h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I’m never very good at deciding what colours suit me, and have looked briefly into colour analysis. I have a couple of books that give illustrations of people turned from frumpy to glam, but I can’t decide which of the categories/seasons I am in.

There seems to be a few 'schools' of colour analysis out there, so before I go and pay for a consultation, I’d like to see what experience others have had.

So anybody been analysed? Was it a life changing experience, and you only have flattering clothes in your wardrobe now? Or was it a waste of time and money?

I know one person who was very impressed with "Colour Me Beautiful" and has never deviated from her "season" in ten years.

I know another who didn't think much of it and considered it a waste of money.

Most Irish people and many Scottish people are Autumn. I think you are probably autumn yourself. That's an easy one. It is very easy to find autumn-coloured clothes and they do look very well.

I don't think it is quite so clear-cut if you are one of the other seasons.

A friend of mine took her mother for a colour analysis session as a birthday treat, and had a session herself. She seemed quite impressed and showed me the swatch of colours she had been given so that she could look for suitable colours in the future.

I have been toying with the idea of having colour analysis done on myself as a treat when I hit my target weight. There are two problems. One is finding somewhere local that does it, the other is that I'm not sure that I need it. I have a personal 'colour analyst' in the form of my husband who knows what colours suit me (usually cold colours, so I'm probably 'Winter') and is always on hand to advise me when I'm choosing new clothes.

well I'm English born & bred & the red hair is to cover the grey

The trouble is that the colour me beautiful and the other 'system' I have looked at is that they refer you back to you natural colouring. I'm more mouse with a hint of red if I look hard

I seem to go into different catagories if I look at eye colour cf hair colour, and as for skin tone, blue vs yellow skin, I haven't a clue!

Having someone with a good eye around is helpful. The CMB book isn't bad for a start, but I am still not sure what season I am.

It's not the colour of your hair so much as the colour of your skin and eyebrows. It's easy to change the colour of your hair.

But I find that people look better if their hair is left its natural colour (original pre-grey, I mean). That always seems to go well with their skin colour.

I suppose it might be useful for someone who doesn't have a very good eye for color, or a real thorough understanding of the subtleties of colors, and color theory.

For instance, when looking at a dozen different greens, there will be greens which have more blue in them, and greens which have more yellow in them, as well as greens which have more red in them to dull the intensity (technically, of course it's yellow, cerise and magenta, but that's a topic for another time). How your skin looks with each of the base colors, and how *much* of that base color is in the color in question has a lot to do with how you will look wearing any given color.

Personally, I can tell when I put my hand next to a fabric if it's going to make me look green or not, and that's my main criteria in choosing colors. To not look green, I mean. For another person the criteria may be to tone down a "too pink" skin color, while for another person, to bring out a little more color in their skin.

My other criteria would be whether or not there's enough value (dark/light) contrast with my skin to avoid looking like the fabric and I are all one shade.

I've met the woman responsible for CMB - Mary Spillane. Very frightening woman. They might refer you back to your natural colouring in the book but in our session (it was a work thing when I was a slave in a big 4 corporation, we were being trained in 'Image Management' - mostly against our will) she also said the colour you dye your hair can make a difference.

They had real trouble placing me as I waver between autumn (I've got warm tones in my blonde hair) and spring (when I've seen an bit of sun and my hair/eyebrows lighten. Trouble was, some of the defining colours for autumn look awful on me, ditto spring. They said I would need a more thorough analysis to determine it properly I am more of an autring (speaking Micra).

Basically, it was a bit of a giggle, and they did some body shape analysis to tell us what sort of clothes flattered us - the same sort of thing that Trinny and Susannah do in What Not to Wear. I didn't come out feeling like I was going to be transformed, and didn't really feel they told me anything i didn't already know but had a laugh anyway.


k - what, i shouldn't wear tight high-necked tops and tight short skirts to work? I'd never have guessed

Yeah I've done a bit of colour analysis (read the books, discussed with friends with an eye, never had a full personal session)

Result:

I know what colours to avoid.
I know what colours look good (Autumn, so greens, browns, creams)
I still wear a lot of black, even though its not strictly one of mine.
But by and large I have an efficient working wardrobe, where most things match. I can buy a new jacket, say, and know it will go with nearly all my trousers and skirts.

So that's a big thumbs up

The thing is, even if you know that a certain color will make you look like death warmed over , you can still wear it - just not next to your face. Maybe you just love aqua, but you know it makes you look sick. You can still wear it as slacks or a skirt. It will probably even work as a suit, provided you have enough blouse in a flattering color showing near the neckline, or even as a dress, provided you have a collar in a flattering color to separate your skin from the dress color.

Also, in print fabrics, you can still use some of the "wrong" color and be just fine as long as it's just a small proportion of the color in the print.

*nods in agreement with Lady Scott*
I am unquestionably a winter: Dark hair, dark eyes, and an olive complexion.

All those pastel colors that are supposed to be so feminine and flattering make me look positively (literally that shade of green).

Well i wear black, as it goes well with my pale "hides from sunlight" skin tones

I can wear pinks - no problem - and I have the dark hair (ok, so it's going gray), eyes, and the olive skin.

Guess that makes me a winter too. Actually I have no problem at all with anything in the red family, ranging from pinks to rusts (as long as the rust doesn't have too much yellow in it) and purples (as long as there's not *too* much blue in it) Other colors are a bit trickier.

Colour Me Beautiful are great. I went in for an hour, it cost about 60 quid. The lady helped me with my colours (I'm a warm spring) and it really helps me. If I was very rich, Id have started again with my wardrobe, but its helpful when Im thinking about new clothes.

And their makes is wonderful as well...