 |
 |
| Author |
Message |
|
|
|
Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:10 pm  |
You may have heard of this back in the 80s, it was called Color Me Beautiful. It was considered a "fad" and gradually went out of style in the 90s. I was reading a blog a few days ago and ran in to the theory again which got me thinking...
http://beautyeditor.ca/2011/02/08/essie-is-not-just-a-brand-but-a-person%E2%80%94and-she-says-everyone-has-a-signature-nail-polish-colour-whats-yours/
I realized I had read about color theory recently in Gossip Girl costumer designer Eric Daman's book, You Know You Want It. He has an actual section on it-- what colors to wear if you are a Spring, etc...... I was dismissive, felt it wasn't "important" information.
So I decided to surf around and found out the original theory has been updated and expanded to include 3 versions of every season, making 12 seasons rather than 4:
http://www.thechicfashionista.com/your-best-perfect-colors.html
I don't know why I dismissed seasonal color theory... guess I thought it was boring or too hard to figue out.... or too limiting, too dated, etc. So I spent some time trying to figure out my season-- I'm a clear winter but always think I might really be an autumn.
As soon as I decided I went and purged out my nail colors, realizing I can never make nude work. It makes my skin look idk, funky.
Were you color typed back in the day?
What season were/are you?
Do you think the theory is b.s.?
If so, why?
According to the 12 season theory, what season are you?
Would you buy clothes or decorate your house according to "your colors"? |
|
|
|
|
|
Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:35 am |
I had my colors done in the early 90s, I think. It was expensive but worth it. I never would have figured it out by the book alone. I sat in front of a full length mirror and the consultant draped my upper body with different colors. I could instantly see the difference.
I am a spring and had been wearing winter colors which made my face look grayish. I was given a little booklet of my color swatches which I still have to this day. You take them shopping with you and I am at the point where I can tell the difference between a cool red, true red and warm red, for example. It makes shopping for clothes and makeup so much easier although it can be frustrating when they have few of your colors in any particular season.
I highly recommend it. I even decorate my apartment with my colors.
I don't know anything about a 12-season palette though. |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:36 pm |
I never actually had my colors done, I was typed as a winter way back in the early 80s when I bought the book as gift for my dad. I gradually got away from color theory in the 90s in terms of my makeup though I've worn pink type blush pretty much exclusively since 1994... for me the deal is really that I've *accomodated* a lot of wrong colors, felt bad about wearing so much black and white and also got in to highlighting my very dark hair.....I think there are a lot of ways to use and modernize the color theory. It doesn't have to be this cut and dried approach that limits people. However, I'm starting to accept that are some things-- like the color olive green that constantly shows up on the runway-- that may never really be right for me.
The 12 season color theory expands each season in to 3 choices which are more precise-- a winter can be purely cool, dark or bright which "flows" towards spring. I'm a clear winter so I can wear a lot of bright colors.
This website will send you 620 of your best colors based on your skin tone for $50.
http://www.mybestcolors.com/ |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:10 pm |
I forgot to mention I also decorate with my colors and wear them as lounge clothes also.  |
|
|
|
|
|
Sat Mar 19, 2011 2:29 pm |
Wow, this must be a forum that has dismissed color theory...... a lot of people have apparently but rediscovering it is helping me as much as anything else I've tried lately; I feel much happier having finally made some real choices about my hair and makeup choices. But to each their own.
http://www.prettyyourworld.com/colortheory.html
This website, Pretty Your World, explains why color theory was never really a "fad":
Remember the 4 Season Color theory made famous in the book Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson and the color craze that ensued in the 80's? Everyone got "analyzed" to find out whether they were a Summer, Winter, Autumn or Spring. As I stated in my “About” page, the book changed my life and it made me realize why a old brown sweater of my dad’s that I’d sometimes where looked better on me than a cute pink one with flowers. It also made me realize I had an eye for color analysis.
The book was a huge success but by the 90’s the popularity faded. There are some who think the whole thing was just a fad, that people can where whatever color they want to and look great; that people shouldn’t be ‘confined’ to a limited number of colors in their ‘palette’.
Pretty Your World couldn’t disagree more!
Sure, you CAN wear whatever color you want to. But if you want to look YOUR BEST, you’ll want to wear colors that harmonize with your natural coloring. It’s really that simple.
Color Analysis is NOT A FAD! In fact, it’s scientific, based on the 1898 color theory by artist and professor Albert Munsell. Click here for more information about his theory. Its effects are profound. And it can simplify your life by eliminating bad shopping choices in clothes, makeup, hair color and even jewelry and accessories. Think of the time and money that can be saved!
However, there was only one drawback to the 80’s color craze and that was the 4 Season Color Theory (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn) was not complete. It only focused on two aspects: whether a person was Warm or Cool, and whether they were light or dark. A Dark Cool person would be a Winter. A Light Cool person would be a Summer. While this analysis worked perfectly for a quarter of the population, there were many more that it didn’t work as well for. For example, it was found that some people can wear both warm and cool colors and look great. (Discovering in high school that as a Warm Autumn I ‘owned’ brown as a color, it really perplexed me when my friend, who was clearly a winter, could also wear dark brown and look great. It wasn’t fair. But I found out later it was because she was a Deep Winter, who could wear the deeper colors of the Autumn palette).... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:55 am |
Gretchen
Thank you soo much for bringing this up.My sister bought that book in the late 80s!!
I remember reading it ,finding out I was maybe a winter and looking at my clothes!! Oops then life got in the way and I forgot all about it untilNow!!! 
Do you change as you grow older? or maybe I didn't do it right the first time cos now I think Im a deep autumn with warm undertones!( half asian slightly yellowish olive skin!)
Anyway I changed my tops to what are more the right colours, and what a difference 
I don't look quite zoo ill and jaundiced!!!
SO Thank you for reminding me just how important colours really are  |
_________________
46 got (PMD,Caci,QuasarMD,Tria , skin spatula) Using, environ , myfawnie serums, lacsal, retinol, GHk probably more but too embarrased to say |
|
|
|
|
Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:00 am |
I kind of missed the whole Colour Me Beautiful thing but I found a book on my mum's shelf about it quite recently so am familiar with the seasonal colour concept.
I can only speak from my own personal experience but I do believe that it works. What was interesting was I have always felt I can wear pretty much any colour apart from black but after reading the seasonal colour theory what I realised was that when I wore really strong colours it was as though they were wearing me, not I them if that makes sense. They were too overpowering for my delicate colouring. I always thought I looked prettiest in a light salmony pink, cream or a moss green and the seasonal colour palette decides what type of autumn I am by asking if these colours suit me best.
I also noticed that the colours suggested for my DH who is a deep winter look really good on him. My brother is a soft autumn too and when I held a moss green scalf up to his face to show him the colour theory he did completely agree that it was a great colour for him exclaiming "I look Royal!" 
It is weird because even though you may change your hair colour, eye colour or get a fake tan, your colours still remain in one season though whether you are soft, deep or true etc. may change.
I now buy my clothes according to the seasonal colour theory and have also been using the seasonal colour theory for choosing what hair colour suits me best. As a general rule soft autumns probably look best in their natural hair colour. Problem is this is often mousy and people (including me) don't want mousy hair. So this explains my long history of never being happy with the colour of my hair... |
|
|
|
|
|
Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:09 am |
I wish I had someone locally to help me decide which color family I belong in!
I have pale skin with yellow undertones, green eyes (not hazel) and my hair....well, I was born with silver blonde hair, darkened to brunette as I aged and right now, I am a Loreal mega brown "caramel".
My whole family, except for me, are various tones of red heads, and they all have olive skin. So I grew up in an autumn home! And of course, those are the colors I tend to be attracted to. But I look awful in them!
Gretchen, I just visited the site you linked, and I seem to be a soft autumn....well that blows me away! I am SO different from my family members, that I can't believe I have autumn in me!
I know "dusty" shades of color look better on me than pure bold colors. But that is as far as I can go! |
_________________
58, minimal wrinkles, some sagging, currently using, Clairisonic, Tua Trend, SafeTox and Face Focus! |
|
|
|
 |
Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:06 pm |
This is probably one of the best websites online about it- really more grounded in classical color theory like from art school-
Irenee Riter, Science of Personal Dress
http://www.thescienceofpersonaldress.com/ |
|
|
|
|
|
Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:58 am |
| Thank you so much for the webpage Gretchen. It is excellent |
|
|
|
|
|
Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:10 pm |
| I would LOVE to get my colors done professionally! Where do you get that done? My mother has been excellent at this her entire life. I have moved to a different continent and very much miss her eye for color. Can anyone recommend a color consultant in Chicago? |
|
|
|
|
|
Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:13 am |
| I typed my own colors from the book when I was a teen, deciding that I was a winter. However, I was never sure if I did it correctly because not everything applied to me from winter and it seemed that there were a few colors and traits from each of the other seasons that fit me better. I'm going to look more into it, and it would be fun to have it done by a professional if the opportunity comes up. |
_________________
Best, Jeannine (40s, fair skin, hazel eyes, sensitive skin). To fight the dread lemming sickness, I promise not to rave about a product until I have used it for a long while. |
|
|
|
|
Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:47 am |
| Jeannine wrote: |
| I typed my own colors from the book when I was a teen, deciding that I was a winter. However, I was never sure if I did it correctly because not everything applied to me from winter and it seemed that there were a few colors and traits from each of the other seasons that fit me better. I'm going to look more into it, and it would be fun to have it done by a professional if the opportunity comes up. |
The new CMB actually has 12 "seasons" to choose from. I've found it to be accurate & have been able to weed things out of my wardrobe/ makeup bag that never worked for me. |
|
|
|
|
|
Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:21 pm |
Editing CBM to CMB:
I went to a colorist a month ago and apparently I'm a summer.
I then came across the CMB books (updated) and worried that she miscolored me... I tried to narrow my season down more, but according to CMB, I'd be a soft summer, and many of those muted colors make me look washed out. I'm definitely not a light summer, and the cool summer has some colors that are a little bright/deep for my complexion.
I went back to the colorist, who has been doing this for exactly 30 years, and she said that there are no sub seasons, and that it was just a way for CMB to write another book.
I'm not saying the 12 season color theory has no basis, but in my case, the original theory seems to fit best.
The colorist gave me a book with fabric swatches which I used to clean out my closet. Interestingly, the colors that were not in the booklet were the color of the clothes I had bought and never worn, or very seldom worn. No wonder, they didn't go with anything else in my wardrobe, and I didn't feel like they were me.
I am very happy to have had a color analysis in person, I feel like I am much better put together now. Luckily for me, I was already doing most of the things right (clothes and make-up). |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:46 am |
what a great topic.I had that book back in the day and had my colours done. How could I have forgotten that. Hmmm! must see if I can find my folder.
Although I may just work it out for myself on the site that was linked.
Too be fair at my age I know what colours suit me and which look awful on me but I could do with a little more variety in my choices. I tend to stick to 2 or 3 colours. |
_________________
50, happy reluma user started 16.6.12 original formula. PMD user. started LouLou's ageless regime. |
|
|
|
| Sun Jul 27, 2025 1:13 pm |
If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.
Click Here to join our community.
If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site. |
|
 |
|
|
