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Honored Contributor
Posts: 34,205
Registered: ‎05-17-2010

Sorry to say, but when we all had our colors figured out by seasons, it really doesn't work. Why? It was based on haircolor and how many of us have the same haircolor we did in the 80's when this season coding was popular? That many decades ago, even though I was still quite fair, w/ green eyes and very dark brown hair, I was a winter. Flash ahead to when I dyed my hair a dark auburn. Could I then wear the same vibrant, clear, jewel tones? No. My hair changed me to another category who looked better in softer shades, muddier shades of greens or khaki which no way could I wear with my dark hair & high contrast coloring. More recently, with light blonde highlights, lighter base color and letting my white hair grow in & blend, now I feel that I look better in neutrals w/ pops of pink, wedgewood blue, etc. With my almost black hair, silver jewelry looked better, now w/ all the blonde highlights, gold or two-tone jewelry looks better.

 

The only color that really matters and could throw off everything is white or off-white near your face. Hold a piece of white cloth next to your face. Does your complexion come alive, look rested? Now try off-white. Does it dull your skin? Look sallow? Your complexion is the key...the only thing that never changes! 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,305
Registered: ‎06-08-2016

I can't wear jewels tones anymore either.

When I go back & look at old photos, I laugh.

I did look good, with my dark hair & eyes and porcelain skin, but no more.

 

I'm in  my 60s, my skin has changed, that's the biggest obstacle I've had to accept.   I don't wear a lot of makeup but I had to change everything.  I also wear my salt & pepper hair natural.

 

Now I wear more browns & olives, tan, khaki.    Some colors I wore before I can still wear but in a different shade, or with different undertones.  For example, I can no longer wear emerald green.  But olive shades work.

 


@Shanus wrote:

Sorry to say, but when we all had our colors figured out by seasons, it really doesn't work. Why? It was based on haircolor and how many of us have the same haircolor we did in the 80's when this season coding was popular? That many decades ago, even though I was still quite fair, w/ green eyes and very dark brown hair, I was a winter. Flash ahead to when I dyed my hair a dark auburn. Could I then wear the same vibrant, clear, jewel tones? No. My hair changed me to another category who looked better in softer shades, muddier shades of greens or khaki which no way could I wear with my dark hair & high contrast coloring. More recently, with light blonde highlights, lighter base color and letting my white hair grow in & blend, now I feel that I look better in neutrals w/ pops of pink, wedgewood blue, etc. With my almost black hair, silver jewelry looked better, now w/ all the blonde highlights, gold or two-tone jewelry looks better.

 

The only color that really matters and could throw off everything is white or off-white near your face. Hold a piece of white cloth next to your face. Does your complexion come alive, look rested? Now try off-white. Does it dull your skin? Look sallow? Your complexion is the key...the only thing that never changes! 

 


 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,911
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I have the book, Color Me Beautiful, and it wasn't done by the color of your hair, though the models they used did show hair coloring ~(natural hair coloring), but more the color and shades of your skin tone- blue or more yellow and your eyes. You are supposed to look at the underside of your wrist and see if it has blue tones or more yellow. If blue the cool tones- look better on you -you are a "winter" or a "summer" and there are many shades within those that bring out your best. If more yellow, you are a "spring" or "fall".

My sister first discovered it and at first I thought it was ridiculous but when I applied all the right colors, it a really made a difference in how I looked and felt.

If a winter, like you said, pure white makes you come alive but if not and it makes you look washed out, you are not a winter.

All the shades of colors they show in the book have many different hues.

Winter pastels are icy and summer pastels are more subdued. The blues of summer are different than the blues of spring for example.

Makeup can be applied with the same principles.

Its fun and I think it works to this day.

 

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,911
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

just wanted to add, that I do think as I got older, some of the harsher shades I don't like on me anymore, too much black or too much stark white but I pretty much stick to the same colors and hues that i did back then and I think they still work!

That doesn't mean we all shouldn't just wear what we like the best on each of us but if in a crowd, I think you can tell which ones have the best colors and shades for them as opposed to drab or washed out.

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

When I was young my hair was a dark auburn (natural) and my complexion was medium fair and I was an autumn, now my hair is white and my complexion is much lighter and I am now a winter. The changes are much more than just hair color, complexions fade as you age, and weather you want to admit it or not , that loss of coloring ages you no matter what color you dye your hair. A person looks old because of complexion, wrinkles,age spots on the skin, how they carry their frame, their gait, arthritis changes in their visible joints - way way more than just hair color.You body is changing subtlly as the years go on & there is little you can do about it.People who think they look young because they dye their hair are only fooling themselves.

Super Contributor
Posts: 432
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

Re: COLORS DONE BY SEASONS

[ Edited ]

I think there are two different issues.

 

"Color Me Beautiful" is a great guide for understanding what colors and tones best suit a person's coloring.  

 

But as someone ages, their coloring changes.  What once looked good, can start to look harsh.  This includes makeup which most people need to soften as they age.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,911
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

The way I understand it, it is not just your comlexion, it is the tone of your skin and unless you are sick or have jaundice, that never changes.

if it was just based on complexion, we would change everytime we got a tan or faded in the winter.

If you put a true winter next to a true spring or autumn, turn your wrists over, you will see a difference!

One of my daughters is a true spring and the underside of her wrist has yello tones!-Her complexion can change from darker tan to pasty white but the tone of her coloring never changes.

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,742
Registered: ‎09-27-2010

@on the bay

That's what I think too. A person's undertone doesn't change so I don't see how someone who was once an Autumn can now be a Winter. If anything, maybe a Spring, since the undertones in that color palette are still yellow-based but softer?

Honored Contributor
Posts: 54,451
Registered: ‎03-29-2012

4 seasons of seasonal color analysis

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,151
Registered: ‎12-02-2013

While I am still a Winter, there are colors that I can no longer wear: rust, some blues and some greens.  " Muddy" reds are a no-no.  

 

In a store, if I try on cobalt blue, hunter green or a clear red, other shoppers will comment on how great the color is on me.  Interesting shift in my closet....certain shades of colors I loved are now donated.  While I still am drawn to rusts, mint and turquoisy blues, I no longer buy them to just give them away !

 

i never bought into the Colors concept that anyone can wear any color by changing makeup shade.

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
Sir Winston Churchill