RSSMakeup Model : Deep Winter
May 6, 2009
Edit June 23/10 – Just a note to be sure everyone knows that this Makeup Model series of articles was posted before I became a Color Analyst. The articles have been very popular, so I leave them up, but the makeup recommendations are not necessarily those I’d make today. For anyone interested in more accurate Season and color advice, do look at 12blueprints.com or join the 12 Blueprints Fan Club on Facebook.
How do you know if you’re Deep Winter?
Dark eyes and dark hair are common but not a requirement. Your skin can go from Porcelain to Ebony so that’s not helpful.
So, Penelope Cruz is a classic Deep Winter…or at least, she looks like she would be. She can wear black but she has some ability to wear a few warmer colors. Her best spectrum wouldn’t be as cool and sharp as Elizabeth Taylor’s whom you just wouldn’t put in rust.
What about Salma Hayek? If you’re not sure, push the extremes of the 2 possibilities. Deep Winter holds the neutral line with Deep Autumn, where Deep Winter is cooler. You could take a Deep Winter all the way to blue-black hair and red-violet lips and they’d still look pretty good. You could take a Deep Autumn to bronze hair and beyond to orange-brown and it would be wearable. I can see Salma in the black hair and violet lips. I do not see her in orange hair.
Now, this doesn’t work backwards. You can’t assume red hair is automatically Autumn. Not at all. Often they’re Spring or Summer, many times, Winter. Why do books keep showing Autumn with red hair? I don’t know. Maybe because red hair goes well with orange clothing (analogous colors), so the extrapolation says the person must be Autumn. The closer to orange the hair, the more possibility it belongs to an Autumn.
Julia Roberts has dark hair and eyes. Since blue-black hair and purple lips would be ghoulish, but orange-brown hair is good, she’s likely a Deep Autumn.
Keira Knightley? Tricky. Very difficult. I’ve seen people conclude both. I side with Deep Winter but black hair isn’t perfect; neither is orange hair. This auburn here is good, and a Deep Winter can do auburn. It’s creating some odd shadowing around her nose and yellow around her mouth but it may be the makeup or lighting. For me, her eyes are more arresting and her makeup better in pure Winter colors. They might clear the yellow and turn her skin to milk. Maybe she’s neither. This is a woman who probably needs to be draped in person to figure this out.
Jeanne Tripplehoorn? I cannot see her in orange hair.
Jessica Alba? She’s almost surely Deep something but her hair’s been dark and her lips have been cool red lately and I think it looks forced. I see her better in orange, tawnies, copper colors. Likely some sort of Autumn. With the dark neutral brown hair below, her skin looks washed out and the creases from nose to corners of mouth become noticeable.
Sophia Loren? She can have quite lion-colored hair and bronze lips, so she’s Deep, but it’s probably Autumn.
Anne Hathaway? Blacker hair and redder lips work fine. If ever skin had a lack of warmth, that would be it. She is surely Winter, the incarnation of Miss Snow White. Is she Deep Winter, or cooler yet as Clear Winter or Cool Winter? Probably Cool Winter, because I don’t see much compliment from warmed reds, but who knows without drapes.
Katie Holmes? I can see auburn hair or wine hair but not orange hair. She can wear rust and tomato red as well as the cool dark colors, so probably a Deep Winter.
Colors
Lips: NARS Dolce Vita Sheer Lipstick and lipgloss are good cool coral colors; the gloss is gorgeous in texture and durability, as are all NARS glosses.
Now you need a plum-violet color: Mary Kay Berry Kiss is about as blue-pink as you can go, but this is a nice one (bluer, pinker, and brighter than the picture below). If it seems too pink, try Whipped Berries, warmed up just a little but so slightly foggier and darker, for darker women.
Mary Kay Amber Suede appears more orange and it goes on very dark and pigmented. If you blot if well and apply a gloss over top, the color left behind is quite lovely, again for darker women.
L to R, Whipped Berries, Amber Suede, Garnet Frost, Berry Kiss
Are you looking at these thinking “I thought she said she doesn’t like dark lips?”. I am. The thing is, once you find a color of makeup that repeats a color already in your face (a concept we’ll come back to often) or body, it’s amazing how heavily you can apply it. You can literally pack it on and it looks real because you already have the color in you. Maybe I’ve made this point too obviously, but you see, herein lies the strength of color analysis. It will identify the colors that were used to paint YOU.
So what is your “color-within” lip, your neutral, since those above are all pinkish : MAC Slimshine in Scant will be close. It contains some brown, as this season needs since it’s the bridge between Autumn and Winter.
Much as I believe in neutral makeup, I think all 3 women up there look a little flat with lips the same color as their face. I need to come up with a new term. Neutral means neither warm nor cool, a medium tone type of beige or brown or gray. Many would call the lips in those photos neutral. When I say neutral, I extend the definition to include “any color already in your face is your neutral”.
However, I’m realizing that’s confusing and seems contradictory. Nude just means “like you have nothing on”. Maybe the word I need is Natural. That seems to work. I’m thinking as I type so it’s coming out stream-of-consciousness here. I’ll clarify in a separate post because I just thought of it now.OK, shut up, Christine, and get on with it.
If you still think these are dark, mix them with a clear gloss or a lighter lip color like Estee Lauder Elizabeth Pink.
Good ol’ Clinique Black Honey lip gloss that you see in every magazine suits this group nicely.
Body Shop 05 (I believe the color is Strawberry) can work as a bright.
Blush: Your color-within “natural” blush : take a close look at MAC Breath of Plum. If it’s too pink, look at Lancome Aplum, my favorite. It is cool, red-violet as all Winters need, and doesn’t seem too blue or brown. It just fades into the skin, just as a Natural colour will.
If you want to put a little more on it, Clinique Berry Delight is a good cool coral to go with Dolce Vita lipstick or gloss (don’t buy Dolce Vita blush, it’s too dusty red-brown; NARS Amour is a better contender – Winter is a season of color clarity, not dullness).
Another red-violet blush to go with the lips above : Mary Kay Bold Berry ; Clinique Breathless Berry is cooler than Berry Delight but not as cool as Bold Berry.
Eyeliner: Clarins Waterproof eyeliner in 03 Grey, a sparkly dark grey; Annabelle Kohl Eyeliner in 77 Charcoal, terribly smudgy but great color so powder over it.
Winter is the only group that can wear black eyeliner if the depth of their coloring supports it. If not, the darkest grey or black-coffee brown are darker colors that appear less hard.
Eyeshadow: Clinique Totally Neutral ; MaryKay makes Charcoal eye shadow, a lovely matte midtone dove grey for the cooler women. Paula’s Choice Charcoal is also a beautiful matte grey-brown, more brown than the MaryKay, a fantastic shade for those who are close to Deep Autumn but need the coolness of Winter.
Your natural color : Merle Norman Mink.
Eye hilite : Paula’s Choice Beige. ( Note that Paula’s Choice is selling off her eyeshadows for $4 or less. These are great products, perfectly matte, all available as samples. You will never find a better beauty deal anywhere.)
Within each season, there can be great variety of hair, eye, and skin tone so these color suggestions are generalities. I’m a Deep Winter. Once I get my hair color adjusted, I’ll show you how it looks. Just changing the makeup has made a big difference. Good thing I buy my clothes at Value Village or we’d be living on a raft.
Comments
67 Responses to “Makeup Model : Deep Winter”
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Hi Christine, just read the Deep Winter article. I read through the ‘colours’ website you recommended and thought I was a deep or clear winter, but I am very fair with brown hair and green eyes. I think I look good in jewel tones. I would love to have my colours done professionally but don’t know where to go in my area. I must say I would wear all of the lipsticks you show above. Once, I went to a Clinique counter and asked the salesperson to pick out a lipstick for me and she picked out Wow Violet. It is a very bold colour and every time I wear it, I get a compliment. I cannot pull off nude/neutral/natural lip colours at all. Can’t wait for your review of clear and cool winters!
Cathy
Hi, CHristine;
I’m wondering if there’s a color wheel chart of some kind available ~ or if you’ve thought about making one ~ that shows the 12 seasons as they progress? I guess I may be one who needs to see something to figure it out! I can’ get a handle in my mind on these clear, warm, deep concepts wihtout a comparison. I love this and waht you are doing!
Thanks, Glenda
Hi, Cathy,
I am not a disciple of the analysis systems that involve hair and eye color. The hair color is barely relevant. The point of an analysis for me is to make the eye color INTENSE but what the color itself is matters not. The colors that look best on you are most important, so you do sound Wintery. Interesting choice the Clinique person made too, seeming pretty confident that you could pull off that coolness and brightness, so again sounds Wintery.
I use the Sci\Art system. If you look under Appointments on the left, at their site here
http://www.coloranalysis.com/category_s/90.htm
you may find an analyst nearby. Or just email them and ask. Or Google it, because probably all the big companies have directories.
Glenda,
I’ll work on that. There are such charts for analysts but it took me awhile to learn to read them. They’re rather convoluted. But I agree, the Deep and the Dark and the Clear, it took me forever to figure it out. Those notations come from Color Me Beautiful and I’ll keep going with them because that’s how I began the Makeup Model Series. Once those are done, I’ll switch to the Sci\Art system that I trained in and will stay with for my analyses. Maybe what I need is an equivalency chart, explaining the various names across the companies, and an explanation of how they differ from one another. Good idea, thanks!
Hi Christine,
Great site, great articles! I truly enjoy reading everything on here…:)
I have a question about Deep Winter vs. Deep Autumn. I’ve been classified as both. I have warm brown eyes, very pale sallow skin (ruddy face) and my hair has gone from rich brown with red highlights to dark charcoal with white, silver and ash, and still quite a lot of red highlights. When I read the above article I tried to picture myself in blue-black hair and purple lips, and that would indeed look ghoulish on me!
So to my question: can a Warm season go gray without changing season? Because I really feel I don’t fit into any category at the moment, and I suspect that it’s my hair that’s confusing everything. Is gray only an option for Cools?
Hi, Kristina, glad to have you join the conversation,
I think that Deep Winter vs Deep Autumn is probably one of the more difficult distinctions to make. I have been entirely converted to the school that says that eye and hair color do not affect the decision about which season you might be. I will admit that a blond person with light blue eyes is less likely to be a Winter but it is not impossible. You would certainly need to be draped to sort out your season. If your skin is indeed both sallow and ruddy, you will be challenging (but fun!).
To answer your question, yes, you certainly can go gray without changing season. Season is generally sorted out by the time a person is 15 or so, though their coloring may deepen and they become “more” that season with maturity. As they age, coloring may cool and may soften so you might wear the lighter or brighter colors from your swatches, but you will probably stay the same season. This is especially so if you ignore hair color entirely. Some people cool enough to change season. I guess the shortest best answer to your question is that everyone is different with regards aging and season. There is no one-size-fits-all answer.
Gray is not just for cool seasons, but they may become gray more flatteringly. There are many shades of white and gray, some more creamy, some bluer. Find yourself your friendly neighborhood color analyst and get it sorted. You only have to spend the time and money once and your uncertainty will vanish, to be replaced by calm, confident certainty. It is the coolest thing.
Hi again, Christine!
Thank you so much for your reply. This is so interesting. Not taking hair and eye color into account is something completely new for me.
I’ve been to three different analysts and have gotten three different replies: Warm Autumn, Deep Autumn, Deep Winter. But each time, after about a month or so, I always felt there was something not quite right. I never felt “Wow, these are MY colors!”.
Reading through your excellent articles I’m starting to see things a bit differently though. I had some great input from Lora at PYW (what an extraordinary and friendly person she is!) and I’m starting to explore possibilities that I’ve never considered before. Your article on Soft Summer had me so curious I actually dug out some blushes and lipsticks in Summer colors to try on. Once my eyes got used to seeing me in those colors I was surprised to find that they actually look pretty good, and my grays suddenly became an asset. Very mind-blowing indeed…
Speaking of makeup: are you into mineral makeup at all? I would love to see what color recommendations you would have for the different seasons from brands like Bare Escentuals for example.
Once again, thank you for a great and very informative site!
Kristina,
You have got to come to my house! You would be fabulous to drape because you could be anywhere on the map.
No matter what system the analyst uses to code you, they are not looking at what the drapes are doing to your hair; they are only looking at what the drape colors are doing to your skin. Some systems will use the hair color as a guide but you must be very careful of that; it will send you in wrong directions.
Everything about your natural coloring is an asset. Mother Nature is very sharp about this. If the clothing/makeup isn’t making your whole picture come together more beautifully, it is the wrong color but YOU are not. EVER. You just haven’t yet discovered those colors that are built into you already. If ever you’re near Detroit, call me!
I’ve never been into the mineral makeup thing. I know many women swear by it like the second coming of makeup but I’ve never been convinced. The whole mineral-therefore-good-for-skin thing, I don’t buy at all. I’m open to being convinced of anything but this hasn’t come my way. Having said that, I’ve looked at Bare Escentuals and thought there seemed to be some decent colors. I’ve never so much as tried anything on. Loose powders are a mess in my hands. I don’t like makeup that gets swirled all over the place.
Dear Christine,
You are a gem. Thank you so much for your reply. I’d love to drop by your house in Detroit, thank you for the invitation! I’m sure you’d find my season straight away, seeing how skilled you are. But I live in Sweden, so I’m not exactly next door…
On the other hand, if you ever travel to Scandinavia please feel free to visit any time!
Thank you also for your comments about Mother Nature never making a fault when it comes to colors. I guess in this day and age it’s pretty much taboo to go gray. But for me, going gray is becoming a very thrilling experience. It feels like “the real me” is finally coming out. It hasn’t felt this way always though, and often I’ve bought into the whole idea of having to change in order to look good. Well, not any more!
Yes, I know there’s a lot of hype surrounding mineral makeup. I’ve worn it for five years or so, but sometimes I get so fed up with all this swirling and tapping and buffing, and decorating my sink with mineral foundation… So I can definitely see your point. I do love the sheerness and the feeling of wearing nothing, but I’m sure there are options out there that are just as lightweight and a lot less messy. I just haven’t found them yet! I’ll be going over your articles on makeup next, as I’m sure I’ll be inspired…
Kristina, it cannot be known what life will bring… We can just send the energy out there and the Universe will begin molding it.
Hello! I just stumbled upon your blog, and I like it very much. I have been trying to figure out if I’m a Deep Winter and Deep Autumn for a long time, and I think you have finally helped me decide!
your post makes me lean towards Deep Winter. I don’t think I’m an Autumn, because orange lipstick looks harsh and wrong on me and and any blush with brown in it makes me look like I’ve dusted dirt across my face. But Nars Dolce Vita lipstick and Amour blush are among my favorite makeup colors! I have read some older (1980s or so) Color Analysis books that state that Winters should only wear blue-pinks, plums, and reds. I prefer slightly warmer shades (like Dolce Vita and Amour). Has the system changed? Can Winters wear some warmer colors now?
Hi, Elizabeth,
There are a number of Color Analysis systems. The Color Me Beautiful system, which began with 4 Seasons in the 1980s, has expanded into the 12 Seasons I’ve been using in the Makeup Model articles. I’ll finish those articles using that system, but in the process of becoming a color analyst myself, I’ve ascribed to the Sci\Art system.
So of the 12 Seasons, there are 3 Winters. One is only Cool with no warmth to the colors at all. The other two Winters allow for some warmth but the type of warmth depends on the type of Winter. It gets complicated. To say “blue-pink, plum, and red” is too confining. The same could be said of Summer. It’s all about the specific shade of each color. As with me, it does sound as though you do better with a touch of warmth in otherwise dark, clear colors.
The short answer is that since CMB in the 1980s, the system has expanded and yes, some Winters can wear some warmer colors.
Thank you very much, Christine! I like this new, expanded system. I could never quite fit into any of the old CMB seasons, and now I know why. Also, you’re right about MAC’s Breath of Plum blush. It looks so natural on me!
Hey! Glad it worked. Next time you’re at the Clinique counter, look at Butter Shine (I love the stuff, I could own them all) in Pink Goddess (might be invisibly neutral, but good day/work color) , Brandy Apple ( red-brown, not too much of either), and Perfect Plum (brown-plum with a little brightness, especially with a deep pink liner underneath).
I haven’t yet found the mulberry lip to go with the gorgeous MAC blush. Let me know if you find it first. It is a dang good color.
Christine, thanks so much for posting this article! I tried the Dolce Vita lipstick and gloss and both look very natural (not nude but natural, i.e. matching my skin tone). i find them to be more rose-brown on me. They are however bright enough to be noticeable. FYI, I also found that Laura Mercier’s Bare Lips is pretty much a dead ringer for Dolce Vita. The quality of lipsticks is also amazing and although the price tag is still quite hefty ($20) it’s a little cheaper than NARS’s $24. I love both, and the NARS gloss is amazing in quality.
Christine, on a separate note, wanted to ask, did you recently get re-typed as a deep winter? I remember in one of your older articles you saying you were a soft autumn. I’m especially interested because I was mistyped as an autumn because I had changed my hair color to red (using henna) a while ago. My natural color is medium ash brown. The hair color dramatically changed my look, also making my skin more yellow in tone and further confusing me (I have a very violet-pink natural blush to my cheeks, very cool color). When I saw my photo with warm autumn swatches I realized how the yellowish red hair was washing me out. I’m back to my original hair color and it looks amazing, and I can finally use the deep winter colors I love so much. Hair color correction fixed it – I guess Mother Nature knows what she’s doing
Hi, Valeria,
I’m glad you’re finding things of use-and thanks for the heads up for the LM lipstick. I will look at it for sure. I’ve had one of hers before and remember it for its great pigmentation (where Dolce Vita is quite sheer).
The way your skin behaves sounds very much like mine. I was typed as a Soft Autumn but the analyst was uncomfortable with that result. She felt I was at least a Dark Autumn but I was so sure that I was objective about myself that I didn’t send her nearly enough pictures. When I was trained, it took a long time to decide between Dark Autumn and Dark Winter, even in person, but it was the Winter colors that cleared out the yellowness in my skin overtones. You sound more Wintery with the ash hair (mine too). If you pinch the end of your finger and the color is cool and violet, it also seems Winter. My finger pinch is more red-brown, but maroon is a Dark Winter color too. Just 2 versions of individuals in the same season.
Although hair color is irrelevant in determining season, it can be a clue as to the degree of coolness and degree of intensity in the coloring.
I find your entries extremely interesting!
For a long time I have been wearing the Clinique blush 03 rhubarb and I think that fits me well, I was wondering to which season you would consider that suitable to.
Tania,
Rhubarb is a nice colour. I can’t place it to a season without looking at it again. I’m not on line regularly for a week or two but I’ll look at this and get back to you. I’m curious myself.
Ah! I’ve discovered myself that the rhubarb n.3 made by Clinique has been discontinued in the meanwhile.
But reading your posts made me go back to counters to buy make-up, which I hadn’t been doing in the last decade at least. I am not sure if you would consider this a good result of your posts
What I came back with is quite a funny result, because I was actually trying to assess what season I am according to which make-up colors flatter me most.
I tried lots of colors on and I ended up buying:
Estee Lauder Tender blush n. 212 Rosette (Rose desire)
and I wear it with the EL Pure color crystal lipstick 310 crystal cherry.
It was an obvious choice, because cooler lighter colors look awful on me and so do darker ones, so I need a bit of warmth, but just a tiny bit, because orange looks awful again. It seems it’s sort of a narrow choice. I thought that perhaps I’m a deep winter then.
So I went bold and bought and incredible combination of colors as a blush by Guerlain, which I thought was good for a deep winter
it is Guerlain blush Nuit d’ètè n. 06.
Again it has tawnies blended with rose. Everybody has been commenting on how good I looked since then.
so I went back and bought the Guerlain compact foundation n. 13 (Rose éclat)
and pared it with a color for lips that is Guerlain KissKiss Laque n. 743
That is right my lip color and I am unable to decide whether that is warm or cool shade of color, but it just looks absolutely natural on me.
I wish you could check these colors next time you get around to make-up counters and tell me which sort of season they would fit in your opinion. I hope you get Guerlain counters, they make such wonderful colors!
Tania
Hi, Tania,
I’ve made a note of these and I’ll look next time I’m in a city. Guerlain is expensive so I don’t generally buy it. I’m glad you found a lip colour that looks so right on you. That’s a feat in itself for most women!
I agree with this article completely. My hair is auburn leaning toward brown, but you can still easily see the red. And my eyes are so dark brown you’d have to get way up in my face to see the brown in them. Now, according to some sites this may put me as an Autumn.
However, I don’t feel like an Autumn. My skin burns whenever I’m out in the sun for too long. And if I’m supposed to be an Autumn, how come I don’t look good in most warmer color makeup (even though I can wear *some* warmer clothes, like orange)? Bronzes, browns, and beiges do nothing for my eyes, but cooler purples have always made my eyes sparkle. I can easily wear black clothes near my face, and I get the most compliments whenever I wear black, fuchsia, or purple in both clothes and makeup.
Sorry to blather on like this, but I’ve been getting frustrated that there was hardly anything *useful* to me when it comes to the right makeup for my pale cool skin, auburn hair, and nearly black eyes.
Hi, Samantha,
Though you may well have some Autumn blend, I’m glad that you’ve found something useful in these suggestions. With your warm-ish hair, black eyes, fair skin … in your right colours that cool your skin, you must look amazing.
Why, I believe your email address says it all!
Christine,
I’m back on this thread to mention another lippie that is really quite close to Dolce Vita: Mac Slimshine in Scant. The formula is really moisturizing and has a nice glossy finish. I bought it and it looks great, really “melts” into my coloring.
I’ve been thinking about my coloring lately, especially after reading some Summer articles. I”m now growing out my natural hair color which as it turns out (I haven’t seen it in 15 years!) is a very light ash brown, almost a dark mousy blonde. My eyebrows however are much darker. My coloring hair wise is very similar to Christy Turlington only a bit lighter ( I saw her on this month’s Vogue cover and saw the similarity immediately). I look horrible in really dark hair (it ages me immensely) so I can’t really sign on to being a Deep Winter; dark and bright lipsticks also don’t do it for me and look garish. All this led me to realize that there is a softness to my look that is really apparent despite the strong eyebrows (my eyes are a medium to light hazel). I now have highlights in my hair and look much better. I am now starting to suspect a Summer influence but how on Earth can I be a Summer and still be able to wear neutral to slightly warmer colors? As a child I looked very much like a Summer child… dark ashy blond hair. I guess the answer really lies in getting draped in person, as we’ve discussed previously, but I am not a patient woman and want to look my best as soon as possible
I guess at this point I just need to go by trial and error. I almost think the color typing system isn’t for me… I guess I’m a bit discouraged.
PS I was looking at some other photos of Keira Knightley and I feel a kinship with her: like me, she looks much better in softer hair that isn’t quite as severe as the color on the photo above. At the same time, being completely blonde doesn’t quite work, either, it has to be in between. She also has a soft feel to her and doesn’t look her best in bright lipsticks. Maybe like her, I just need to be draped in person……
Valeria,
Scant is my favorite lip colour of them all. I was excited when I began reading because I would like a replacement for Dolce Vita. It’s a great day natural lip on me but is so fleeting that I’m re-applying too often, ridiculous considering the cost. Like all the Slimshines, Scant is half the NARS price, feels good, is a little sheer with a good colour deposit, lasts better, but the colour is lovely. To my eye, it’s a little more plum where Dolce Vita is a cooler coral colour.
You definitely need to be draped. You would love it. Many people get halfway through the analysis before they see what is happening in their skin, but women like yourself who have already “learned to see” and are so attuned to the effect, see it right from the beginning. We’ll find a way. If you ever travel, remember to look up the possibility of an analyst. I’m not a patient woman either. Don’t be discouraged. This really IS for everyone but I can’t imagine doing it on your own. Maybe a skilled analyst could, but it’s a little like giving yourself a haircut.
Christine, thank you as always for your thoughtful answer. I think I was getting too hung up on hair color etc. I’ll follow the Deep Winter color suggestions for now; I can’t negate the fact that I can wear both cold and warm tones with some restriction on the warm ones, and with that, it makes sense to stick to Deep Winter until I get draped. I might travel to Canada one day to visit a friend in Vancouver, maybe then I can get the professional coloring done. It would be very exciting!
I found a beautiful lipstick that I’m currently in love with. I’ve been looking for a wearable red but couldn’t find the right shade. I can do brick red but it is quite limiting because it can’t be paired up with cold colors. I was at Sephora the other day and found Rubeillite in long-wearing formula at Clinique. It’s a ruby-red with a touch of gold, absolutely amazing. On me, it goes with pretty much anything I put on and it doesn’t stand out but rather melts into my face. I also find I need brighter colors to “stand up” to my face, as mute colors tend to disappear and do nothing for me at all. It was also interesting to discover this shade which is a combination of cool (ruby red) and warm (slight golden sparkle). It seems like I can’t go too far into either direction but have to stay somewhere in the middle, but still on the cooler side. Anyway, you may know about this one already but if you don’t, seeing as you and I seem to have very similar coloring, perhaps it might interest you. Thanks again!
Valeria,
That Clinique product sounds superb. There are very few wearable reds but this one sounds lovely, especially for those of us in the neutral seasons. I may just treat myself-Clinique has a nice bonus at The Bay just now. Thanks!
I hope you like it, Christine! While you’re there, check out “All Heart”, also in long lasting formula. It’s described as a “tawny pink” on the Clinique website and in person it’s a pretty deep color which, at least on me, looks quite natural at the same time. Somehow that pink blends perfectly with my complexion. Seeing as we have similar coloring it might suit you, as well.
I’m only now discovering Clinique lipsticks. I’m actually pretty impressed. I also love it that they have to smell or taste and their color selection is impressive. I”m normally a Laura Mercier or Mac kinda girl but I’m loving Clinique so far.
Sorry that was “NO smell or taste”
I’ve looked at AllHeart, and I remember thinking it looked impressive, rather like Dolce Vita, now I think of it.
I find the Clinique lipsticks to have very little staying power, though I agree that the colour selection is impressive. Lately, I seem to find no lasting ability with a lot of lip products. I tried Lancome ColorFever and loved the colour, but it didn’t last. The Clinique products seem a little slimy. The Lancome product had no weight, which might seem good except it wore off so easily. You know what I do like are the Clinique Butter Shines. Thick and creamy and a bit sheer. Well, to each his own. I love MAC’s Slimshines too for the same reason. Both have a good colour deposit.
Hi Christine,
Can’t resist getting into the debate about Deep Winter versus Autumn. As an ageing female who loves fashion (although not obsessed by it, just want to make the best of myself) I tried for year what colours to wear. I was diagnosed (although at a glance in stores) by consultants as Deep Winter for most of life, but knew I didn’t look good in fuchia or bright blue or anything too blue toned pink at all. In despair went to a CMB master counsellor at master level and even she at first glance said didn’t know which I was. I have very dark hair, greying now of course, dark hazel eyes which are very deep olive with gold tones in and very pale skin. I has to agree with you absolutely about trying colour drapes against skin, the counsellor could see immediately, and so surprisingly could I, that my skin lit up in terracotta, olive, khaki and deep reds (even to raspberry red with some very warm pink in it) but looked ghastly in fuchia, bright pinks, bright mauves, grey, ect. So it seems I am a deep Autumn, but maybe even then not so great in bright orange, as secondary tones are warm but muted. I also know which way to go with slightly lightening hair colour in steps as I age to middish brown, never too light. It has been worth every last penny, so would adivise anyone to get to a real professional who can see your skin tone upfront and how it reacts to colours in good light. Unless you are obvious, I would say it almost impossible to do yourself.
You said it, sister. And though I completely concur, Trisha, even if you are obvious (which I take to mean “the average for that season”), I would add that it is still very unpredictable. I see so many women who have spent their lives as “I’m trying to be a Winter but it sure don’t come easy”, only to be draped and see that they are darker True Summers. They wear the deeper shades in the Summer palette but cannot manage Winter’s dark colours without looking old and tired. Even Winter’s light, icy colours are not as fresh and young as Summer’s softer ones.
Thanks for chiming in to the debate.:)
Hi,
Great comment, Trisha! I’m curious to hear what the advice was regarding your graying hair, as I myself am going gray and I’m always interested in tips on how to look great with my grays. I’d love to know!
Christine, what is a True Summer in the 12 season system? Is it Cool Summer?
I found a description on a color analysis website, and I’m wondering what the equivalent would be for you in Sci/Art or in Carole Jackson’s/Itten’s system.
“She has a cool, light skin tone. She often has a pink undertone, but in some cases she can have a slight yellowish cast on the surface which with yellow-based colors can make her appear sallow. Her hair color ranges from a medium ash brown to a rose brown.”
That particular web site calls it a High Contrast Summer. I’ve always thought that there must be darker Summers that often feel left out or get mistaken for Winters. But what exactly distinguishes a dark Summer from a Deep or Cool Winter?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
Hi Christine,
I take your point, probably no-one is truely obvious, it just might seem that way to other people, for which I apologise! Also for the dreadful spelling and grammer at the end of a day! I work from home, so its great to be able to butt in and chat here, and all the way to the USA too (I am in Oxfordshire, England, by the way). For Kristina especially, I ‘d like to say the CMB consultant I saw had been a top hairdresser in London salons before re-training, so knew her stuff. I was concerned not to dye too dark brown as I age, and before seeing her, not knowing if I was cool or warm, kept going one way then the other. Dark ash, made me look like a dug up corpse! Too warmish gold and I looked light and streaky, fading to orange tones each time. She suggested a permanent medium warm brown, L’Oreal Excell 10 in Mocha, which has turned out just right. She also said after putting on the roots for 5 mins, don’t leave for full 5 mins on rest of hair, just comb it through and then wash out. Apparently if you leave on the rest of hair any permanent dye will open the hair shaft and allow more colour in than needed (so the ends get darker each time) and this also makes the colour fade more quickly.
I am also fascinated by how our colouring affects colour choices, I notice my textile students always work with colours related to their own colouring. Also how family groups intermix their colouring. For instance, my father had very dark (some Italian blood) hair, dark golden eyes and darkish tone skin. My mother was pale platinum blonde, very pale blue tone skin and extremely pale blue eyes, almost no colour at all. My brother has darker hair than me, almost black and cool toned, his eyes are very dark chocolate brown, no warmth, and his skin tone is very pale like me, but pink not yellow, as I am apparently (now I know!). So it seems he might be a blend of the dark of dad, but coolness of mum? Where as I am a warmer blend of the two? I had warm, reddish brown hair as a kid (one of the things that the counsellor asked me about) where as brov was dark blonde. Isn’t colour fascinating? I am now wondering about that new wardrobe and trying to go down a dress size, also thinking about re-doing the garden in my colours too! Have a good day all.
Oh heavens! I think I’ve done it again! I’ve just noted that you may be in Canada rather than the USA, am I right? I do apologise, this probably explains a lot, I won’t elaborate, unless I upset our American friends as well! Kristina, I forgot to say, if you can afford it, and get to one, do please go to a trained colour counsellor, Christine if possible or someone recommended to you, as they are very variable. I know you say you’re impatient, which is why I could never bother to arrange it properly myself, but oh the difference it makes, and all those questions and doubts clear up too. Do seriously consider it.
Hi, Kristina,
A Cool Summer in Color Me Beautiful is about the same as Sci\ART’s True Summer.
What distinguishes a True Summer from a True Winter, or any other season? How the skin reacts to the drapes! Only a Winter can manage Winter’s dark, pure colours.
Trisha,
Nothing to apologize for. I’ve been to Oxfordshire – you are fortunate to call it home. I think doing your garden in your colours is simply inspired. I would think women in the Southern US, where they buy cars in their season’s colours, would be quite enchanted.
I live in Ontario. Kristina is neither in Canada nor the US – I’ll let her enlarge on that if she wants. She lives nearer to you than to me, so might visit an analyst you know to be good in England one day. Is it not spectacular that 3 women, so far apart, can connect using this medium?
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to throw out another lipstick colour for consideration. It is Clinique’s ‘Surprise’. It is a red with gold. On me it looks like I’ve just enhanced my lip colour and not changed it. If anyone ever finds a lipstick, or for that matter, an eyeliner that actually stays on, please let us all know where to get it!
For makeup, do Deep Winters need to avoid warm colors, even the darker ones that they can wear as clothing?
Hey, Ashley,
What you can wear as clothing, you can wear as makeup. It’s all in the Colours Book. The exact shades you choose in makeup depend on the darkness of your complexion and the look you’re after, but they will always be in your season’s precise tones, not some other season’s. I stay within the light-medium range for makeup, but go quite dark for clothes because Dark Winter conveys a dark and serious look very realistically.
So, in clothes or makeup, it’s not so much warm colours in general, as how warm? All the colours for this group are warmed to a slight degree and muted to a slight degree, but the colours remain more cool than warm. Which shades were you thinking of?
I’m no expert here, but I wonder about not just how warm a Deep Winter should go in makeup and clothes. Also, how clear or muted they should go. I find that whatever warmer colors I wear, cannot be muted–the muted, warm colors on my nails if you look at my nail pics in my blog actually seem to sap me of my energy. So, needless to say mine has to be clear in order to bring any life to my skin. Are there other people who are like that too?
” You could take a Deep Winter all the way to blue-black hair and red-violet lips and they’d still look pretty good. ”
I guess that all but eliminates deep winter as a possibility for me. I died my hair black a few years ago, and it was ghastly.
Re: Keira Knightley
Another site labeled her as a soft autumn. I think her natural haircolor is lighter than the auburn in the picture, but she does seem more medium in depth. However, I see her in a lot of dark colors and they look good on her. Agreed, she’s a tough one.
Christine,
I love your color analysis blog and I take what you say very seriously. I know my message may be too long for your column, so even if you cannot answer it, thanks in advance for reading it.
From my description below, does it sound like I am a winter or a summer? I am sure I am cool, but I am excited about whatever season I might be.
My eyes are a deep brown with a dull yellow cast (the yellow cast is only visible with a light shining in them). The iris pattern consists of very thick, dense webbing like shredded beef, radiating outward from pupil almost to edge. This webbing looks solid, it is so dense. There is a starburst encircling the iris halfway, but it indicates a change in thickness and depth of webbing only. My irises have no “folds”. After the starburst, dull yellow streaks radiate outward to the edge. Everything in my eye radiates from center to edge. Without shining a light in my eyes, the irises appear dark brown but not black brown.
My skin color is nearly chalk white, but with a touch of taupe. I always considered it a whitish olive. I do not understand the difference between porcelain, ivory and fair white—but it is one of them. My cheeks are always rosy with pale magenta.
My hair is a soft, dark ash brown but with a touch of chestnut. Even though it is dark, the color has a sandy quality to it.
I look gruesome in any warm-toned lipstick. My best seem to be sheer blue-red lip-gloss (nothing more solid than red lip-gloss works with me), cool taupey neutrals and light frosty pink lipsticks (with pinks, lipstick works better and gloss is too sheer). I WANT to like roses but I find they are either too magenta blue-blue or they are too warm.
My best blushes are cool roses and pale pinks with no tawny tones. My best eye shadows are mostly deep, such as true gray, bronzy taupe (not gold or coppery taupe), black-brown, charcoal, deep violet, navy, and cool violet blues.
About a year ago, I spent a day at an outside vent. Because we were going to be in daylight, I decided to assist the sun and I did my makeup in a fresh, warm collection consisting of buff makeup, a pretty mango lipstick, and just the barest touch of a frisky tangerine blush (Neutrogena’s “Healthy” blush). I thought I would look like “sunshine personified”. I accidentally caught an image of myself in a mirror. I was shocked! I looked wasted, washed-out and putrid, like dead candle wax. I was actually embarrassed at how I looked for the rest of the day. No more warm tones for me!
I would appreciate any idea of which of the summer or winter seasons or their flows you think I might be.
Thank you so much!
Hi, Rebecca,
Happy to read and wish I could help more than I will be able to. I understand how frustrating it must be, especially with such a good description.
From your eyes, you sound more Winter (spokes radiating to the edge) but I’m not sure. A brown-eyed Summer usually is of the darker type, easily confused with Winter. Since we’re interested primarily in skin, the distinction will come from your ability to wear Winter’s dark blue and dark green. A dark Summer will be overwhelmed in those shades. Your eyes don’t sound like a True Season. Many of the cool season blends can tolerate a touch of heat, but not nearly so much as in the makeup shades you describe.
Though your descriptions are great, the whole ivory-sallow-beige-porcelain- etc. skin tone thing is of no real use if you haven’t been draped. There are as many levels of subtle variation as there are people out there.
I believe you mentioned that you were considering going through some of the US? Would you be sticking to the northern states, or might you come down south as well?
Christine,
Thank you so much for your great response. I guess I am just going to have to be draped! I hope I can find a good color analyst in Las Vegas (do you, perhaps, know of anyone?). My big issue is clothing color. I usually just wear black or red or gray and I want to know if these colors are good for me. I sure need to expand my wardrobe.
Again, thank you!.
Ashley and Rebecca,
Where I go is very wide open. The SE US is likely to happen sooner. Once I begin traveling, it will be posted.
Do you know that there is a directory of Sci\ART’s certified analysts, here:
http://www.ColorAnalysis.com/category_s/136.htm
Even if there isn’t one in your home town, if you ever travel, be sure to look this up.
Thanks! I look forward to seeing where you go.
So to what degree can eyecolor suggest season? I’ve noticed that you have mentioned possible Spring-leaning for a couple of people based on yellow in the eye. Also, do you adhere to the idea that patterns in the eye can indicate one’s season?
Ashley,
The eye pattern can be HIGHLY suggestive of season. The eye colour is roughly suggestive. Some examples might be
- the yellow sun around the pupil suggest Spring – a colour thing
- random brown smudges and flecks suggest Autumn, moving towards Winter as the brown becomes less random and more tightly organized around the pupil – a colour pattern
- spokes from edge to edge of the iris suggest Winter – a line geometry
Within each category, there are many examples for each season. The main colour itself is probably the least relevant feature. The clues are in the details.
It’s almost Christmas. I’d like to buy a nice jewel for a friend of mine. She is a deep winter. If you have time I’d like to read your post about deep winter jewelry.
Thanks a lot Christine
Luana,
Oh, boy. It will be February before I find time. Deep Winter is Sci\ART’s Dark Winter. Primarily Silver, so much of True Winter’s will work (article on True Winter Jewelry at 12B). Antique can be good too, not unlike Dark Autumn (article at 12B) but a little more simple.
Ah, OK. I have an amber-colored ring around my pupils, but my overall coloring seems to be pretty bland. I seem to be some sort of Winter, though; black is much better than deep grey, and navy is even better (I finally bought a couple of navy shirts and could see an effect as soon as I put them on).
Maybe I should qualify my “bland” comment; I was referring not to lack of depth but lack of color. My overall coloring is pretty much cooled beige/brown and grey, with a bit of green hidden in there – not colorful, maybe slightly striking by virtue of contrast. I’m not sure how I’d look without a tan, as I get one very easily and have no love for sunscreen (unless I’ll be out in the sun for a very long time, at which point I’ll probably end up burning anyway); also, I’ve periodically had my foundation wrong for years, so I can’t really go back to previous pictures for reference.
As a continuation of my last post, I think jewel tones in general balance me out the best; they’re dark enough to balance out my coloring but also offer color of their own, which I consider to be much-needed on my part (I think this could be part of why they look better on me than straight black). So…what is left for me is to determine whether I am a True Winter who just needs to stick with dark colors or actually a Dark Winter. Guess I need to go find some dark, warm shades to try.
“So, in clothes or makeup, it’s not so much warm colours in general, as how warm? All the colours for this group are warmed to a slight degree and muted to a slight degree, but the colours remain more cool than warm. Which shades were you thinking of?”
Augh, I never answered this. >.> I have warm shades left over from when I thought I was a warm season; rich neutral brown, pine green, and a rusty color are a few of them. I think the green comes closest to wearable, and the rust *might* work, but the rich brown, lovely as it is, doesn’t cut it on me. I know how you feel about wearing green in general; that aside, am I trying to go too warm with those shades?
Dear Christine,
You seem so knowledgeable! Thanks so much for posting these articles. I know I am a Deep Winter (I can wear some Deep Autumn colors) and the makeup suggestions were so useful – I especially loved the blush suggestions never know what shade of blush is right and this was great.
I finally decided to comment because today I was messing around with my makeup and found an old tube of black lipstick (from Hot Topic and my middle school “goth” faze). Applying it, I actually liked the way it looked on my lips – they’re fairly full. It looked out of place with just the dark lipstick, so I applied some really heavy black eyeliner. To my surprise, it didn’t look bad. Sure, compared to my very pale skin it looked quite avant-garde, but I thought it looked good with my hair and brought out my eye color.
Anyways, the whole point of this was, I would really like to emulate this effect without looking like a wannabe YSL model. I mean, I think my nose even looked slimmer! So what colors can give me the same look for evening, or even everyday? My lips felt a little bit like Betty Boop – should I try deep plum or red? Thanks so much.
Ashley,
We’re getting too nitty gritty now. There are shades upon shades or rust and pine green. As hard as it is to believe that skin could react so strongly to such slight degrees of change, there is no doubt when you see it happening. I KNOW you would see it instantly because you’re so finely tuned to this already.
My feeling about wearing green only extends to face makeup, ay? I’m sure you knew that, but I thought I’d be sure. If the green isn’t perceived as green by the viewer, then it can be great – as a way to get the intensity of black but soften it a bit, like Clinique’s Egyptian eyeliner on a True Winter.
I get a more cool feeling from your appearance, but I learned long ago that guessing is one big booby-trap.
There is no True Winter that has to just stick to dark colours, IMO. The icy lights are incredibly clearing to that skin. “Jewel tones” could be any Winter, but mostly True and Bright.
Hi, Sally,
I’m trying to picture the look you’re after. If it’s just evening colours and you are a Dark Winter, then red-violet or red-plum may be better than pure red.
If you’re looking for a substantial colour deposit, you might try NARS blush in Crazed (or is it too Bright Winter Raspberry), shown in this article
http://karlasugar.blogspot.com/2009/01/nars-blush-recap.html
and look at Estee Lauder DoubleWear lipstick in Plumberry.
“We’re getting too nitty gritty now. There are shades upon shades or rust and pine green. As hard as it is to believe that skin could react so strongly to such slight degrees of change, there is no doubt when you see it happening. I KNOW you would see it instantly because you’re so finely tuned to this already.”
Ah, OK then.
“My feeling about wearing green only extends to face makeup, ay? I’m sure you knew that, but I thought I’d be sure. If the green isn’t perceived as green by the viewer, then it can be great – as a way to get the intensity of black but soften it a bit, like Clinique’s Egyptian eyeliner on a True Winter.”
Yeah, I noticed after posting that my intended meaning probably wasn’t clear enough; I meant that you weren’t fond of it in makeup. Sorry about that.
(I’ll address the rest later)
Sorry, the message started acting weird self sent itself while I was typing.
She has soft dark ash brown hair, ice-rose skin, so fair you can see the veins (blue veins), and very dark but bright amber eyes.
Thanks,
Rebecca
Rebecca,
Oh my gosh, I have no idea. For me, it’s all about the skin and its performance when subjected to specific colours. Hair colour, eye colour, not info I use. Lora at http://www.prettyyourworld.com will do it for you from a photo, though (cost about $80, but lots of photos on her site).
“I get a more cool feeling from your appearance, but I learned long ago that guessing is one big booby-trap.”
I probably am. I’m actually one of those Winters that you talked about on your Facebook page, the ones who think they’re yellow. I’m 22, and only last year did I realize that my skin actually is green-toned (it’s very, very evident in my neck, not sure how I missed it). It probably didn’t help, though, that I spent my teenage years in red or light-to-medium brown hair. Looking back… ugh. My hair still isn’t back the way it was yet (I don’t think I can get rid of the red tone, short of potentially bleaching the curls out of my hair again), but at least it’s dark brown now.
I’ve had some trouble with True Winter makeup in the past, but I think that’s had more to do with wearing the wrong depth for my skin (shadow potentially too light, lipstick too dark). I’m still trying to adjust it. Would I still want to wear icy pink and grey, or should I go a bit darker?
“There is no True Winter that has to just stick to dark colours, IMO. The icy lights are incredibly clearing to that skin. “Jewel tones” could be any Winter, but mostly True and Bright.”
OK. I should probably start looking for some icy colored shirts.
Ashley,
the True Winter colours that Christine has posted on FB when she explains about the 3 winters, are really gorgeous, beautiful colours, and I can see you wearing them very well.
Hi again!
When you say that Deep Winter can pull off bright, bold makeup colors (I’m thinking lipstick, here) is this mainly due to issues like contrast/depth of their coloring?
What about women who claim to “need” bold colors, due to being extremely pale complexioned or to possessing a low contrast between their hair and skin color?
I guess I’m wondering, more specifically, if this category of women–perhaps summers of some kind–are incorrect in assuming that the best solution to this tendency of looking “washed out” is always a deep, bright, rich colored lip?
Thanks for your thoughts!!
Best,
Andrea
I had a bit of an epiphany last night. I went to a meeting wearing a very tom-boyish ribbed knit black and white sports shirt. The shirt was black and the arms and shoulders were white. Almost everyone told me how “feminine” and elegant I looked. Then one told me I looked more feminine in this than the “boyish” shirts I wore before–which were VERY feminine and ruffled AUTUMN toned silks. This was an eye opener because i realized that they did not even SEE the sporty shirt i wore last night. They only saw the flattering colors. AMAZING!
By the way: I know you’ve been seeking a mulberry lip to go with the MAC blush. Have you tried Laura Mercier’s Mulberry Lip Stain? I don’t know what the exact shade looks like, (or how mulberry it truly is) but the name, at least, is promising!
Andrea
Hi, love your posts Christine!
I ‘had my colours done’ several years ago and was told I was an Autumn, leaning towards the deeper end of the scale. However, my interest in colour theory has led me to the same conclusion as you – that without draping someone, and seeing them in different colours, you really cannot tell (unless you have a really excellent eye for colour) what season they are, regardless of their hair or eye colour. My aunt has deep Mediterranean skintone, bright blue-grey eyes and very dark hair, yet she is a clear (bright) spring, not a winter. Another woman I know has bright red hair, emerald green eyes and olive skin, and she is a clear (bright) winter, no question. A good friend of mine would appear to be a classic winter, with pale skin, dark ash hair and brown eyes, yet the palette which suits her best is cool summer. Winter colours simply overpower her delicate complexion rather than enhance it. Lucky for her she has an amazing eye for colour and has always known what suits her best!
My mother, two sisters and I are all winters, with variations in our colouring. My mother has salt and pepper hair (which was once deep auburn-brown), grey eyes and pale skin which has got a little sallow as she’s got older. She can wear the cool winter colours and really looks stunning in the true winter colours like emerald green, real scarlet and hot pink. My one sister has very dark hair with no red tones (but she was blonde as a child and still had golden tones in her teens, only going very dark in her twenties), pale golden-olive skin and bright hazel eyes, and she is definitely a deep winter – she can carry off the deep brown, rust and deep green of a deep autumn, as well as her ‘uniform’ of black and white, almost all shades of red but especially brilliant scarlet, royal purple, hot pink and charcoal grey. My other sister has milk-white skin (with freckles), green hazel eyes and medium brown hair which gets a reddish tinge in the sun (which she hates). She just misses being a clear (bright) spring: the clear winter colours are just that bit better, especially the icy greys, white, black, icy aqua, icy pink, lemon yellow and the bright and true shades of green and blue, including emerald.
As for me, despite being analysed as a deep autumn, I don’t think I’m even ‘deep’. My skintone is very pale true olive – that sort of tone which looks colourless or grey-green without a tan, and I’m very pale. People always think I’m dark-skinned because of the tone, but I need a very pale rose-beige foundation (Clinique Soft Bisque is what I wear at the moment and that is the best match I’ve found). My hair is naturally very dark brown with an auburn cast – it often looks almost black in photographs though. My eyes are really odd as they are deep olive with a navy-grey rim around the iris, and have very blue-white whites. Most people assume my eyes are brown because they are so dark but look closely and they’re a solid true olive colour. I began experimenting with different colours a few months ago, taking photographs of myself on my phone as I find it easier to ‘see’ what a colour does to my skin in a photograph than in a mirror. I was amazed by what I saw, as in the deep autumn colours I’d worn for years the contrast between my skin, hair and eyes appeared low, and I had to admit that I looked a bit – bland. In winter colours however, the contrast in my colouring really shows, the yellow-green tinge to my skin disappears and my eyes look very clear and bright. After much research, I realised that any colour which is too dark or murky drains me, so deep winter is out. Dark brown especially makes me look very sallow, whereas my deep winter sister looks great in dark chocolate brown. My best colours appear to be the clearest winter colours, but SLIGHTLY softened. I can’t wear pillar-box red as my mother and deep winter sister can, but a slightly softer true red or blue-red is fine. I can’t wear very intense emerald green or royal blue but take the shade down a notch in intensity and it’s fine. I can wear hot pinks, rose pinks, magenta and fuschia, icy pink, and icy greys. I can wear reds from watermelon to berry red, but any darker or bluer and I look washed out – burgundy is not for me. I can wear emerald-turquoise but not true hot turquoise, and I can wear true blue and denim blue shades but not the brightest royal blue. Navy is best when it’s slightly soft and greyed or bright and clear, not too dark. Greens must be clear and blue-green and not too dark – teal is about as dark as I can go, but it must be cool, not a warm teal. My best green is a bright blue-green, or apple-green. Purple is hard to wear if you have olive or sallow skin as it tends to bring out the yellow and green tones. My deep winter sister looks great in royal purple, but I don’t. Elderberry and plum are okay although a bit dark – fuschia purple and magenta are really good though. It’s really hard to explain because some colours look fine, and then other colours just make me pop. I can wear the darker winter colours but they just don’t look as good as the brights. My eyes lose their sparkle, my skin looks muddier, I look fuzzier and less sharp around the edges somehow. I would say that despite my apparent ‘deep’ colouring, I need clarity rather than depth in my colours. I am not certain whether I’m a clear winter or even a cool winter. I find it hard to tell the difference to be honest! A deep winter is easy as there’s more warmth and depth to many of the colours, but the difference between cool and clear winter colours is less clear to me. I get the impression from what you have written that the cool winter palette is the closest to the original (or true) winter palette – so I guess I am correct in saying that my mum is a cool winter, able to wear the brightest true scarlet and emerald green as well as the truly cool colours of the winter palette. In which case, I am not a cool winter, so I must be a clear winter! I seem to remember in another post you wrote about clear colours, and wrote that there is a fine line between the two clear seasons, one leaning slightly towards a warmer palette, the other to a cooler palette, which again would suggest that my palette is clear winter.
My brother, who has dark ash-brown hair now peppered with silver and very dark brown eyes, and a very similar skintone to mine (olive in tone but even more deathly pale and delicate), I’ve found impossible to colour analyse. He doesn’t have the contrast or brightness in his colouring to be a winter, but is way too cool to be an autumn. He seems to be a summer! I’m guessing he would be a soft summer as that’s closest to autumn. His best colours are cool but muted, and he can wear cool brown very well, as well as burgundy and plum shades, navy, grey and powder blues, but he also suits a neutral khaki-green colour. He does not suit the bright winter colours at all, they make him disappear. It’s interesting as our father was DEFINITELY a deep autumn, with black hair, deep olive skin and deep brown eyes, and mum is a cool winter, so we all have the genes for deep, warm or cool colouring, yet we all have different colouring and suit different colours best. My brother has the mutedness of autumn mixed with a very cool complexion.
Anyway…..I have rambled on and on! I just find it so fascinating, and I think that there is a lot of incorrect information out there which confuses people, and even colour analysts can get it wrong. A friend had her colours done years ago and was told she was a summer – she isn’t. She’s a soft autumn, no question. I know soft summer and soft autumn are very similar, but having seen how great she looked in a soft lime coloured cardi as opposed to a pale sugar-pink sweater, she’s autumn, no way a summer.
Kate X
Hi Kate
Have you considered that you may be a “wintry” true summer (cool summer)?
You mention that your cool colors need to be slightly softened of grayed…
I am a cool/true summer with cool porcelain skin, mid-brown hair and grey-green eyes, who for years though I was a winter, but most winter colors are too harsh for me. I wear the deeper jewel tones of the true summer pallete, blues ( except hot turquoise or royal blue),blue grays and rose pink best .
Hi Jane,
yes, I have thought that!
When I started experimenting with more colours I thought a lot of the deeper and brighter summer colours suited me but just needed a bit more oomph than the classic summer palette. And I really can’t do sugar-pink!
I am still experimenting! As I have some warm elements in my colouring it can detract from really ‘seeing’ what a colour does for my skin tone. I must admit that I do look like a classic ‘deep’, but I know that the deepest and darkest colours of the ‘deep’ palettes make me look washed out or accentuate the dark circles under my eyes.
Thank you for your advice!
Kate
Please help me! I have golden cooper/olive green/brown colored eyes naturally med to dark brownish hair with natural redish/dark golden blond highlight to it (not much though) and i have sallow looking skin (no pinky tone to it) i look sort of washed out but when i tan i turn bronze and when i do tan even though it takes a long time i usually do not burn but i can also be VERY pale (my friends feel that deep bright jewel tones look best on me and that burgundy is the best color on me
help me please i cant figure out if i’m a winter or autumn
thank you
Hi, Liya,
I’d love to help, but I can only do color analysis in person. I do not even do it from photos, let alone verbal descriptions. Nobody alive can do it from a verbal description, I daresay.
2 things that might help
- there is more, and more accurate, color information at 12blueprints.com ; if you hover the cursor over More Topics For The 12 Seasons, you’ll see a menu drop down with Winter, Autumn, etc,. These will take you to more articles.
- Lora at http://www.prettyyourworld.com will do a great analysis from a photo