Advice for bland colouring please

[poppym12]

It's official. My colouring is neutral and no one can decide what colour my eyes are.
(they're sandy brown in the middle then green, grey and dark blue).

My hair is lightish brown with some blonde bits and red bits (plus plenty of grey).

My skin undertones are nothing in particular. Not particularly warm or cool.

I had a birthday recently and decided I'd like to treat myself to new clothes in colours that do that 'making you look alive' thing. 4 hours of shopping today and I bought 3 t-shirts. Grey, white and black.

Years ago I went to a colour party and was told I was probably 'a spring'. Pastels make me look like I've come back from the dead and dark jewel colours make me look like a pantomime Dame.

Does anyone have any idea what colours suit neutral folk?

[poppym12]

I think my main concern is that I'll revisit the goth phase of my youth or look like I'm in drag

[poppym12]

Thanks for telling me about Kettlewell, steam. I've already lost a couple of hours reading through

[JapaneseSlipper]

"Actually slipper, at my last 2 hair appointments I've thought about having some blonde bits put through as well as having my roots done (I'm not ready to embrace the grey). Just subtle bits as I thought it would look ok. Bottled out both times though. Usually in summer, my hair lightens anyway so there are more golden and ginger subtle red bits but I've not experienced much sunshine so far. I think my cheeks are too ruddy for blonde hair. And my eyebrows would look too dark in comparison."

Oooh no, go for it!

Blondes look better with dark eyebrows. Honestly. To use SM again as an example:

www.google.co.uk/search?q=sienna+miller+blonde+hair&espv=2&biw=1363&bih=670&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiVw7vS_vPNAhUgM8AKHQmvBjQQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=P-p9gezvnrIxNM%3A

I swing between various hair colours, but when I'm blonde I actually make my eyebrows darker than when I am brunette, I need to or my face looks vague and undefined.

Asteroid you are right, but it depends on how far you go from your natural colour I suppose. Sounds like the OP has a fairly neutral colour to start with, so could go for some lightening mostly around her face and do like I do and let the regrowth go for a little more than the recommended 6 weeks...

[LazyCake]

Could you be a soft summer? Apparently women who are difficult to categorise, neutral, blended, etc. often turn out to be soft summers. I wonder if this blog post resonates with you:

12blueprints.com/shannon-is-a-soft-summer/

[LazyCake]

Oops... Just read the thread properly and realised that Frugal had beaten me to the soft summer suggestion.

Another thought... Have you given much consideration to how the colours you wear contrast? I'm rubbish at explaining this, but basically the idea is that, if you have low contrast colouring (fair hair, fair skin, light eyes, etc), then you'll look best in low contrast clothing combinations (e.g. pairing blue jeans with a blue shirt, blue scarf, etc.) Conversely, someone with high contrast colouring (e.g. dark hair, light skin) will look best in high contrast outfits, e.g. black skirt/white top. Sounds as though you are probably medium contrast.

Sorry if this all sounds a bit obvious - it was a lightbulb moment for me when I discovered this.

This blogger explains it all in loads of detail, with pics:

insideoutstyleblog.com/2009/02/what-is-my-value-contrast.html
insideoutstyleblog.com/2014/03/getting-your-value-contrast-levels-right.html

[poppym12]

the contrast stuff is very interesting cake. i think i'm low/medium but will print off a grey scale later to check. i've never felt good in colours that are too far apart ie high contrast. very odd!

[Woodhill]

I bought a cmb book on eBay. I am a Spring flowing into Summer but it now has more categories and says your season can change as you get older. Very confusing.

[pippinandtog]

Just received yesterday my order from Kettlewell, three tops in their sale, in my apparently Winter colours.
Got a few outings planned for the coming week, so I'll wear each one and see if I receive any compliments on the colours.
I've tried them all on, and they seem to fit really nicely, and appear to be good quality,too.

[poppym12]

which book did you get woodhill?

[poppym12]

hope you feel great in them pippin

[TwentyOneGuns]

I had HoC analysis done and came out as a Soft Summer. I am very similar you OP, and decidedly lacking in contrast and angles. I find makeup hardest as I feel my face needs some definition but can look harsh and overdone if I'm not careful. I think it's a very tricky sort of colouring to get right, you have my sympathies!

[rubybleu]

Oh I am similar - I followed LazyCake's link and I'm certainly soft summer or soft Autumn as I'm kind of a former ginger gone beige with pinky pale but not super pale skin. Do you find your hair looks very washed out with strong colour?

I also definitely look best in similar colour rather than contrasting outfits. There's only a few strong colours I suit - plum being one of them. Pastels, apart from light pink, are bad and pale blue is amongst the worst.

I find I don't need a lot of makeup to play up my looks but equally, I definitely need some. For example I can't do a truly smoky eye, very strong lip or black eyeliner - my smokey is bronzey eyeshadow amd brown eyeliner, and I really only suit variants of rose lipstick. My favourite is Mac Capricious.

[QueenC1]

poppy I'm a winter but also fairly neutral ie im not as cool toned as most winters but I'm not warm toned either. My best colours are blues especially navy and cobalt. I prefer silver jewellery but don't look awful in gold.

Just because you're neutral doesn't mean you need neutral colours but from what you've described there is a softness to you so you may be overwhelmed by clear bright colours. Try petrol blue, raspberry, duck egg and other colours that are more muted.

[poppym12]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions - and keep them coming!! I think denim blue and sort of dull muted greens look OK on me. I need to steer away from white, black or grey tops I think or maybe use more colours on my face if I wear neutral clothes? I know lilac looks awful on me, as does cobalt blue. Yes. I have been raiding my wardrobe today. When I've got the basics cracked, the charity shop will be receiving a bumper haul as I have an obscene amount of clothes but never get round to wearing half of them, or not putting them with something suitable.

[poppym12]

I find that I look washed out with strong colour, Ruby, not just my hair!

The colours you mention Queen are some of my favourites so I hope they look OK on me.

[poppym12]

Thanks guns. I'm going to get this sussed somehow!

[RaisingSteam]

Also try a soft berry/plummy coloured lipstick and see how it looks with the blues/greens ,and a toning scarf so it's not just one colour. White Stuff are good for this colour palette.

[poppym12]

I wore an orange lippy today, it was nxy hot tamale but it's way too bright. Almost luminous. hate the lighting in shops as makeup often looks great but when you try it at home, it's horrendous. I'll try a berry shade next steam.

[Woodhill]

Hi Poppy
Cl

COLOUR ME BEAUTIFUL by Veronique Henderson : was the book I bought