A virtual colour analysis – what do you think?

Hello Joyce! Joyce is from Canada and we met through this blog. Joyce does a lot of sewing including covering her own sofa! She paints and sculpts. She has two daughters, a grandson and another one on the way. And she is learning to play the piano!

Joyce mentioned that she is somewhat confused about what colours suit her best. In the past she had a ColorMeBeautful analysis where they said she was a “Winter” and suggested she wear the jewel colours (ruby, emerald, garnet, sapphire) with black as her neutral. Joyce says she is getting bored of black and in particularly asked which neutrals are best on her.

Let me briefly explain the CMB seasons approach, as I understand it. It groups three directions together so that someone who is a “Winter” would have Deep-Cool-Bright colouring and would suit colours that were all three of these. Looking at Joyce now in this photograph I can’t agree with that view.  Let’s try a virtual colour analysis of Joyce using our dichotomous colour directions approach. Firstly is she Deep or Light? This question means are the colours which flatter her saturated – do they have a lot of pigment in them, or are they “watered down”?

Even allowing for the fact that Joyce colours her hair I think it is fairly clear that the deeper palette is more flattering on her. These are perhaps the jewel colours that have been proposed before. They look good, and considerably better than light colours.

Now let us consider if Joyce’s colouring is cooler or warmer. Cooler colours have the sea in them (blue undertones) whereas warmer colours include the sun (yellow undertones).

Again I think you can see how the cool colours are much more flattering to Joyce. The warm colours don’t look very good at all.

The third part of our analysis is to consider whether brighter or more muted colours bring out the best in Joyce’s natural colouring.

And this is where I part company with Joyce’s previous analysis. I find the Bright colours unpleasant and overpowering against Joyce’s delicate complexion. So, in my view, Muted colours are far better for her.

At the end of the day we have three possible winners here. But which is the best?

In my opinion the Muted palette is the best of the three for Joyce  – precisely the one that was omitted in her previous analysis. While I agree that deep and cool direction are also present in Joyce’s complexion and eyes I don’t support the Winter colouring , wear “jewel shades with black” suggestion. I think Joyce would look better if she wore softer, muted shades (colours with a little grey in them), but chose also from deeper versions of muted as I believe her secondary direction is deep. Deep greys and grey blues would flatter her colouring a lot better than black (which I would avoid) – so these would be the neutrals I would choose for Joyce.

I would think Joyce would look most lovely in the deeper, softer blues and purples, she would also look nice in taupe and strong teal shades, deeper khaki, and most shades of grey. With reds I think ox blood would really flatter Joyce but also the dusty pinks. Lighter muted colours are fine too, although I think they need to be worn with deep shades. it In terms of white – I think she should chose an oyster white rather than creams or brilliant white, and wear silver jewellery rather than gold. If Joyce is prepared to send a photograph of herself wearing muted shades we can offer some more feedback. If you don’t have muted clothes in your wardrobe Joyce a cheap T shirt would work fine (before you splash out or spend time making new clothes) or put on an outfit in a shop and take a photograph in the changing room! I would suggest a slightly purpley lipstick such as Plumful by MAC.( It looks deep in tube, but it is pretty sheer on). Over time, if she wants, Joyce could let a little natural grey come through in her hair which would provide more softness near her face and I think it would lighten her look in an attractive way.

Disclaimer. The correct way to analyse someone’s personal colour direction is to do it in the flesh, with natural light using real textile, precision dyed  fabric swatches.  I don’t wish to disrespect other colour analysts who may take a different view and I would welcome feedback from others on the advice I have, tentatively, given here.