What is the deal with "colours"?

[SilverShadows]

I've seen people referring to having their colours done.
What does this mean please?

You pay someone money and they tell you what colour you look good in, according to them.

Or you can look in the mirror with your own eyes....

It isn't rocket science - people look better in some colours than in others, depending on skin tones and hair colour. You can pay ££ for someone to help you narrow down a set of shades which suit you best, and people tend to divide into so-called Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter colours.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty clear which colours do or don't suit me, so nice never felt the urge to pay someone to "do" my colours, but I guess it is a useful service if you lack the confidence to work it out for yourself.

YY to above, plus it depends on the season. As in OUTSIDE!
I don't wear black as I look washed out charcoal (almost black) is fine. I wouldn't wear it now, spring, though.
Peach/nude near my face make me look like a corpse. Wear a lot of this colour trouser though.

Look in the mirror, you don't need anything 'done'.

I love coffeinbed's reply.

Unless you have a medical eye condition, you should be be perfectly capable of wearing colours that suit you and avoiding those that don't.

It would be pointless my having my colours done as I change my hair colour every now and then and my skin can sometimes be pale and sometimes very dark tanned, so I wear different colours accordingly.

Ah you see, I didn't have a clue, so found it quite helpful :)
It was annoying as a lot of the colours I like (blues and black especially) really didn't look good on me (although I couldn't see it for myself at first), but I'm happy that I'm buying/wearing clothes that suit me now.

I have found it very helpful. I knew some colours suited me and some didn't but I didn't know why and stuck to a very small range of 'safe' colours. Now I can choose a wide range of cookies knowing that they all suit me and will all go together.

I definitely knew which colours suited me best but I went to house of colour anyway and it turned out I only knew a fraction of the colours that suited me best....and I also learned loads about putting them together well and building outfits with colour, rather than wearing black and a colour or grey and a colour which I probably did before.
Those who haven't been don't get it, I can understand why, but if you are really into clothes it's a brilliant experience and without a shred of doubt really really useful.

"I definitely knew which colours suited me best but I went to house of colour anyway and it turned out I only knew a fraction of the colours that suited me best"

Same here. It does make shopping for clothes easier because I walk past racks of clothes that I know won't suit me. I find shopping in autumn a nightmare because autumnal colours make me look washed out (I'm a winter) and the shops don't stock many other colours at that time of year.

I'm surprised that shops haven't cottoned on to the colour seasons and don't arrange clothes according to seasons/which colours go together.

I always knew what sort of colours did and didn't suit me, but having recently had my colours done it was so helpful to see other colours that are also great on me. Also to see how some versions of a general colour which suits me (eg blue) are too much on me, even though in theory I thought they suited me.

Eg I am much better in a marine, airforce or cornflour blue than cobalt blue as I am a summer not a winter. I knew I was a cool colour person but couldn't have distinguished between the winter and summers shades of colours and what were best on me.

I now love the wider range of colours I would look at buying than before, as well as knowing that all of my colours go together, so building a wardrobe of just my colours means everything goes! I didn't exactly buy clashing clothes before, but there is a definite difference and improvement now. I'm probably not explaining it very well but agree with the above poster, it is probably a bit hard to see the real benefit of doing it until you try it out yourself.

"it is probably a bit hard to see the real benefit of doing it until you try it out yourself."

That is so true. I agree about being shown the right shades of a colour and a wider range that would never have occurred to me.

I have fairly pale skin and dark hair and always thought that this meant I could wear any colour. I am a regular shopper and someone who thinks about colour and style but I was so surprised at how much having my colours done showed me things I didn't know. To be honest, a lot of the colours that the consultant tried on me, I thought were ok, but the biggest surprise was an ok / good colour being followed by an amazing colour that made my skin glow and my eyes shine. That was a revelation to me. For example, she showed me a soft blue which I thought was great, but then followed by an electric blue which looked amazing. Hence defining me as a winter who suits strong colours. I think it's definitely worth the money.

Before I had my colours done, I had subconsciously been choosing colours which are in my colour palette some of the time, but I would never ever have bought the bright orangey-red cardigan which makes me look amazing, really brightens up my skin and eyes. For me it was finding out out which colours went well together on me, and being able to pull together an outfit rather than a collection of different bits of clothing.

I'd have wasted my money if I'd paid to have my colours done,

Just over a week ago I had jet black hair and pale skin. I was wearing a lot of black and hot pinks.

I am now sporting tanned skin and light bronzer coloured hair. I've bundled up lots of my clothes after my daughter had first pick and I'm sending them to my cousin as they do not suit me now. Yesterday I bought different lipstick colours in more browny pink nude tones as they suit my colouring more.

Thanks to a tip on here about a mango code I've bought four new dresses that suit my colouring which I wouldn't have worn with my black hair!

So unless you look the same all throughout your life then having your colours isn't going to work permanently.

They do say that it's purely based on skin tone though (they cover your hair when analysing) and apparently this doesn't change with a tan, as it's the same skin tone (ie pink or yellow toned) but darker or lighter depending on the level of tan. I'm yet to test this,as don't have a tan yet but my consultant was adamant that tans don't change your colour pallet. They also advise you what hair colours suit your skin tone, ie warm or cool tones.

Also, forgot this but my consultant said that your pallet stays the same thought life, the only thing that might change is the type of season. Ie I am a jewel winter but could go towards a sultry winter as I get older apparently. (This means I might suit the darker shades mor as I get older)

Sorry for multiple posts here! I guess spray tans might affect your colours though, as they aren't your natural skin tone as a real tan would be.

I have worked out that I'm a summer, so can anyone direct me to an online colour palette and save me £100?

That's interesting Witchy I was diagnosed as a Winter back in the 1980s. Back then you didn't have variations between the seasons. I might get my colours done again as I now find that I don't suit black, when previously I did.

Maybe bunbaker!