RSSMakeup Model : Warm Spring
June 5, 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.
We can’t shop for clothes without wondering “Is this my color?” At the makeup counter, we’re at the mercy of the taste of the salesperson or we just stick to the safe rut we’re in, resulting in 5 of the same shade of lip color rattling around the bottom of our purse. Not only are we not objective about ourselves in any way, but we don’t know what to look for.
The truth is that nobody knows their innate colors. Nobody. Famous and rich people get it wrong all the time. Until they’ve been analyzed, nobody knows their colors. Personal color analysts (PCAs) can’t guess their own seasons till they get draped or see themselves in many different colors (often many shades of the same color, red being particularly telling).
How controlled the lighting and background have to be depends on the analyst, as does the importance of hair and eye color. As with anything, there are many ways of arriving at the answer. With anesthesia, it’s not so much which drug you’re using as how well you know that drug. There is no right or wrong, no best or worst. There is an analogy here in that it’s not so much which color system you choose as how well the PCA knows that system.
Women might say “I wear a lot of white and navy.” Whatever. Navy and white might be better in your kitchen than on your body. Nobody can experiment with sure success till they’ve been color coded. Nobody knows their undertones. They might know their overtones but that’s not really helpful for making buying decisions. So if you don’t know your colors, don’t feel bad. 99% of the world doesn’t either.
Climbing down off my soapbox. I’ve just been at the Clinique counter and I look at the money women put down. As you know, I like MAC and Clinique. They don’t have everything but the price is manageable, the color selection is 6.5 out of 10, the application is 7 out of 10 (Clinique) and 8.8 (MAC) and most women can find these lines.
“Warm Spring” is a Color Me Beautiful label which allows for a flowing of any given season towards another, in this case Spring towards Autumn. This season doesn’t exist in all the color systems. Nonetheless, the 3 Spring seasons’ colors in any system are warmed by yellow and are clear. When I chose the colors below, I was working with Sci\Art’s True Spring swatch book.
If you’re Warm Spring, you have noticeable gold, orange, copper, or strawberry tones in your hair but your skin is still warmed by yellow. You are too fair to move into the golder, hardier-looking skin of an Autumn. Think of Nicole Kidman (notice how dark her eyebrows always are? they are seldom bleached to match her hair; may be deeper coloring than Spring going on here). Delicate skin, almost fragile looking. It’s skin that looks like it’s trying to have freckles but often doesn’t because it’s just so fair.
Your colors are moving towards the browner tones of Autumn. Blush and lip colors are coral and apricot, so stronger than peach and with some brown in them but still bright and lively. Warm Spring can take a lot of color.
Lips: All Springs should know about MAC Lustreglass in Instant Gold to warm and reduce the strength of many lip colors, and add a light yellow-gold shimmer; MAC Prolongwear in Clingpeach if you like this type of product.
Clinique Lipsticks in Golden Brandy, Peach Pop, Poppy Love, and Ripe Raisin.
Blush: NARS Luster or Gilda; NARS makes fantastic blush but demands a light application to look normal. Estee Lauder Pink Kiss might work.
Bobbi Brown PotRouge in Calypso Coral.
Eyeliner: Clinique Roast Coffee.
MAC Industry might work as a slightly warmed grey. Clinique Slate is too sharply grey as is MAC Grey Utility.
Eyeshadow: Clinique Butter Pecan and Copper Canyon. In the singles, Champagne was good. In the creams, Sable Shimmer Touch Tint is nice but awfully shiny.
MAC Camel which they no longer make, darn them, it was a superb color … MAC, bring back Camel!!!!
Eye hilite : Paula’s Choice Cream or Chiffon.
Mascara : Black-Brown.
Bronzer: MAC Golden, a truly good product.
Comments
7 Responses to “Makeup Model : Warm Spring”
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I respectfully disagree with your thought that no one can tell you your season unless or until you are professionally draped. I want to first say that this is about the only thing I disagree with you on, Christine
For any of your readers I would like to clarify how this difference in thought came about but I feel very responsible for the split. Christine has talked about me a lot on her blog and I am grateful to her for that. But when we became email buddies and, like I said, agreed on nearly everything, she wanted me to tell her how I would analyze her from photos so she could write about it in her blog. She was adament that she was a Warm Autumn even before she sent me her pictures. At first I thought she might be a Deep Autumn (even sent her one of my eswatches) but she said she couldn’t imagine herself in those dark colors. Anyway, she sent me lots of photos of herself and while she was sort of a tough one, I agreed she was a Warm Autumn. Long story short, after her Sci/Art analysis, she found she was not a Warm Autumn, and at this time I forget which one she was determined to be (and the CMB equivalent name.)
I take full responsibility for not analyzing her more in depth. If I have ANY doubt at all about a person’s colors, I ask for more pictures and ask a ton of other questions. I didn’t do that for Christine because, and again, this was my fault not hers, that she was absolutely certain she was a Warm Autumn so any doubt I would have would have been eased by her having such good knowledge about color. We’ve emailed each other at least 500 times and we were in such agreement about nearly everything else I just didn’t put in the effort to really question her assessment about herself. Once Christine was found by another analyst to be a different season, she pretty much stopped believing that a person could be analyzed from photos and they can ONLY be accurately analyzed in person, being draped, etc. I feel bad about this split in our thinking but it is what it is and I respect her opinion and the experience she went through.
However, that said, I am confident that if good quality photos are submitted, my accuracy in analyzing someone’s colors are as good if not better than doing it in person. I’ve had so many people tell me they were “professionally” analyzed and the results were simply wrong!. And these people were draped and everything. So you need to take in to account the training the analyst has had (obviously there are people who are ‘certified’ analysts who just have no clue!) So being draped won’t help someone who doesn’t understand color in the first place.
After the Christine experience, I counted how many clients I’ve analyzed virtually and all but 3 I asked for additional photos to make my analysis. Sometimes it takes a photo from when they were a teenager or younger to see what their true coloring was/is. The 3 I didn’t need additional photos for sent a huge, high definition picture that simply showed me their true colors just as well as if they were standing right in front of me. I have no doubt I analyzed them correctly. In fact I will be showcasing them soon on my site as an example of how I actually analyze someone.
But anyway, back to my first statement: I do believe that all people can be analyzed from photos (with good quality pics of course) and this includes celebrities. Some are tougher than others to be sure, particularly when they change eyes, skin and hair color every other day. But there is no way that Kim Kardashian is anything other than a Deep Winter. And Ellen is anything other than a Light Spring. Draping them won’t reveal any big surprises. Lindsay Lohan is a Warm Autumn. You only need to watch “The Parent Trap” and see all of those freckles, green eyes and red hair to know that.
I’m not saying I’m perfect and will never make mistakes. I can get tripped up on someones color like anyone else. But it has nothing to do with whether I’m draping them or not. Its just because their colors are very tricky. Anyway, I’d like to thank you Christine for letting me post my comments. I’ve felt bad about our split in philosophy about draping vs. virtual analysis and it feels good to clear the air about this with your readers.
sincerely,
Lora Alexander
Color Analyst from http://www.PrettyYourWorld.com
Great reading, as always. I just wanted to say I can’t wait for your articles on the Clears (Clear Spring vs. Clear Winter). I love your way of analyzing color and color systems, and I find your unconventional approach to what some may call “fixed truths” in color analyzing to be very refreshing!
Lora!
You are an awesome woman to type all this and give us both a chance to clear anything. The comment suddenly appeared in the Spam folder when I was uploading a response. Digital weirdness.
As you’ve said, we’re still probably more on the same page than we (I) realize. The more philosophies go into building an idea, the stronger it will be. And yes, my bulldozer personality, that I don’t like very much at times (many times) took over on the Warm Autumn thing. I was completely wrong. I had no idea what effect I was looking for from the colours I wore.
So glad you’re as diplomatic as you are. I haven’t at all given up the hope of meeting in the food court in Fort Wayne (which I’ve calculated as the halfway point between my house and Lora’s). The other project is still a go in my head. I’m trying to find a blush for the Bright (Clear) Winter and Spring and True Winter to finish my Makeup Model articles before the end of June, and it is not easy. I figure that type of pink isn’t made because it wouldn’t sell well. Women would be intimidated by that colour unless they belonged to those seasons and actually applied the color. Women NEED us.
And men need us too. I’ve been looking at the Sports Announcers for the Stanley Cup playoffs. The money they must put down for those suits..and most of them look 20lbs heavier than they need to around the sides of their face.
Very best,
C.
This is for Lora,
I have looked at your site and really enjoyed it. I looked at all of the celebrity examples of seasons and I also looked at what I thought was my season. I don’t have the cash to do an analysis right now, but you are on my to do list. I live in a small town and there is no such thing as a color analyst, but I really want to have them done.
I am very pleased to have an alternative such as you offer. It may work better in person, I don’t know for sure, but it just isn’t possible for everyone. No offense, Christine. I am not trying to undermine your beliefs, I’m just saying that not everyone has the option of doing this in person.
I’ve enjoyed both of your sites plus a couple of others. Not so long ago there was nothing on the Internet that was very good (can you believe?). I pulled up both of your sites and was thrilled with them.
Now, Christine, I so appreciate your taking the time to check out cosmetics for us. I went straight out and bought Clinique’s “Copper Canyon” duo and it’s perfect!!!!! This may become an all-time favorite for me.
And for Lora– I’ve been analyzing myself for years without much help. I knew for a long time that something was not quite right with the original four seasons. I thought I was a Spring and everyone else thought I was a summer (?) or an Autumn (too deep). But the idea of “flowing” into Autumn wasn’t quite right either. The flow colors mostly seemed a bit strong.
Where did I read it–? Someone said that a good way to tell your true season is to look at childhood photos. Well, my photos show a strawberry blonde slowly darkening into a light golden brown that sometimes looked red in the sun and sometimes looked ash in certain lights. To totally throw me off, I found nothing about my eye color in the Autumn or the Warm Spring category initially. My eyes are sort of like reversible raincoats. They change colors from bright blue to hazel to olive green. When I was a child, they were nearly black.
Now I’ve got streaks of gray running through my hair (not like the bright redheads pictured) and it looks kind of like a dusty gold, having faded (though I could have been a redhead from a bottle and it would have looked okay). But I’ve left it alone for now–hate messy stuff and touchups.
But you, know….once I saw the warm spring colors and tried on the Clinique duo, it seems to pull the whole thing together. It’s still warm. When you get the right colors, they seem to be a natural part of you like your skin. I’ve never had that happen before. So thank you both. This has been great.
Hello, Kathryn,
I’m glad you found something useful here. One of the best things about makeup that works is that you’re released from the need to buy more makeup. Once I got my colours sorted, I haven’t bought makeup in months. That’s a whole new concept in my life.
Some people remain the same season all their lives. Others deepen with teenage/maturity between 14 and 18, and then cool and/or soften later, around the 50-60s. The 4 Season concept was a great beginning but not nearly enough.
I love your analogies. I always have enormous respect (and a little envy) for people who can use language in powerful and imaginative ways. Reversible raincoats is so good. The phrase “part of your skin” is right on. That is EXACTLY what right makeup looks like.