Colour Analysis : A Journey NOT a Destination

You’ve had your colours done. 

You’ve sat in bright, natural daylight with a white cape, possibly a matching turban if you’re colouring your hair, no foundation or concealer to even out your skin tone, to hide the rosy cheeks or those fine red lines around your nose. 

She has looked into your eyes with a little light up magnifying glass to see the subtle nuances and flecks of colour in them. She’s asked you questions about how you tan, what colour your hair was when you were little. She’s even looked at your veins on the back of your wrist. 

You’ve had hundreds of pieces of coloured fabric draped across your chest as the consultant looks intently at what happens to your eyes and your skin each time she transfers one colour to the next. 

She decides whether you have warm or cool undertones to your skin. She assesses your levels of colour and tonal contrast and she will then declare which ‘season’ you fall into. And this is where many colour analysis consultations stop. You are presented with a pre-made swatch* and sent on your way. These are your colours to wear. They suit you and that’s that... 

*Swatch – a little wallet of small pieces of fabric in a selection of colours that suit you. 

So, this is where it ends with many colour analysis assessments, but it is just the start when you have session with me. 

I use the seasonal colour analysis system as a starting point to create a custom-made swatch for you. You’ll have 32 colours that really suit you to use as a guide when shopping. This personalised swatch includes a selection of 8-12 WOW colours, the ones that really do make your face and eyes light up. You can see these results for yourself because I actually give you the mirror to look. For many people this is the tipping point – this shit works! Sometimes it even looks like I’ve changed the lighting. It’s amazing to see how a colour can make so much difference to how your eyes and skin look. It’s like magic! 

We then go through a process of elimination to whittle down the colours to create your bespoke swatch. I put stars or dots on your best WOW colours, and we discuss how to best use it when shopping. For some people ‘seeing’ their colours is easy, their eye gets trained quite quickly, for others it takes longer. This is why I offer selfie support as a backup service for as long as you need it. You can send me selfies while out shopping or screenshots and links of things you are considering buying for advice on the colours and whether or not its right for you. 

I’ll hold your hand for as long as you need it. This is specialist stuff and it’s ok not to get it straight away or even ever. Women as a rule see more subtle nuances in colour than men, that’s not me dissing men it’s a scientific fact. So, depending on how your brain works will decide on whether you see light pink and dark pink or powder pink, rose pink, fuchsia, magenta, raspberry, mauve etc. 

I have worked with colour for longer than I care to remember, and my eye is finely tuned. It’s my area of specialism and I truly understand what combination of colour ingredients go into the mix to make the subtle tints, tones and shades. In my days as a professional designer we would have to mix colours to Pantone reference accuracy by eye with gouache paint, adding a pin prick at a time to get it just right. 

I get asked a lot if your colours change as you get older, especially if people want to stop colouring their hair and embrace the grey, especially through the transition stage. This is why I say colour analysis is a journey not a final destination. It’s probably pertinent to have your colours reassessed every 5-10 years as we lose pigment with age and what suited us when we were younger might have changed. If you’re dyeing your hair back to your ‘natural colour’ from when you were younger there’s a god chance, it’s not so flattering these days. You see those old ladies with black hair, it looks a bit like a badly fitting wig? Ok, so your dark brunette might not look quite so bad, but you don’t want your hair wearing you. 

You can see in the photos of me with different hair colour over the years, my hair now has gone from dark to medium dark.  

You might be thinking that I’ve gone a lot lighter therefore WOW colours are going to be different. However, if you look at the same photos but in Black and white you can see that there isn’t that much of a difference in the bottom two. My colour contrast levels have changed but my tonal contrast levels have not changed that much. I can still wear my WOWS for now. 

As we lose pigment in our hair, skin and eyes our contrast levels change. This can happen as we go grey underneath the hair dye and when the upkeep is getting tiresome and it’s just not holding the colour anymore - it might be time to reassess. Menopause can affect our skin tone too, it might not be as vibrant as it once was, and this can affect our contrast levels. That deep, rich hair colour may start to seem harsh and you might need to wear more make up to balance things out. If the colours you once loved seem to be wearing you it can also indicate time for reassessment. 

It can be as simple as wearing a neutral with your favourite bright colour. It might be that you just need softer versions of your WOW colours as you lose clarity in your natural colouring. This is not about needing a new palette of colours completely though. It’s just about fine tuning and reassessing what is right for you now. This can be relevant also if you’ve had a major change of hair colour using a bottle rather than letting nature take it course. You may have gone form natural brunette to vibrant, foxy red and suddenly those muted, deep WOW colours no longer have that WOW factor. Time to reassess and look at those more vibrant colours in your swatch. 

In summary – don’t think that your WOW colours will be so forever. Your general analysis will remain, but those WOW colours may change over time and can definitely be affected by age and changes in hair colour.

To book a colour analysis with me click here for more details