Yesterday I got an almighty shock whilst wearing black

[TheProvincialLady]

I wore black trousers and a black tank top with a silver/gray short sleeved silk blouse underneath. I thought I looked ok when I left the house.

But when I checked my reflection in the ladies at work, I found that I looked frightful. Black has always suited me, but I looked like the palest, most washed out person ever. It was quite frightening.

So what happened? I am 36...have I suddenly reached the age when black becomes a difficult to wear? I wear makeup and have blonde highlights, very similar to how my hair used to be before it suddenly went mousy after I had DS1.

Is this a common thing to happen and can I continue to wear black in other ways, or is it all over for me now? Any tips welcome.

Oh I'm not offended < must stop channelling Lady Bracknell > .

Anyway, I'm off to find a matching scarf for tomorrow's outfit .

Do you mean Kettlewell Colours?

Yes, that's the one! Thanks WWWY!

I was mis-typed many years ago as a winter, but because the actual colours tended to wash me out I defaulted to black. I think I am actually something warm, some variation of spring or autumn, but the prospect of having to re-work about 90% of my wardrobe has me feeling overwhelmed.

Mitten I had a similar situation. Have you looked at clear spring? If you look grim in White but great in black and can carry off some warm and cool colours this might be you.
TPL check out the palettes for summers.

Y, Lipstick -- I do look like death in white, and was thinking clear spring could be a possibility, but clear springs go more contrasty than usually suits me.

The leading contender is soft autumn, which does verge into summer. I like this "12 season" approach very much.

I looked at the summer colours Lipstick but I would have thought spring ones suited me better. Gah it's so difficult.

Mitten, that Truth is beauty website is a goldmine! I could have read it for hours but have torn myself away. I love looking at the analyses of celebs and putting them in their 'right' colours.

I have to say, that, although the HoC approach sounds prescriptive when people like me say, 'oh, you've got pale skin and dark hair, you must be a Winter,' that's not how the consultants approach it at all. They actually avoid this approach as it can be a trap that's easy to fall in to and wastes a lot of time. They analyse you as an individual by testing dozens of swatches against your face to get a full picture.

I think they will often privately make a guess at your season when you walk in, but still do the full test, hopefully with an open mind.
< Should be on commission >

Actually, I'd love to do it but they don't need any new trainees in my area.

TPL if you don't suit gold you are prob not a spring unless you are clear. The summer has three sub cats as well. You may be more towards cool summer which is heading towards winter but greyed down. A lot of people who were winters cool this way as they get older. I thought I was a winter for years until I came across clear spring. It explained why I looked ghastly in white and pastels yet suit black and some warm toned colours. Lipsticks are very hard to get right though still.

Google: gala darling fashion advice for recovering goths. Sorry can't do the link thing but this has all twelve palettes and great info.

I'm a mousy pale-waley aged 32 and have stopped wearing black on my top half for this very reason. I look like a corpse. TBH I probably always did but I looked like a younger corpse so got away with it before. Now I wear grey and navy (not together) instead of black for work and look much better.

Keep an eye out for things like The Clothes Show etc - they usually have colour stands and will do colours for a tenner. I went to Girls Day Out in Glasgow recently - but the queue was too long for the colour girl for me to wait.

Also - I think some of them will do an evening - if you can get a couple of girls together - might work out cheaper in a group??

I'm a House of Colour devotee. The consultants there cover your hair when they do the drapes and look at your skin tone. Most of us are not sporting our natural hair colour anyway. There are some exceptions and a redhead will almost always be 'warm'. I'm a Blue Spring which means that although I'm 'warm' I look good in any blue shades so am actually at the cool end of the Spring spectrum and don't look so good in the very yellow based colours. You have to remember that the colour wheel is continuous and we all slot in somewhere.
As to the age thing. Colours are colours and coloured fabrics are made into all sorts of garments ranging from elasticated waist polyester trousers to cutting edge catwalk garments. Wear the clothes that suit your personality, shape, budget and lifestyle - just get your colours. House of Colour also do a clothing style class which helps with the type of clothes you should buy. I have found it a really worthwhile investment. I have fewer clothes now but feel as if I have more to wear as I actually like the clothes I have. I'm rarely in the 'nothing to wear' panic.
I think older women go to House of Colour as lots of them stop wearing black as it's too harsh, go into beige instead and then feel invisible. I wear really bright clothes and feel very happy in them, as they are right for ME.
Disclaimer - I do not work for House of Colour.

I think I might be a Deep Winter. I have very dark eyes but there is no particular warmth about them, other than the fact that they are brown. My hair is naturally medium brown and my skin is naturally quite pale but with no real warmth to it.

When I used to have my hair coloured blonde in my youth, sometimes they would mess it up and not do enough bleach highlights round the front, and the tint they used would bring it up to a strawberry blonde (I had tint and highlights) - and I used to hate HATE HATE the look of the "warm" blonde against my skin - it looked wrong. I was always trying to get the blonde as ashy as possible as I felt the warmth looked wrong.

From what I remember of my natural colour, there was not a lot of warmth or red/gold to it - it was a very boring cool brown which is why I started dying it.

The only thing making me waver about being a deep winter is the paleness of my skin and the fact that my hair isn't naturally a "rich dark" brown but a bog standard medium brown. But that fact rules out the Deep Autumn and I just think my eyes are too dark to be anything other than a deep.

Last night I draped 2 pashminas round my head and neck (sort of Hijab style!) so my hair was covered and out of the equasion (because it is coloured). The black pashmina looked good, the olive one didn't. If I was a Deep Autumn the Olive one should have looked better than the black.

The Pretty Your World website said if you put Revlon Colourburst Plum on your lips and it looks "natural" then you are a Deep Winter and if you put Spicy Cinnamon and it looks natural then you are a Deep Autumn. They didn't have the Spicy Cinnamon, annoyingly but I put the Plum on and it was so good I bought it.

Does anyone want to have a go if I put a couple of photos with me with brown hair (which is dyed incidentally) up? I think I will go and get draped but I am curious in the meantime!

Okay I've put a couple of pics up for a short time only (!) if anyone wants to tell me I'm way off the mark or spot on or somewhere in between!

Of course you can wear black - AND YOU ARE NOT TOO OLD!

I personally think it was the grey shirt that was next to your face/neck that was washing you out. Grey can be exceptionally unforgiving and can make the most tanned/olive skin look pale. I can only wear grey if it is not near my face - i.e trousers/belt etc. I am similar colouring and love wearing black too - AND I'm 37 - shock horror.

When you get home, get the silk shirt out and put it next to your face - then do the same with the black. Bet the grey makes you look more washed out.

Tatty- your skin looks much warmer in the 1st photo.

Which celeb do you think your colouring is most like - Katie Holmes maybe? Then see what she wears with success?

Tatty - who cares about your colours? You have bone structure to die for!

Do I? Thanks - I have to say the pointy chin is handy because I never have a double chin even if I'm getting porky. That's something!

Its the skin thing I can't quite work out - and photos are hard, and makeup too, in each one...ah well I might go and get draped one day when I'm a bit bored!

Thing with "Deep Winter" is the bright colours thing which I can't quite get my head around...then there's always charcoal for knitted dresses and stuff. If I go out in the evening then I can get an emerald green dress or sapphire blue or something...

I was sort of hoping I might be a deep autumn but I just dont think the overall colouring is warm enough...

Oh I love it when a new "thing" comes up that I can overthink! Those web links earlier in the thread have been hours of fun this week!

Google Eve Best - Dr O'Hara from Nurse Jackie - you are the spit of her!!

God yes! Been trying to figure out who tatty reminds me of - it is indeed Dr O'Hara . Jealous.

OMG haha. There are some similarities with profile shots...

I am intrigued by all this! OP, have you thought about going darker rather than blonder? I am natural medium beige blonde. lovely colour but it looks awful with my very pale, slightly freckly but not at all pink skintone unless I'm very tanned (all the other women in my family are brunette) and these days (mid 30s) I look much better with darker hair rather than blonde highlights - could be worth a try? I find auburn is lower maintenance than brown due to light eyebrows etc.

Blusher in a pinky or peachy shade is your friend as well, I look sooo much better with a tiny bit on.

Going to look at these 12 seasons as I never make any sense in trad seasons...

Tatty, you look like you might be a winter, but it really is hard to tell without the drapes. Does your skin get slightly freckly in the sun? I think that's one of the winter characteristics - they do tan but also freckle.

You're stunning, btw [jealous] heart-shaped face, delicate features, glossy hair. Sigh...

I'm with Dorothea on this - HoC have the best system imo (and I don't work for them either). You could spend hours on the internet and have a general grasp of a palette of colours you can wear, but not know which are the outstanding ones and which ones you should only wear as an accent - part of a print, or a bag, say, rather than a complete outfit.

Once you get that swatch wallet you'll know fo sho how to enhance your natural colouring, and your wardrobe will always co-ordinate - if you want it to.

Tatty, you are GAWGEOUS. . May I ask if you colour your own hair or if you get it done in a salon . . . and if you colour it yourself, what do you use??

Black suits you and you have a lot of contrast in your natural colouring. I believe Christine Scaman on the 12 Blueprints blog talks about how contrasty or "clear" people even have bright whites to their eyes. I think you are probably right about being a deep winter . . . but have a look at the clear spring colours as well, just in case.