The winter colours thread part 2...

[QueenCadbury]

Are you a winter colouring? If so come and join us for chat about clothes/make up following on from here.

My favourite reds are, in order of brightest to darkest:

Essie Lacquered Up - amazing, very bright red, best application/finish of any nail polish I've ever had

OPI Vodka and Caviar - just beautiful, classic blue-red, shiny jelly finish

OPI Quarter of a Cent Cherry (very similar to Got the Blues for Red, but I find Got the Blues a bit patchy even after two coats)

Essie Bordeaux - very shiny and jelly-like (I love glassy, jelly finishes)

Chanel Rouge Noir (maybe too dark to count as red but has red in its name!)

Also love China Glaze Ruby Pumps - deep red and very glittery, it glows!

I also love the colour (and name!) of CND Bloodline - and it even specifies 'cool' on the bottle. Very helpful :) In fact I've nearly finished the bottle, which is always a sign of a good polish! Same goes for Essie Lacquered Up, it's nearly all gone.

Queen, yes that's the top I meant! Didn't look at the price That's rather a lot for a simple cotton top.

Excellent Christmas cardi!

Thanks for the nail polish recommendations. I have mavala New Delhi but wanted something a bit brighter to wear for Christmas although I'm not going shopping again. Dh is going this afternoon though. Wonder if I could persuade him to pop into boots...

Well I just got back from my HOC colour analysis. I am incredibly shocked that she 'diagnosed' me as winter. Probably burnished winter but I was pretty even between that and jewel or sultry winter. She was also very surprised. She initially thought summer which I was surprised at as I assumed I would be spring but I kept thinking I looked best in the winter colours and in the end she came to the same conclusion.

I am nothing like a winter though! I have dark blonde hair, grey blue eyes although my skin is very alabaster like (I always get comments on how great my skin in and I think it is partly because it is pale but very even coloured).

My best colours were navy, mole, charcoal, royal purple, electric blue, scarlet and several of the ice colours.

I have actually been drawn to many of the colours in my wallet before and have a few tops in those colours as they looked so good. But all my makeup is brown and my hair is highlighted. I had darker hair before (medium brown) but looked dull and mousy so no idea where to go with hair and makeup from now on! The lipsticks she gave me to try made me look like a transvestite. I NEVER wear lipstick and the red, bright pink and burgundy look horrendous and make my teeth look yellow :(

Ooh, that is very surprising AngryFeet! And I am jealous of your skin! What did she advise about hair colour? If you don't like darker, maybe you're fine sticking with highlights or could experiment with going even lighter? Blonde winters are less common, but they're out there! (e.g. QueenCadbury)

Loads of us hated the recommended lipsticks - that's definitely something to get used to over time and experiment with.

Welcome angry. Nice set of colours. Don't worry too much about the lipstick at this stage. Dh told me I looked like an old lady when I returned with the red lippy on and although I wasn't happy with him at the time, I do now concede that he had a point . I've realised that I need to go for bright colours but sheer and shiny rather than full on matte.

If you're not sure about hair colour then email your consultant for advice or start a thread asking for hopefully or travel to advise. I'm a natural blonde and at this time of year it goes fairly dark. I look much better in the summer when the sun bleaches it and it goes white blonde (which is what I was until I was about 12).

Re the hair colour she advised going darker with no red tones or very light ash blonde. I really don't think dark suits me and I am wary of using to much bleach in my hair to make it lighter as I have seen friends with hair breaking at the roots due to over bleaching. I am going to try and find a photo of me so you can see what I mean. Part of me wonders if she diagnosed me wrong and I am actually summer but those winter colours looked amazing and made my features stand out.

This is a pic of me when my hair was darker than usual but probably closest to natural. Was probably wearing bronzer here as skin is lighter than that.

Angry - do you have to colour your hair? Can't you go au natural? If not, go for light ash blonde tones - as close as possible to your natural colour.

I was very pale blonde until I was about 12 so maybe that would suit me better than dark?

Maybe once you're wearing the right colours and make up that your hair won't look so dull when natural? Sounds weird but my hair definitely looks better when I'm wearing my right colours.

Also, don't worry about seeming 'wintery'. elizabeth has seen a photo of me and will vouch that I look nothing like a typical winter. I'm blonde, blue eyed and low contrast! As a sprinter winter (ie going into spring) I'm neutral/cool colouring. Maybe you're on the autumn side of winter and re also fairly neutral?

If anything I am on the border of summer and winter - I really don't suit the warm tones at all. Thank god as my wedding and engagement rings are platinum!

Yes maybe the natural look will look better with winter colours. I am wearing a summer tone top in that pic which won't help.

YY to what Queen says - you will look better when wearing winter colours and this includes make up.

Earlier in this thread we were talking about how we had to use the wrong coloured make up e.g bronzer etc to warm us up when wearing yellow based colours such as mustard. No wonder I looked shite some of the time

Yes maybe. I guess I am just concerned she got me wrong. I am 80% sure she was right but there were a couple of summers that suited me better than the winters (pink and red tones generally). I think the lipstick thing really got me though. She said it really suited me but it looked AWFUL.

She was wavering between summer and winter as a diagnosis for ages. Decided on summer then changed her mind .

It there any chance the winter light at the moment would make winter things look better? Would I look more like a summer if it was actually summer IYSWIM?

Sorry to keep going on but thought of something else.

I think the summer tones made me look a but warmer (skin looked pinker almost) but winter made my features stand out and look striking. Which is better?

A consultant being unsure and indecisive is unusual I would ask for another go just to reassure myself that winter is indeed the correct season. There are a couple of HoC consultants on the forum - Hopefully and TravellinginColour so maybe if you put a post up asking for their views this?

How do you look in white compared with ivory? Black? Emerald?

Yes she said I was quite unusual. There were not many colours that looked bad on me tbh. White looked better than ivory. Black ok but not great. Emerald looked good. Charcoal looked amazing as did bright red (the cool toned one), mole also looked fab as did navy.

There you go then. If you looked better in white than ivory then you are more likely to be a winter than summer.

Summers can wear navy and the softer shades of greys and pinks etc. So maybe while these did not look awful on you, did not make your eyes pop like the winter colours did.

Really? White looked better than ivory but not amazing. Although she said to not wear much white around my face. I definitely need to go shopping tomorrow for new makeup :)

I bought this to wear to a xmas do on Saturday www.wallis.co.uk/en/wluk/product/clothing-265973/tops-265992/coral-bow-sleeve-petite-blouse-2535515?bi=1&ps=20. Oops.

IMO the colours that make your features stand out and look more striking are better than ones that warm you up and make you look pinker :) But you might change your mind when it's actually summer and you want to look warmer and softer rather than wintery and dramatic!

From your first post it sounds like your skin is key to you suiting the winter colours. In one of the colours blogs linked on here (can't remember which right now) there's a post about Megan Fox's colouring that says that although she's not very high contrast, her skin is so luminous and reflective that she looks great in strong winter colours. Assume that's just the opinion of the blogger and based on photos, but kind of makes sense.