Has anyone "had their colours done"?

[FromGirders]

in Scotland?
Who did you go to, please? Was it very expensive? Worth the money?
Has it changed the way you buy clothes?

I really fancy doing it, tend to always wear the same colours and really not sure if they're the most flattering ones. Actually, I'd just like to be completely Gok'd, but this is the nearest I'll get!

Oh, these are all helpful, thanks. Presumably, if you dye your hair you change your colours again slightly? Or is it based on skin tone and eye colour more?

Good question re hair dying said. It was changing my hair colour that got me thinking about this in the first place.

I think its more to do with skin tone and eye colour. My consultant (not UK based) gave me a sample book which even has suitable hair colour swatches in it eg I should go for ash blonde tones and not blonde blonde if that makes sense (I'm a cool summer).

I think its worth doing!

I didn't get hair colour swatches, but the best colour for your hair to be will be in the same palette as the clothes you should wear, so in that sense you shouldn't need to have your colours done again or change your clothes. The only thing which might change is which are the best colours for you within your palette (the "wow" colours my consultant called them).

I am a warm and soft (sounds similar to TeamEdward). I have dark hair but am greying and have loads of highlights, fair but warm skin and light brown eyes. Best colours on me are brown, orange, pretty much any green and red. Can't wear pink (apart from coral), black or white, unless I want to look dead.

DEFINITELY was worth the money (well MIL paid lol), as I now don't buy things that look hideous.

ollie - i think i might be cool summer too? can you advise?

i have fair skin but yellowish rather than pinky. most foundation looks too pink on me. i had freckles when younger but none now. i tan well ( well would if i didnt wear sunblock). a small amount of fake tan suits me and looks very natural

i have navy blue eyes

my hair is naturally dark blonde aka mousey but i have ash highlights. i have tried warmer golden ones but i don't think they suit me

i know i don't suits autumn colours ( yellow, orange, rust, this seasons camel) but I'm not sure what reds/ blues/ purples i should be wearing. i generally avoid black and go for charcoal or navy instead

I found this a good free guide

I have not had my colours done but have worked out for myself what I can and cannot wear.

I am an 'Autumn'. I have honey-blond hair, green eyes and very pale skin, but with warm peachy undertones.

I successfully wear bronzes, brownish-reds, bottle green, charcoal and cream. Black suits me as I have enough colouring in my skin-tone not to look too pale. I can also wear silver for the same reason (although I can wear dark grey and light grey, mid greys look very wrong).

I avoid purple, blue or anything with blue tones. White is ok but not great, so I make sure I wear a scarf or necklace in the right colour. I have to wear deep, rich colours: pastels are very wrong.

So, if you had very pale skin (pink/blue, definitely not yellow) which never really tans, hair that was naturally darkish auburn and green eyes, what season/shade is that likely to be? I assumed green eyes/auburn hair would = Autumn but doesn't appear so from these replies. I hate wearing cream, yellow, orange, many blues.

KristinaM - you sound like the same colouring as me esp the hair and eyes bit! Think I had a blue undertone - either that or I was v cold!

I was told to look for cool colours with blue, pink or grey undertone as anything bright just drained my face of any colour (am already very pale as it is!) My 'strong'' colours are blues and greys - esp: jeansblue, greyblue, marine blue, silver grey and a darker grey (am translating from my book of swatches which are listed in Dutch!!!). Another good colour is taupe - which is one I would never have tried before. In terms of pastels - pale yellow, light blue and a soft pink were ok. White was a no no, so now have to look for off white/v pale cream. Raspberry was also a good one which made my eye colour pop out!

What my consultant called good accent colours (for jumpers, t shirts, scarfs and accessorises) were various greens (mint green, aqua green) and more blues (delft blue, navy, sky blue) and various purples which I am less keen on!

Re make up - best colour on me for eye shadow has been light grey. Too scared to try lavander/violet( 80's flashback!), Lip colours should be pink based. I brought a grey mascara and love it! (She also advised grey sunglasses!!!!)

Oh yes - she said I should not wear contrasting colours - only those with a subtle light to medium contrast and try to have equal amounts of both - not quite sure about that bit tho!

Does all that make sense??!!!

The main determiner of your season is your skin tone. At a HoC consultation your hair is hidden under a scarf. The consultant should tell you what the best highlights etc are for you, but even if you dramatically change you hair colour you season will stay the same. However, I think the argument would be that a dramatic change will probably not suit your natural coulouring. I think they take the hair away as it is distracting and so many of us have colour on our hair which is misleading.
The first thing is to determine if your skin has a warm/yellow (Spring or Autumn)undertone or a cool/blue one (Summer or Winter). The depth of colours you can wear will the determine which of the two warm or cool seasons you are. The consultants have hundreds of colours to look at and some shades will show the result much more clearly than others. It is not always easy to tell!
Almost all seasons have every colour in some form or other so this business of 'I can't wear purple' (or whatever) simply means you are wearing the wrong purple. The exception is black which is only in Winter, and they have no brown. Every season has white which might be soft, ivory, winter white etc. Same with blue, pink, red, grey and so on.
To be honest it is a one off payment of £95.00 and you will soon get that back as you will not make any more mistakes. It is a nice day out and much better than guessing by yourself. My friend went after seeing the results on me and the consultant took ages to get it right for her but she looks fab now in her 'Brown Summer' colours. And that is another thing - they rate the colours for you in your palette and tell you which are the best of the best. And you can buy a lipstick which will suit you and you can wear it with everything (worth £95 for that alone for me!!) I had my consultation as a Xmas prezzie and it it was one of the best gifts I have ever had.
Just do it.

Another HOC client here.

I have cool-toned, pale skin, clear blue eyes and cool blonde highlights. This makes me a Summer, more specifically a sweet pea(!), which means I should go for a mix of my best tones, like a jar of sweet peas (or something).

Tbh, I don't tend to get that specific, just make sure to stick to my 'best' colours as much as I can, mixing in the others whenever.

Dark neutrals would be navy, dark brown and charcoal, then there are lots of blues like cornflower, French navy, powder blue, plus pinks from fuschia to baby, then dark plum through to lilac. Also a nice dark red and some lighter browns. Plus 'winter white', which is a slightly off-white, and confusingly not the pure white that 'winters' can wear.

The next stage is to have a style consultation, which was a complete revelation to me.

That's a good description of the process from Dorothy.

At my consultation, the first thing she did was to try gold and silver drapes, to determine whether I was 'cool' or warm.'

You could try this at home if you can be arsed getting hold of big enough pieces of silver and gold fabric.

WhatsWrong - don't get me started about the style consultation - I thought that was amazing and explained so much about my clothing choices!

Absolutely - and such a relief to stop fighting against what I now realise was my natural impulse to go for 'prettiness' in my clothing, which I used to discount as I always tried to go for more basic, classic clothes.

Whatswrong are you a Romantic or Engenue? I'm a Gamine Engenue .

Good guess - I'm a Classic Ingenue but I quite like to wear more 'natural' things as well, love the Ingenue style though .

The silver and gold scarf thingy was amazing - she put one on each sideof my neck and my cheekbones appeared much higher on the silver side! Had to see it to believe it!

Slight diversion here - I'm still trying to talk myself into the Style day - so you ladies think it's worth it?

To be honest, I find shopping easier AND harder these days (defo saving money though!) and wondered whether the added complication of shapes/styles would blow my brains. Yes or no? Bear in mind, I'm a simple soul and not a huge lover of shopping....

I'd say you sound like me, RipVW.

I've been slow to catch on to the whole style-and-colour-together thing, partly because I wanted to lose weight before changing my whole wardrobe (still trying 3 years later!)

I also find shopping frustrating - although I'm sure I wouldn't if I had the time and money to nip into any shop whenever in the vicinity and buy whatever I liked.

I do think it's worth it, though - force yourself to pay really close attention, take notes and don't be shy to ask loads of dumb questions.

Hmm. I'm very pale, with yellow and blue undertones. Reddish freckles. Natural colour mousey grey - I dye it, and it gets mistaken for natural red hair. My eyes are dark blue, often mistaken for brown. So it's not clear what I'd be. Looking at the colours on the Kettlewell site, I could see myself in all of them. I noticed recently I suit silver-grey and charcoal grey, but little in-between, so maybe that's something.

I think you need to determine whether your skin tone is yellow/peachy or blue/pinky.

You will be either cool or warm, not both.

I suspect, with blue eyes and mousey hair, that would make you cool, but I couldn't really guess without seeing you.

RipMac the style class is very good. However I do find I spend quite a bit of time shopping. I do a lot of reccies on the websites then go and see what the colour/fit is like in real life. Like most things in life the more effort you put in the better it works out! I find that my time/energy is rewarded as I am very happy with the clothes I buy in accordance with the rules! Also, after a while, I find you do not need to buy so much as you are wearing what you have and it all goes together in terms of style AND colour and so you can make more combinations with fewer clothes (as opposed to one top which only goes with one skirt etc).
If you are thinking about doing it, you obviously recognise the value of it so i don't think you will regret what HofC call your 'investment' i.e the cost of the class.

Right - I've finally admitted defeat and decided to buy the book (thanks Purple).
Will have to save up for the actual analysis/consultation.

My mother might also be a)right or b)getting a book for Xmas.

I have far too many mail order returns to cope with after lots of unsuccessful purchases.

I fear that constantly changing my hair colour from blonde to dark brown and wearing gold and silver jewellery might not make things simple.
Maybe I am a neutral