Intrigued by all this 'colours' stuff...

[flippineck]

I've been sucked into reading all these threads about people getting their colours done :). Sounds lovely, but everyone out there seems to be springs and summers!

I really can't afford to get my colours done . I'm fairly certain I'm some kind of winter, but how do I narrow it down and get more specific? I have naturally (and currently natural!) quite dark brown hair and dark brown eyes; skin has slightly yellowish tones, tans quite well in summer but very pale in winter. Camel and yellow make me look very ill, as do some greens and oranges but deep pinks and reds are pretty good and attract compliments. So what does that make me? And can I still wear black

I think I am like you! I haven't done my colours but know that black does suit me. Otherwise same have you camel and yellow really bad as most beige/brown.

Black and red always attract compliment.
Try some of your T-shirt and see it is better with balck or the colour you were complimented on?

I guessed "deep winter" for me, but I am confused by all of it.

Yep, you are probably a deep winter or a cool winter. You might be a "bright" winter if you have really bright sparkling blue eyes (not the OP obviously) but the OP sounds deep winter. Its hard to tell without being draped but apparently its unusual to have very dark hair and eyes and not be some kind of autumn or winter and its really cool vs warm as to whether you are autumn or winter and camel should look okay if you were autumn.

I would try and "drape" yourself in a fushia pashmina in a shop or something (ideally it would be natural light) and see how you look, then grab an olive green one and see how that makes you look. Or a deep rust or dark terracotta. If the rust/olive/terracottaish shades make you look all wrong then you are almost definitely a winter of some kind and if you were to stick to cool reds, plums, jewel colours, ice pink etc you can't go too wrong and you can probably glean a bit more info from this website starting with the free quiz!

dark eyes too! Sorry to highjack flip.
My problem is that I have a lot (I mean a LOT ) of black pants and skirts, if I wear black on top or bright it is a bit meh. Or should I turn goth?

Thanks! Glad to hear I don't have to ditch the black :)

Hmm, torn between deep and cool winter. Looking at the celebs , I think possibly a bit closer to the cools but there's not much in it.

Terracotta is definitely completely wrong on me, but less certain about olive, I don't have anything handy to check but I don't remember looking that bad in it in the past.

I always get really confused with paler colours though - I am, erm, quite top heavy and tend to shy away from pale stuff to avoid drawing attention to anything! What colour is ice pink?

Oh, and hijack away, LeMousquetaireAnonyme, it's interesting stuff!

Ice pink is just a light pastel pink but with coolish undertones. Think of the pink icing on a cupcake (but not too bright a cupcake!) You probably wouldn't wear it to be fair, its a pashmina type colour really.

Ah, I see - thanks!

I have the same colouring and am deep winter. black - yes, china blue, navy, jade green, cool reds, deep cool purples, white - pure not off, icy pink - accent only. deep brownish black is fabulous.

Thanks HF. Another dim colour question, what's china blue?! Love jade green, and also teal - is that ok?

Brownish-black would never have occurred to me as a I know a lot of browns aren't good on me, so that's interesting - I've always gone for true black or charcoal greys. I don't wear much navy either, apart from my interview suit!

Oh, and another one! What does cool purple look like? I'm naturally drawn to more berry-ish purples, plummy colours, iyswim. Should I not go for those?

this is the original book I think, but please correct me

THe photos and styles will be dated, but the colour - and let's face it , that's what this is about - will still be relevant.

Looks like you can get a 2hand for 1p + postage.

It's very detailed and covers a lot of ground. OBviously you don't walk out with a pile of swatches to carry in your bag, but it's not hard to work out what the author is getting at.

Hi, I'm fairly new to Mumsnet and I too am intrigued by all this talk of 'colours'. I haven't a clue what I might be - could any of you ladies have a quick look at my photo and hazard a guess please?
I'm in my mid fifties. My natural hair colour is medium boring brown, possibly with golden tones (it's definitely not ash brown). My skin is very pale and doesn't really tan. I have quite lot of freckles. And I've never been able to decide whether my eyes are blue or grey!
The foundation colour 'sand beige' seems to be a very good match to my skintone.
Perhaps my hair is coloured too dark at present?

I've always been drawn to earthy colours - greens, terracotta etc, but looking at the photo of me wearing the amber necklace I suspect those colours don't suit me. Somehow I think it looks too garishly bright?
Help!

Forgot to say I tried the online quiz and it indicated 'cool' but to be honest I couldn't narrow it down v. well and I think I'm too freckly to be cool.

I am a winter even though I am freckly in summer.

I have dark brown hair, grey blue eyes and a pale complexion (it tans ok in summer) - my best colours are charcoal, indigo, royal blue, jade, cool red, deep pink & black (I am more careful about wearing black now that I am in my 40s). I can wear small portions of baby blue, silver, ice pink and some colours are ok below waist (e,g taupe). Teal/turquoise is ok if its blue based and even then its restricted to a top.

Knowing my colours make shopping decisions, matching up outfits etc so much easier.

I would guess the more blue in it the coolest the purple is and the more reddish purple are warm... ?
China bleu is the colour of their ceramics, actually it is very nice on me as it brings out any reddish tones in my hairs, but it is very difficult to find in the shops. It is an electric bleu.

I do wear purple, lilac colours and greens also military drab which is supposed to be an olive colour and I think they suit me. But hey who knows?

branston if you are medium brown shouldn't you be better has another season than a winter .

Can you be in between? what makes the difference between deep autumn and deep winter? I am like the lightest celeb in deep winter and the darkest in deep autumn How do you decide?
Does it change with season? i.e tan and sunkissed hairs vs pale winter skin and darker hairs?

LeMousquetaireAnonyme - I wish I knew!

I did the online quiz but I seem to fall between their descriptions. Suspect I may be 'cool' colouring but other than that I haven't a clue. Thing is, I have never really liked the clothing colours suggested for cool colourings - blues, pinks, reds etc. I've always been drawn to autumnal colours and I now wonder whether they might not suit me as well as I hoped.

If one has fairly neutral colouring (as I think I have) would colouring my hair to a chestnut or reddish shade make a difference - ie 'warm me up' so that I can wear the colours I like?