Finding out my 'Colour Palette'

[Froel1982]

Has anyone ever had their colours done? I've always struggled with what colours suit me, and style in general, and wondered if anyone had had it done and what they thought?

I don't seem to fit into a particular category. Strawberry blonde, warm undertone, pale skin, blue/grey eyes, and blue veins. I seem to be a mish/mash of warm/cool.

That being said, I put a black top on the other day and looked like I'd been ill. So I can discount one colour at least!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Love from a style dunce!

they all thought it was bollocks.

and yet, and yet, artists do tend to use colours from a particular palette because those colours all harmonise and look good together.

Nothing stopping you choosing to not harmonise, it does make life a lot easier if you do choose colours which all harmonise.

Another HOuse of Colour fan here. I had mine done around 5 years ago and I'm a summer. Yes it is pricey but it has given me so much more direction which I was lacking too - I was at a similar crossroads to you. I don't buy hastily any more and I find that everything just goes. I thought the process was great and very in depth plus the huge advantage of being done in person in natural daylight gives much better accuracy.

As a new year treat, I've gone for the £40 consultation from
Emily Innes. I'm intrigued to see what she comes back with. Looking objectively at my photos, I could be either autumn or spring.

You are probably neutral skin tone. I am a dark autumn as I am neutral with a yellow tinge but I appear a winter sometimes and I can take some colours from both palettes. Warmer ones from dark winter and cooler ones from dark autumn if that makes sense. So you probably sit between spring and autumn.

The best book I've ever read about colours to wear was by Carol Spenser, an ex-CMB employee who developed her own slightly different ideas. She divides people into categories (called directions) - I vaguely think there are 8 altogether but I can usually only remember 6 of them - Deep, Light, Warm, Cool, Bright and Muted. (Bright is when your eyes are much lighter than your hair, and Muted is when your hair is much lighter than your eyes.) Everyone has a main direction but some people also have a secondary direction. I'm fairly similar to you, OP, I would describe my hair as ginger rather than strawberry blonde, and I also have quite an orangey skin tone with lots of freckles, but I have blue-grey eyes. On her system I think I am Warm with a secondary direction of Light. Her colour suggestions work quite well for me in that I think I look objectively quite healthy in them, although some of them just don't appeal to me so I don't wear them as much. And I've picked up some nice tips, like black ought theoretically to wash me out, but it works for me if I wear some cream or another warmer colour near my face. If you can find any of her books in a charity shop or second-hand book shop I would say they are worth a read.

I'm another House of Colour person. I've lost several stone in weight in the last years or two and last summer I felt a bit frustrated and lost clothes-wise because nothing fitted me any more and I'd lost sight of what suited me. On a whim I booked in to see a consultant I seemed to click with and it was genuinely transformational. Not only in terms of knowning what colours to choose (I'm a summer) but in terms of my confidence and attitude generally. Even DH has commented that it seemed to really perk me up and I'd recommend them wholeheartedly.

Summers are cool-toned, silver jewellery, lots of blues and pinks and mauves. As it's winter I've gravitated more towards the darker end of my palette with berry and teal and navy. Since doing this I have bought a lot of clothes but I needed to anyway with the weight loss and it's been good to have some guidance. HoC do a style analysis as well but I'm probably not going to go for that.

I could probably have worked it all out for myself or gone online but doing in person means that there are no 'corrections' made by cameras or screens that could skew things.

I was a bit worried that I'd end up being advised to wear lots of brights and end up looking a bit kids tv presenter / regional newsreader but it's ok...

@moonshinepoursthroughmywindow . I have the book and despite being a bit 1990s, it's definitely useful.
I remember ordering it to try to not look a complete mess.

I have an old CMB book but that's more dated and many of the Spring colours aren't 'me'.Style Counsel By Carol Spenser. 9780752205304 9780752205304 | eBay

Emanwenym I think that's it! Ooh, it's tempting, just for old times' sake...

I have far too many books, @moonshinepoursthroughmywindow , but I won't get rid of that one.

Update: I did the Emily Innes virtual colour analysis and came back as a light spring!

Lighter than I thought, I thought with my strawberry hair I'd be on the warmer end of spring, but it makes sense given that really bright colours are a bit much on me.

I looked back on photos of myself and all the colours I looked best in were light and bright, and definitely not cool toned.

I'm very much looking forward to shopping with a bit more direction now.

My analysis was cool summer. I was sure I would be a winter palette! You should join the Facebook group, lots of ideas and tips on there!

I actually asked chatgpt to do my seasonal colour analysis. It came up with "soft summer" and I that actually sounds like it might be right for me (the suggested palette includes the sorts of colours I generally look better in).

I'm wondering if any of you who've had it done professionally could test it chatgpt and see if it does actually align with what you've been told by a professional?