part in that weird conversation with you anymore, so please stop

attack me. I came here to talk about lipstick colour, not to talk to you. Please, have respect for ppl and stop ruining my

attempts to get to know the answer- there are wise ppl here and I talk with them with pleasure.

Melina, so you are concluding that so many ppl is wrong, maybe you are right, but how can that be if only here we have

more TSp's with this same problem?
I would say that it only indicates that there is no one who could explain this issue to us. Maybe nobody knows the

answer, even Rachel? Thanks to Miranda I thought - maybe I'm Bsp, but I'm sure about my Tsp colours. The TSP

colours are awesome for me, but this coral orange, red-orange lipstick doesn't match at all.

Julia, exactly - orange coral, red orange is so wrong.

Christy, 'uncultural' would be blue or green... Look at the picture below, that women look awesome, I can't stop looking.
https://thefashiontag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/the-orange-lip.jpg

8/14/2018 01:12:08 pm

As I read this, I thought, 'Well of course!' and yet, it's amazing how often fashion advice runs completely counter to this. While it took me a while to figure out my colors (and Rachel, your color cards were SO helpful in that process!) - once I did, it really made a difference! At first I thought I might be a true summer, and I got compliments when I wore the colors there. The range of blue-green-greys in TSu perfectly match my eyes and make them pop. The ashy brown-purple-greys pick up undertones in my hair. And my skin... looks kind of ashy and sallow. I remember having leaned into TSu colors for about a month or so. I bought outlet mall t shirts at first (a great and inexpensive way to really test out seasonal colors - you can stock up on a few, and if they are your right colors, they look like a million bucks even if they're super cheap!) -- and one day, I was looking at myself in the mirror. I saw that exact phenomenon: teal eyes popping out of an ashy face with dark circles under the eyes. Bleah. I realized I needed more warmth, and leaned into LSu (hello outlet store). And that was perfect!

My right season took me a while to get used to, I have to say. When all the fashion world is saying 'black, black & the seasonal 'in' color', it feels weird to be wearing my own palette. But the results are really great.

Though I'll add, in reply to Jn - I'm not a TSp -- a distant relation of spring over in light summer - but I, too, find there are a handful of colors in my palette that I only wear in certain contexts. There is a coral in LSu that leans further into orange than the rest -- I love it as a shirt, but that orangey pink somehow doesn't work for me as makeup, blush, lipstick, or even nail polish. I don't know why. It makes for a lovely clothing color, but in anything else, it seems odd, like it's sitting on the skin. I don't know quite why. I was especially confused that it didn't work so well as a nail polish, but it didn't. But yeah, I'm not the same season, but I also find that certain colors (also in the orange range), are tricky to pull off outside of clothing.

8/14/2018 01:56:29 pm

W., thank you, now I know I'm not alone with this :) but it's still something interesting and strange for me.

Miranda

8/14/2018 02:55:12 pm

My Bright Spring friend has Itrouble wearing orange and I (SSu) have trouble wearing red. I think it has to do with body colors because I uswd

Miranda

8/14/2018 03:55:29 pm

(argh phone)
Used to know someone who was a True Autumn and could wear orange anything, including orange lipstick as long as it was the right value, because her skin had a strong orange undertone.

Beth

8/14/2018 06:12:59 pm

Hi Jn, true spring here. I’m very fair with very yellow undertones, have strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. I can, and do, wear orange on my lips. It works extraordinarily well for me. I also can wear all corals, bright warm pinks and neutral and warm reds. Pure orange is better on me than anything blue based.

Gabriella

8/25/2018 03:24:27 am

Jn, I think we can all agree here that you are the one attacking Katja. Are there no limits to your rudeness and your folly?! Stop commenting if you do not know to behave! It is really unpleasant to read comments like yours.

Leticia

8/26/2018 08:01:19 am

Gabriella, what is your problem? Are you insane? Stop commenting if you do not know to behave!There is no persecution of giving advice here, or doubting other person's season. It's just offensive.I don't think she has written anywhere here before that she wants to test trend or force anybody to use lipstick colours like green or blue, just because there are such colours in TSP palette. I have not seen anybody here, sharing orange lipstick discussion saying that either so if it doesn't concern you, why make a comment? BTW coral orange is natural lipstick colour, so how can anybody say its'notcultural'...nonsense!I was interested but Katja and Melina didn't let to talk.And you are just defending your friend.

Christy

8/14/2018 02:01:27 pm

I wonder if it is a cultural thing about orange toned makeup? I don't think many people who can pull off an orange lip or eye outside of a fashion/editorial setting. As a DA, I have some oranges in my range that simply do not work for me as makeup. Red orange yes, brown orange no.

Can I also say how tired I am of fashion/makeup people talking about this season's "it" color being "great on all skin tones?" This is almost never true.

Megan

8/14/2018 05:26:27 pm

I relate to being generally confused by lipstick--as a Bright Winter, lots of red lipsticks look good, but they're mostly too dramatic, for me, for everyday. So I look for pinks, but it seems that they're mostly either too pale, or too cool or too warm...

Re: the orange makeup discussion--I think I can actually look natural with orange lip gloss and eyeshadow, but it absolutely has to be cool-toned and kind of pinky... I don't know, I think I may be a BW who leans rather far into spring.

Christy

8/14/2018 06:09:26 pm

I used to wear more of a brown orange lipstick and could pull it off when I was younger. It may be that my skin tone has shifted a bit, or my EDC style personality is more obvious to me? I know that there are shades in my palette that really aren’t great on me in certain contexts.

Alex

8/15/2018 10:27:26 am

Wonderful post!

Rachel, I love your blog! Thank you so much for this post, and all your posts!

Katrina B

8/15/2018 11:41:00 am

To those discussing the orange lip color: have you reviewed Rachel's posts from last year about winnowing out your lip colors from the palette? In one post she calls it MLBB (my lip but better). This really helped me a) understand why so few lip colors worked for me and b) find a few that did.

Beth

8/15/2018 12:28:07 pm

Hi Katrina,

Interesting that you bring up the MLBB colour issue with lipstick. Here’s my take on it, as a spring, personally, I find that I don’t have a traditional MLBB lip colour, in that, peach - which is probably MLBB - when it actually is on my lips is kind of meh. It’s amazing as a lingerie colour, because next to lots of my skin, it has a lot of brightness. But it’s simply not bright enough on my face. My actual MLBB shade is a bright coral. It’s Mac crosswires, which is a highly saturated creamy orange coral. On anyone whose not a spring, it’s eye wateringly bright, and somewhat garish. But on my face it’s just sits perfectly. I wasn’t draped in 12Blueprints system, but I was draped in a system that is very similar. I think the key difference is that the system that draped me allows for true spring (definitely me - some of my best colours are tan, coral, tangerine and geranium red) to be in some cases as bright as bright spring. I am incredibly bright, I need lots of contrast/bright colours, especially if wearing a neutral. I also am a romantic blend style ID. I think all this adds up to looking completely natural with a very bright lip, and therefore the ability to wear orange on my lips and it look natural.

8/27/2018 04:27:12 am

Hi Beth,
What about the bright, clean blue? Does it flatter you? I think I might have seen you on the pictures from the link somewhere in your comments. Was it you? You'r clothes were rather SA colours there, I'm curious how would you look in bright colours. What colour flatter you the most? Would you handle this one?
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9PfoFGbZD5Y/Uuvj3ug9sYI/AAAAAAAADpY/c75I28KDzXA/s1600/lipstick+queen+vesuvius+liquid+lipstick+in+coral+swatch.jpg

Beth

8/27/2018 04:50:17 am

Hi Jn
I’m not sure if it’s my pictures your thinking of? In my pictures I posted I was wearing bright tan, my best neutral; coral; cream and bright red. There was also a picture from my wedding where I’m in a chocolate brown fur, which is a little heavy for my colourwise, but a great match style wise. I like bright blue, it is good on me, but not as good as tangerine orange, bright warm red, bright warm green, and canary yellow.

If it is my pictures your thinking of, then I think it does illustrate an interesting point about draped springs, something Rachel herself says in her analysis posts. Springs are just as bright as their colours. In reality, this can make spring brights seem less bright/in your face. (Possibly why you think the colours I’m wearing are SA colours - my skin isn’t fighting with them, the colours aren’t dominating) If spring brights look incredibly bright on you, to the point where all you can see is a beacon of bright colour, it’s probably because your not a spring, the colours are wearing you and are brighter than you. When spring skin is combined with spring colours, the look is harmonious, nothing fights for attention because everything is balanced.
I would definitely wear the orange lipstick you linked too. It’s awesome! Some of my other best lipcolours are Mac Crosswires, Mac Impassioned and Mac Saucy Little Darling. I’ve also had success with Kat Von D Sante Sangre- it’s usually listed as a warm red, but I find it can look neutral on me.

Megan

8/15/2018 11:42:52 am

I want to second the above--before this finding blog, I always used to get discouraged when many different clothing styles, hairstyles, and makeup styles didn't look good on me, and I used to blame my face and body. Now I realize--no one can look their best in everything. Appearance really is relative--as in, the same person can look very different when wearing different lines and colors. It's really refreshing to accept that I simply can't look my best in everything and that my facial features aren't "bad" or "ugly" just because I don't look great in, say, a baseball cap. AND the great thing is, I can still wear the baseball cap, if I want/need to. I just have to accept the fact that I'm not going to look my absolute best in it. And I think that's okay. It's not necessary to look your best 100% of the time, imo, but it is helpful to have the tools to look your best when you want to, and to be able to not hate your facial features when you wear something that doesn't harmonize with them.

Basically, "It's not you, it's the clothes" is one of the main things I've taken away from style analysis, and it's a really, really helpful philosophy. So thank you, Rachel!

Melina

8/18/2018 03:03:01 am

"It's not you, it's the clothes" - that's a great paraphrase! :) I cant do jeans, for example, not my style, and I've given up on them long ago (even before I knew my actual style id). Similarly, "it's not you, it's the color / makeup" is one of the very helpful things I've gotten out of seasonal color - it explains e.g. why so many of us (probably most?) don't do well in the currently super-trendy nude makeup or nude lipstick - it just suits very few (probably just SA's)! :)

Alex

8/17/2018 12:07:03 pm

I just found this shirt:
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/92573?feat=pprv&csp=a
in Ocean Blue - and the color is so right for me that I can't get over it - it's the PERFECT color for my skin (and it flatters my eyes and hair too) - I had no idea I could look so pretty!

The shirt is linen so it wrinkles easily. I used to avoid buying linen for that reason, but now I know I'm a Natural, so maybe wrinkly linen is actually good on me? I hope so...

Thank you, Rachel!

Katrina B

8/17/2018 12:58:35 pm

Alex I am dying to know what season you are! That shirt is a beautiful color and it looks like it could be nice for a few different seasons. Are you one of the Springs?

Alex

8/18/2018 07:35:53 am

Katrina B, I'm not certain of my season. It's confusing because I seem quite warm; there's a lot of visible warmth in my skin, eyes, and hair, and gold-toned jewelry is much better on me than silver.
(Though, while for many years I wore gold-toned glasses, and while they weren't bad they were a bit warm for me. Now I wear these:https://www.eyeglassdirect.com/264_Phoenix.html in coffee - and they're perfect for me. One person, when I said something about my glasses, replied, "You wear glasses?" then did a double take and said, "Oh! You're wearing them right now! But I don't notice them because they're so YOU that they don't look like glasses, they just look like you.")
People have sometimes suggested that I'm a Spring, since I have visible warmth and when I look my best I have a "golden glow" - but too much warmth makes me look sick.
Sometimes I think I'm a Dark Winter. My best colors are rich and deep, not too bright (too bright is harsh), not too muted (muddy and dusty colors wash me out), not too warm (or I look sallow and sick), not too cool (too cool is harsh) (silver is really harsh on me). Plum, teal, navy, forest green, coffee, espresso, chocolate - lovely.
But some of the cooler and brighter Dark Winter colors aren't quite right. (I would think I'm a Dark Autumn because the cooler colors in that palette are perfect, but the yellows and oranges in the DA palette are disastrous on me - make me look like I have norovirus.)
My very best colors are warm blues - like the Deep Ocean color. It's blue, but there's a lot of yellow in it - it is a very warm blue. It makes my skin glow, my eyes sparkle, and my hair shine. It gives me a golden glow - a healthy golden glow, not sallow like too-warm colors do.

So, while I haven't figured out my exact season yet, knowing what I do is already helping me find colors that are right for me. I probably wouldn't have tried the Deep Ocean color if I hadn't realized - because of Rachel's blog - that warm blues are really good on me. Thank you, Rachel!

Beth

8/18/2018 08:05:05 am

Hi Alex,

In the system I was draped in (not trying to bash 12Blueprints here, just offering another perspective) the colours you describe as your best colours, teal, navy, forest green, espresso and chocolate are autumn colours. They just sit at the darker, bluer end of the autumn spectrum. This would explain your golden glow and affinity for warm metals, but your aversion to too much, or intense warmth. You sound a lot like me friend, she is definitely warm, but looks ill in spring colours and the more intense vibrant autumn colours. Put her in forest green and teal however, and a goddess emerges. Her category that she falls into probably corresponds with Blueprints DA, apart from the fact she can’t wear black. But she isn’t dark at all really- she has auburn hair and blue eyes. But her best colours are dark. You sound similar. (She too is someone you would say Spring about on first glance, but the colours do her no favours at all)

Katrina B

8/18/2018 10:22:00 am

Hi Alex, I love your description! You sound like me, a little bit of everything and not enough of any one thing. That was what finally made me go for a draping last year. I had thought I was a Soft Autumn because of being so neutral, but turned out to be a Light Spring. Thank goodness that warm Ocean Blue is one of my LSp colors.

Alex

8/21/2018 03:42:30 pm

Thank you, Beth! That's interesting about your friend; she sounds a lot like me! Interesting that she wears the cooler autumn colors well but not the warmer - that is my experience exactly!

Alex

8/21/2018 04:07:17 pm

Katrina B, you sound a lot like me! I've sometimes thought I might be a Light Spring.
It's interesting: when I tried the home-draping color cards from Rachel, the best group, overall, was Dark Winter - but the second-best group was Light Spring. That might seem odd since they're opposites. But when you think about it: DW and LS are opposites in value, but similarly medium in both hue and chroma: the colors in both are neither too warm nor too cool, and the chroma in both are medium, neither extremely bright nor extremely muted.

Green is particularly tricky for me (which is frustrating since it's my favorite color!) - but a green that is too cool and/or too bright is harsh on me, while a green that is too warm and/or too muted makes me look sick. Interestingly, of the 12 green cards from Rachel, the only two that work on me are the Dark Winter green and the Light Spring green. The DW green is best, but the LS green is a close second. All the other greens are too warm, too cool, too bright, or too muted.

I think that for me, the most important thing is medium hue and medium chroma.

Alex

8/22/2018 06:56:04 am

Actually, it's interesting: sometimes I think I have Light Spring skin but Dark Autumn eyes.

My skin is very light and translucent. Sometimes I think I'd call it ivory, sometimes pale beige - but a pink-ivory and a pink-beige - but it's a warm peachy pink. I flush easily, and my flush is a very warm pink (the Coral Rose color blush from Ecco Bella: https://www.eccobella.com/flowercolor-blush-refills/ is the exact color of my natural blush). Sounds like Light Spring, right?

But my eyes are a deep dark olive-forest-green-hazel - very autumn. My hair is the exact color of the "coffee" glasses I wear (https://www.eyeglassdirect.com/264_Phoenix.html) - a brown that has a lot of green in it - undertones of bronze and olive - also very autumn.
My deep green/olive/forest/bronze/hazel/brown eyes and hair give the feeling of a dark forest in autumn. (My eyes and hair look amazing with olive green; unfortunately, my skin can't stand olive. Go a little cooler, into Forest, and it's good, but olive is ghastly for my skin, alas.)

Obviously, it's skin that matters most, as Rachel says! But I don't think you can ignore eyes and hair completely? So I try to find colors that suit all three. The coffee glasses are perfect; so is the Coral Rose blush; so is the Deep Ocean shirt; so is teal and forest and chocolate and plum. I'm not looking for a complete palette - just some colors I like and know suit both my May skin and my November eyes and hair.

Beth

8/22/2018 08:48:14 am

Hi Alex,

Taken out of context of my skin, I too have autumnal eyes. They’re mid hazel, can look very brown sometimes and also look very green other times. I have no hint of blue, or the yellow sometimes found in hazel eyes, and I have a dark grey ring around my iris. My eyes like autumn colours, but my skin hates it. But, this is were it gets interesting, in my correct season (true spring) my eyes change colour completely. They become dark sparkling forest green, unless I wear my browns, then they become light bright brown. It’s weird. Whilst we were being draped, my friend and I noticed that, autumn for me, a spring, and spring for her, an autumn, intensified our eyes, whilst taking some of the life out of our skin. The correct season harmonised both skin and eyes, without being detrimental to either.

I also think what sometimes gets missed or misunderstood, is how clear spring skin really is. For years I had gone back and forth between spring and autumn, worrying about my eyes being too dark and my undertones being too warm and yellow to be spring. But after draping, my consultant said that I was obviously spring, because of how bright my skin is. It caused me to go back through old photos, and I noticed that, especially in comparison with muted seasons (most of my family are summers with a handful of autumns) in correct colours my skin does look lit from within. I’m on a fb group for draped springs, and no matter how fair or dark we are, we all have bright clear skin.

Alex

8/22/2018 12:07:03 pm

Hi Beth,

Wow, that is fascinating! Thank you so much!

When my sister first got interested in color analysis when we were teenagers, she thought I was a Spring (she's a Summer). When I was a child I looked very Spring-ish (with golden brown freckles and bright warm pink cheeks). If I had to pick just one of the four palettes from the original Color Me Beautiful book I'd probably pick Spring - it's not perfect, but it's the least-bad overall. Greyed colors tend to drain the life out of me. Very warm pinks that are almost-but-not-quite orange are often lovely on me. And my skin does seem bright, and sometimes seems, as you say, to be "lit from within".

I have sometimes thought I might be a Bright Spring. But the brightest colors seem harsh on me.
I've been influenced by this article:
http://www.bestdressed.us/blog/2014/12/29/the-brightness-of-dark-winter-or-how-dark-winter-can-appear-to-be-bright-spring. But some Dark Winter colors are also harsh on me...
(Though it's hard to say if my aversion to very bright colors is due to my season or my style ID or my personality. I am very quiet and shy, and I feel self-conscious in bright colors - if I could choose a season, I would choose Soft Summer! - but unfortunately Soft Summer colors make me look ashen.)

Wow. Maybe I am Spring after all!

Thank you, Beth!

Alex

8/23/2018 04:15:01 pm

The more I think about it, though, Spring doesn't make sense for me. I do have visible warmth, but colors that are too warm make me look sick and sallow. Colors that are too light make me look washed out. I look best in deep, rich colors that are neither too warm nor too cool. Of the 12 season palettes, Dark Winter is definitely the best. It is a bit too cool and a bit too bright - but it's better than any of the other 11 palettes. What works for me is to take the cooler colors from the Dark Autumn palette (teal blue, forest green, dark brown, deep warm plum) and the warmer colors from the Dark Winter palette (including the coral, turquoise, light yellow, and apple green - which are really the only light colors I can get away with).

Of all the systems I've encountered, Rachel's is the best!! Thank you, Rachel!!

Christy

8/20/2018 04:00:59 pm

The discussion of how Style identity interacts with color is such an interesting one to me. I am EDC (primarily D), so I am not only "formal," I am also "otherwordly." No makeup looks make me look dead, regardless of the colors I wear. Interestingly, I was testing out an MLBB shade based on Rachel's criteria mentioned in the posts linked above. Not sure that I love it, since I am not getting enough contrast/drama. Also have less contrast on my eyes today, so maybe if I up the drama on my eyes the MLBB will be OK? I was trying to use it as a nude with a more dramatic eye, anyway. Have others with a good bit of E or D had this issue? It is almost like I look a it better looking at least a little unhealthy.

Miranda

8/20/2018 06:03:18 pm

I have a good bit of E (REG) and makeup is really tricky for me. I can do an MLBB color if I blot well, but I've never gotten another color to look right for an everyday look (and oh how I've tried). I might be able to do a plum for a date or something, though that would be playing up R.
I can't do eyeshadow unless it's very light and shimmery. I can do blush if I'm careful, but once again, it needs to have some shimmer.
On the other hand, my eyes kinda disappear and look better with liner and mascara. As luck would have it, this is the one bit of makeup that I'm not willing to do every day because of sensitivities.
So I guess with me, it's not looking unhealthy that makes me look better, it's looking glowy and delicate. I am struggling to combine this with R colors. Perhaps the solution would be R makeup since E clothes colors do not look right, but aside from sensitivities, R makeup makes me look...very R. *Very* R. Uncomfortably R, though this may be my own prejudice. Also, I still wouldn't be able to do R eyeshadow because of the shape of my eyes, so it would just be daily eyeliner and mascara with plum lipstick instead of rose.
Perhaps Gamine makeup will be the solution, but I can't really visualize that. I'm really looking forward to the makeup guides because makeup has always been a struggle.

Nancy

8/23/2018 04:12:14 am

Hi Alex, do you know if you are all warm or primarily warm? If you are all warm, take a look at this: https://www.prettyyourworld.com/the-sunlit-soft-autumn.html and this: https://www.prettyyourworld.com/the-sunlit-soft-spring.html
If you are primaryly warm, take a look at this: https://www.prettyyourworld.com/the-dusty-soft-autumn.html
I am a Sunlit Soft Spring. I look a little autumny, but I have a certain luminosity that Autumns don't have.

Alex

8/23/2018 04:15:33 pm

Thank you, Nancy!

8/23/2018 05:31:57 am

Christy, I'm an SS EC (with a bit of I). It's quite a compatible combination, the main conflict is that an SS has to go with a light application of E's shimmer. My all-time favorite makeup product is the shimmery, iridescent MAC Vex eyeshadow. It was made for my season and style ID, but I have to apply it lightly.

My favorite MLBB is a rosy sheer balm, such as a light application of Benetint under Burt's Bee's Pomegranate lipbalm. A matte or satin lipstick finish, even in a SS color, looks too heavy during the day. I wear lipstick in the evening, but blot to almost a stain and blur the lipline with my finger.

Since we share E and C, I think the problems you're having with contrast are related to your Dramatic essence. Your face can take more, well, dramatic makeup.

Graphic lines and strong, noticeable textures (high gloss, metallic, matte) are all way too heavy on me, even in SS-appropriate colors. The Classic essence simply means that balancing your features, whether in "natural" or strong makeup, is better than heavily emphasizing one feature.

As you have a lot of Dramatic, you might be be able to go stronger on E's shimmer, as well as other textures. You can for sure wear more graphic lines, which might provide the contrast you're looking for: a shimmery liquid liner rather than a shimmery wash of eyeshadow; a precisely drawn rather than blurred lipline; shimmery blush plus contoured cheekbones rather than the blush on its own, etc.

Truth is Beauty

Why Your Best Colors Flatter Your SKIN (Not Your Hair or Eyes)

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