Can you differentiate between colors? Test your
Color IQ here.
My results (I got a perfect score of 0):
Being good with color is key for the next step in my Wardrobe Overhaul plan. In
Part I, I outlined my Ideal Style and Secondary Styles that I am aiming to incorporate into my current wardrobe. For Part II, I dove into something fun and frivolous (but still kinda scientific!):
Seasonal Color Analysis. I discovered it over at
Pretty Your World. Then came the rabbit hole of information and millions of websites and extensively categorizing myself with defined rules.
Well. Sort of. Science and logic has effectively
debunked the idea that everyone falls into one of four distinct seasonal categories, however, I can't help but think that there is something to it--it's not complete BS. I read that scientific article as a scientist and think that what it
does seem to indicate is that there is a spectrum of characteristics rather than 4 hard categories. Which makes logical sense.
Great. What does that mean? Maybe some people on one side of the spectrum look better in some colors vs others. The majority of people probably fall into a few, or straddle seasons. I do NOT believe all the detailed hocus-pocus nitty gritty around it--esp because the original system was definitely made for mainly white women--but do buy into the idea that there are 'better' colors than others for most people. A quick peruse around
various celebrity dissections shows that this is true. (It is so fun to hone this skill yourself by seeing what looks good and what doesn't, and then read why!) I've started analysing everyone that catches my eye while walking around.
The first thing all the color analysts advise people to do is to define if they are:
Cool or Warm, or
Light or Deep, or
Soft or Clear.
From what I gather, there are little 'tells' to help you figure this out without the professionals:
HUE--Cool vs Warm: Check your jewelry. Cool people have skin tones that look good with silver jewelry. Warm people look good in gold. Cool people's veins look blue/purple under their skin. Warm people's veins look green or olive. Cool have blue based colors, Warm have yellow based.
VALUE--Light vs Deep: Light people have light, delicate features. Blondes are Lights. Deep people have intense, rich, dark coloring. Kim K is Deep, Ellen Degeneres is Light.
CHROMA--Soft vs Clear. This one was the hardest for me to figure out, but from what I can glean, Soft people have very little contrast between their eye color and skin/hair color, while Clear have large contrasts. A big tell for Clear is when someone has crystal clear, intensely bright eyes that pop out from their skin/hair in high contrast (e.g. Brittany Snow, Courtney Cox, Heather Locklear).
If you have trouble, there are a ton of
quizzes online.
With my coloring, I am definitely Cool and Light. I'm not sure which of those is most dominant, but the next step in the color analysis is to place yourself into a Season based on these qualities:
Falls are Warm and Deep
Winters are Cool and Deep
Springs are Warm and Light
Summers are Cool and Light
 |
| From http://www.thechicfashionista.com |
On the most basic of criteria, I am a Summer.
But this schema is a spectrum of sorts, which complicates things. The Clear vs Soft add another dimension to all of the seasons. According to Pretty Your World, within each season, there are 6-7 subseasons--cool and warm versions as well as clear and soft versions. Soft people can be toned with gray--making them dusty or smokey--or toned with brown--making them sunlit or toasted.
According to one source, there are
28 total seasons:
Summer
- Cool Summer
- Light Summer
- Sunlit Soft Summer
- Dusty Soft Summer
- Toasted Soft Summer
- Smokey Soft Summer
- Icy Light Summer
Spring
- Clear Spring
- Light Spring
- Sunlit Soft Spring
- Dusty Soft Spring
- Warm Spring
Sunlit Light Spring
Sunlit Clear Spring
Autumn
- Warm Autumn
- Sunlit Soft Autumn
- Dusty Soft Autumn
- Smokey Soft Autumn
- Toasted Soft Autumn
- Deep Autumn
- Hot Deep Autumn
Winter
- Cold Clear Winter
- Cold Deep Winter Clear Winter
- Cool Winter
- Toasted Soft Winter
- Smokey Soft Winter
- Deep Winter
So now I have the task of figuring out which
type of Summer I am. I have no clue what I'm doing, so then decided to analyse what colors I think look good on me to narrow down the options.
Colors that look good on me, anecdotal evidence:
black (because hair contrast, not necessarily skin or eyes)****
most lighter to medium blues, esp cornflower or denim blue--these make my eyes pop
teal
aqua
dusty rose pinks--I gravitate toward these colors in my nail polish and make up
cool reds--I gravitate toward these colors in my nail polish and make up
most jewel tones, esp medium to deep versions: ruby/garnet and aquamarines esp--no yellows though
light to medium pinks, no hot pink
soft navy
silver jewelry
medium to deep tone colors in general
I've been drawn to fall colors recently...we'll see how these look on me!
****this is iffy--the color analysts say that charcoal gray should look better than black, and I was probably in a black that was soft/faded a bit. Will test
Colors that do not look good on me, anecdotal evidence:
royal, almost purple blue--surprising, since blue is my favorite color and I look great in all other blues
lavender, most purples
khaki/light tan (bland, washes me out)
pastel, light colors wash me out, except for light pinks
very bright or neon colors overwhelm me (sadly for my workout wardrobe, which is mostly bright because of road safety)
oranges (I literally own zero orange items)
most yellows (though I love my dark mustard cardigans)
browns (a nice cocoa brown accent in a belt, purse, or boot looks great with my good colors, though)
bright greens
strong, large prints overwhelm me
gold jewelry
These are just patterns that I've noticed through the years, without thinking about them too much. I don't wear my deep purple shirt, for example. I never buy orange items, even if I try them on in the store. When I go shopping I heavily gravitate toward the first list and strongly avoid the second without thinking about it too much. We humans naturally go for colors that make us look good (if we can see them; I feel terrible for the poor color blind folks :( ).
So what are my Summer options based on those good/bad colors?
I've ruled these out:
- Sunlit Soft Summer: probably not. I have zero warmth.
- Toasted Soft Summer: probably not. I look nothing like the model-type they depicted. I don't have much warmth at all.
- Smokey Soft Summer: probably not. I'd never be mistaken for a Winter and can't pull off very dark colors.
- Icy Light Summer: I don't know much about this one, but probably not? Probably too crisp and contrast-y. Something to ponder.
This leaves:
1.
Cool Summer: Strong Contender. Palette--hmmm, maybe a little too dark?:
 |
| https://infinitcloset.com/12-seasons-color-analysis/cool-summer-palette-true-summer-cool-light/ |
2.
Light Summer: Contender, however I have no warmth. Pastels feel too light on me and wash me out.
Palette--maybe a little too light?:
 |
| https://elementalcolour.com.au/blog/light-summer | |
3.
Dusty Soft Summer:
Strong Contender. I could be mistaken for a Light Spring in looks,
however I cannot pull off bright colors and have zero warmth. Palette:
 |
| https://elementalcolour.com.au/blog/soft-summer |
Don't see much difference? Yeah, me neither. However, I am really leaning towards Dusty Soft Summer. There are too many
overlaps with Cool and Light Summer to be totally sure, but I thought Dusty
mainly because the color palettes of the Sister Seasons of Cool and
Light Summer are not really great on me. Also, I have a number of earthy-colored clothing items that really look stunning on me--a teal, a purple, a cranberry--and I like the idea that a
soft black or charcoal could work with my coloring, so perhaps I am a
Soft Summer with some cool, dusty-soft, gray toned Fall influences that
make me Dusty.
This graphic helps explain what soft/muted really is:
 |
| https://www.style-yourself-confident.com/color-analysis-muted.html |
The ideal palette consists of colors that look better on me next to my face than colors in other palettes. To narrow it down further, I will have to pay attention to the colors that I wear and how they look on me. There are color palette apps that show the colors that work on various Seasons, and you can use this to color-match clothes in the store. I'll be using it in my closet, and seeing which colors are dominant in my wardrobe (spoiler, it is going to be blues and teals!), which ones make me look best, and then I can decide from there.
This will be an alternative to the pricey "color draping"
test experts do to people in person or over the internet. I'll drape
myself with my own clothes and see what pops out. :) Given that the science behind it is wishy washy BS, I prefer not to pay $100 for a color analysis!
(Advanced level: Whole outfit coordination--combining the colors, contrasts, and values. This tells you how the shades and colors in your overall look should balance. There are two components: color contrast and value contrast. This tells you how many colors should be in your look, as well as how much those colors should contrast one another. Who knew getting dressed was so complicated?!
Color contrast is how colorful/monochromatic a look is. Low values mean colors should be neutral.
Value contrast is dark vs light. Low values mean the colors need to all be similarly light or dark shades. High values mean a light color with a dark color is OK.
Here is a quiz that tells you where you fall.
I fall in the "2 neutrals and a color" category for my color contrast, which means I look best wearing mostly neutrals plus one color. I also fall in the "medium contrast" category for the value contrast, which means I need to stay away from wearing a white top with a black bottom without some sort of medium tone in the mix, for example. Or I need to wear one light and medium color, or one medium and dark color.
--> Verdict: My outfits should consist of Light/Medium
Neutrals plus a colour or two maximum. e.g.
This
Combining this with Part I: This is not that inconsistent with my preferred styles, actually--aside from not wearing all black, my French chic-Beachy-Hard Edge style could definitely include outfits that consist of a few neutrals plus a splash of color in adjacent hues. I wonder if I can find a few examples... )
