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Original poster

HoC - bright spring HELLPPP!

33 replies

Knittingbat · 08/01/2015 23:28

I just had a HoC consultation and was diagnosed a bright spring. I am terrified. I own nothing but black and sludgy greens/dusty pinks. I was nearly crying in town trying to find the right colours. Can anybody help me out with advice or examples of stuff in this quartile? I'd like to buy a couple of tops and a scarf to start me off. Honestly, the whole thing has wigged me out a bit.

OP posts:

Hopefully · 08/01/2015 23:34

People will come along soon and te you to ignore the whole thing as it's crap, but hopefully you (a) chose to go and (b) saw/trusted the analysis.

I would start with some grey/navy if the brights seem too scary. Even a navy that is a bit dark will be better than sludgy colours. Navy basics, denim jeans, tan/brown boots, maybe a red/cream/turquoise other non threatening colour tshirt?

Hopefully · 08/01/2015 23:35

Remember not to stress too much about exact matches - colours that tone in (ie are bright and clear) will work for you. Start with a tshirt or scarf if it all feels a bit much.

321zerobaby · 08/01/2015 23:40

Lovely! I'm a blue spring, I think we've got the best season, love the colours! Which colours are your double stars? How old are you/ what style clothes do you like? There may not be a lot of spring colours around at the moment but hopefully in the next few months we will be in our element

Trickytricky · 08/01/2015 23:40

I'm a bright spring and love it! So many great colours you can wear. My favourites are turquoise, coral pinks and reds. Some years there is nothing in the shops that is the right colour. Other years everything is good so bear that in mind! I would suggest taking your colour palette with you whenever shopping and start off with small accents of colour - belts, scarves etc. I love the navy which is in the spring colour palette and the browns are sludgy/not too bright - perhaps start there? Shopping with a friend helps too. Good luck.

Oh and it's not rubbish so ignore all those people. People always mention how tanned/well I look ("have you been away") but I have fairly pale skin and have almost never been away it's simply coz I wear the right colours! I wore a black scarf at work today and lots of people said I looked tired/pale.

Original poster

Knittingbat · 08/01/2015 23:41

Ooh, thanks, hopefully. I went because I knew I was in a massive rut, and found trying to find colours that suited me, e.g. for a party dress or accessories, completely bewildering (so would inevitably choose another meh black dress). What I thought was good about it was that two other women did it with me and I could see that the colours REALLY made a difference to them - I was just a bit in shock when it came to me. The consultant was great, very, very experienced and impressive, and fabulous looking herself, but she did say navy not great, only 'bright' navy? But I have the grey/navy and the tan boots, that's a good start.

OP posts:

Hopefully · 09/01/2015 07:35

knitting the spring bright navy will be miles and away the best navy for you, but a slightly darker navy will be better than black or sludgy colours.

BlairWaldorfLovesShopping · 09/01/2015 09:28

Hello knittingbat :) another Blue (bright) spring here.

First don't panic! I totally understand how you feel, as I was the same after I was diagnosed in October 2012. It was a bit overwhelming!

But you don't need to go out and buy stuff straight away. In fact it would be perfect to wait a few weeks, as that's when the Spring stuff will be coming into the shops, and it's definitely easier to find suitable colours at the right time of year. Let the dregs of the sales disappear from the shops first.

You'll also feel better about the diagnosis if you let yourself have some time for it to sink in.

Are you on pinterest? It might be helpful to start pinning the things you have that suit your season (or similar items), so you can see them all in one place and where the gaps are. Then make another board for ideas of things to buy. No need to rush. This is me on pinterest and I have separate boards for spring wardrobe and spring ideas, in case it helps.

I find it really difficult to find "spring navy" so don't get hung up on that. Just don't buy any more black (except shoes and tights, is my rule!)

Good luck and enjoy :)

Original poster

Knittingbat · 09/01/2015 13:39

That's brilliant, thanks guys. I'm painting my nails and got the lippy ready to go - I'm going to try and go through my wardrobe this weekend and ebay a lot of stuff to get rid of it (the stuff that's too good for charity shop, never been worn, quite expensive, did I say NEVER BEEN WORN?!) and then see what I have. I might knit a nice corally/poppy hat, I saw some lovely wool the other day, start small…!

Thanks for the pinterest link blair, I have just followed you, going to have a good look when I have a chance. Looks fab.

OP posts:

MrsPeacockDidIt · 09/01/2015 21:03

Hi I'm a blue spring, diagnosed 2 years ago and at first I found it all overwhelming as my wardrobe was full of black. I slowly just replaced the black items with grey and navy (no brown or tan for me as it's not good). I add some colour in smaller items or within a pattern. My colour palette doesn't work well with my style personality though so I struggle a bit and still wear black on the bottom half but never near my face.

I made the mistake of buying items in solid colour in one of my double stars but soon realised it was far too much.

Last year I found a lot of things in oasis that had good patterns in the spring colours.

Start small is my advice.

Aque1ven · 09/01/2015 21:33

Yes, I agree (another Blue Spring here)
I find the full on CeeBeebies side of Spring a bit overwhelming so stick to a more neutral palette of the greys, blues & navy mostly with the brighter colours limited to tops & accessories.
Getting the shades right does make a difference though to the effect on your skin & you do come to feel more confident with the whole thing, eg spotting the right shades in shops.

cardoon · 10/01/2015 08:18

Are blue and bright spring the same thing?

BeginnerSAHM · 10/01/2015 08:34

Nope - don't think so Cardoon... Think I'm a bright spring. Was misdiagnosed as a winter years ago and that totally threw me (by HoC!) so I thought I must be a blue spring but when I had my colours done again (18 months-ish ago?) I wasn't particularly blue-ish, according to the consultant. Anyway, I'm definitely a spring of some sort.

Just emerged from maternity clothes (again) so will be paying more attention to the spring threads from now on. (Baby no 3 is 3 1/2 weeks so only some non-maternity clothes fit... Haven't attempted my jeans yet .)

Original poster

Knittingbat · 10/01/2015 11:53

Aw, congrats, Beginner, hope it's all going well with the new baby. Urgh, the jeans trying on is so scary - I bought a pair two sizes up from Primarni that saw me through. The first time I got into my skinny skinnies (five months later) I went into a coffee shop full of joy with the world and the very nice man at the counter said 'Ah, beautiful baby you have, and the next one on the way, yes?' THE HORROR. (Derails slightly, back to colour)

Yeah, I dunno, I think I might have been misdiagnosed, wore my bright HoC lippy yesterday and just kept thinking I looked tired when I caught sight of myself? Have ordered Mac Crosswires lip and Bobbi Brown apricot blush to see what I think of those. Any other makeup recommendations, especially eyeshadow, v gratefully received.

OP posts:

Original poster

Knittingbat · 10/01/2015 11:55

Oh, and my double stars are bright navy, terracotta (urgh), geranium, poppy, leaf green, bright blue, turquoise and aquamarine. Hmm.

OP posts:

cardoon · 10/01/2015 12:09

beginner

My 2 star colours very similar to yours Knit

I'm struggling with orange based lipsticks - they make me look hellish

MsBojangles · 10/01/2015 12:22

Is black a bad idea for all springs?

Reckon I'm a spring but no idea which one, most blues look especially good so maybe blue spring?

FrugalFashionista · 10/01/2015 12:23

I had my colors done a few years ago but have stopped following the advice and started wearing what felt right. (Still have some clownish colorful clothes left from that time.) Unfortunately some color consultants advocate a highly 1980s approach to color combinations: stylish people simply don't dress that way today. Neutral colors are quite fashionable right now, and with the major 1970s revival underway, sludgy colors are coming back.

Take the good bits from the analysis results - it helped me to find better makeup colors and some good neutrals but I don't regularly wear lipstick these days. Pick one or two flattering colors from the new palette, colors that you truly like. Don't go all out - 'misdiagnoses' seem quite common because there are so many different schools of color analysis. The rules are a bit subjective anyway. Following my personal level of contrasts works much better for me - I'm fairly muted so low level of contrast looks good. I have also stopped believing in the simplistic cool/warm theory as nature is full of mixtures and neutrals. Sad to say, my genes did not follow HoC blueprints...

Milmingebag · 10/01/2015 12:55

Warning- I am probably going to upset the ongoing advertising camapign on here from colour analysis consultants.

Interestingly Elea Blake who used to match cosmetics according to sci/art theory - so twelve seasons like HOC -have stopped and instead are reformulating their make-up to make it even more finely nuanced because it seems that twelve seasons aren't enough to neatly package everyone into.

I have seen enough online stuff from 'experts' to form the view that the best person to judge what looks good on you is you. Some have seriously awful style and garish ideas about what looks stylish.

The whole kibbe bollocks too (style day) that has been repackaged.....

There is a huge element of 'Emperors New Clothes' about the whole thing. I can see if you are a bit Sheldon and like everything classified it might help but otherwise I would give it a miss because it is just another person's opinion,not fact,you are paying for.

If you don't like the colours you have been told to wear- ignore it and wear the stuff you feel good in. If you feel awkward in dayglo lipstick then it probably looks dire.

Look on the HOC lipstick page and see if you really think any of those look modern/stylish. I personally don't but for some people it will be their idea of chic.

Hopefully · 10/01/2015 20:41

Told you they'd be along soon .

Try not to lose the faith knitting. It is overwhelming and a lot of information to take in, and you are allowed moments of doubt. And as the naysayers love to point out, you will find bits of your palette that you don't like as much and that you don't think work for you as well as the best bits.

All I can suggest is give it a chance. You saw it on the other clients (rather than it just being the consultant persuading you - this can be hard to explain to people who haven't been in the situation), so you are starting from a point of a reasonable degree of faith in your analysis. As a pp said, start small and as you gain confidence (which you will, when people say you look well etc) then you can find ways to build on it that feel stylish to you.

Ps, I'm a consultant, you may wish to disregard everything I say as coming from someone with a vested interest .

Emo76 · 10/01/2015 22:47

Last year I saw a really good blog on neutrals for each season, think it was on the kettlewell clothes site. Made a lot of sense.

Emo76 · 10/01/2015 22:51

kettlewellcolours.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/beyond-neutral/ here it is!

LuckySaint · 10/01/2015 23:46

That blog post is brilliant.
I definitely want to get my colours done this year.

and I don't want to wear sludge

FrugalFashionista · 11/01/2015 19:25

Sludge is not ideal for me either but possibly preferable to this (photo credit: HoC and Kettlewell). Start your transformation now

Seriously, if you really want to believe in all this, save a few quid, here are the Kibbe questionnaires for free.

Mumelie · 11/01/2015 19:53

I'm a bright spring and love the colours. This time of year is hard to find the brights in the shops - give it a few months and there will be lots available. Boden is usually good for bright seperates year round. start with the neutrals first then build round that with brights.

Milmingebag · 11/01/2015 20:09

Perhaps you are finding it a bit 'overwhelming' not because it is a lot of information to take in but because your natural instincts are telling you it's a load of old guff.

Interesting how it is referred to as ' the faith' and then you are told 'doubt' is allowed. Quite a weird choice of language considering it's about a bit of scarf wafting.

Just a thought.....

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