The Law of Attraction says that whatever your life is about, whatever you like about it and hate about it, it’s only there because you brought it in.

We attract the things we want. We also unwittingly keep out some things (we think) we want. If we could see how we repel what we want, then we could get those things, right?

A conversation I had this summer got me thinking about this. Then, I was asked to talk about Color Analysis to a chapter of the wonderful Red Hat Society in our town. In this fabulous garage, in 30C heat, I’ve included here segments of that talk. Each segment is 9 minutes long, so you may not want to watch them all. I put them here just because it seemed a chance to meet me beyond just reading what I write.

Part 3 has the section that finds the similar between the LoA and having your colors ‘done’.

This is Part 1.

Our limiting beliefs about ourselves are how we keep out what we want. If we could be free of those, if we could even see what they are, we’d be closer to getting what we want.

Well, that’s the key, but having it is only the bud on the tree. The key to losing weight is “eat less, move more”. Great, another key, but having it doesn’t change the scale. Those who have the cash figured out how to get people to change their ways, how to use the key.

Everyone watching us can see how we attracted our successes or repelled them. Same with our failures. It is we, ourselves, who can’t see it. Nobody’s ever going to explain ourselves to us, and we wouldn’t believe them anyway.

Part 2

What if we could see the entire package? Then we’d know, and eventually accept, all that we are, including how we impair our own progress. However humans find happiness, there is always mention of self-understanding and self-acceptance. They seem to be key ingredients in the happiness recipe.

We can face the fact that it’s time to get over what we don’t like. It’s a type of self-forgiveness really. “I have to learn to live with all of me now. I must learn to express who I truly am, and can stop chasing who I am not”.

When you see yourself more clearly, you can also see where you raise your own obstacles to your happiness. If you have stubbornness, you can choose determination but decline ridiculous obstinacy, and so learn to hear others better.

Part 3

We can’t see our own true selves any more than we can see our own true colours.

Personal Colour Analysis (PCA) also shows you who you are, and lets you see who you are not. That’s the connection I was developing. There was an article at 12blueprints.com recently that made me think about this (“When Your Season Doesn’t Feel Right”). There, you’ll find a quote from the client, Anna, that describes her PCA experience more clearly and beautifully than I ever could have.  Her phrase “like meeting myself for the first time”, I keep thinking about it. It allows you to be released from a whole sphere of “not me anymore, never was”.

It is more liberating than limiting to understand your best self. It keeps the distractions down. Though PCA is often thought to shrink your choices, it opens many more doors than it closes. It begins as a search for the most flattering shade of blue. The final result is accepting that looking like yourself, instead of  how others tell you (and women) to look, is a profoundly calm and strong place to be.

Releasing all the self-defeating paraphernalia we drag behind us can’t happen till we know what it is.  Freeing ourselves of all that we do to look less beautiful and complete cannot happen till we see what those things are. Our journey is not the same as our mother’s or our friend’s. They have their own ways of squashing their life’s progress and their true beauty. You have to find your own.

Shutting off the noise in a world where too much of the wrong stuff gets in and gets out means finally stepping into our own shoes. PCA is a tool for learning to speak in your own real voice.

Self-silencing bring tension and dis-ease.

Part 4

An ancient part of our brains searches for beauty. We’ve evolved to see beauty in balance. Balance is the whole reason for PCA, to balance who you are already on the inside with how you look, with what you buy, which announces to the world who you are.

An important friend called balance with Nature “divine symmetry”, like that of being harbored by our Earth and of nurturing her in return. Perhaps, deep down, it is that interconnectedness that will ensure our survival, hence the evolutionary reaction of relief in the presence of balance (beauty).

Color is an encompassing philosophy.

Part 5

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Merle Norman Lip Glazes

Very often, we don’t want a lipstick look. We want color and softness on the lip, more than lipgloss, but not the heavier look of lipstick, especially when we’re not wearing much makeup on the rest of the face.

These Lip Glazes are costly but if I’ll use mine (Stolen Kisses) to the end and dig out the last bits.

It’s uncommon that every lipstick in a given line will be so well colored that it will be right for certain Seasons. Usually, there are a few colors that don’t flatter any skin that I can figure out and/or the color is too gray or yellow or off in some way. Not the case with these.

In colours like Pillow Talk for Light Spring, Stolen Kisses for Dark Winter, Darling Clementine for True/Bright Spring, Amber Embrace for True/Dark Autumn, Berry Romantic for True Summer, … a product to be happy you bought.

Merle Norman Lipstick

Really on a MN kick this week. I got some samples, you see. I looked at the Creamy Lipcolor. I was very pleasantly surprised. I wore Sweetheart and Raspberry Crush yesterday.  The product goes on completely comfortably. It reminds somewhat of the excellent Estee Lauder Double Wear line, but less heavy color deposit, I think. I applied it full strength with the lip brush and didn’t feel like I had to tone it down. It barely transferred to tea mugs. By the time I couldn’t feel it any more, I’d look in the mirror, and see a very good amount of stain left and no migration.  Hot Bronze Glace is a nice True/Dark Autumn color. Satin Cinnamon could be great on Soft Summers.

I also wore Ruby and Amber Rose today, of the Age Defying Lipcolor line. It seems to be a step less intense in application and less prolonged in duration that the Creamy Lipcolor. Honestly, if you told me that they were the same formula, I’d believe it. Just pick the color you like best. Raspberry On Ice would be great on the True Winter, Bright Winter, or even as Bright Spring’s cooler choice. I deeply hope that they bring back Tulips To Kiss, a beauty for Light Springs.

There are always those colors that confuse me. Peaches And Gleam, Ruby Guava – first thing I ask myself when I look at a color is “Is it clear?”. How annoying when it’s not obviously muted, but too soft for a clear Season.  It need not always be absolute, but the colour should then be light or dark, and it’s neither. Shrimpton  and Penny Lane appear to be great choices for Soft Autumn, but I wonder if they’ll turn pink because the colors are a bit too cool for their level of softness. (See Why Does Makeup Change Color on Your Face? at 12 Blueprints)

T-blouses at Nygard

These are on sale now. In fact, much of the Nygard lines is on sale and I find myself buying it. The fit is consistently very flattering and extremely comfortable.

The higher the saturation of colors in your body, the more contrast you wear in your color combinations and prints.

I’m a Dark Winter. That’s quite high saturation, so it needs quite high contrast. For explanations of saturation, have a look at What Are Clear And Soft Colours? at 12 Blueprints.

Contrast usually means how far apart your light and dark colors are. Pure black with pure white is the highest, big separation between lightest and darkest. A watercolor composed of 4 shades of medium-darkness soft blues and lilacs is low saturation.

The Sailor Wheel Goddess top below has light neutral off-white as the lightest block and blackened blue as the darkest, so just a bit less than B&W. That respects the level of contrast of the colors in my own coloring, so it balances well with me, without being too dull or too bold.

I want this bag, it’s less than 35$!!! (Python Printed Satchel) , but it belongs to the Soft Seasons in every way.

and this Lilypad Print Tankdress, but it’s one of the best examples of Bright Spring’s clothes I’ve seen.

Just as your house can look disorganized and zany if you just decorate with whatever catches your eye, and that house does not feel restful to be in, so is it true with your body. Some restraint, and respect for the color framework that’s already there, will create an appearance that feels good for others to look at.

Ignoring that looks inexpensive at best. When you get some practice at it, it would feel to you like you’re wearing someone else’s clothes.

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The colorists have comebacks, probably based on the legions of women who had yellow or bleached hair for years, finally went back to a natural color but did it too fast, and ended up going back to the processed head, despite the people who told them it looked like a bad wig. There was always that one well-meaning mushball in the crowd who was trying to say something nice, who said “I loved you as a blonde”, and back to the salon they went. I’m not nearly that nice, NOT saying that’s a good thing.

Light or Soft Season Client : I feel my head is one become one big amalgamated highlight. I’d like to go back to my natural color with just a few highlights.

Dark Season Client : I feel my head is one become one big amalgamated highlight. I’d like to go back to my natural color with no highlights. I want my hair to be A color. ONE color.

Colorist : Why? It’s boring.

A : Well, I was looking through some magazines and it dawned on me that the women I want to look like, well, none of them my age has wide stripes of highlights, or 3 very different color highlights, or busy hair, but they look amazing.”

Then I realized, “Hey, NONE of the models of ANY age has busy hair!”

And I thought “Why? Is it because busy hair would detract from the face, and they’re trying to sell mascara or lipstick? Wait a minute!! Is MY busy hair distracting from my face??? Am I wearing way too much makeup to compensate?”

Then I realized “Hey, the only photos of multi- highlights are in teen mags or starlets under 25!!”

And I thought “Hey! If it’s not flattering or age-appropriate or flattering on the sophisticated women I see, how can it be on me????”

And I thought “Hey, when they do have highlights, and most of these women probably do, you can’t see them! And the women with dark hair look a whole lot better with pumped-up shine on one-color dark hair.”

Then I realized “When I asked you for highlights in shades that are closer to my base color, you said they wouldn’t show up. I’m starting to think that’s a good thing. I wanted shimmer and got chunks that got wider over the years.”

Colorist : Why? It’s too dark. You HAVE to have lighter hair as you age.

A : “Yeah, well I’m ok with 1 or 2 shades lighter, but not more than that. It makes my eyebrows look too dark by comparison and my kids tell me I look angry. Plus, a whole head of light hair looks fake on me and costs too much money to keep up. But, while we’re on the topic, what do you think, should brows or hair be lighter?”

What Christine thinks about eyebrows : In fact, I find both 2 shades lighter or darker can work for brows and still look believable. Lighter (bleached) brows is a makeup artist trick to bring light to the eye area. Mostly I think it looks ‘different’ rather than necessarily younger. Like most things, these effects are more real on the young ones. Darker brows, by only a shade or 2, is what most people have. At maturity, past 35 say, hair that is a bit lighter than natural is usually more flattering to skin, depending on the person. To get brows even lighter than that looks a bit worked at. Best to leave brows a shade or 2 darker than hair, just looks more real and less upkeep.

This looks nice, looks real. Brows 2 shades darker. Nice feeling of relief because you don’t have to react to anything that looks forced.

Colorist : Why? It looks young and funky.

A: “Yeah, well, I work in an office where funky isn’t professional. I want to be taken seriously and the problem is that nobody will listen to one word I say if I have hedgehog hair and stripes. When I see older women trying to look younger with trendy hair, what I think is “Hm, older woman trying to look younger”.

Colorist : It looks too solid if it’s all 1 color.

A : “True, if it’s a wall of corn, or a totally unbelievable color. Other than that, on any woman I know, after a week of washing, it will be fine.”

Colorist : Taupe (light brown, let’s call them) highlights either won’t show up, or will just fade in a week and look bleached. You’ll need toner every 2 weeks.

A: It doesn’t have to be perfect. Part of what my PCA taught was to know what is really wrong. The hair below belongs to a Season who looks good in highlights (the lighter and softer Seasons). This is a woman, a Soft Summer, who now understands that the hair color that will perfect her skin best is a medium ash-brown base and a taupe highlight. Not toffee (Soft Autumn), not yellow (True Spring), not silver-beige (True or Light Summer), not platinum, and definitely NO red. She’s doing fine so far.

She’s got a selection of neutral brown colours here. It’s just that there’s too much lightened hair and some is too light. Solution : Ask the colorist foil to the brownest ones to protect them and just color the rest to a good base color. Yes, the lightest tones will fade faster, but eventually it will all balance. Will the lightest strands pick up too much of the darker base color? Could be, but surely colorists have a way of dealing with that.

Colorist : It looks sexy.

A: You know, I asked 5 guys, all different ages, and not one of them thinks hair color makes me sexier. “It’s the whole package”, they said. “We’re guys, man. Unless it’s beach-blonde mermaid hair, we’re not going to think “Did you see those highlights, boys? She must be a vibrant woman!”, we’ll do well to notice that you have hair.”

I asked my husband and he said “I ain’t in love with your hair”.

I asked my boss and he said “You don’t communicate with your hair, do you?”

I asked myself if I feel sexier and decided that I don’t set out in the morning to be provocative. If it comes up later, I’ll do it with clothes and lipstick. I guess women have always tried to look seductive, but I really do want people to pay more attention to my words. At this point in my life, they’re the best part of me.

A: If you had seen color change your own face to 10 years older and back again, you’d believe in PCA too. Maybe you should try it before you write it off.  It would change your entire career.

Final A: It’s my money. Let’s do it anyhow. If I don’t like it, it will be all my fault.

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© 2007–2010, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

Like Clinique’s Butter Shines or MAC Slimshines, I like the soft feel of this type of product. Gosh Soft’n Shines are a stick gloss, but with a longer duration, less goopy application, and obnoxious overkill shine of many glosses.

If you don’t like greasy, balmy, or sheer lipcolor, these may not be for you, but I like them. They’re soft and natural on their own, and can lessen the heavy lip look of a matte lipstick. I use Paula’s Choice Clear Lipliner to seal the edges of the lips first, and it works just great.

If you find the $15CDN pricetag steep, I’d agree with you. If I’ll use the product to the very end because I love the color and feel, I can get over it on days when I need to buy myself a present.

I very much like the color selection. With Passion Pink (Bright Winter), Perfect Plum (Dark True Summer or True Winter), Barbie (Bright Spring), Sweetheart (the Light Seasons), Soft Touch (the Darks), Mocha (True Autumn), Irony (True Spring), and a few others, well…there’s a good color range. I like color that isn’t trying to cover more than 2 skin tone possibilities, because then it ends up right for nobody. Certain skin shares certain qualities, but it’s pretty narrow.

These are a great way for women who look younger and better in brighter lip colors to get used to their right makeup colors, if they’ve been wearing flesh tones.

They’re also a great way to wear brighter lip color in the daytime without looking like lips-lips-lips.

Jessica Biel’s Haircolor

In the new Revlon Mascara ad, this is beautiful Summer hair. It’s a natural ash brown of medium darkness, pretty well what you see here. The highlights are restrained. It is all too easy to start with a few highlights and end up with one big highlight.  At the beginning, the highlights look too yellow. I especially like the hair when she speaks the last line of the script. The hair is one basic color that works, with a few cool highlights.

Light Summer’s best highlight is a beige, just this side of silver. No yellow unless Nature put it there. Their best base color at maturity is the same as Biel’s here in most cases, perhaps a touch lighter.

The haircolor that most perfects Soft Summer’s skin tone is this same ash brown base, but with a taupe highlight. That is hellish hard to do, the colorists tell me, because it fades. Unless you’re prepared to put a toner on monthly or more, you’ll look like you have bleached out highlights.

However, it’s amazing how much more forgiving just a few strands are. For a woman looking for a Soft Summer browned-ash cool highlight, this has potential. Too much hair has been lightened, but there are shades in here that can be worked with. What if the colorist foiled the medium browns to protect them, and colored the rest of the head closer to the woman’s own color? So, a medium darkness ash-brown, perhaps 1-2 shades lighter than the natural color.

There would be much less of a root issue and a more natural could-have-happened-by-itself  (IMO, the best kind of beauty, the ONLY kind of beauty) appearance.

A huge part of color analysis is knowing what is NOT for you. In this photo, the woman knows to avoid yellow, orange, red, copper, darkness, trendiness, or very contrasting highlights. She’s already way ahead of most. Once the majority of the processed hair is returned to a more natural color, whether the remaining highlight is precisely taupe or not won’t matter.

Exercise Fun Discovery

You cannot tighten your butt unless your tailbone is tucked under. This brings  new understanding to Pilates, stability ball, and ballet type workouts. If you keep your glutes tight every single minute, your tailbone is always positioned to protect your back and work your rear and abs better.

Why else does it matter? Because your glutes are always your brakes. When you slip on ice, your glutes can  hold your body together and prevent a strain. When you jump sideways, it’s the glutes that stop the movement and absorb the shock, not the knees. As soon as you learn to control your lower body range of movement in everyday life (and in exercise) with the glutes, you’ll notice how much better your knees feel.

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Colin and Justin’s Home Heist

A TV show about 2 gleefully gay Scottish designers. Shopping is my favorite activity, but shopping with gay men with good taste and singsong Scottish accents just takes it to new heights.They almost require you to sit down with a glass of champagne just to watch the show.

What I love is that they do a rebirth of the person, not just the house. Your best re-construction follows a complete de-construction. The person’s decorating sense is reduced to rubble, much like their house is, but they are rebuilt. My favorite part is hearing their descriptions of the Before Home (“it looks like a global gift shop” comes to mind for one poor soul’s African mask collection). Soap operas got nothing on this.

They have that magical ability to ignore the what-is. They live in the kingdom of what-could-be. Possibility being right up my alley, I’m always fascinated by transformations. They take the house right back to the raw beginning, and then move forward.

Much as I adore these guys, they have a real propensity for painting things white, even in families with kids. Once, to a Dad resisting white, they said something like “Are you a responsible Dad? Do you want your child to have an ordered space (or something similar)?” It could have climbed into the TV, muckled on to their necks, and shook the puddin’ out of them. Let’s be real, men. Let me give you 3 kids, a 100 lb. dog, a cat, 2 jobs, a limited budget, and the rains of April, and we’ll talk about white sofas.  Besides, I feel that one of my responsibilities as a parent is to keep my kids’ immune system aware of what’s out there. A gay couple can no more address a single aspect of parenthood than a couple without children can discuss a marriage avec, and they should not go there.

Anyhow, still the best, funnest, and funniest of the home reno shows. I adore them right up there with Nick Arrojo.

Flavia DeLuce

Among my favorite summer books 09 was Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie. It was witty, literary, and relaxing. Books where the plot devolves into kidnapping, abuse, as it always does, at 9PM when I’m trying to induce myself into 8 hours of pleasant unconsciousness…grisly loss of limb isn’t the sleeping pill that works for me.

This is the English Village mystery, 1950s era, even better, through the eyes of a smart, funny 11 year old girl, even better. Once again, I display my propensity for people not overly concerned with the what-is, children being among the best examples.

The latest is The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag. I’m reading slowly to make it last. There are 9 holds on it at the library, so I’m pacing myself. Why not buy? Because I’ve never read a book twice.

Cardis at J.Crew

I love J. Crew. More at some times than others, but I never stop checking in. I can find age-appropriate clothing that’s not too teenage. I can afford it on sale. And when they do a color, they DO the color. When you stand outside the store and see yet another palette of purple/black/neutral/grey/a little yellow, Crew is giving us curry, tomato, pine, and so much more.

In a cardi with a tank/shell beneath, you’re always the right temperature, can wear pretty jewelry, and don’t get makeup on your collar.

In Bronzed twig, Paradise Blue, and other gorgeous colors. Above is Dark Raisin for Dark Autumn, so much more than good ol’ eggplant. Look also at the lovely Blossom for Soft Summer (wear it with MAC Syrup lipstick).

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Sarah lives in the SE of England. She is a True Summer, and wondering how to purchase the swatches for the Seasons. The Sci\ART system that I use, and the personal colour palettes, are an ocean away.

I know that many of you are reading from the UK, and have good knowledge and experience with Seasonal color analysis. Can anyone help?

Also, do any of you know of any available alternatives to CMB that does not use the “Cool, Soft, Deep, etc.” designations? (Sarah – If no, then True Summer is fairly equivalent to Cool Summer).

Thanks for the help.

Do you still check in at 12 Blueprints now and again? Today’s post contains a lot of beautiful photos, in Valeria Is A Dark  Autumn.

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Talk about freedom from the fight! This is a doozie. Takes big confidence.

Being able to recognize a trend first, then deciding if it’s for you. Most won’t be.

The Soft Seasons and Light Seasons, from 12 Season Colour Analysis, can look great in light flesh-toned lip colours. Some variation of beige-pink lipstick actually looks good, and young, on them.

That’s because the Light Seasons are SUPPOSED to look light, natural, and outdoorsy. That is their special radiance.

The Soft Seasons are ALL ABOUT “no hard lines, no strong contrasting edges or colours”. Their whole essence is about gentle warmth. Makeup that looks that way is consistent with who they already are. There should be no sudden, sharp, bright, bold, or extreme colour shifts. That feels aggressive, quite opposite to these personalities. Flesh and nude lips are in keeping with the soft colour transitions of their natural design, meaning that the colour of their hair/eyes/skin is not very contrasting or different.

On these 2 groups, the “pops of colour” that are often suggested are the reason many of them shy away from cosmetics altogether.

On True Autumn, pale beige lips are flatter than flat, just as pale beige hair is.  It ages these women by 10 years.  (At 17, with the great lip definition of youth and when the depth of the coloring is not fully developed, a sheer bronze lip works.)

On any Winter blend, lips the colour of skin are lifeless. Their dark force is reduced to a big blank. (If they’re 22, they can do an icy pink lip.)

If you’re 52, brighter lips look younger. Not darker, lighter, or deeper. Just more colour. Not clownish, not pinker. Just a bit bolder.

The ground under our feet is always unsteady. We’ve weathered enough of it to keep our ducks lined up despite.

Where do we find the look of vitality, since we can’t fool anyone by wearing their hair?

Stop trying.

Work to be rid of what brings you down inside yourself. For me, it is the arrogance of expecting.

Learn the colours that make you look old. We’re talking 10-15 years difference here.

Show the world your real self. It looks calm and secure, not jittery about the next birthday.

Deflect the marketers. They’re just doing a job. We don’t have to soak up everything they tell us. This is what the young ones cannot do, no matter how terrific the visual f/x.

Keep all the doors and windows open. Think about giving your imagination more rein than it had yesterday. It shows the house stands strong.

Renovate now and again. Add new ideas but don’t hang bling curtains.

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I don’t know a single woman over 40 who would go back to 20. But few of us are showing the world our real selves. We got distracted in an over-marketed world and forgot that we’re fine the way we are.

Sigourney Weaver looks easy and real, better now than she ever has. She hasn’t succumbed to the blonde highlights and the injections. It’s so much more relaxing to be around than the supernatural way she used to look. This woman looks intelligent and in control of her world. She also shows off the Autumn Season’ s ability to exactly match hair and eye colour.

Young costumes on older women set up a conflict. To resolve it, the viewer has to work. Who wants more work? They work every time they hear music they don’t like, a light turns red, cell phones with 65 buttons. People are attracted to ease and what feels good.

I used to do dress like my kids. I don’t think it was nervousness about age so much as I liked the clothes. I still like them. Hoodies, nylon pants, workout clothes especially, layered tops, they’re comfortable.

People probably thought : What is she saying about herself? That she can still be fun? Is she trying to look younger… does that mean she worries about looking old?  Am I supposed to think something or notice something? Am I supposed to react to this?

I have realized that it was hard to look at. It felt uncomfortable to people. You can’t go by the compliments. People want to say nice things and they’ll find a reason to. Hearing “your eyeliner is crazy” or “blonde hair looks dull and flat on you” is not likely to happen, even if it should.

I hear hairstylists say that women need lighter hair as they mature. I don’t buy it. Maybe a shade or two lighter to soften the effect on the skin (so Sally Field’s skin is better with a medium-dark brown these days, instead of black-brown), but there are too many yellow chunks and stripes walking around. When the colorist stands back and looks at the head they just worked on, do they just look at the hair or the face that has to wear it? Does anyone else find these stripes jarring or aging?

And this just looks like a bad wig.

We have to police ourselves or lose our credibility. That’s a big price to pay, especially when we can have it so easily. It’s the gift that comes with Over 40. It could be almost automatic.

Give them a reason to keep looking by making it look easy and feel good. Life is so much simpler for everyone when we have nothing to prove. That’s a battle best left to the young.

Cover grey if grey doesn’t feel right but don’t look like you worked too hard to change anything. Aging can be scary, but it can be beautiful and powerful.

Wear makeup that looks believable so people don’t feel forced to react to it. Turquoise eyeliner requires a reaction even if you’re 30. Makeup should be your supporting cast, but never steals center stage.

Tell the world who you really are. Look like you really look.

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So difficult for women. Taking ourselves seriously.

Men do it easily and fake it easily.

I’m not quite there yet.

By now, we should look very steady, not swaying with every new wind. We might not be where we expected, but that doesn’t mean we failed.

We try too hard to play no-win games. The best of what we have become is inside us.

Heaven help you if your hair is medium brown. You’ll have had highlights, lowlights, been blonde, red, often several at once. We fall for every kind of advice. We wear pointy toed shoes that hurt. We wear painted on eyebrows, despite becoming a living cliché.

The Soft Seasons have naturally mouse-brown hair. They look great with finely woven caramel light. The Light Seasons speak of sunshine, so the brightening effect of pale yellow sun highlight is very consistent with their energy.

On everyone else : a distraction…that too often escalates over the years to become a highlight that has coalesced into one big uni-streak. That was me for years. Eventually, that was how I was used to seeing myself. What good is beach blonde when it makes your eyes gray away?

In Hollywood, you probably look odd without the yellow helmet, or the implants, for that matter. In the real world, at the office, in the car, at school, does Gwyneth’s yellow wall work in your favor?

The rich warmth of the Autumns, their spicy heat, and the dark force of the Winters is shattered into 10,000 pieces by blonde light. Give them a hot molten glow and a still, simple gleam, respectively.

Not everyone is flattered by blond, even if you’re 20. Which girl will be taken more seriously (ignoring the earrings)? Which twin’s eye colour is stronger?

When you’re blonde and you shouldn’t be, it feels tense to be around. Remember the relief when Pretty Woman took off the blonde wig? You FELT your insides relax.

Forced beauty feels so demanding.

Would Nick Arrojo, whom I love, have I ever told you, do tricolour stripes?

Accidental beauty could have happened by itself. Easier to be. Easier to look at.

Being taken seriously is one of the gifts of aging. Too many of us squander it by being blond when we shouldn’t be.

Perhaps there is only one person who should not take you seriously, and that’s you.

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© 2007–2010, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

Since I’m forced to do something essentially boring, I’ve had time to ponder why so many more good ideas come to me on the bike than when I’m having a hot bath. Same thing with driving-or anytime that I am not free to write. I believe that my left brain feels busy and important, or thinks it is, so the other side is free to wander.  The usual message from  the dominant, analytical, pessimistic left is “That will never work”.  When that side is busy, it loosens the clamps on the right, which it must perceive to be silly. So I’ll keep biking, but I have to do something else sometimes.

You have your Creator picture and I have mine. Mine looks something like this.

Bad events must be the signal to switch gears. The more horrible the event, the louder the Creator is singing the MAKE A MOVE song. The Universe is trying to tell you or show you something. These are the times when I try to make decisions I would never normally make. From the article about Jennifer Kries Life Force Power DVDs (AGT article The DVD I Use To Heal), you know I’m really taken by this program. I’m in no hurry about the knee and feeling very receptive to any direction.

I felt I should explore that a little further. Yoga often feels too static, but Cardiyoga isn’t out there. I watched the Flow Yoga  selection video clips at Collage Video. It spoke to me. Flow Yoga looks like where many of the movements from Pilates and jazz came from.

At first, the workout looks absolutely like a trance, like you’re having altogether too much fun by yourself. Nevermind, I said that I was committed to change and going somewhere new.

We hear a lot about “mind-body” exercise but I never really see it described as more than “consciousness about the movement”. My Deeper Self always looks for the connection that makes my children think I’m odd, and I cannot disappoint them. I see it like this. Since there is no distinction between your mind and your body, which I wholeheartedly adhere to, when one goes one way, the other has to follow. If they are united without barriers, if they are “one”, then whatever is happening in your mind mirrors to the molecule what is happening in your body, and vice versa. When the barriers in front of one are removed, so do they dissolve for the other.

Exercise shifts the control over to my body. If you’re read the Esther and Jerry Hicks books, there your control is over the mind, and the calming of the body follows. This is the reverse. The body settles in and the mind starts to realize it feels good. I ordered Shiva Rea’s Fluid Power Vinyasa Flow Yoga. When you watch the clip, you might think “I don’t think I have enough internal endorphins enjoy that like she does”. Neither do I, trust me. My kids would tell you that I have almost none. To get somewhere new, you have to move your feet that way.

The program is kind of fabulous. Do I chant? Only in my head. For now. There are 213 minutes, divided into about 30 or 40 short sections that you mix and  match, or play pre-set 30-100 minutes sequences. As Shiva says, it’s like “land swimming”. After 20 minutes, my concentration is all over the place. But for those 20 minutes, I go to places I have never been. It is a heck of an eye-opener. And, may I say that I’m very proud of myself for making this choice.

Having been raised in Prince Edward Island, where a large part of my soul resides, where I am truly at peace, my connection to any ocean is very strong. Is it coincidence that the rhythm of the waves and of our breathing is so similar? I think not.  Nature conserves energy, so when she finds a pattern, structure, or beat that works, she uses it at every level.

These programs are about teaching your mind to feel (instead of your body) through the metaphor of reaching for the tidal rhythm of the ocean, “the one breath that unites us all”. The visualization metaphors, what women were made for, are wonderful and very fresh – at least to me, who doesn’t know Yoga jargon. Shiva’s voice and the production quality are hypnotic. Shiva sways naturally when she talks. The movements are so graceful and rock gently back and forth with each breath.

This DVD keeps the left mind busy and takes you outside your preconceptions all at once. We really are all connected, to each other, to every molecule on this planet by very real beams of energy that we can barely understand. Though still in its infancy, the internet is the best visualization of that reality. The ocean and the star-filled sky simulate the same vision of humanity as one being with one collective mind.

Look at the borders of your comfort zone. Make a conscious decision to go outside them. It won’t happen by itself. Imagination and possibility await in a no-limits Universe.

With respect and with thanks to the Universe, and to you for your place in it.

Leaving your mind behind is fun sometimes. It clears the head wonderfully. Clearing the skin is much easier to do. It’s automatic when you wear the right colours. It’s harder to explain. At 12Blueprints, a video so you can watch it happen in Clearing Skin With Colour Analysis.

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© 2007–2010, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

I absolutely believe our body can heal in an accelerated way, just like I believe you can accelerate your life.

I believe that your food contains your medicine till proven otherwise. Food can be powerfully anti-inflammatory (and anti-aging) if you make the right choices.

I believe that there is no division between Nature and our bodies, between the energy fields around us and within us. There is also no distinction between what is happening to your body and what is happening in your mind. Your Deeper Self and these forces are one and the same, fully swirling and intertwined.

I believe that when something happens, there is a reason for it. It is the time to push you in a new direction.

I believe that you better be careful what you ask for because you will get it.

I believe that if something in your life isn’t going as you wish, your first step should be to flip the mirror 180 and look harder at yourself.

Having laid that groundwork, and since I instantly become a pessimistic wreck if I can’t exercise somehow, I decided to hobble over to WalMart to look at the Pilates selection, while I await my Pilates/flow yoga order from CollageVideo.

I found this. For $5 (they only had Level 1), how could it be bad?

Below is the 4 video set, available on the Jennifer Kries website.

Well, it’s far better than bad. It’s simply awesome.

The program has about 8 sections. There is a 20min. session of each yoga, Pilates, and ballet, all appropriate to a Level 1 of 4 position.

This is way more. It’s a brilliant integration of mind with body, taking the concept further than just repeating the “mind-body”expression, but actually explains and demonstrates it. There are fabulous sections on understanding and awakening energy sources, meridian medicine, chakras, and ancient healing beliefs in Chinese medicine in ways that will work for you today. Everything is short and concise, not overly meta-energy. She is a serious practicioner, a graceful athlete, and so pleasant to listen to.

I haven’t really been open to those ideas, or I’ve never had to be.

So what was the message? What was I supposed to learn? Why did I have to be forced to open up to this type of movement and thought?

Could this be the big flashing sign in the sky saying “lean back and stop pushing”? That it’s time to allow and to receive and wait quietly, and accept that I’ve pushed hard enough for long enough. A change is needed.

In this clip, Jennifer explains the Hot Body Cool Mind workout concept.

On this page, you can read about Waking Energy. I do the Sitting version 3 times a day. The more I do it, the better it feels. I like the doing part. I’m not good at just sitting, though I seem to be headed that way.

At beYOu.tv, this is a preview of Waking Energy Standing. You can find Jennifer on YouTube too.

My knee is getting better all the time.  My heart is feeling cautiously extra-pumpy that something good is going to happen.

At 12B, answering the question of whether you can borrow colours from your neighbor Seasons. Why, yes, I did use the picture at the top in that article too, but I like it a lot. It’s how life should be.

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Then, She: “OK, but there must be some colour everyone can wear”.

Me: “No. Maybe neutral champagne beige. “

Her: “I know you’re trying to sell this and everything, but is there anything you can say that would apply to everyone? For instance, I look good in grey. Can everyone look good in grey?”

Me: “I’m not trying to sell anything. I don’t have to. Everyone can wear some shade of grey. But, no, I cannot come up with a colour Reese and Keira and both wear well.”

Her: “ Ok, what about turquoise? That’s new this spring. They say everyone can wear it.”

Me: “Some shade of turquoise can be worn by most palettes, but not the same shade. Some shade of most colours can be worn by most palettes, but not the same shade.”

Her, getting testy: “So, there’s nothing you could tell me that could apply to everyone? Does black make you look thin, as they say?”

Me: “No, it makes light people look 10lbs heavier on the bottom half. Care to know why that is?”

Me: “Not only do the colours vary in each of the 12 Seasons, so does the way they are worn. But here’s a rule that always applies : in big blocks, in prints, in footwear, find colours that are the same as your hair, not going darker than the darkest tones in the hair.”

And there it ended.

How many times has a relative called, wondering if you died in the recent tornado she heard about on TV, and you’re thinking “What tornado?”

I’m running out of respect for media, or at least the story-gathering division. I watch no TV, except the occasional 60 Minutes if Katie Couric is not on. Her stricken-faced “Have you ever wondered what could have been?” questions force the reactionary response, which somehow overrides critical thinking. Sure, Katie, we all wonder that all the time, lost limbs or not.

They don’t tell the approximate truth. They tell the grim stuff out of all proportion to the good news. They are ONLY interested in the sensation. In an increasingly sensational world, we are left drained and exhausted.

I’m not media-trained. Maybe one gets used to handling this interrogation style. Me being me, I was irritable. I felt uncomfortable being pushed into a corner to say something I didn’t want to say. I’m not saying she would have lied to her readers…but she would have been quite OK with me lying to her readers. Allowing me to compromise my integrity was a better solution than saying “Why? Why are you saying that the conventional beliefs are wrong?”

The answer is always the same. The marketers would tell you anything to sell you stuff. They do not care if the item sits in your closet unworn for 10 years. The store brought it in and they want it out the door ASAP. It’s our job to learn the truth before we buy, not theirs to offer it.

Is the fashion industry really going to come out with 12, or even 6, shades of turquoise? Or are they going to tell you that everyone can wear the colour in the jumbo bolt of cloth they got with the volume purchase discount?  or goddess forbid, is the cosmetics industry going to dream up how to tell us turquoise eyeliner is elegant? Telling you the truth makes their life much harder. They know most consumers will buy the lie and they will never be held accountable, because the next snow job is waiting in the wings to distract us.

For the reporter, the deadline came first. She should maybe have gotten an earlier start.

At 12B, one of my meta-colour excursions, wondering if your clothes can make you (and others) feel greenish about the gills?

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© 2007–2010, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

Imogen’s blog is at Inside Out Style. Her webpage is at Bespokeimage, linked from View My Complete Profile under her picture.

I don’t buy into North America’s adulation with the winners of the fame and fortune lottery, so I particularly enjoy sites and blogs written by non-North-Americans. We hero worship celebrities and in trying to look like them, we don’t like our own looks. But it’s THEM that look crazy. We’re the ones who look normal.

You know I think the whole “anti-aging” gig is a marketing assignment to sell you more stuff. I’m all for health, but beyond that, I don’t agree that younger is worth admiring as much as we do. Which one of us was our best self at 25? or 35?

Colour Analysis and Style go hand in hand, but I find few sites showing clothing styles I could see myself in. This one, I relate to. There is advice here I really would use. Her posts of Jan. 7 and 8 discuss women’s sizes and body image concepts. Everyone of us has a position on these topics.

Imogen discusses many of the same colour theory topics that I do. Sometimes, reading another explanation of the same topic can help clarify it for you. If you have an interest in colour theory,  the posts filed under Colour Guide are great.

As an Image and Style Consultant, you’ll find many categories addressing clothing specifics for various body types and concerns, all described under Labels in the right side column.

Here’s a great video about why black is NOT slimming on light people, a point that can’t be made strongly enough.

She has wonderful taste, real-world, sensible taste, but she’ll still tell you to ignore the rules (and how to do so) and find ways to wear what makes you feel good. We tell others who we are with our dress, and it never feels quite right when our message isn’t truthful. We can’t settle in and feel fully confident in what we’re projecting.

The shoe section is a favorite. It’s the style choice that is most often forgotten or wrong, with little good advice out there. You’ll find so many good articles here. Seeing women hobbling around in heels that are too high, just to look sexy to some man, makes me feel humiliated. Heels are terrific, you feel long and look better and stronger, but within reason. If it hurts, you feel weak. If you’re unsteady, you look weak. You will not be taken seriously by anyone in either situation. Why do we do it to ourselves?

What Colour Shoes To Choose is great, illustrating the concept that shoes should connect with hair colour to present a unified (read “in control”, “organized”, and “strong”) appearance.

You might find a few places where our policies diverge. I don’t pretend to be an Image Consultant. When I talk about clothes and makeup, it’s only what I think looks good according to the principles for that Season. We use different Personal Colour Analysis systems. Imogen devised her own system and I look forward to reading about it.

With links to articles regarding the 100% meaningless truth behind most cosmetic and skin care marketing claims, encouraging the consumer to get herself informed, and her love of chocolate, Imogen seems a woman like us – intelligent, empowered, style conscious but not at the expense of sense, spending, and time.

I completely enjoyed wandering about her blog for when Sally introduced me to it. From an organization viewpoint, the Blog Archive is a treat. Just click on the arrow beside each month and the list of article titles opens. I visit frequently. It’s realistic, refreshing, and not about celebrity culture.

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© 2007–2010, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

I had to do it twice because she didn’t feel these colours could be hers. (True Summer). She saw only grays and old lady colours, instead of the fabulous roses and blues.

She felt the personality was nothing like her. She sees herself as a firecracker, but that’s only a small part of her being. She can soothe everyone around her into loving one another, even if they don’t like each other. She is highly capable, steady, diplomatic, and sensible. Courtesy and decency are central to her nature. She also has beautifully shaped hands. She is a True True Summer, and not even the darker version.

She said “they don’t make clothes in my colours”. I’ll grant that professional clothes are hard to find, but I know for sure that there are True Summer clothes out there. In fact, it’s the Winters who need full colour saturation who have trouble finding interesting colours, except in workout wear. There’s loads of black and some generic teal and plum thing, but not much really beautiful stuff. (There’s more True Summer and saturation talk in Elisa Is A True Summer, at 12B).

This was before we shopped for makeup. We tried eyeliners. The energy was wrong. It felt sticky. Her eyelashes looked too thin. We went for coffee to think about it. We finally settled on some lovely colours.

She called me recently. The makeup was dull and made her look old. Even the foundation that was perfect 6 months ago, was off.  People told her she looked better in the crimson and black she used to wear. She wanted makeup that would make her look more alive, or even a bit alive.

Make no mistake, I enjoy these challenges A LOT. I like to encounter the resistance. I lived it too. I also feel sorry for her frustration. It most certainly takes time to teach your eye how to find your colours, and to resist the observations of your Book Club and the lady at the post office. You have to exercise big patience while you go about getting the elements of the picture working together. But Karen’s is more than usual.

The thought that came into my head was “You are MAKING this be hard.”

Yes, we all have things we’re better at, but this was like going looking for obstacles. So, why?

Next thought : Do I do it too? What am I making be hard?

Revealing answer : “This is how Karen felt watching me trying to register a business name and deal with Revenue Canada!” I was all in a fluff and she was thinking “Why are you MAKING this be hard?”

Next example : Christmas gifts. People tell us that they want nothing, but we still go sweat it out on our own on Dec. 23, worried that they won’t like it. Why did we make that be hard?

We make things hard if we NEED them to be hard. Is it about not being able to release the control over the situation? Is it that we need to feel just a little under-appreciated?

Watching men think is fascinating. Generally, they are great simplifiers. They do the obvious and don’t worry. They ignore whatever doesn’t agree with their first assessment. Very seldom does a man choose the harder path intentionally.

Men are also able to proceed without all the information. So, not only will they choose the easiest path every time, but they will also make a move to get on that path without knowing what lies ahead. Sometimes, all they know is that they want the end result, that they will follow the most obvious path in getting there, and they will fill in the rest of the blanks as they go along. You know, it makes a lot of sense. Women, on the other hand, we clutter up our lives with over-emotion and over-analysis.

I am delivering the intention to look for the most effortless and uncomplicated solution. The difference between 80% and 100 is not important. 99% of people won’t even notice. Whenever I start feeling freaked out, my first words to myself are “Christine, LET this be easy”. I am exploring the possibility that most things really are as easy as they seem, before I muckled on to them and made them hard.

Chances are nobody else watching is finding your particular difficulty very hard except for you. For some reason, we chose for it to be hard. Time to stop that.

Try it for one whole day. Decide to let everything be easy. Don’t make it be hard till you are given a reason to.

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© 2007–2010, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

Lora follows a slightly different analysis process than I do, but many of the concepts and palettes are very similar.

This is an announcement for the release of her new book.

It is available from Amazon or from the publisher.

The quote from the publisher is as follows:

Color Revival aims to simplify the advanced 12 Season Color Analysis system. Easy to understand charts and photos help explain it in its simplest terms. Included are full palettes for each of the 12 seasons, as well as plenty of case studies of ‘real people’ who have been successfully color analyzed by the author. Besides understanding the principles behind it, people will see how color analysis in general will help one save time and money while always looking their best.

I am in the process of buying my copy. Having seen some of the preliminary work, I know that it will provide a modern and comprehensive explanation of the topic. Lora has the experience to know where people get tangled and what the most common questions are. She will address those, and more, in this book.

I love the title she chose. The time is right for the next wave of Colour Analysis for the year 2010.

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NARS Outlaw blush.

I’ve had this issue on my Product Search list for months.

90% of what’s out there can be canceled for being too brown or peach. The defining premise of this skin tone is that any amount of heat causes unattractive results.

I zeroed in on Estee Lauder Fresh Plum awhile back. It has a soft colour deposit. It’s not as blue as Lancome Aplum, my Dark Winter personal favorite (though it could be improved on with a breath of brown, just enough to turn it mulberry).

True Summer skin is usually not colourful. By December, Fresh Plum’s dusty softness doesn’t perk it up enough. Bronzer looks crazy on True Summer skin in the hands of real-world women because it adds heat to skin that inherently has none.

MAC Breath of Plum is too pink.

Most of the Rose Somethings out there are too warm. The trace of peach they add just ruins it. It looks coral.

What I wanted was a cool, fairly light Summer red-rose.

Here are a few other contenders:

MAC Breezy blush.

MAC Mineralize Gentle blush.

MAC Mineralize Love Thing blush.

The wonderful Karla has swatched the NARS product for you here.

I am asked if other Seasons can wear the makeup colours I suggest. Because the cosmetic industry offering is disorganized and random and unevenly weighted and I’ll just stop there, you pretty well have to. Soft Summer can wear Outlaw too. Dark Winter could try it ; on my skin, it appeared as a cool coral red.

NARS make beautiful blush. It is to be applied lightly. The shimmer is not enough to get in the way.

Any True Summers who try it, PLEASE let us know what you thought!

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© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

Daynah Burnett, a Paula’s Choice employee recounts her tale of embarrassment and insult at an Ulta store. Can this store be this dumb?

Recently, my favorite beauty blogger was escorted out of a Barney’s store. All the woman does is swatch makeup colours, Lipstick Queen’s line this time. How humiliating could that be? I don’t think Poppy King would want her client base treated this way. She probably has a clue about the power of consumers talking to one another for amplifying sale numbers exponentially.

Whether you use Paula’s Choice skin care products is not my issue. There are plenty of good choices. There are plenty of horrible choices too. Why women would spend money without researching a product, given that nobody else on the planet is providing the information this company does, now that is quite beyond me. But that’s another story.

The point here is that they could have treated any consumer the same way. It could have been you or I. What did the staff members feel so threatened by? Did they take it upon themselves to make these idiotic marketing decisions or were they told to? Is there a behind-the-scenes agenda?

These stores haven fallen out of the idiot tree, hit every branch on the way down, and written themselves off my shopping option list. Read the story and imagine being told that you have to behave their way and follow these crazy rules to shop there. Would you conform? I doubt it.

On a lighter note, a new colour analysis post at 12 Blueprints. Louise and Stevan belong to the same season but look very different. How can that be?

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I bought a cabbage the size of a pumpkin for 99 cents and made cabbage soup. The house is fragrant with baked squash and apple pie. Truly, I could sometimes fall on my knees in gratitude to have been so blessed.

On Sunday, the oven goes on at noon, after workout and lunch. It sees a steady stream of food go in and out of its front door all afternoon. It warms the house and I don’t have to cook for days. If I’m going to peel one onion, I may as well peel 6. The kitchen counter is a balancing act of roasted and baked food. In the tin foil is a pan of beets. I can never understand boiling a root vegetable when roasting is so fantastic and easy. Wrap a bunch of them, unpeeled, in foil. In the oven for 1-2 hours, cool them, peel them, taste so much richer and sweeter. Throw in a medley of different ones, even better.

I’m on a pumpkin kick. Not Pumpkin Pie Filling, oh never. Just E.D. Smith Pure Pumpkin in cans. At our stores, it’s on the shelf beside the pie filling. Maybe your store has the squash/pumpkin combo, and it would work just as well.

Yellow vegetables take a little more work to figure in to every day. I put a plop in lentil or bean soup.

But my favorite thing is this bread . I make it 2 loaves at a time so I can just use 1 whole can of pumpkin. I added  millet and wheat bran to this one. Every loaf’s a new adventure.

Ingredients

• 5 small or 4 larger bananas, mashed
• 1 can pure pumpkin, the big can, 796ml/28oz
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2c honey (I often leave this out if it’s for the family; they won’t know if you don’t tell them, my whole philosophy to cooking, and perhaps a good title for that cookbook we’re all going to collaborate on)
• 1/2 c oil, I use a canola/olive blend
• 4 eggs
• 5 c spelt flour (or whatever flour)
• 2 t b pdr
• 2 t b soda
• salt if you want to; I don’t cook with it myself
• 4 t pumpkin pie spice
• 2 t cinnamon
• anything you’re trying to use up; flax, wheat germ, the cereal your kids forced you to buy and wouldn’t eat (I’m presently adding 3c of Bran Flakes to this recipe and you can’t taste it; I would not add Honeycomb or Count Chocula, but it’s quite forgiving)

Method

You know already. Fling it all in a bowl, stir till you figure it’s stirred enough or somebody needs you for something. I make a child stand there and stir while I add ingredients over their shoulder. When they whine that it’s too hard to stir, you’re pretty well done. 325, 1 hour.

Pour into 2 waxed-paper lined (if you want to ) loaf pans.

My friend makes quick breads by brushing butter on the inside of the pan and sprinkling/coating with flax seed. It’s really good.

I love it with honey.

Love it with soup.

Love it with this ED Smith More Fruit Cherry Blueberry Jam, which I can no longer buy because I have a little problem with it.

Since no visit with me is complete without some talk of colour, visit 12 Blueprints and see what happens to the True Summer base when you blend in a touch of Spring, in Sonja Is A Light Summer. Colour is so deeply embedded in human psychology that we feel it more than we see it. Nobody is impervious to it but not everyone can explain their reactions. Watch what happens when you  take a woman who hasn’t been a student for several years and has decided to understand how to buy clothes and makeup that let her feel like her best self, in Pam Is A Dark Winter.

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Despite the $30, which I have not regretted, I had to buy it for 2 reasons:

1. Paula Begoun wrote a special post about it on her blog. I found it funny that she bought Rose and Coral, but I couldn’t ignore the recommendation.

I bet Paula is a Dark Winter. To achieve what she has, against those odds, would take a resolve and determination that no other season as a group could match. In the words of Color Me A Season’s Bernice Kentner, whom I hold in the highest esteem, in her book A Rainbow In Your Eyes, “there is nothing that these individuals cannot achieve”. If I would choose a colour for her, it would have been Plumberry, but maybe it went on too dark.

Paula’s issue with lip colour is bleeding. Mine is comfort, colour, and lasting strength.

2. The colours are gorgeous. In general, EL is good at lipsticks in clear colours.

My great friend, Gina, and my best ambassador, wrote it better than I could in a recent comment :

I bought Stay Ruby….I know I am a Deep Autumn but this colour looks fabulous! That being said the texture is not too dry and not too moist ( my hair can still get stuck on it at dance class but that is forgivable). Here’s the kicker…..this stuff does not move….SERIOUSLY it doesn’t feather, bleed, leak, run, walk, saunter, promenade….it is as sedentary as cream cheese on a knife that has gone through the dishwasher. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it…Lord have mercy! I am saved!

This is an interesting product in many ways. I think it looks different on whoever tries it. It changes depending on how many layers you apply, as it dries, and when gloss is added. Don’t discount a colour till you try it. The saleswoman here wore Stay Ruby and, like on Gina, it’s a red-brown. On me, the same colour is a strong pink-red.

Any product with staying power has a strong colour imprint. Blue pigments can seem too blue, and browns too brown. For fair complexions, it’s challenging to find a shade that doesn’t look too opaque or colorful. Here, even a single coating will feel good, last well, and look light. I like this product as a base for a lipstick or gloss. The gloss lightens the effect, helps it look less flat, makes the colour more interesting, and still hangs on forever. Pink and Pinkberry are very beautiful shades for light complexions.

It fades some, who really thinks comfortable lipstick is going to last all day, but it does not crumble. It leaves great colour even after you think it must all be gone. You go to the washroom and you’re surprised at how much colour is still there.

I apply the slightest lip liner after this lipstick just to refine the shape. There’s no need for any more. It won’t move. A gloss over top might try to slip between the lines, but it’s controlled far more than with lipliner alone.

You would not apply it without a mirror. The tip is wide. You won’t be reapplying often once it’s on, but it’s not for a day at a picnic. Use this as the base, and reapply a lighter product over top. You’re good till the next meal.

I bought Mauve and Ruby. The mixture becomes a colour that moves nicely into red-violet terrain, very much a signature colour of the Winter group. Let’s hope they add more colours to the range. Could I cast a vote for Mulberry?

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Think of it as a horoscope and nothing more than that. It can be a curiosity. Buy into it as much as you want, or not at all. For many, the association between colour and personality is a matter of fact.

Children are unguarded in showing, and using, their personality. There is no artifice in how they show, and use, their character.

The True Summer child, article here, is never the discipline problem. She is angelic. She also takes 3 hours to clean off one shelf because she gets caught up in every book and knick-knack.

The True Spring Child, here, is here for the party. This child will make you laugh. He can talk about anything and will play every game.

Ah, The True Winter Child. Recognize anyone?

1. The drama and the trauma. Will not be controlled by parents, siblings, or anyone else.
2. The power and the glory. Emotionally brutal. Can be ruthlessly determined adults as well, but oh, so sensitive when it’s their turn.
3. Most likely to ride on the Children’s Camp float in the Old Home Week parade. Will ask why they can’t have a float of their own. Made for show biz.
4. May appear cool and detached, but often besieged with worry and insecurity. Very concerned about what others think of them. A season of inward contrasts (to match the outward contrasts in their body colouring and best clothing).
5. The opposite of nurturing. It’s all about them. Ask her how her hair turned out today and she’ll tell you, for half an hour. Won’t notice if you have hair or not.

1. Physically interesting to watch. Will choose furs, sparkles, satin, diamonds, you get the idea. Stock up on glitter. Boys look very good in dark suits and are born ready for Broadway. Strike statue poses just buttering toast.
2. May shy away from being noticed, but performs amazingly well once on stage. They’re used to being looked at, almost expect it.
3. If she’s suffering, you’ll know about it. She has the power and she’s taking you down with her. The True Winter husband is much the same.
4. Have high expectations of what others should take from them (as opposed to the Summers who have high expectations of what others should expect of themselves). And everything is your fault because they’re never wrong.
5. Intensely creative. So perfectionist that they get in their own way.

To go along with this, Winter’s Jewelry at 12 Blueprints.

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© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.