I can't afford to have my colours done by anyone professionally - is there anything online or in a book that can help me to work mine out?

[secondseverncrossing]

I don't think I've ever worked out what colours suit me and I end up just wearing black all the time because colours scare me!

I can't afford to have my colours done properly, is there anything free online or some kind of book I can get to try to get some help? Desperately need a new wardrobe but I need to work out which colours to take a second look at as I'm so used to ignoring anything bright.

Thanks!

Forgot to add the pure white is not as good as the slightly warmer white of the shrug.

The red is a fabulous colour on you and definitely a clear winter red-you can see it has a very slight orange tone to it and really saturated.

Winter certainly fits with wardrobe :)

I had a clear out of my wardrobe quite recently and did find myself throwing out (or adding to the ebay pile!) a lovely mustard french connection dress, a brown jumper and a dusky blue/pastel pink dress that were flattering shapes but just didn't look right. Looking at the bright winter palette, it's almost my entire wardrobe!

Result! Remember none of the colours will scream bright on you either but just compliment your natural contrast.

Oooh will someone do mine if I put a picture up? I always seem to
Look washed out!

Ignore that - cant add photo because I'm on iPhone.

Sure!

Trinny and Susannah had a book with colours in it, perhaps try the library?

Um, I was just asking for a bit of advice lanternfestival - no need to attack me for not having confidence?! [confuse]

I thought that was a bit unpleasant too. I do wear colours I like and which I think suit - and I think I have probably been largely getting it right - but many people don't have a natural eye. Combined with the fact that lighting in fitting rooms can be awful it's not always easy to tell if something suits you.

Asking for help doesn't mean you lack confidence.

when i was a kid i went to one of those parties in my mums friends house, and the woman put a gold sheet and silver one next to my face, and said i was warm, i always suit bright colours, and rich colours like burgandy and maroon, as well as turquoise, red, and i dont look so good in icy colours.

is this the same as having your colours done

Lantern some people do have a really good sense of what suits them (my mother is one, and she was totally against the whole colour analysis thing, as she just didn't get why other people couldn't do what she, and you, do), but even the most astute individual sometimes wants or needs a bit of guidance on putting together the perfect palette for them. Even an old sceptic like my mother was really impressed when shown the process and said it gave her lots of ideas of colours she wouldn't have tried before, and she liked knowing that literally everything in her wardrobe went together (useful for capsule wardrobes).

Oh, and some people just don't know what they like after being bombarded with fashion magazines, friends and adverts telling them what they should like. It's pretty intimidating (or it was for me, anyway, before having my colours done) to walk into a shop and literally not to know where to start looking in order to put some 'looks' together.

Also, people buy colours because they like them, not necessarily because they suit them. I've loads of black clothes, I like black, but my friend turned around all of a sudden recently and said I look washed-out in black. All these years and I never knew I didn't suit black

Where does one go to get their colours done and do they do parties?

Orange you can get them done at House of Colour, Colour me Beautiful, and there are some independent consultants I think, but not sure how you'd check thir training/credentials so you'd prob want a recommendation or something.

Most colour analyses take place in a class format (although I do one-to-one sometimes, it works really well if people see others being 'done' as well), and you often get groups of friends or siblings coming. Most consultants prefer to work in their own studio rather than at another house, as you need decent natural light, full length mirror, drapes, make up examples, colour wheel etc.

(Hijack) LeBFG, are you LeBOF?

NO! I really need to nc.

ah, got confused. How about after one of the other giants? I always liked gizzardguzzler.

You sound horrified

Oh FFS, isn't it boring when people come on colour-analysis threads just to bash the process? Don't like it? Don't read the thread. It works for some of us. Like when I posted a thread about wanting Botox and basically got told I was a puppet of the industry and a traitor to feminism. No, love, I just don't like my frown lines...

Parties? I was always told that they weren't advised, because there wasn't time to code people properly and people ended up inclined to guess about themselves and getting it wrong, which can be an expensive mistake.

Both my dsis and sil have had their colours "done," yet both are determined to ignore it and wear what they like. Which for my 'spring' sil means she wears black and dull grey and always looks ill. My dsis wears all sorts and never looks right, to be honest.

BOF - this isn't the first time I've been mistaken for you. I like the name change idea, ta.

The colour thing was divided into the four seasons, but then loads of people found they could happily wear some colours from other seasons, so they added in the hot, cold etc adjectives which just makes it complicated for mere mortals to understand. IMO, I think it's all a bit much of a muchness actually.

I had my colours done, well worth the money and was fun too! I put a pic on here first and had a wide variety of guesses. I ended up "deep and warm" (so a deep autumn, which is close to winter).

Went with a friend who most would say had similar colouring to me, we ended up being completely different!

So hard to do from a photo. Here is my link