How do I find out my colour palette?

[H0P]

Is there a free way of doing this? I'm looking for clothes

Kettlewell colours.

I have an app called vivaldi. The free version has a questionnaire to determine your most likely season and an option where you upload a photo and and put the colors next to your face.

The £6 upgrade for a month does an AI analysis of your photos let's you change the colour of a top you are wearing and your hair and try on lipstick shades. It also let's you photo your current clothes and tells you what season they are.

I have only been using it a week but I like it a lot. I've paid for one month and screenshot myself with my best hair colour and myself in every colour it recomms so I can use it when I go shopping.

not free, but Style Me Happy is very reasonably priced and has great reviews. I was really happy with the information/ colour suggestions.

I got Chat GPT to do mine - just uploaded some photos. I think it did pretty well but I wouldn’t stand up in court on it or anything!

This American website has a great deal to say about colour analysis - its origins and uses etc. It begins with a lot of theory, but if you scroll down you will find that it also also has guides to each of the 12 commonly-used colour 'seasons', with text descriptions and some photos of typical skin, hair and eye colours associated with each one. Also colour charts and mood boards (pics of bright spring scenes, russet autumn ones etc etc). All for free. .

You might discover that you can 'find your season' from the website descriptions/photos, or at least get some clues. I believe that the website also offers online consultations and various publications - for a fee. However, I have not investigated or tried these, and am certainly not recommending that anyone buys colour analysis from any website. While it's undoubtedly true that certain colours suit us better than others, and it's interesting to consider why this might be, seasonal colour choice is not an exact science and a lot will depend on personal taste and maybe even local /cultural environment.

https://radiantlydressed.com/color-analysis-guide/#Core_Components_of_Color_Analysis

Just in case this matters to you, in the 'About' pages of the website, the author identifies herself as a person of Bible-based Christian religious belief.

If you are in the UK, the 2 main companies are House of Colour (seasonal analysis) and Colour Me Beautiful (tonal analysis).

I would recommend an in person consultation rather than an online analysis as it will be more accurate.

You can try and work it out yourself for free, which is fairly easy if you fall neatly into a season. But honestly, if you really want to know for sure, just save up and pay for an analysis.

By all means try and work it out yourself. You will know if you can, it's a bit like how some people can hear whether someone is singing off key.

My sister and mother both you know what colours (and shapes - you need to know both) suited them. I had no idea and wasted a great deal of money on clothes before I finally had an in person analysis and suddenly it all made sense.

If you know, you would be wasting money paying for someone to tell you what you already know, but if you don't know, then I guarantee you will save the cost of an in person consultation within a year. And keep on saving yourself making mistakes every year thereafter.

The people who have no time for the approach are often proudly wearing colours which don't suit them.

It's a big if a hobby horse of mine.

Style me happy. Costs £40. The best £40 I've spent on myself for a good while.

What’s the difference between these approaches? Would you say they have different pros and cons if you are someone who just wants to know what suits them and look a bit more comfortable and put together in their clothes, maybe have a bit more confidence when buying things?

I've only had seasonal analysis with House of Colour. But I do find the tonal analysis interesting and it isn't directly comparable to seasonal analysis. If you search the Kettlewell blog there are various posts explaining the differences between the two systems:
kettlewellcolours.wordpress.com/2020/10/23/seasonal-and-tonal-colour-palettes-making-sense-of-it-all/

I guess it depends which consultant is closest to you and the cost of an analysis. House of Colour started in the UK but it's really growing in the US.

I had my first colour analysis 12 years ago and a re-rate and style a couple of years ago both with House of Colour. Once analysed there are various Facebook groups you can join for your season and people share suggestions for clothing to buy.

I'm happy with my analysis and wear my colour pallette and it is nice to have a co-ordinating and harmonious wardrobe (and makeup). If you are a person who only wants to wear black, then colour analysis probably isn't for you. As regards style (your 'clothing personality') I found this harder to get my head araroundi think if i lived closer to my consultant i would get them to do a wardrobe edit and a shopping trip. Colour analysis and style analysis is just the start of your journey not the end.

I'm another one recommending Style Me Happy. Her Facebook group is excellent too. Best £40 spent.

Imogen Lamport is in Australia but if you read through her very generous websites you can find enough information to work it out yourself. I don't like the clothes she chooses for herself, but she's very sensible about helping people work out what suits them, with a person's palette (out of 18, based on undertone, intensity, and value) as only one consideration, and a lot of attention to colour and value contrast.

https://insideoutstyleblog.com/
https://bespokeimage.com.au

twointhemorning Thank you so much this is so interesting

I have tried a fair few of the free options, even the ones uploading photos. They all come back different each time. So I have just gone for a mean average for now, and will look to do an in person one at some point. I think this is the best way if you are not an obvious season.

I think I am just generally tricky as I cannot establish my vein colour. On my wrist are more blue/purple toned, but on my hand they are more green. So I assume I am neutral.

There was another post here on S&B late last year, and I just cannot find it. A poster replied to the OP with a in depth theory she has using eye colour, and specks of colour in the eye, and it was so interesting.

So if that poster is still here, who are you as I need to read your post again but I cannot find it for love nor money. 😀

I am a big fan of colour palettes as it makes shopping so much easier. I recommend re-doing it every 5-10 years as your palette changes as you age.

I found Style Me Happy OK but not great, in that I'm not convinced it was correct. I'm definitely a summer but I think the sub-season is wrong or perhaps actually I'm just more neutral so harder to tell from photos. Anyway, for the money its reasonable and the facebook page and community around that is helpful.

What I would say is start by being honest about how much you would really take it on. Are you a person who wears a lot of colour anyway? In hindsight I wear mainly neutrals so whilst useful to know that soft creams or greys are better than pure white for me, I'm not sure I have fundamentally changed how I dress or taken on board all the pinks, lilacs etc that are suppose to be my colours. But then equally I know people who've full embraced it - and definitely on the facebook page there are some - and they look fabulous, so its very much a personal thing.