The secret to anti-aging is a mositurzer with sunscreen 365 days a year.

Just to let you know I moved the discussion to the Soft Summer thread.

http://www.agreenertea.com/makeup-model-soft-summer/#comment-1911

I am the one who should thank you for indulging my opinionating to no end, but it is so much fun…

Sorry, I meant Clear Winter (Spring eyes) above, not Clear Spring (Spring eyes).

I am going to think about the Soft Summer/Cool Summer dilemma, it is interesting and I love a challenge! Honestly, I think these are really the only two options I would consider for you.

Talk to you soon!

Oh, how I love to read your thoughts on color and how it is all connected!
I see what you’re thinking when comparing the bordering seasons. When you say that some people often have an eye color that belongs in their neighboring season, that would explain my dilemma. I have cool skin (proof: warm colors make me green and/or yellow), but my eyes are really warm (Autumn + Winter according to Christine when analyzing the pattern, not the color + Spring). Soft Summer may very well be it after all. In a post a while back we discussed fragrances and which season wear what, and according to Carole Jackson’s list of fragrances in her makeup book, I have most of my favorites in the Summer list (Rive Gauche, Chanel no. 19 and a few others) and a few in the Autumn list (Cabochard, Gucci III, Coco). It does seem to fit the pattern.
My only concern is that the Soft Summer palette in the Color Me Confident book looks very pale. I can’t do the sage, the verbena and very pale rose browns and the grayish amethyst. It’s too dusty for me. The Summer colors in my original Color Me Beautiful book are much more saturated, cleaner in a way. I love the medium blue, the pastel and rose pinks, the watermelon, the dark rose browns etc. Does that mean I should look more to Cool Summer, or does that mean that the Color Me Confident palettes are not the best example of Soft Summer? I have no idea how they compare to the Sci/Art system, of course. One day when I’ve figured out my season I would like to buy a palette from Christine, but I would like to get the right one…
Cliniques Beauty lipstick is indeed a beautiful color! But on the days I need it the most (when my bloodpressure is low and my lips are deathly lilac) it tends to look a bit orange at times. The Violet Berry Christine suggested for Soft Summer is better those days, but I would have needed it to be a teeeeeeny bit less blue. A deep rose would probably be a great color for me, but most roses tend to be too light on my lips and that looks cheap and old lady-ish. Since my lips are so pale I need color, but not too dark. Ah, the fine line between good and bad.

I happen to believe all sorts of things are connected somehow. Our physical bodies produce chemicals that also determine our emotional and mental states. Our spiritual well-being can influence our physical health.

What is difficult to do, however, when looking at a particular issue, is to have all the different factors and facets present, it is just too many variables to consider simultaneously. I don’t think any one person or system ever sees the full picture. This is why I so appreciate different systems and different insights, and the people who have the passion, love and clarity to put it all together, because they show me yet another way to look at an issue.

Kristina, I am now thinking of the whys for the relationships between the seasonal palettes. A few thoughts:

- Clear Winter —>> Cool Summer (possibly the winter and summer types with greater contrast)
- Deep Winter —>> Soft Summer (both have a connection to autumn, and more brown than the other winters and summers)
- Cool Winter —>> Light Summer (perhaps a certain lightness or luminosity compared to the other winters and summers? not sure…)

- Warm Autumn —>> Light Spring (I looked in the CMC book and the models for WA/LS (and also for SA/WS) have a similar “vibe”, but I cannot put it in words yet)
- Deep Autumn —>> Clear Spring (same striking quality and a connection to winter, i.e., more blue in them than in the other autumns and springs)
- Soft Autumn —>> Warm Spring

From what I read, it is not uncommon for people to have eye color in a different season from their skin coloring, especially the “border” seasonal palettes, such as Soft Summer (Autumn eyes) or Clear Spring (Spring eyes).

Regarding your makeup, I would probably disregard the lighter shade recommendations. I have to do that often. The Clinique Beauty lipstick you mentioned before seems to be a very interesting color, sometimes coral, sometimes mauve. If you were to add a rose-brown and a gloss just to enhance your natural lip color, that could be all you need. Have you been able to find any brown and pale pink eye shadows that you like? I am now down to two (trust me, it didn’t start that way…), a wonderful neutral medium gray (Estee Lauder in Slate) and a shimmery champagne (Lancome Maquiriche in Honeymoon–an accidental find, and just my luck, it is now discontinued, and it looks different from the Color Design Honeymoon).

Thank you so much for this!!! One thing is absolutely clear to me from reading your post: they should label the Water category the “Kristina type”! LOL. It’s me all the way, it’s almost scary. I hate anything that restricts me and I cannot stand sturdy fabrics like heavy denim. I always thought I was the only one… Coloring-wise and body shape-wise it’s spot on also. Wow, this is amazing. Thank you so much, dear fellow Water-person. Off to read the web page now.

If you look on the left of the homepage for fashion feng shui, you will see a section with menu of stuff which is useful, including a quiz. In essence there isn’t much as they want you to buy the book. Also download the free stuff, the audio interview lasts an hour but is worth listerning to as it explains everything in the book really. To give a brief idea though-

Water is the Philosopher. A deeply sensitive person who feels a lot, needs a lot of time by themselves and thinks deeply. Tends to be into self development and personal growth, hates being restricted or held back from dreaming, reality is a bit hard for them, and usually dark colouring, hair, eyes and sometimes skin. Body tends to be quite pearshaped, rounded anyway. They like clothes to be flexible, unrestricted and dark, favour knitted dresses, non restricting fabrics like jersey and slouchy boots and lots of suede, which is soft and flexible again.

Wood is the Pioneer. A very active sort, always on the go, often sporty and quite casual in dress. Health conscious, vital, loves new ideas and highly self motivated, active and can be competative even, loves trying new things. Usually has ash hair, blonde to brown, cool colouring with blue or green eyes, quite natual looking, fresh faced and healthy. Body tends to be quite straight and strong looking, wiry or willowy. Drawn to greens and blues and natural colours, jeans, linens, cottons, stripes, things with hoods and zippers, sportswear, sneakers, straw totes. Things that allow for easy movement, but more casual and sporty than the first group.

Fire is the Pleasure Seeker. Usually have warmish colouring, red or red brown or red blonde or just warm highlights or ruddy skin. Fun loving, extravert, talkative, sexy, charismatic and flamboyant. They will be found in nightclubs, in yahts on the med and trendy spots or would like to be. Usually top heavy in shapes these are the people who like ocelot and all animal skin patterns, the latest designer handbag, bold designs and patterns, very high heels, feather trims, satin, red and more red, bright colours and lots of bling.

Earth is the Peacemaker. They are usually very loyal, very conscientious, quite conservative and tradtional in tastes. Golden brown, earthy looking colouring, brown or gold brown eyes, pale to almost dark. Tend to have shorter, rounded bodies. Go for structure in garments, classic designs, dependable accessories, neutral or safe colours. Don’t like anything too modern or flimsy looking like chiffon. Like tweed, wools, beads, plaids, court shoes, classic watches.

Metal is the Perfectionist. They are the modern chic type in dress, a dread of flashy, always in good taste but up to date. Usually pale colouring, elegant and refined, well organised, cultured. Into art and culture, modern gastro food and the latest art novel and film, mainstream tastes, never avant garde, but will get to something by the time its approved as acceptable to good taste. Tends to the modern end of the last group, would hate to wear anything old fashioned or look conservative but is careful not to look too bling, which they have a fear of. Neat hourglass figure usually, modern neutral colours, ie black or chocolate or beige or whatever is seen as the latest neutral safe bet to wear. Well cut clothes, very simple lines, no extra details, a good but non flashy watch or good looking one anyway, tweaks with the latest accessories, but always very tasteful looking. Expensive looking highlights or hair colour, will look expensive even if not.

Can people recognise themselves here? This is of course a very brief description of each group, but somehow all my friends fall into one or another, so it seems to work.

Just had a thought, has anyone else out there seen a copy of “Fashion Feng Shui” by Evana Maggiore (who is also a CMB consultant)? You can only get it via her American website, but she posts to anywhere in the world. Her website address is http://www.fashionfengshui.com. This system is based only slightly on personal colouring, its more about how you feel in clothes and the type of personality you are. I keep meaning to ask Christine if she knows of it, but the e-mails bounce back for some reason. People are grouped into elements, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal and so apparently have natural tendancies to wear certain colours and textures, etc according to personality, and personality according to this theory tends towards certain colourings in the person quite naturally. Maybe this is coming at Christine’ s thoughts about colour type and personality being linked, from another direction, and not so daft as it sounds then? Aganist all sense, it seems to work for me, as I fall into the Water group with colouring and personality and am quite naturally drawn towards the type of clothes and colours for this group. The focus is not so much the nitty gritty of personal colouring but how you feel is what matters most. I like it for this reason, as I would personally find it difficult to wear something I didn’t feel was right, even if told the cololur was perfect, which I suspect is the same for most people. It shouldn’t work as a theory perhaps, but somehow it does. It put me in the same clothes as the Creative group the CMB perscribed, so can’t be far wrong. I would say its quite an intuitive approach so if you’re quite close to your own feelings and very perceptive, this might work for you. If you want hard facts and a definate description of exact colours to wear, etc, this is probably not for you.

Also “Colour Revival” which Christine has discussed on this site is fantastic, although the exact opposite, about the nuances of how to decide which season you’re in. I love this book, as it shows examples with photos of real people who are hard to diagnose. The only thing I didn’t like about it is its one of these new print on demand type books (you can get via Amazon) and the paper feels quite cheap, but I suppoe you can’t have everything.

Also CMB have a new version of their book (Published yesterday) on Amazon, called “Change your Looks, Change your Life” or something very close, sorry can’t remember exactly. I am going to send for it for a present for someone, so will see how it differs from the old version first before I buy for myself!

Regarding the colors (and I still think you are a Soft Summer by the way , I was thinking about this sometime ago, not only your case, the winter (deep, presumably?)/soft summer uncertainty, then someone else also mentioned an uncertainty of sorts between deep autumn and clear spring (I used to have a strong “attraction” to clear spring when I “was” a deep autumn), and currently as an unofficial clear winter, I feel an affinity with cool summer, even though I know it is far too cool for me.

My thinking was, considering the CMB pairings according to temperature (cool or warm), chroma (clear or soft), and depth (deep or light) — and I’m hoping I’m getting the terms right here, what rearrangement of those pairings could account for the uncertainties above?

The conclusion I came to is that those pairings represent movement between seasonal palettes of the same temperature, where hue is very similar, but chroma and depth are different, so going from one to the other would represent remaining a “cool” or a “warm”, while becoming lighter (or darker) and more muted (or clearer):

- Clear Winter —>> Cool Summer
- Deep Winter —>> Soft Summer
- Cool Winter —>> Light Summer

- Warm Autumn —>> Light Spring
- Deep Autumn —>> Clear Spring
- Soft Autumn —>> Warm Spring

Kristina, regarding your makeup, I think you are already there or very close. I remember your description of candy blush and beauty lipstick–it seemed to have the wow factor we all look for, i.e., perfect harmony with your own colors.

I still don’t understand the concept fully, though. I’m hoping to understand it better after I speak to Irenee, but it makes sense to me intuitively.

While I learned enormously from Riter’s writings, some of it is too clothing-line oriented for me. I don’t relate to it on myself. Everyone has to put their own spin on all this advice. Matching big colour blocks to hair colour absolutely is effective, but beyond that to the size of the contrast blocks is not my area of expertise. There seems to be too much variability in body size and proportions to apply 1 rule to the exclusion of all others.

The color thing: can get tricky. I am currently reading Kathryn Kalisz’s (SCI\Art) and Irenee Riter’s books. Really interesting if you are obsessed with color as I am. Irenee also has a book on clothing lines, and how that relates to the different seasons, that makes a lot of sense to me. I will be talking to her soon, and one of the questions I have is about proportions. I am finding that certain ways of wearing my colors don’t work at all, and other ways, with the same colors, do. That has to do with my own proportions (I cannot do one color for a top and a contrasting color for a skirt, for example, I look like I’ve been cut in half, but I can do a solid base–dress or skirt and top, preferably in one or two of my darkest clear winter colors to repeat my hair color depth, with a contrasting cardigan or a contrasting scarf.). This got me a bit confused and overwhelmed by some of my new colors. Irenee has a page on her site on how black and white contrast should be worn differently depending on hair color/depth (i.e., what the relative amount of black and white should be). I think this is also something similar to what I experience mixing my brights with my neutrals and dark colors.

Christine, have you found this to be the case in your experience?

Kristina, I hope you’ll have a chance to do your draping in the near future. I will probably be doing the SCI\Art system as soon as an opportunity presents itself, although I already have the color book–so pretty… (and so my minimalist stance goes out the window . This is what I have been thinking about though: if I missed seeing my true colors for so many years, what else have I missed about myself that I would like to bring forth in this stage of my life? This is really what I’m after while I look at the colors God created…

Christine, one more thing that is beautiful: for a person to have the courage to pursue their passion and start their own business in their 40′s.

I agree so much about the simplicity. For me, skin care is preventative medicine. I have a more complex ritual, hoping the pay-off will be big in 20 years. Where I really hear you is with makeup. To FINALLY walk past makeup counters and know there’s nothing there I need. I used to have so much of the same product, because of course, none of them was right. When you have the right red, what do you need 4 more for? It’s like a weight off my shoulders. I do not even get tempted, ever. So fabulous.

Fil,

Thanks for the vote of encouragement! Sometimes I wonder if I go too far. I have nothing against the advertisers, only admiration for how well they do their job. It is up to women to get informed and make good choices, not up to THEM to do anything but present their product in the best light. We need to get tough, but in making my point, I hope that I never am insulting.

How’s the color adventure going?

Simplicity… Music to my ears. More and more so, I want to simplify and realize the beauty of having just enough. I have succumbed in the past to the “never enough” mentality, only to find out it was truly less as the saying goes. Easy to get into a rut of wearing the same all the time because it is too much trouble to take in all that one has. Same with makeup– although I never “collected” makeup, these days I am more strict with myself, and try to stick with just a few brands to keep my head from being in a constant spin. The result is that everything gets to be used or worn.

It seems many of us commenting on this blog are part of the over 40 set–we seem to be wanting our freedom back, to get back to our selves, to move away from the things that keep failing to deliver on may levels, and to find more meaning in our lives, and yes, to look pretty and lovely and beautiful doing it too, as defined by ourselves.

Christine, stay on your soapbox. We love it here!