Pursuit of Essence

Speaking from experience, I wasn’t always obsessed with my colour season. In fact, before being typed as a bright winter, I was fully convinced I was a soft autumn. HUGE difference by the way.

While trying to figure out my colour season on my own, I was influenced by tons of misinformation on the internet. Believe it or not, having soft, mousy brown hair, pale skin and light brown eyes doesn’t make you an autumn by default. Who knew?

Aside from this, I was also drawn to the soft autumn palette. The quiet warmth and depth of the colours felt so aligned with my identity at that time. Being seen in soft colours was comfortable, as opposed to bold, bright colours. Needless to say, being typed as a bright winter led to some serious adjustments.

If you’ve been typed as a season that you don’t resonate with on the inside, hope isn’t lost. There are ways to honour your natural colouring, without the big sacrifices. In this post, I’ll share three ways!

1. Contrast

Without giving too much thought to an items individual colour, pay attention to how the entire outfit works together. If you have low contrast, dress in monochromatic or similar-value colours. Let’s say you’re a soft summer, but love wearing black. Instead of forcing yourself to get rid of all your black clothes, wear them with other dark items!

On a similar note, let’s say you’re a bright spring. this doesn’t mean you have to go out in a bright orange top if you don’t want to. You’re high contrast, so just make sure your outfit matches that! Try a white top with dark brown trousers. I would argue that if you aren’t going to wear colours from your palette, the right level of contrast can still redeem your outfit. Though I love my bright winter palette now, I still don’t wear bright neon colours. I don’t have to, because my mostly black and white wardrobe provides contrast that works for me!

2. Try Your Sister/Neighbouring Seasons

Learn the characteristics of your season, and try palettes that share one of them. As I mentioned, I’m a bright winter who doesn’t wear bright colours. I love the true winter palette, because it’s still icy and cool, but without the overwhelming neon. This is my neighbouring season, so it still works well on me.

Neighbouring palettes usually share some colours. However, your sister season is the one that shares your primary trait. For example, a true autumns sister season is true spring, as you are both primarily warm. With this shared warmth, the colours in true spring can also work for a true autumn. By trying out colours from your sister/neighbouring season that you like, you are only compromising one characteristic.

3. Play With Makeup

If you don’t wear makeup, ignore this tip. You don’t have to start just because you want to pull off certain colours better. However, makeup in colour analysis is incredibly powerful! As long as it works within your colour season, you can more easily pull off an outfit that is in an unflattering colour.

To ease in to this, try the neutrals of your palette. Winters suit cool tones with medium-high contrast, springs suit warm tones with medium-high contrast, summers suit cool tones with medium-low contrast, and autumns suit warm tones with medium-low contrast. My everyday natural makeup that suits my bright winter palette is black mascara/eyeliner, neutral-cool concealer, natural berry-toned blush, and a sheer, berry-toned lip. Since makeup sits directly on our face, it can be used to compensate for unflattering outfit colours.

BONUS TIP: JUST WEAR WHAT YOU LIKE!

Don’t let colour analysis stop you from wearing whatever you want to. The world will keep spinning regardless of what you choose 🙂

I hope these tips are helpful for those of you struggling to accept your colours. I understand wanting to look your best, and it’s hard to not see the effectiveness of your colour palette once you’ve been exposed to it. I would encourage you to keep an open mind and keep trying the colours of your palette. There are colours you may never take a second look at in the store, but end up loving once you see how great they make you look. So don’t knock it til you try it!