While scrolling on social media, you may have seen videos of people sitting in a salon chair with someone behind them holding up different colored fabrics to their face and judging which colors and shades look better on them. In case you don’t know, this is called color analysis!
Color analysis is matching your skin undertones, hair, and eye color to clothing or makeup that makes your features more balanced and bright. The results of your personal color analysis correlate to one of the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and autumn.
When figuring out someone’s color season, there are three aspects that are looked at. The first is hue or temperature, which evaluates a person’s undertones and whether they are cool or warm-toned. The second factor that’s looked at is value, which determines how light or dark a color is and its depth. The last thing looked at is chroma, which refers to how saturated a color is.
My Experience
I first came across color analysis on my social media a few years ago and was very interested in the idea. After many Google searches, YouTube videos watched, and several quizzes taken, I have self-diagnosed myself as having a Dark Winter palette. Since then, I’ve tried to incorporate colors that align with my palette and keep it in mind when I shop for clothes or makeup.
I’ve noticed a difference in my confidence in what I wear now that I know which colors look best for my features. As someone who is also extremely indecisive, it helps me have a guide for what to look for in the store and helps me narrow down what to buy when I’m struggling to choose.
I think everyone could benefit from finding out their color palette and trying to integrate it into their lives, even if it’s just for fun. If you have no idea where to start, there are online quizzes that are quick, simple, and, in my opinion, pretty accurate.
Different Color Analysis Results
Spring
Spring tones have warm-to-neutral hues, medium-to-light values, and can have a very bright or clear chroma. The best colors to wear would be vibrant pinks and reds, emerald and lime green, turquoise, bright yellows, and overall more bright colors.
Some colors to avoid would be muted, icy, and dark colors, like dark browns, deep reds, and pure black. Essentially, anything that isn’t bright. Some notable celebrities with a spring tone are Emma Stone, Kerry Washington, Sadie Sink, Jennifer Lawrence, and Maya Hawke.
Summer
Summer tones have cool-to-neutral hues, medium-to-light value, and soft or muted chroma. The best colors to wear would be pastel blues, lavender, sage green, pastel yellows, soft corals, and ivory.
If you’re a summer, you might want to avoid black, olive green, neon colors, warm browns, and basically any super-saturated colors. For some celebrity examples, we’ve got Margot Robbie, Reese Witherspoon, Billie Eilish, Dakota Fanning, and Michelle Pfeiffer, to name a few.
Autumn
Autumn-toned people have a warm-to-neutral hue, medium-to-deep value, and a muted or richer chroma. Best colors: olive and forest greens, warm pinks, soft golds, bronze, and muted blues. Overall, just more muted, deeper tones.
With this tone, you should avoid neon colors, pastels (like lavender and baby pink), pure whites, and cool greys. We want to keep things warm, not cool. The celebrity examples for this tone are Emma Watson, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya, and our queen, Beyoncé.
Winter
If you’re a winter palette, you probably have a cool-to-neutral hue, a deep-to-medium value, and a clear or very bright chroma. The best colors to wear are black, pure white, emerald, sapphire, and burgundy. Essentially anything cool, and you’re doing your winter duty,
Still, you’ll want to avoid warm tones like brown, mustard yellow, and muted pastels. Save the warm tones for the autumn-toned folks. Some celebrity winters include Anne Hathaway, Kendall Jenner, Winona Ryder, Megan Fox, and Jameela Jamil.
Now What?
Once you know your color season, you can start looking for colors that match your palette. I’m not saying that you can’t wear a color if it’s not in your season; it’s more of a guide and something to have in mind when you’re shopping or picking an outfit for the day.
Think of this as more of a starting point for figuring out the colors that complement you best, rather than rules you need to follow. Now you can figure out what color season you are.
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