Discover Your True Colours: The Importance of Colour Analysis In Finding Your Colour Season Palette

Step into a world of stunning hues and shades as you embark on your journey to discover your true colours. In a society where first impressions count, finding and embracing your perfect palette is crucial for a successful image and personal brand. This is where the art and science of colour analysis comes into play…

I had a little bit too much fun arranging my colour drapes into a wheel!

Knowing the colours that best complement your facial features will help you make more thoughtful clothing and make-up choices. However, it’s not just about looking good; it’s about feeling confident wearing colour too. Feel empowered in colours that both enhance you and truly reflect your personality and unique sense of style.

Let’s delve into the importance of colour analysis and how it can elevate our image in multiple ways. From boosting your self-esteem to more enjoyable (yet strategic) shopping trips; colour analysis is a powerful investment not be overlooked!

So, get ready to uncover your true colours and unlock a whole new world of style and self-expression. Let’s dive in…

Contents:

The Psychology Of Colours

How The Colours You Wear Affect Your Appearance

Benefits of Colour Analysis

How Colour Analysis Works

Finding Your Colour Palette

Seasonal Colour Analysis

Tonal Colour Analysis

Using Your Colour Palette In Fashion and Personal Style

Colour Analysis For Your Personal Brand

Colour Analysis For Personal Development and Self-Expression

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The Psychology Of Colours:

Colours have a profound impact on our emotions and perceptions. They can evoke certain feelings and even influence our behaviour. This is why understanding colour psychology is crucial to colour analysis, since different colours have different meanings and associations. Thus, wearing the right colours can help you to project the image that you want to convey. For example, wearing warm colours like red and orange can imply your passion and showcase your strong, energetic personality. Whilst, cool colours like blue and green can portray your calm, tranquil nature, as well as your reliability and professionalism. 

By understanding the psychological effects of colours, you can use them strategically to enhance your image and personal brand. Alongside making a statement, colour (when used effectively and strategically) is a brilliant tool to communicate your personality to others. 

Did you know that colour psychology basics is a key part of Jade Style Coaching’s™ approach to Colour Analysis?

Have you noticed how the colour wheel is divided into cool and warm colours?

How The Colours You Wear Affect Your Appearance:

In the world of Style Coaching™ and Personal Styling; we assign colours into three categories:

• Colours that look fabulous on you

• Colours that are universally flattering on everyone

• Colours that don’t look quite right  

Have you noticed how cool, soft colours like Fuchsia Rose and Sea Foam brighten Jane’s complexion and make her eyes sparkle.

Colours That Look Fabulous On You:

Your bespoke set of fabulous colours will brighten and enhance your skin’s complexion, hair and eye colours. When wearing these colours, you’ll look and feel healthier, with any visible redness, lines, eye bags and imperfections camouflaged. 

You may be instinctively drawn to certain colours because you know they flatter and make you feel amazing. However, your natural colour palette can be seen in your skin’s complexion and undertone; hair and eye colours. So, the colours that complement your natural colouring will best highlight your features and make you feel fabulous.

Generally though, your best colours will have the same tonal characteristics as your natural colouring. For instance, if your facial features are described as dark and warm, then you’ll likely best suit darker, warmer colours. 

Did you know that colours like Jade Green and Teal Blue look universally flattering on everyone? That’s because these colours have neither warm or cool undertones; they’re not too light or dark nor overly bright or muted.

Colours That Are Universally Flattering On Everyone:

Universally flattering colours (think Teal and Jade Green), don’t look terrible, but don’t look fabulous on you either. However, these colours do tend to suit most people, as they are neutral on:

• The Temperature scale – neither warm or cool

• The Value scale – not too dark, nor too light

• The Chroma scale – not too bright nor muted or soft

Although like other colours, some people with certain tonal characteristics will harmonise better with specific colours more than others. For example, even though teal as a colour can be worn by anyone, our Autumns especially suit it. 

Notice the difference here? As lovely as the warm colours yellow green and azure blue look, they don’t look quite right against Jane’s cool features.

Colours That Don’t Look Quite Right:

These not quite right colours will most likely not make you look and feel your best. When you wear these types of colours, any skin imperfections you may have are more emphasised. Any skin redness, under eye bags, fine lines and blemishes present will be more exaggerated than you’d like. Unfortunately the wrong colours for you can highlight all of these and make you appear off colour and sickly looking. 

Although you may be wondering, why do some colours look horrible on me? Why do they seem to look off against my skin’s complexion, hair and eye colour? This is because the wrong colours for you tend to clash against your natural colouring.

For example, if your skin has cool undertones, a warm Yellow wouldn’t harmonise or look right against your complexion. The warm yellow would make you appear pale, tired, ill, gaunt and draw attention to under eye shadows instead. 

As a Cool Summer, Jane looks beautiful in light, soft colours with cool undertones (like bluebell). Whereas, brighter, warmer, yellow-based colours not so much!

Our lovely lady above is a Cool Summer. Her tonal characteristics are cool, muted and light in value. The Yellow Ochre is too warm and bright for her features, making her skin look insipid and hair appear dull. Yellow Ochre is a prominent colour on the Bright Spring colour season palette, which is light, bright and warm. Colours like this don’t correspond with our lady’s natural colouring.

Whereas, the blue-purple bluebell shade is perfect for her. Bluebell lifts the cool, beige undertones of her skin’s complexion; emphasises her eyes and makes her hair look glossy. With similar colour dimensions as her colouring, no wonder Bluebell is a “wow” colour which she looks amazing in!

Have You Had Your Colours Analysed?

• Yes
• No

Benefits of Colour Analysis:

The benefits of colour analysis extend far beyond just looking good. When you wear colours that complement your natural features, you’ll notice an immediate improvement in your overall appearance. Your skin will look brighter; your eyes will sparkle and your hair will appear more vibrant. This boost in confidence will radiate from within, making you feel more self-assured and ready to take on the world.

Moreover, colour analysis can save you time and money by helping you to make better, more thoughtful fashion choices. Gone are the days of buying clothes that end up sitting in your closet, never to be worn. With your own personal colour palette, you’ll know exactly which types of colours to look for and which to avoid. 

Colour analysis will not only simplify your wardrobe, but reassure you that you’ll suit every colour hanging from your rail. Plus, shopping will become a more enjoyable experience. You’ll be able to effortlessly and confidently select pieces that you know will flatter your complexion and make you feel amazing.  

Here’s a selection of some of the colour drapes that we’ll use during your colour analysis session. Which is your fav?

How Colour Analysis Works:

With all this talk on colours, you may be wondering what exactly is a colour analysis?

A colour analysis is the process of discovering a unique palette of colours that harmonises with your natural colouring. Skin tone and undertone, hair colour and eye colour.

During your colour analysis, we’ll start by looking at your skins undertone (i.e. the subtle hue beneath your skin’s surface). You’ll have one of the five main skin undertones: warm, cool, neutral-cool, neutral-warm or olive. This will depend on whether you best suit white or cream; silver or gold and the colour of your veins.

We’ll also take a look at your hair and eye colours too. During a colour analysis we’ll make observations regarding how light or dark your eyes and hair are and their saturation. When I say saturation, I mean how intense or soft the colour of your hair and eyes are. Similar to your skin undertone, we’ll observe whether your hair and eyes have cool, ashy undertones or warm, reddish ones.

Once your skin undertone, hair and eye colour characteristics are determined, a Colour Analyst (like myself) will identify your colour season. Your colour season palette will consist of colours with similar tonal characteristics to your natural colouring (i.e. your best colours). So, if your features are “light”, then chances are you’ll best suit a lighter colour season like Summer or Spring.

By following your colour palette’s guidelines, you’ll be a step closer to building a colourful wardrobe that flatters your features.

A colour analysis would tell you whether you’re a Winter and best suit the cool, dark and bright colours this seasonal palette has to offer.

Finding Your Colour Palette:

Finding your colour palette is an exciting process that involves discovering the specific colours that harmonise with your undertone. Those of you with warm or olive undertones will generally look good wearing earthy colours like oranges, yellows and browns. Whilst, those of you with cool undertones typically complement cool, blue-based colours like blues, purples and pinks. 

However, those of you with neutral undertones will have more flexibility and can wear an array of cool and warm colours.

Although it’s good to note that each colour hue will have cool and warm toned alternatives. For example, Azure Blue has yellow-based, warm undertones, whilst Sapphire blue has cool undertones.

Ultimately, to narrow down your optimum selection of colours further, we would need to work out your colour season. Here are two colour analysis methods that can be used to discover your colour season:

As you can see a cool, bright, dark Winter Blue looks different from a light, warm Spring blue.

Seasonal Colour Analysis:

One popular colour analysis method is seasonal colour analysis. This approach categorises individuals into different colour seasons based on their skin undertones; hair and eye colours. The four seasons are:

• Spring

• Summer

• Autumn

• Winter

Each season has its own unique colour palette. The Spring colour season palette is full of light, warm colours, whilst the Summer colours are also light, but cool. Like Summer, the Winter colour season colours are cool (but dark), whereas Autumnal colours are warm and dark.

Although you may be asking yourself, how do I find out my colour season with the seasonal colour analysis method?

To work out your seasonal colour season, we first look at the overall temperature of your facial features. Is your skins undertone, hair and eye colours predominantly cool or warm? Additionally, we’ll assess the value of your features – i.e. whether we would describe them as lighter or darker.

By identifying your colour season, you’ll discover a palette of colours that will make you shine and feel amazing. 

How do you find out whether you’re a Spring? A colour analysis! If you’re a Spring, you’ll look amazing in these light, bright, warm shades.

Tonal Colour Analysis:

However, the colour analysis method I practice as a Style Coach™ is the more in-depth tonal colour analysis. This approach categorises the six tonal characteristics (light, dark, warm, cool, bright and muted/soft) into twelve colour seasons. Each of the four seasons is divided into three sub-seasons and assigned their own unique colour palette:

Winter Colour Season:

• Dark Winter

• Bright Winter

• Cool Winter

Spring Colour Season:

• Light Spring

• Bright Spring

• Warm Spring

Summer Colour Season:

• Light Summer

• Muted Summer

• Cool Summer

Autumn Colour Season:

• Warm Autumn

• Muted Autumn

• Dark Autumn

Which twelve colour season palette you best suit depends on:

• The warmth or coolness of your skins undertone, hair and eye colours

• How light or dark your features are

• Plus unlike seasonal colour analysis, we also look at whether your features are bright/saturated or muted/softer.

As a general guide, our Winter colour season colours are often cool, dark and bright. Our Autumn colour season palette is dark, muted and warm. The colours on the Spring colour season palette are light, warm and bright. Whilst the Summer colour season colours are considered light, muted and cool.

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Once you know your colour season, you can experiment with the different tints, tones and shades within your colour palette. Challenge yourself to find the best colours on the palette that make you look and feel amazing. 

Remember, your colour palette is not set in stone. Your colour season is an opportunity to experiment with new colours you’d have never considered before and create different, stylish looks. 

A colour analysis can be done in-person or online by a professional colour analyst via a series of tests. At Jade Style Coaching™, I use a set of 160 plus fabric colour drapes to discover your tonal colour season. Whilst, digital colour swatches and frames (and your headshot) are used within Jade’s Colour Analysis Presentation during your online colour analysis. 

Alternatively, you can explore colour analysis tools and quizzes online to get a general idea of your colour palette. While these methods may not be as accurate as a professional colour analysis, they’ll still provide insights into your likely best colours. 

Here’s an example of a neutral + colour combo. Think of the fun you can have once you know your most flattering colours!

Using Your Colour Palette In Fashion and Personal Style:

When you find your perfect colour palette, you’ll likely experience a huge self-esteem and confidence boost. Wearing colours that complement your natural colouring can make you feel more put together, polished, professional and in-tune with yourself. So, once you know your colour season palette, it’s time to incorporate it into your fashion choices and personal style…

Start by going through your wardrobe and identifying the pieces that harmonise with your colour season palette. These clothing items will flatter your features and should form the foundation of your closet. From there, you can experiment with different colour combinations and accessories to create fantastic new outfits that reflect your authentic style. 

Also when shopping, consider how you can begin to incorporate your amazing colour palette within your new wardrobe additions. Shop for tops, dresses and outerwear in your best colours, since these will be worn near your face. Feel free to add your wow colours in accents within your outfits, using accessories – think necklaces, scarves, handbags, shoes etc. Alternatively, look for clothes with print fabrics containing one of your wow colours in the pattern for a creative look. 

No more wasting time and money on items that don’t suit you. With a clearer understanding of your colour palette, you can confidently choose clothing, accessories (and even make-up) that are flattering. A colour analysis will guide you in making informed decisions around building a wardrobe that truly reflects your personal style and brand.

If we find you’re a Summer during your colour analysis, then you’ll be given one of these three palettes. From left to right: Muted Summer, Cool Summer and Light Summer.

Colour Analysis For Your Personal Brand:

Colour analysis is also a powerful tool in crafting your personal brand. Colours are crucial in creating a strong personal brand identity that resonates with your target audience at work or within your business. Did you know that colour meanings and their associations; allow us to influence how other people perceive our unique brand?

By better understanding colour psychology, you can strategically choose to wear colours that will best represent you and your personal brand. 

Tip: alongside your personal style colour scheme, you can also infuse your colourful brand into your other marketing materials. From your logo to your website design, every aspect of your brand can be designed with your chosen brand colours. 

Let’s help you to create a more colourful style and wardrobe that reflects your unique, yet memorable brand…

If we discover that you best suit dark, warm and soft colours, then our Autumnal palette is the one for you!

Colour Analysis For Personal Development and Self-Expression:

Beyond discovering the best colours to wear, colour analysis is also a journey of personal development and self-expression. By understanding which colours best align with your “Style Personality”, you’ll be a step closer to creating your authentic style. Wearing the right colours for you not only enhances your outer image, but also boosts your internal mood and energy levels. Colour can be a brilliant form of self-care and a perfect way to express your individuality in a competitive world. 

So, consider if you’re now ready to embrace all aspects of yourself and allow your true personality to shine through. Whether you prefer vibrant or softer colours, your personal choice of colours from your palette will reflect your true self.

Note: when creating your colourful style, we aim to choose clothing and accessory colours that suit your external appearance and align with your personality.

Conclusion: Embrace Your True Colours:

In a world full of colour, don’t be afraid to stand out. Discovering your true colours through colour analysis is a transformative experience. Colour analysis can not only enhance your image, but boost your confidence and make you feel more empowered. By understanding how we find your colour season and best “wow” colours, you’ll begin to craft your colourful style and wardrobe. Plus as bonus, you’ll start to build your unique personal brand and identity.

Start giving clues as to who you are and what you’re all about!

Embrace your true colours and unlock a new world of style, self-confidence and self-expression. It’s time to pave the way with your vibrant hues and let your true, authentic self shine.

If you’d love to discover your best colour palette, book yourself a colour analysis. In-person near Winchester, UK or online.

Credit: Style Coaching Institute®. (2024)  Online Stylist and & Fashion Diploma Course. Available at: https://www.stylecoachinginstitute.com (Accessed: 15 February 2024).