Is it possible..

[ToastedTeacakes]

to determine your personal colour 'palette' without having to pay someone to work it out for you? I appreciate how much more in depth the consultation would be but I am a bit hesitant to commit to it. I already think that I am a summer, but not sure of the other attributes involved. Can the consultation be done over the internet? I would prefer to send someone a photo than hang around with them all day, iyswim.

Umm -- do you live in a big city? Often there are fashion days where they have consultants come in and do a quick colours for you. I had mine done at Canary Wharf for free during one of their fashion days and as it confirmed the research I had done on line & my personal sense of what looks good & the colours I get complimented on that was good enough for me.

I believe Brora is doing a couple of find out your colours days around the UK.

I think it is difficult for someone to do over internet/ send your picture. If I did it that way I would want several opinions and I wouldn't want to pay.

Thanks, I see what you mean about wanting several opinions. I just can't bring myself to pay out so much....I am 20 mins away from closest city, but will have a snoop around.

Also, I am quite positive I am a summer, but not definitely sure if cool or light (I am light ash blonde with mid blue eyes and pale skin).
I do suit silver quite a bit, as opposed to gold or camel.

Has anyone else been able to roughly determine their own colours?

colours are generally not "true" over the internet, so a personal consultation is better imho.
also - consultants will normally cover over your hair so it does not skew the analysis. fwiw - based upon my hair and eye colour you would expect me to be an autumn. i'm actually a light summer. there can be tones in the skin, hints of colours in the eyes that really you can only see in real life, so i would recommend investing in the real thing.

Through a process of trial and error (otherwise known as trying on lots of clothes in lots of different colours) I have worked out for myself exactly which colours suit and which make me look ready for the morgue. There is absolutely no need to go to a colour consultant nor for you to know whether you are a "spring" or a "summer" etc etc.

Sorry. That sounds blunt. But it really is just a case of trying something in a specific colour - does it make your skin glow and bring out your eye colour? If yes then it works for you. If no, avoid and try the same item in a different colour.

Try different colour plain colour scarves in Primark. See what really suits you.

anniewoo - good idea!

Ujjayi - I suppose this is what I wanted to hear, to be honest. I'm kind of obstinate about determining the colours by myself, but can fully appreciate why someone might pay to do it because it sometimes we can mislead ourselves. Make up is a worry for me more than clothes, especially lipstick. Every time I go to a cosmetics counter the assistants say completely different things about my colouring - some argue I am cool, so say I am neutral, so I am still at a loss.

Would love some links to info online if possible?

Also intrigued about them covering hair!
It would be great to find a source which could help me ascertain which lip colour to go for, perhaps based upon my hair, brow and eye colour.

I got a book out the library about determining your own colours, but agree that trial and error of holding colours up to your face is a great idea. You can also club together with friends and find a colour consultant prepared to assess several of you at once, some work colleagues did this, it was cheaper and less intense than a 1-2-1.

Re make up, again I recommend trying what you already own and looking really carefully in mirror eg one lipstick after another. You could do this with a friend?

teacakes there is a us-based lady who has swatched loads of makeup by season. she did a huge note for her facebook group here (it's an open note so you can view it without being a member) but you would need to figure out what season you are in the system she's talking about. people post their finds on the group, too, so there are discussions of more recent make-up colours.

to figure out what you might be, there is a site called 12Blueprints that talks about the 12-season system. there might be some useful stuff on there.

also, this site has a mini questionnaire which might help you get a feel for the whole thing?

finally - i saw this referred to before i had my colours done - there is a make-up company in the US called elea blake that sells make-up "drape kits" to help people figure out their "season". you would then know to stick to similar shades in the future or find advice on other sites. not sure if they sell into the UK though? and the cost might add up if you initially opt for the wrong season!

Heliumballoon - I dread to think how many lipsticks I would have to go through! Trial and error sounds about right, but I am still struggling with determining the cool or warm element, even though I am 99% certain I am cool.

Teejwood - Thanks for those links! I am still going through them at the moment, looks like I may be a light summer after all, which is devastating because I adore true white!

teacakes do you find makeup looks really visible on you?

say, if a friend who seems to have similar colouring to you puts on a blusher and it is barely noticeable on her, would the same blusher look OTT on you? if so, the likelihood is you are a Light Summer!

issimma dp has decided nothing in the world is exactly the same colour/tone as my palette. it's driving him bonkers

i now hate ordering stuff online, though, as so often the colour is completely different - and totally wrong - when it arrives, which is why i think online colour diagnosis could be hit and miss...

teejwood - everything stands out like a sore thumb! Most of my friends seem to have darker hair/skin tones so their black eyeliner and deep, lovely eyeshadows would make me look like I'd done a few rounds in the ring with Mohammed Ali.
I do wear brown liner and mascara, which is ok, but still pretty vivid. Have never worn foundation, but use the palest touche eclat shade under my eyes. For eyeshadow I currently use a Chanel quad with pale pink and taupe tones. Always stuck for lip colour though, but presume berry shades might suit. Pale pink lipstick really makes me look terrible, like a bad version of Twiggy from the 60's (in fact my colouring is kind of similar to her, come to think of it).

issimma - certainly sounds worth having it done, in terms of savings down the line. I also worry that I've got it nailed....and still might be wrong!

I do seem to suit the light summer palette, but seem drawn to a lot of winter, which is most definitely wrong if I am blonde (??). I always 'fee' well put together when I wear white, so confusing....

Also confused between 'light' and 'cool', is it the same thing??

toasted funnily enough, under the sci/art system some of the winters have really light pastel shades - but frosty pastels rather than light summery pastels iykwim, so there can be similarities. i remember reading a blog post on 12Blueprints (i think) that mentioned it.

you can do white as a soft summer but it needs to be a slight off white/ winter white/ marshmallow white rather than crisp bright white.
or if you have something crispy white that you love why not soften it with jewellery/scarf/coloured vest underneath? most people do not completely dump black, after all!

re the whole light/cool thing that link to the chic fashionista summarises it with some celeb pics which is quite helpful. my problem is so many Light Summer people are blonde/blue eyed. i am neither! grrrr.

issima sorry i'm not sure how HoC works so can't advise! but maybe if you google it you might find someone has drawn the comparison?

oh and toasted sheer lip colours (not frosted though) close to your natural colour (or just slightly deeper than your natural colour) are apparently just the thing for us to avoid looking like painted dollies

oh and have you tried a soft blue, grey or khahi as an eyeliner rather than the brown?

What on earth is a sweet pea summer!!!??? Haven't even heard of that, it seems to be breaking it down in to way too many subdivisions! (I wonder if the colour consultants fill the web with this stuff so that our minds implode prior to us scuttling off in desperation to seek their expertise!).

Teejwood, relived to hear about the white, and yet I have no idea how to actually tell the difference between winter white, bright white, etc. I guess holding them against my face whilst shopping would be the best idea for the time being. I am the kind of idiot who thinks white is just ... white.
Never too keen on black really, only for skirts, pants, or shoes, as far from my face as possible.

Trouble with the celeb pics is that they rarely look convincing to me. They often have tans and coloured hair. I wish the website would use ordinary snaps of people to illustrate the concepts rather than images of ever changing actresses.

And damn, I was hoping to get away with cool red lipstick...I cannot live an entire life of pastel!

Here is a sweet pea summer swatch wallet (not mine!)
Mine is the same as this, but it's marked (by me) to show which colours are best for me and at what percentage - although, tbh, I don't fuss too much about that.

I think the sweet pea description is just an indicator of the gact that the best colours for you could be found in a jar of sweet peas - lots of pinks, mauves, blues, a bit of white and red.
The aim is to wear at least three (preverably five) colours that blend together. The colour of your glasses and any jewellery counts.

I read somewhere that 'pure' white tends only to be found in man-made fabrics, so a safe bet is to assume that if it's made of cotton/silk/linen it's probably 'winter white' or slightly 'off.'
I find white really useful as an underneath layer, just showing through at the neckline. Gives a nice clean flash of brightness.

That's a good point about using slebs; I'm often left going when told some sun-kissed, peachy type is a summer (eg Sarah Jessica Parker).

Re. the lipsticks; I came away from my consultation with a gorgeous vivid dark pink/red and a pinky/blue mauve. Was thrilled to be almost wearing red lipstick for the first time ever. A few years on and I've had to tone it down, though - was starting to look a little harsh.

Maybe you could look at the Kettlewell Colours site as a starting point?

I would invest in a proper consultation - it will save you £££, time and energy in years to come.

I had a feeling I was a winter but got the percentages/tones very wrong - not everyone can wear the same percentage of certain colours e,g with ice pink, I can only wear a small amount of this.

Definitely worth investing in an analysis IMO.

I am a dark haired autumn, but v v close to spring, so all the brightest and richest autumn shades are good on me, and I can wear a very bright red lipstick (the brightest, reddest autumn one from
HoC is great on me, but the spring ones look a little too bright). I think the rating of good and bad colours is great, as is having an actual swatch wallet to compare, rather than having to hold up everything and try to decide if it's good or bad.

BTW it is perfectly possible to be a blonde winter.