Colour me beautiful consultation

[lavender11]

Anyone had a colour me beautiful consultation (or equivalent image consultant consultation) What reputation do you think these things have? I have never had one but considering it however my previous perception was that they were for slightly dowdy older women (not that there is anything wrong with older women, i am one!) - does anyone agree with this (or disagree) if you had a consultation did you think it was worth the money? (no idea how much they cost). Did the consultant do the hard sell on you?

yes def worth the money but wasn't CMB (v pricey)

no hard sell - she didn;t sell anythign else

if you archive search 'get your colours done' there are tons of positive threads

NB a colour consult is different to an image consult - I only had colour as was ok with my 'image' iyswim

I have been to House of Colour (who I think are the best) to have both colour and susequently image done. Suffice to say that all my women friends are now going, and my DH has also been. £95 for colour & a bit more for image. Well worth every penny. Get lots of fun out of shopping now as I know what to look for. Get lots of peeps saying I look good too. Am 54 and more interested in looking good 'my' way, than following fashion per se. Wear all my clothes as I know they suit me. No more mistakes ( well, very few and usually my fault!). Everything goes with everything else so as long as you have a top & a bottom half you can get dressed in the dark and still look fab. Go for it.

Mrs Badger and Dorothyredboots thanks for your very helpful posts. Do you know the website for House of Colour? Mrs Badger are you ok to tell me who you went to (was it House of Colour?) was it £95 flat or was there extra (eg for food or VAT or something else) how long does the consultation last and do you get swatches? (sorry can probably find this out from a website if i looked)
I am in Oxford so I am looking for something reasonably local and am looking for a website where I can search local consultants - thanks

iirc mine was 'Colour and You' and was in the room over someone's garage in Mid Glamorgan

as such it was about £50 inc a mug of tea but she was very good, I did get tyhe swatches and she gave gfood advice re how to wear a colour that doesn't suit you (work uniform, funerals etc)

I had CMB - it didn't tell me all that much that I didn't already know (I live in aquas, pinks, turquoise etc and it just so happened most of 'my' colours are the same) but having my makeup done as part of the session was one of the best things I've ever done. Wearing the right makeup colours totally transformed my face. Well worth paying slightly extra for a consultation that includes makeup.

House of Colour have a large website - just google it - it lists the consultants in your area. My session started at 9.45 and I came away with the swatch wallet, mid afternoon. Lunch and coffee etc and the swatches included in the £95.00.
H of C have more categories than just the four seasons - there are differences within those seasons depending on your best colours e.g. I am Blue Spring, a friend is Paintbox Spring...so not just 4 categories. I think how you feel about the experience depends a lot on the consultant, so I'm not wanting to diss CMB in the slightest. I am lucky as my consultant is great (although a little eccentric!). She is happy to help you at any time - you can go to her house with a pic on your mobile of something you are thinking of buying and she will advise (great if you are going somewhere ultra special). Or you can ring up anytime for advice! The H of C make up is good too and you can get 30% off the web prices if you go to a consultant. Never buy another 'wrong' lipstick - joy!

I had a CMB session about 15 years ago and didn't rate it BUT at the time they only had 4 "seasons" to choose from. The person who did it could not decide if I was warm/cool- pretty fundemental.

However it did get me away from wearing black and navy near my face, and wearing colours that suited rather than what I liked. eg I love peach/salmon as colours but they make me look washed out.

I have bought the boo k Colour Me Confident which is good.

Make up, I think I have got sorted but no credit to CMB- at the time, it was very garish and not my taste at all. I once went into a Molton Brown store, browsing, and they asked me if I had had my colours done by them- so I must be getting it right!

I've also done colour and image at House of Colour.

I've found it's saved me loads of time and money wasted trying on (and sometimes buying) khaki/black/orange/yellow clothes, when I'm a Sweet-pea Summer who suits blends of blue, pink, lilac, grey, as well as stronger but toned-down shades of navy, red and brown.

I recently did an update with an independent consultant who trained with HOC, who provides a similar service but is more keyed-in to what's in fashion and in the shops atm.

She took me shopping and gave me a much more personal (and expensive!) service, and has given me the confidence to wear much 'younger' clothes and not limit my choices to what I thought of as suitable shops for my age (47).

House of Colour was a good starting point for me, but I made the mistake of doing the style consult when I had a couple of stone in weight to lose, so didn't put the theory into practise straight away and forgot or mis-interpreted a lot of it.

But don't let my incompetence put you off, it's well worth doing (and I've just come back from holiday were I was astonished by the frumpiness of women much younger than me, and ones my age or a bit older who dressed in a style older than my mother!)

whatswrong- out of interest what did the style consultant suggest you wear that was younger?
I am 55 but don't dress or look typical for my age. I have just bought a pair of skinny jeans ( dark rinse) and am going to buy some flat boots to wear with them. I am a size 10 which helps as I think weight + plus age is a lethal fuddy duddy combination.

I'm afraid I absolutely agree on that point.
She basically got me trying on things I wouldn't even have considered - skirts above the knee, for example - but also told me the particular shapes of skirts to suit my shape and style.
Skinny jeans she said were fine, although I'm trying to get away from wearing jeans so much so didn't buy any.
Generally things which are a lot more close-fitting as otherwise I look swamped.
She also told me I had no worries about my arms and shoulders, so could expose them if I wanted, and shuddered when I said I'd bought a waterfall cardi - they're everywhere but they're so ageing and again they swamp me.
Generally I need to go for a youthful, quite cute but feminine look as my style 'personality' is Classic Ingenue, which I already knew but was having difficulty interpreting it into clothes I felt comfortable wearing.
I've been having a great time updating my wardrobe since, and have the excuse of needing to replace everything as I've lost weight.
As I said, I've just been on holiday and this is the first time I haven't come home wishing I'd bought this or that - I had enough clothes to last the fortnight feeling comfortable wherever I went.

Is it only something for older ladies? I'm 25, but would be interested in suggesting it to my mum (she's 49) as something we could do together.

Had a look at House of Colour site. They are in a range of countries worldwide, but not Northern Ireland :(

Anyone know of something similar over here?

I found this on the HoC website - any good?

I think the colour consultation would be a lovely thing to do with your mum - I don't think it's only useful for 'older' ladies.

I think if you were much younger you might miss out on the experimental stage most of us go through - although, in my case, that might not have been a bad thing!

Let me Google that for you!

whatswrong thank you! I just followed your link and the NI one is in my town!!!!

How I missed that 1st time round I'm not sure.

Am 100% going to contact the lady as my mums birthday is coming up soon and it'd be a great present :)

Great - hope you both enjoy it!