I'm having my colours done on Monday

[TeaOneSugar]

I'm just a bit concerned there will be pressure to buy scarves, make up etc, you know like when a neighbour invites you to a body shop party and you feel you have to buy something before you leave.

I don't want to spend loads of money, the workshop is £95 and I'm saving up to buy a new wardrobe when I get to my target weight. I don't mind buying maybe a lipstick or an eyeshadow but I don't want to spend ££££.

Can anyone reassure me?

That site is amazing - how ever did you find it?
It seems to have most of the info the HoC ladies tell you - but out there in the public domain.
Thanks so much - will be scanning it for a refresh later.
Btw, you're probably a classic with other personality traits - most people are a mixture.

I have had classes with HoC for colour and for image. It does not make it any easier/quicker for shopping I'm sorry to say BUT what you do eventually buy will be right. It turns into a bit of a mission to find just the right thing! I'm a Blue Spring and my archetype is Ingenue Gamine. Oh yeah and my body shape is a split asymetric (which is another thing to consider). My consultant gave me celebrity 'look likes' who are the same image as me and that is very helpful. I know what to look for when I shop now and I'm not so fretful about parting with £££s for something as I know I will wear it a lot. Us Springs are supposed to wear like 3 different colours together and that takes a bit of getting used to. But it makes your clothes more interesting than black trousers/skirt and grey jumper/cardi!I use the HoC make up the lippy I have is bright but makes me feel v healthy and the foundation matches my skin tone exactly. The make up is reasonable in price I think. Not cheepo granted but it seems good quality to me. My consultant says when you are buying stuff you should never buy anything because 'it will do' - it has to be 100%. I think there is a lot of truth in this. Money well spent for me and an enjoyable day. Have a look at the Kettlewell colours website if you want to get an idea of how you end up wearing the colours together.

its a terrible site!!! hwo funny - someone on it looks dead in bed

TeaOneSugar - how did you get on? Did you have a good time?

hanaflower I went to a House of Colour consultant

Pigeon pie I had a great time thanks, it was great to switch off for the day and focus on me.

I'm a Summer and thankfully I've got quite a few tops in my wardrobe that are the right colour, which is particularly helpful as I've got so few clothes. I'm half way through my weight loss and I've been buying the bare minimum clothes since last June, so the cupboard is bare.

The shockers were,

• My highlights are the wrong colour, they're "warm" but should be "cool", I'm hoping my hairdresser will know what "cool" means in hair colour terms.

• I should be wearing silver jewelery not gold.

• I shouldn't be wearing black at all !!!!

• I should be wearing blue mascara not black.

I haven't had much chance to look in the shops yet, I had a quick look in a couple today and I'm struggling to translate the swatch wallet into clothes IYSWIM.

I'm going to start a new thread to ask any other Summers to point me at a few things to get me started.

I'm definately going back to do the style day, I was going to leave it until I'd got to my target weight but I've decided to do it quite soon.

I'm glad you had a good time. I'm afraid I can't help with particular pointers as I'm an Autumn, but I would say, just take your time buying stuff, particularly as you are going to do the style day. Really, just get a few cheap tops for now and be amazed at what friends say.

The style adds another dynamic, which I haven't yet got my head round (and I went last July), mainly because I haven't found anything I want to buy yet, so I'm just biding my time - I'm a small Natural Gamine and I'm finding it difficult to find short skirts in colours other than black.

It all takes some getting used to, but I certainly think it's well worth it. Have fun with your swatch.

I'm having colour and style soon have the voucher, just need to book.

Don't go on a mad spree before your style day. I didn't go for style for about 18mths after the colour, and when I took all my relatively recently acquired clothes, which were spot on for colour, they were totally wrong style-wise.

Was quite bizarre. On the one hand they were saying things like, "You can wear almost anything - you're a bit of a clothes horse", and then I'd show them something that actually belonged to me, and they'd say - "not that, though".

And I'm a Natural Classic with a touch of Pretty (prob Ingenue, but was different consultancy) - so with 3 to choose from I think I must be gifted to have got it so wrong!

I agree with purpleturtle - don't buy much/anything unless you absolutely have to until you have your style done. My consultant made me promise not to go shopping until I had my style done. If your colours are all wrong near your face then buy scarves - kettlewell have seasonal colour ones in jersey for summer at £12.00. Other than that buy tee shirts that are cheap and cheerful and worry about the other stuff later when you know where you are going. However, going window shopping is good (leave credit card at home) - it helps you get your eye in with the colour palette and think about what colours you can wear and are not doing IYSWIM. And sort your tights/stockings out immediately - I threw all the black opaques away on day one

Navy mascara: I've just bought No7 Extravagant Lashes in navy and, although it seemed more cloggy than I'm used to and has a wied square applicator, it actually made my stumps look like eyelashes, and didn't sting -yay!
Have also tried a Benefit one which flakes off, so wouldn't recommend.
The HoC blusher is fine for me, and I use their tinted moisturiser. Also have a couple of their eyeshadow but it's not ideal buying them online I don't think as you can't tell the colour or texture properly.

Don't know if it's already been mentioned further down but there is a new edition of the Colour me beautiful book out (available from The Book people at the mo) if anyone wants to have a go themselves at home...

tea i'm a summer too. i have brown mascara.

i got a lot of very useful vests in m&s from ltd collection. is a good way of getting new colours in cheaply.

grey is good, lots of it about atm too. gap.

Hi Hanaflower, there are I think two main groupings. One is according to seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) which I think is promoted by House of Colour. If you go to www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk, you can find clothing according to your season. They are a bit pricey but really good quality. You can always wait for their sale! The other grouping has many types and you might feel confused! They are light/cool and light/warm, deep/cool and deep/warm, warm/soft and warm/clear, cool/soft and cool/clear, clear/warm and clear/cool, soft/warm and soft/cool. You could always look in your local library for a book to explain and you might be able to work it out yourself. I had a colour consultant come to my house and found it a very worthwhile experience that I recommend to everyone who's not sure about what suits them.