How do colours affect your look?
Colours bring your natural appearance to life and enhance your skin, eyes and hair. Right colours do not take over your look, they connect you and create harmony with your face.
Some colours make you look tired and washed out, emphasise shadows on your face and make your skin tone appear uneven while other colours make your skin looks healthy and glowing, your jawline looks narrower and lifted, your eyes look bright and sparkling, your hair look shiny and intense.
Right colours also reduce imperfections such as dark circles and lines under your eyes and bring a more bright and awake appearance, you may not need a lot of make-up.
Universal Colours
There are some colours and neutrals called “universal colours” . These colours have a medium undertone, value and intensity, so they may be appropriate for more people. The thing with universal colours is that they don’t look terrible on anyone, but they may not be your most flattering colours either! So, if you’re looking for a colour that won’t be bad for anyone, for a uniform, or bridesmaid dress or the like, then you can choose universal colours.
Universal colours are : charcoal brown/taupe, navy, watermelon red, jade green, turquoise, teal, cobalt blue, deep periwinkle, medium purple, warm pink, stone gray and soft white.
In this page you will find everything about colours:
- Colour Theory (components, combinations, seasons etc.)
- SEASONAL COLOURS
- HOW TO FIND YOUR SKIN UNDERTONE
- Primary (4 Season) Seasonal Colour Analysis
- Flow (12 season) Seasonal Colour analysis
Colour Theory
Before we begin to our in-dept colour analysis, we need to know the components of colour theory. The color wheel was invented in 1666 by Isaac Newton, who mapped the color spectrum onto a circle. The color wheel is the basis of color theory, because it shows the relationship between colors.
Primary colors are colors that can’t be mixed with other colors. There are three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue.
Secondary colors are colors that result from mixing two primary colors. There are three secondary colors: purple (red mixed with blue), orange (red mixed with yellow), and green (yellow mixed with blue).
Tertiary colors are colors made by combining a secondary color with a primary color. There are six tertiary colors : red-orange (vermillion), yellow-orange (amber) , yellow-green (chartreuse) , blue-green (teal) , blue-purple (violet) , and red-purple (magenta)
Hue, Shade, Tint and Tone
A hue is basically any color on the color wheel, the pure form of the colour.
A shade is created by adding black to a base hue, darkening the color. This creates a deeper, richer color.
A tint is created by adding white to a base hue, lightening the color. This can make a color lighter and less intense.
A tone is created by combining grey with a base hue. Like tints, tones are subtler versions of the original color. It defines the colour for being bright/clear or muted/soft/smoky.
Colour Combinations
COMPLEMENTARY
Two colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel. Provides a high contrast , therefore these colors will appear brighter and more prominent.
MONOCHROMATIC
Three shades, tones and tints of one base color. Provides a subtle and conservative color combination and creates a harmonious look.
ANALOGOUS
Three colors that are side by side on the color wheel. Better to use one dominant color and use the others as accent colors in order to balance the look.
TRIADIC
Three colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel. This provides a high contrast color scheme and creates bold, vibrant look.
TETRADIC
Four colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel. Better to use one dominant color and use the others as accent colors in order to balance the look, it has a bold and vibrant appearance.
Colour Analysis Components
1. Colour Temperature/Undertone
The color wheel can also be divided into warm and cool colors. The warmth or coolness of a color is also known as its color temperature. Warm colors are the colors from red through to yellow. Cool colors are the colors from blue to green and purple. For general ruler, YELLOW is the WARMEST colour while BLUE is the COLDEST.
This does not mean that every blue is cool or every yellow is warm. Every colour has different undertones can be cool or warm.
2. Luminance/Value/Contrast/Dept
It is the amount of brightness or light in a color. The scale is between light and dark/deep.
3.Saturation/Chroma/Clarity/Intensity/Tone
It is the intensity or purity of the color. The scale is between muted/soft and bright/clear.
Seasonal Colours
Seasional Color Analysis is the most widely used colour analysis. Seasonal colors are hues that mirror the shades seen in the four seasons of nature.
SPRING COLOUS are bright, warm and tinted (white added to the pure colour form),
SUMMER COLOURS are soft, muted and toned (grey added to the pure colour forms) ;
AUTUMN COLOURS are golden and earthy, has shades and tones (black and grey added to pure colour forms)
WINTER COLOURS are cool and icy, has shades and tints (white and black added to pure colour forms).
WINTER
SPRING
SUMMER
AUTUMN
Undertone & Overtone
The colour of your skin, hair and eyes are all the result of the combination of melanin (black, blue, brown) and carotene (yellow, orange, red) levels. Undertone refers to the underlying colour of your skin tone. It can be anywhere on the spectrum from cool (blue) through neutral (red) to warm (yellow). Skin overtone is the overlaying colour of your skin, it ranges from fair to deep.
Warm Undertones
Cool Undertones
Neutral Undertones
HOW TO FIND YOUR SKIN UNDERTONE
To understand your skin temperature, you can hold a white paper next to your face (in natural light):
if your skin appears gray, pink or blueish than you are COOL,
if it appears yellowish or peachy than you are WARM.
COOL
WARM
There is also “SILVER AGAINST GOLD” test while gold metal fits Warm skin complexion and silver fits Cool. (Warm skin clashes with silver, look greenish, because it has yellow undertones; Cool skin has the same effect when you bring gold near it, because it has blue undertones)
Primary (4 Season) Seasonal Colour Analysis
Seasonal Color Analysis consists of four, twelve or sixteen categories depending on which theory is used. Each category has its matching colour palette. Primary Seasonal Colour Analysis represents 4 seasons while Flow Seasonal Colour Analysis represents twelve or sixteen colour categories.
Primary Seasonal Colour Analysis represents 4 colour categories which are named after seasons:
Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.
This analysis focus on two dimensions:
1.Temperature /Undertone : WARM-yellow based or COOL-blue based
2.Value/Contrast : DARK/DEEP or LIGHT
These colour dimensions are used to represent two basic variables:
Undertone of your skin, hair and eyes (WARM/golden or COOL/ashy/blueish)
Your overall natural colouring (DARK or LIGHT)
WARM
Warm Skin Tones : yellow, golden, peachy, earthy undertones (may have green veins)
Warm Eye Colours : Brown, hazel, olive green, blue with yellowish rim around the pupil
Warm Natural Hair Colours : Brown (Light to dark golden tones), Blonde (golden or strawberry); red (ginger, copper, auburn)
COOL
Cool Skin Tones : blue, gray or pink undertones (may have blue veins)
Cool Eye Colours : Blue, grey, hazel, light brown
Cool Natural Hair Colours : Brown (light to dark ashy tones), Blonde (ash, sand), Black, Silver, Gray
NEUTRAL
Neutral Skin Tones : peachy pink and red undertones
Neutral undertones are balanced between yellow and blue and are the most versatile. If you have a neutral undertone, this means that your undertones are roughly the same color as your actual skin tone. There are three categories for Neutral: Full Neutral, Neutral-Warm and Neutral Cool.
PRIMARY SEASONS
There are four possible results according to this method:
If you have cool skin tone, you would be either Winter or Summer:
If your natural hair has darker tones, you would fall into WINTER colour palette,
If your hair has lighter tones, than you would have SUMMER colour palette.
If you have warm skin tone, you would be either Spring or Autumn.
If your natural hair has darker tones, you would fall into AUTUMN colour palette.
If your hair has lighter tones, than you would have SPRING colour palette.
COOL-DEEP-BRIGHT
Cool, Sophisticated, Dramatic, Striking, Brilliant
High Contrast between features
Bright and Clear qualities
Medium to deep hair colours
Blue based, bright, cool skin tones
COOL-MUTED-LIGHT
Soft, Elegant, Smoky, Harmonious, Refined
Low Contrast between features
Light and Smoky qualities
Light to medium ashy hair colours
Blue and pink based, soft, matte, cool skin tones
WARM-MUTED-DEEP
Approachable, Earthy, Woodsy, Rich, Authoritative, Strong Low to medium Contrast between features
Golden, Soft and Opaque qualities
Medium to deep hair colours
Golden based, matte, warm skin tones
WARM-BRIGHT-LIGHT
Glowing, Youthful, Fun, Radiant, Lively, Cheerful, Inviting
High Contrast between features
Light, Bright, Peachy, Fresh and Shiny qualities
Light to medium golden and strawberry hair colours
Yellow based, bright, translucent, warm skin tones