Hi, and welcome to another video! So many thanks to viewers who shared their questions about their Season and I look forward to making those videos. I hope you find some new ways to think about your Season, whatever it may be, in today's video. Enjoy watching!
My birthday is today and I’m a LSu. This was the perfect gift for my birthday! Thank you for the video. I gained so much information from it and I’m more confident with my shopping skills now.
I watched this video again and loved it even more the second time! That Red that you were asking about, I would call it watermelon red! I had a t-shirt in my closet that color that I loved, but I never wore it because I thought it was too bright for me. Since having my color analysis a few weeks ago, now I know it is most certainly in my palette and it’s one of my favorites now too!
I always enjoy your posts Christine. I would love a video on ways to put together interesting outfits for a Soft Summer. I am approaching my mid 50s and find it very difficult to find clothing let alone outfits that work for me. Thank you.
I imagine that many SSu would appreciate this video, thank you for the suggestion :) May I ask what you find difficult and easy? Is the challenge in choosing colours, wondering what looks good together, or adding interest to outfits? When outfits don't feel right, do they feel bland, dark, blended, repetitive? When you shop or look in your closet, what's happening or what thoughts cross your mind? If you could add a certain impression this week, what would it be? If you prefer to answer privately, please feel free to email (christine@12blueprints.com), although many SSu might have ideas to contribute.
Chiming in with a few of my SSu challenges: brights, structure, and patterns! I find that many of my outfits start off monochromatic and neutral. I have an urge to add a focal element or more visual interest to help something stand out, which often doesn’t work. When I swatch the brightest colors in my palette (especially cosmetics) they may look okay with the other colors, but next to my face they often look too bright, so I’m a bit afraid of them. I end up back at putty, charcoal, and oyster. Patterns are few. I prefer more structured styles which can look too hard in my palette. I find textures like suede and denim can help, but would love other ideas too.
I agree with you on the difficulty with deep color variations. I always have trouble comparing deep teal with indigo and have ended up with the wrong color garments as a result.
Yes, I find it helps to compare colours of similar darkness levels but it seems as though you're already there. It may also help to have a sample of the colours you do and don't want, whether in fabric or wallet-size palettes to have something to compare the colours with besides each other.
Impossible to say how much you have added to my color/texture knowledge with your incisive analysis and excellent imagery. It really helps train the eye. As a Soft 60+ Summer, I need a lot of direction in subtlety! Please keep making videos analyzing the best and worst choices of the Red Carpet events. Nothing could be more encouraging than knowing your humble $20 dress from Walmart is actually doing more for your looks than the lavish couture dresses and overblown styling of celebrities that misses the mark. Having the best of the best for comparison is so useful. Love those videos!
Thank you, I sincerely appreciate hearing that the videos have helped you. Thanks also for the comment regarding celebrity videos and that you find them encouraging. I wondered if they were serving the opposite purpose but you've shown me another way to look at them. My aim is to choose many more good choices than less harmonious choices and to explain my reasoning, and I used to look through the fashions for each event for those 80-20 outfits worked so well for the wearer. They were rare and I gradually stopped, but I'll pay more attention in the future.
This video really illustrates how hard it is to pick clothes in a real life situation. To me, it is just not always obvious, and the various tools that you offer here are really helpful. I appreciate that you come at it from many angles (colour, reflective quality, light and shade, intensity of colour, comparison to other seasons, emotion, etc.). I am a bit of a fashion moron, so I need lots of help. Lol. This is my season, so I watched very carefully and even made notes. I will share my thoughts here, and I hope it is useful to you. 1. At the 7:00 mark: This slide really helped illustrate the Summer "version" of black and white. 2. I liked what you said about a colour "not being part of the story". This creates context for the colour and takes it out of isolation. 3. At the 9:30 mark: Comparing an item to an obviously Winter item in the same colour helps illustrate which one is the better choice for LSu. 4. At the 26:30 mark: The high contrast items surprised me, as I usually avoid this. I really liked seeing the highly pigmented items in this wardrobe. 5. At the 17:00 mark: I was really interested to see the combinations, which included one element that did not fit. This again served as a great illustration of when things have gone too far. Overall, what I have learned is that I need to put my palette into a larger context to understand where it fits. While Winter colours are very strong, I am seeing that LSu colours are just as strong in context (thinking of that pink T-shirt). Thanks very much for your multi-faceted approach. This was very helpful.
I'm so glad it helped and I appreciate the detailed notes. You're no more a fashion moron than I am. Or it depends on the benchmark. What's coming down runways isn't really helpful in my every day life, it might actually make dressing more confusing. Like what's happening in museums isn't related to how I decorate my home. There may be distant relationships and it's always mind-opening to look at artistry, but it doesn't furnish our practical life. Maybe that's the point of artistry, to furnish our dreams : )
Hello! So happy to see you back! Could you make a video about True Summers? I’m one, but I have trouble finding ressources on this particular color season. Stylists and even True Summers themselves always seem to warm up their hair with dye or their skin tone with self-tanning, and it’s difficult to truly see the harmony between the colors and the person when they’re « masquerading » as something they are not (sometimes as Winters, Autumns or even Springs). We’re kinda left behind, as most people really don’t seem to appreciate the lack of brightness and contrast combined with the fully cool undertones. I just recently decided to embrace my muted complexion and ashy brown hair, but I really deplore the lack of representation.
What you say regarding TSu is entirely true, of course. The beauty those colours can achieve is rarely offered in media. I'd be happy to make a video if we could think a bit more about the content. I have the same challenge as you do in finding images of people wearing these colours well, which will make it difficult to show the harmony between person and clothing that you mention. What I can show are images of clothing and accessories, like in the most recent videos. If media were irrelevant and clothing choices were plentiful, would your question be answered? Or might there be still be questions about putting the look together or how certain colours might look in stores? The first one is the playing field we're working with. The second one, maybe I can help.
This is so helpful! This one and your icy vs pastel comparison help think through these so much. I had thought for a while that I couldn’t be light summer because I couldn’t wear such light colors. I love jewel tones, but saturated heavy ones are too much for me. I also within the last year ordered a dress (that I couldn’t return) that I thought would work and it looks just like that coat @16:05. !!! It turns out that it doesn’t match anything else in my closet, doesn’t work right with me, only matches black and white I have available but which I don’t like to wear. I prefer grays, and it doesn’t look quite right with my grays either, at least on me. I’m pretty sure I’m a light summer after these clarifying videos. I also didn’t know before if my hair is quite light enough to be light summer since I’m not Swedish blonde which is often shown as for examples, right alongside celebs who clearly bleach/dye, while I never have.
So glad you found the video useful :) I can hear your understanding in your words ("only matches black and white", for example), and your clearer perception of your colours relative to others. The Nordic blonde tones can just as often belong to Winter and of the celebrities who may be LSu, most have hair dyed too bright, light, or yellow. Good on you to leave your hair colour as is, possibly the single decision that makes wearing our colours look as beautiful as they can.
Your hair looks fantastic. I love your take on natural hair colour and turning silver. At 42, I'm 10% grey with 12 months natural growth. I thank your videos over the years for the courage to do so. Hairdressers want to put blonde foils in to "blend" it away - but the warmth of that clashes against cool dark brows, so I decline the offer and stick to cuts only. Thanks again for great content.
Thank you :) I like how it keeps changing. At first, it was finally the right colour of highlights. Now, I've noticed it's the same colour as the neutral lid eyeshadow colour (Mary Kay Silver Satin). I'm hoping the silver strands get more striped, which could look artistic! I also like the freedom, I can barely get round to haircuts, let alone colour upkeep. I've never been one to see silver hair as old and I am trying to do better with hairstyle (haven't started yet!!)
I’m a cool winter and I have had to think really hard about how to distinguish my icy lights from summer pastels. Buttercream. If I think I would get that color in my kitchen with buttercream frosting, it’s summer (or at least not winter!). That red color looks like buttercream red to me.
Christine! It’s so good to hear from you! I was actually just thinking of you because I was trying to explain to my sister (who’s a DA in some other 12-season system) that there’s a difference between dark and “pigmented.” Maybe this could be a video idea for you? I’ve looked through your library of videos multiple times and haven’t seen one where you explain it, I don’t think. I’ve also been struggling with understanding the summer reds. I’m a SSu, but tend to grab reds from DW or even DA by accident. I think I have trouble wrapping my head around summer reds.
Hi :) I love speaking with people in the CZcams format. For your sister's question, do you mean the difference between light-dark and soft-bright, and how colours can be dark without being bright? We may have looked at that in the Your Best Purple video, maybe the Soft Autumn section. I'd love to do more short videos on these directed topics, can you tell me more about where the crossover or confusion is happening? Is it how to tell them apart? Summer reds challenge everyone, I think. They're not as plentiful as blue and we're less used to seeing them. It can be easier to just decide to stay one step back from the darkness limit. Once you're comfortable there, those darker reds may just appear on their own.
Yes, the difference between dark and bright. As I mentioned, she’s a DA (in a different analysis system, but my guess is she would be in Sci/Art as well). She was looking for a new denim jacket and kept showing options for ones that are VERY BLUE. I showed her one that had some charcoal and gold in it, and she said it was too soft. She said that she needs one with more pigment because she’s a Dark season. I couldn’t seem to explain how all the Autumns are “soft” compared to winter, and how “dark” doesn’t mean “more pigment.” I did share your video on the topic of denim though. Hopefully that helps her with that, but she tends to go too bright with her color-colors too. Also, that first slide: I thought they were two different pink shirts because of how faded the bottom one looks next to black/white. Amazing, like an optical illusion.
Understood. It may be better for your DA friend to stay with the definitions in the system she was analyzed in. I was happy to see how well the differences in the pink showed up on CZcams. In the Jewelry slide, #7, the top earrings on the No side, they actually look less shaded and would be quite ok for LSu.
Thank you :) I've always wanted to do a video with Idris Elba. I've looked at images of men in the past and the range of colours they wear can be narrow, meaning I'd probably include a few men, the way we had in the People of Colour video for women. Question(s) for you: starting with the videos of men already on the channel and with women of colour, what would this video focus on or illustrate or explain? Got any particular men in mind?
Thank you, it means a lot to know that you find value in the videos. I've tried whites and light neutrals a few times and not been quite satisfied with how the images look. Maybe it's the white background, but the whites are either hard to separate from the page or from each other when they're all grouped. In this video. I added whites and neutrals with the colours and they seemed more meaningful. I'll do the same in the next video and we'll see how effective it is. I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts :)
I appreciate your precision with color. It has helped me a lot with yellow and purple, which I find to be the most difficult colors for me to style. I like this video very much as I am a light summer. My comment is, I used to have blonde hair, yellow with a lot of caramel undertones. As I’ve have aged my hair has gotten lighter, White with gold tones on the top and gray tones underneath. I feel like this is created a lot more contrast in my coloring than there used to be, and I’m not sure how to work with this new hair color. Any comments would be appreciated
Your new hair colour sounds gorgeous and dimensional. I think of hair colour as the hat we wear every day meaning just another colour area in our overall impression. As the hair colour shifts to a more neutral tone (from the same palette), the energy and interest in our presentation can be preserved by adding colour elsewhere, such as lipstick and blush or a blouse or jacket, items placed in the upper half where the hair colour was, for the definition in the facial features and youthful effect on the skin texture. Contrast is calculated into the palettes for every member of a Season at all life stages, and Summers have the choice of higher or lower contrast as they choose for different occasions, like the outfits shown in the video. Another thought with hair colour for person with light skin tones is that the hair and skin colour may come to resemble one another quite closely, which causes a blurring of the facial contour in addition to the natural softening of features with time. I find that happens much more often with blonde hair dye rather than the natural silver hair, which is closer to what you describe and beautifully defining. The dark tones within the hair are valuable for creating natural contrast, especially when light colours are worn in the upper half. The easiest answers to create definition may be cosmetics,, even the simplest application of a brow pencil and tinted lip balm, substituting a neutral earring for a coloured one, or having a few signature scarves or necklaces in various colours. Wonderful question, thank you for asking :)
I never grow tired of listening to the way you put words together ☺ you may not be a painter but you paint pictures with your words. I'm a warm autumn and I love wearing rich colors, but I'm also very attracted to the light neutral outfits that have been so trendy these past years. They look calm and peaceful and I really like the idea of them, but find it hard to look good in beiges. I like how I look in very light cream, peachy cream and even ecru. And a rich camel brown. But I feel that my skin looks too orange or bright in the tones in between. This might not be a problem for most warm autumns? But if it is, could you possibly help with how to create outfits that look neutral and light and calm - and still harmonious - on a warm autumn person?
Thank you for your kind words, and the excellent question. I hope to create a video about TA very soon and will keep your question in mind. I can't say that I recognize the situation you describe among TA's although I have an impression of a TA wearing Spring beige, which could have a similar reaction.
Hi Christie, first off love your content and these videos! I’m a medium soft autumn and I’m having trouble with building an outfit as it seems the most popular colors for SA are for the lighter softer side. I need colors that are on the medium contrast level for this palette, EASY to find in stores, and that are monochromatic or tonal (high contrast doesn’t suit my body shape either). I also want them to be interesting. I need business casual attire for work but also want some sense of style in my out of work outfits. I’m in my early 30s and pretty modest. I’m sure I can adjust that last piece based on what you show and tell. :)
Thank you, I'm happy to hear that the content is useful for you :) As I think about putting together this video, I appreciate how clearly you describe the challenges you've encountered. Where I'm uncertain about how to help is, it sounds as though you're able to recognize the colours and create the looks, and you know exactly what you need for your wardrobe. It's finding the colours and styles in the first place that's difficult. Would that be accurate? A video may be not help, although I do add colours in current retail to my Pinterest boards and I'm happy to look at a website where you might shop and pin from there. (I regret to say that 'easy to find' is something everyone would like, but it may not be possible unless you sew or knit.)
Thank you! Super helpful. Would love a video on how olive skin affects a colour palette. I am a light summer, but being a cool olive, not all the recommended colours work for me. I think being light and olive makes it’s even harder to find content.
I think about olive skin tones a lot because many people ask the same question about how Season is affected. At this point, my answer would still be that within a Season, skin tone doesn't outweigh natural colouring (eyes, hair, lip) and personal taste in terms of colour choices. In a given Season, skin tones may include various darkness levels of beige, yellow, pink, olive, or brown, or a combination of these. The analysis process is the same and the harmony with the colours is the same for all of them. However, each person in a Season will create their own unique closet based on colours they feel suit them or don't. The one place where I see skin tone making a choice difference for certain skin tones is with blush and cheek colour, with better choices for the individual in the warm, neutral, or cool choices, or between red and fuchsia, depending on the Season. But then, makeup and hair colour are always one-person-at-a-time choices within the Season's larger menu. You bring up an interesting point about cool olive skin and lighter colours. I'm not sure of the answer in your particular situation, and your answer might be specific to you. A new colour analyst was trained last week, a person who was already very familiar with style and the Season conversations. Among our models, we saw people in each of the main Season groups, each one with different skin tones. I asked at the end if she found that skin tone made any difference to the analysis or how the person might wear their colours. Her answer was, "No difference at all. Once you have your colour menu, choices are as specific or broad as each person chooses, and they're still better than other Seasons' versions of those colours." I completely agree.
Thank you Christine! Appreciate your long and detailed response. There a few places where it seems like the cool olive skin makes a difference. One is with the greens. Even though I am a light summer, the greens I choose are more of a true summer (less yellow) but perhaps my colouring is somewhere between the two seasons. The other issue is with purples. I would really love your take on this, as I have never heard anyone else talk about this. It seems that certain shades of purple or lavender brings out the yellow in my colouring. I know with a makeup foundation it is supposed to balance it, but for fabric next to skin, it seems to accentuate it. I’m not sure if it’s just an ‘olive’ issue, as I notice that even too mauvy a lipstick can make my teeth look yellow. 😂 Am I imagining this?
I doubt that you're imagining it, you sound very perceptive about your colours, but the effects you describe may be individual to your colouring, or related to an aspect of colour other than the colour family you're wearing, like green or violet. I often find that the brightness (saturation) of colour has a lot of influence over these effects and perhaps the brighter versions of these colours would be more wearable. I think of makeup or foundation as intended to match skin tone rather than balance or correct it, but I appreciate that if the colour we wear is placing unnatural casts in our skin, then it can be difficult to choose makeup. Without seeing your colour reactions in person, the best advice may be to follow your instincts.
Very interesting! You’re right, it’s the lighter colors (closer to skin color) where I notice this the most. Will experience with brighter colors. Thank you so much!
I live in Maine and we have long winters. I find myself in coats, jackets and sweaters all year long. Since I a very tall deep winter I'm learning to embrace the presence and mystique we seem to have, but I wonder can deep winters look soft and approachable - less severe or intimidating?
Light and medium colour may be the answer. Most often, intimidating or severe is how those colours look on people who are not that Season, or if the look is allover dark. In their colours, the word noble can come to mind with DW and TW and wearing their colours looks normal, not so much depressing or breathtaking, no particular adjectives come to mind. Along with more colour (rose, dark orange, redwood, rich pine), adding interesting prints or elements of Autumn can raise the energy and you may find ideas in the previous video (How to be a DW, not TW).
Hello, Christine! Glad to see you back! In one of your previous videos (don't remember which one exactly) you mentioned that some people were deciding between LSu and BW palettes with LSu/BW being one another's second best option. I'm very interested in this scenario - when both brightness and lightness are very important, softness/darkness is dragging down. For whose with BSp/LSp dilemma it may be easier because both belong to the spring family, just generally staying on the cooler side of spring. When on the cusp of BW/Lsu (especially for whose fairly neutral in their temperature) not only none of the true seasons feels right, but textbook BW or LSu palette is also not quite right - LSu is too soft, "bleached" and missing something, BW is a bit too much. Fully committing to one of the seasons feels like leaving out something important. And those in-between items outside of the palettes you show on the slides seem like good fit for the wardrobe in-between the seasons. If I have to choose one particular area of interest: _How to make lighter version of BW without compromising brightness and contrast?_ How to make it look/feel like winter sunny day or sunny resort, not just like "brighter version of TW/DW"? How to add more spring - movement, lightness, sunshine - without going too warm? Using BSp formula like "bright colours + adding some b&w for crispness"? From "Your best purple" video slide N11 - light purple hat and floral bag feel like good starting point for "brightness & lightness" direction. On the side note: Koreans with dark hair being colour analyzed as light seasons adds to the confusion (they have slightly different system as far as I know). I was musing about this topic for quite some time now and wanted to leave a comment/suggestion under your previous video DW/TW, trying to formulate and choose the right words. Imagine my surprise when this video popped up! I'm not sure now if my question is still relevant after this video but "jewel tones for LSu" feels about something else. So if LSu/BW crossover (lightness&brightness) falls too much under the same topic for you, I will be glad with just lighter version of BW. Another area of interest for me is merging BW/BSp pallettes. I find myself loving combinations of some BSp colours with BW palette and vice versa. I like the dynamic it adds. So in this case I'm interested more in similarities and how to create a tonal palette (brightness). And just in theory I'll be glad if someone requested SSu/DW (soft&dark) crossover palette. I like those colours so much. Thank you!
These are great ideas, thank you! Brightness is built-in for all the colours and wouldn't be compromised. About how to preserve contrast and also limit the light-dark range to the lighter end, first thing that comes to mind is substitute black for white. This will be an interesting video to make! Between BW and BSp, could you say which particular colour combinations you love (also, what is a 'tonal palette')?
@@ChristineScaman I guess I picked up term 'tonal' from one of the colour analysis systems, where they emphasize the main characteristic shared by both pallettes - in this case the brightness, and the secondary characteristic of neutral-cool/neutral-warm being not so important. I guess for those who tested closer to TW this approach might not work, but for those closer to BSp border it may expand options greatly. I'm still figuring out my temperature range and I may be more neutral than I expected. I found one of my best blues/violets in the cooler side of BSp and segueing into topic of favourite BW/BSp combinations - BSp blue (perhaps it's royal blue) with BW colours may be one of my best finds. Especially with black. And flowing into another favourite - cooler BSp colours (for example, bright pink) + black. It gives overall lighter look (more sunshine in spring colours) without going overboard with warmth and still looks good with black. - Orange. I've never expected that I would love this colour so much (at some point in my life I even disliked it) and it is still growing on me. Though I don't know if I use BW or BSp orange, because while orange is not officially a part of the winter palette in "your best orange" you showed winter options and on BW Pinterest board the example with mini skirt is the closest one. Overall I prefer very bright orange with pink-coral hint that is closer to BSp "fruit salad" impression and I like how it stands out with BW sky blues (with warm colours it blends in too much for my taste). Combination of orange with black+white or light/medium grey I prefer better than orange+black (especially 'winter' orange looks too heavy). Orange+black only when orange is neon. - Orange + cooler pink. - Light lilac/lavender from the cooler side of the spring looks amazing with neutral-cool blue-greens. And I love blue-greens + blue-violets combination in general. - Pinks + blues/blue-greens. I like using BSp coolest neutrals like bright ivory away from the face with BW colours. And BW icy grey + BSp cooler colours. I also use blue-greens, blues and blue-violets as neutrals rather than like colours. - BSp lime/grass/parakeet as an accent with BW colours (but to be honest I've seen similar colours in BW palettes depending on the system). Especially I like it paired with BW b&w and grey and BW cyan. I guess I can write a novel about colours. Sorry for incredibly long reply :) and thank you for your time! About 'substitute black for white' - yes, I explore this option as well, just trying to be cautious with the widening effect of white colour on the bottom half. And I found that garments with built-in contrast such as print/pattern/trim/etc work for me much better than solid colours. I don't know if it has to do with my colouring or bone structure or both. My best outfits happen to include at least one piece with built-in contrast. But outfit containing only solid coloured pieces looks incomplete on me like I wanted to make pancakes, took eggs, flour and milk and just stopped there without making actual pancakes. Eventually, b&w print + BW/BSp bright colours (blue-green/blue/blue-violet if I want full neutral look) became my go-to formula and comfort zone and I wonder if I'm missing out on other wonderful options.
Hi Christine, I find your videos most helpful, thanks a lot! I recently had a colour analysis and found out I‘m a „cool summer“. I find very little information about this type on the internet and find it quite difficult to differentiate from the other summer and winter types. Would you be able to share some light into this colour type in a video perhaps? I’d love to know your views on cool summers ☺️ take care, Steph
Cool Summer may be a term used in colour analysis systems other than the one I use. It may be similar to True Summer, which I'm familiar with, but there may be differences that I don't appreciate, and I may not be able to answer your great questions (like how it differs from other W and Su types). Maybe your colour analyst could direct you towards resources within their system?
My own participation in the Chrysalis podcasts may have come to an end. I find myself overwhelmingly busy with other projects and the podcast is a commitment of time that I no longer have. I cannot speak for Jorunn of course, and I do hope that one or two analysts have an interest in continuing that project.
@@ChristineScaman That is understandable. I do enjoy listening to it, though. Maybe Jorunn and Cate or any other willing analyst could record an episode on occasion…
Different colour analysis systems have their own ways of applying Season and using the colour, so it may be a good idea to consult with your analyst. In my view of Seasons, the answer would be, it depends on the colour. There are similar colours between neighbour Seasons and among Season in the same True Season grouping, and some will be better tolerated than others. The True Seasons are defined by high coolness or warmth, which goes along with being least accepting of compromises in this dimension of colour. The warmer colours of the Summer Neutral Seasons may be less wearable for a TSu.
Thanks for this video; I have never been analyzed (saving up for it), but I seem to get the most compliments, and feel I look best, in some of these colors. It's a little confusing, because I have light brown hair & hazel brown eyes, and I would've thought a light summer is more blonde, w/ cool tone eyes. Yet another reason for me to get analyzed!
Glad it was helpful! I hope you're able to know your Season one day. Maybe it will have colour dimensions that are close to Light Summer, explaining the compliments.
This was fun, I was kinda shocked at how bright these colors look in their own context - like sidewalk chalk! Are you still taking questions re: how to use one's colors? I'm trying to DIY my season (pro analysis is over my budget right now), and have it narrowed down to DA or DW. I'm wondering if I'm subconsciously avoiding DW because of how intense the colors are - I'm introverted, and clothes that are "louder than I am" both feel uncomfortable and send the wrong message to others. If you're interested, I'd love to see a guide on making a subdued/gentle impression with the DW palette. (If not, that's cool. This channel's a goldmine regardless.)
Sidewalk chalk is brilliant! Wow, really good analogy, thank you. Folks often ask about how to do subtle impressions of the Winter Seasons and I'm never sure of the answer. All light outfits look incomplete. Too soft looks powdery. We look for meaning in what we see to guide our decisions and next steps, and when the world sees us as incomplete or powdery, it makes certain choices that may not benefit us. It's so easy to forget that those colours can be a lot when non-Winters wear them, or on a hanger in a store, but when Winters wear them, they're totally normal. The key may be in how we combine them, like more neutrals with one or two colours, which is how Winter colours look most meaningful. There's a video on the channel "Nextdoor Season Colours" that may help find the boundary between two Seasons. Always taking suggestions for videos :)
I'd be happy to. Videos are much made faster when I have specific questions to focus on. Could you share 4 or 5 questions you have with Light Spring? I see from a comment to another video that something around blue and purple could be a question, could you narrow it down? I appreciate that these are challenging colours to find, although here in Canada, the next few months are prime time for Light Season shopping and it be helpful to read detailed information (30 page e-book) about your Season (and possibly also Light Summer or True Spring, many overlaps). You may already be aware of this, but if not, you'll find them on my website (link in Desc. box) under E-Books.
You mean with the strawberry sorbet bag, backpack and skirt? The skirt and backpack are bright for sure, but for an occasion when a person might want a little extra, they could be nice and still make an outfit with colours we already own. Like safe stretching :)
Jewel Winter is a term from a different system of colour analysis, but you might find information you could apply in any video on this channel relating to True Winter or Bright Winter. Once the video shows the colours, you could compare them with your own palette and see if there are similarities.
Can a light summer be olive also? Do you find some light summers so cool they're a cool summer but super light? Many things turn orange on me, I have recently learned that this can be due to olive but I'm light, natural blonde, light green cool green eyes, pale skin with a slight pink in it.
I'm not able to provide a specific answer about olive (or any other) skin tone and Season. Many variations are possible within any Season, beyond the lightness or darkness of the complexion. Yellow beige or rosy beige as just two examples that may be seen in LSu with lighter surface pigmentation. Many Seasons have a variation of olive, if the term refers to a yellow-green tone, with variations in brightness or saturation. I do see LSu who are very near TSu, but the difference isn't lightness, it's warmth. Complexion colour can appear to change due to warmth of the drape colour, also amount of warmth, also saturation level of the warmth, and so on. It often comes down to degrees of the colour dimensions, meaning how light, how orange, and so on. If ever you're able to have an in-person colour analysis, every question should be answered, along with knowing your Season :)
@@ChristineScaman Thank you for your very thorough reply! I appreciate that a lot. I have been draped twice, 4 season only, summer both times. I will look into being draped by one trained in your system. Gabrielle Arruda gave you credit for her recent draping, absolutely amazing for her! Thank you again!
Thank you so much for these videos! I have learned a ton! I am not seeing one on “your best green”. Do you have that one and I’m just not finding it? I was diagnosed by a House Of Colour analyst as true summer/pastel summer. I thought I was a soft summer, leaning toward autumn, so I have been collecting tons of green. I need to know which ones to let go of! Any clarification would be much appreciated. Can I wear gray green?
Wonderful to know that the videos have helped you, thank you. We haven't done green yet. Because each Season has so many greens, the subject would have to be divided, probably cool Seasons and warm ones. For gray green where the gray is easily visible, a version appears in the Soft Seasons, True Summer has gray green among its neutrals, and Light Summer doesn't have a version that comes to mind.
@@ChristineScaman Ah, that makes perfect sense! I have a pearl necklace that was my late mother's, which I'm trying to decide if it works for me. I'm not sure how to even describe what color it is, but I'm calling it gray-green. It's a choker, so it's worn right next to the face. I'm not seeing a color like it in my swatch fan from HoC. When I put it next to silver, it harmonizes, but when I put it next to gold, it looks not quite right. Yet it doesn't seem to be blue-green like the greens in my palette, so it has me stumped. When I put it next to clothes that I know are my correct colors, it looks great. But when I put it next to something olive green or yellowish tan it looks fine, too. Maybe it's one of those transition colors. I might decide I'm wearing it whether it's my best color or not; I love the necklace, and this is not meant to put us in a box but rather to liberate us! I was typed 30 years ago as a summer, but I guess back then we didn't know sub-types. I discovered makeup a couple years ago in my late 50s and was having the worst time finding the right foundation shades, so I decided to get typed again a couple weeks ago. I'm having so much fun decluttering the things that don't work for me and getting new things in beautiful colors that do! Thanks for listening! I hope you do the green video!!
Wearing items we love is important and it sounds as though the necklace is neutral enough that it might work with quite a few colours. Pearl also has a lovely reflectivity for Summers.
Hi, I recently did a color color analysis and found out I was a light summer. I really like diamonds but im a afraid that it could be to harsh sometimes for my skintone. My color analysis said that I could wear diamonds as long as I balance it with a softer outfit. can you give me tips of What type of diamonds should I avoid wearing? I know that Baguette cut, Asscher cut and Emerald cut diamonds don't sparkle so much so mabye thats the way to go? would like a tennis chain or bracelet be to much you thing? Thank you
Congratulations on learning your Season :) Colour analysis systems vary in their methods and advice, and you know a lot. more about the shapes of jewelry than I do. Diamonds can be lovely because they reflect light and don't alter the skin tone, although I'd agree that large stones placed near the face may take centre stage. Smaller stones can be beautiful in earrings and necklaces. Further from the face, slightly larger stones are fine too. Overall, the shape and scale of jewelry seems best when its suits the shape and scale of the person wearing it more than the colour Season, and a bracelet would be a very good choice.
Hair colour is a one-person-at-a-time decision and my thoughts may be more for an 'average' dark brown BW hair colour than yours. Second thing to keep in mind about chemical hair colour is that there's always a trade-off or risk of some sort so it's essential to know what you want to accomplish with this choice or change in your appearance. On average, I'd have two concerns with your hair. First is the colour, which depends on the light brown. I have difficulty imagining what colour will actually be an improvement over what you have already. If I picture BW persons of various depths of skin tone, none look better with light brown highlights, whether eyes are blue and the overall look is cool, or eyes are dark brown and the natural look is Autumn or Winter-like. Second concern is the reflectivity, which chemical colour doesn't replicate well for the Brights. Some have naturally light brown hair, like herbal teas, and it's phenomenal, but chemical colour is more opaque than the glassy quality of the natural colour. Between these possible outcomes, the final colour may look striped, bleached, ashy, or brassy. The best bet may be to try a few strands with your chosen colour in the lower half, in strands beneath the top layer. Brings the risk as low as possible and helps you decide one way or the other.
I have brown-black hair, fair skin and dark hazel eyes. What I'm sure that I look so much better in muted colors. My worst colors are any dark colors ( especially black) and any bright colors. Off-white look good on me but make me A bit yellowish. True white make me look tired. Which color season do you think i belong to ? Thanks in advance ❤
I wish I could give you an answer, but even if you sent me a photo, I could not know your Season. How Season is identified is by a series of colour comparisons placed beneath your face and observing how your natural colours React. Your observations are perceptive but between 12 Seasons, we would need to fine tune them. When you say muted colours, we would want to define how muted. And then how warm and how light or dark.
Hi, and welcome to another video! So many thanks to viewers who shared their questions about their Season and I look forward to making those videos. I hope you find some new ways to think about your Season, whatever it may be, in today's video. Enjoy watching!
My birthday is today and I’m a LSu. This was the perfect gift for my birthday! Thank you for the video. I gained so much information from it and I’m more confident with my shopping skills now.
Happy birthday! I'm so happy the video was helpful :)
If there were more videos called Jewel tones, the world would surely be a better place 😃 Beautifully put together, thank you Christine!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I love listening to your videos! You are an expert in this and I appreciate how in depth you can explore and explain. Brava!
Thank you so much!
I watched this video again and loved it even more the second time! That Red that you were asking about, I would call it watermelon red! I had a t-shirt in my closet that color that I loved, but I never wore it because I thought it was too bright for me. Since having my color analysis a few weeks ago, now I know it is most certainly in my palette and it’s one of my favorites now too!
Watermelon red is the consensus for that colour :) Glad you're finding new perspectives from the video and knowing your Season!
I always enjoy your posts Christine. I would love a video on ways to put together interesting outfits for a Soft Summer. I am approaching my mid 50s and find it very difficult to find clothing let alone outfits that work for me.
Thank you.
I imagine that many SSu would appreciate this video, thank you for the suggestion :) May I ask what you find difficult and easy? Is the challenge in choosing colours, wondering what looks good together, or adding interest to outfits? When outfits don't feel right, do they feel bland, dark, blended, repetitive? When you shop or look in your closet, what's happening or what thoughts cross your mind? If you could add a certain impression this week, what would it be? If you prefer to answer privately, please feel free to email (christine@12blueprints.com), although many SSu might have ideas to contribute.
Chiming in with a few of my SSu challenges: brights, structure, and patterns!
I find that many of my outfits start off monochromatic and neutral. I have an urge to add a focal element or more visual interest to help something stand out, which often doesn’t work.
When I swatch the brightest colors in my palette (especially cosmetics) they may look okay with the other colors, but next to my face they often look too bright, so I’m a bit afraid of them. I end up back at putty, charcoal, and oyster.
Patterns are few.
I prefer more structured styles which can look too hard in my palette. I find textures like suede and denim can help, but would love other ideas too.
Wonderful jumping off points for a video, thank you!
Ones level of contrast is important. I know for me as a light summer w/ low contrast, using my colors as a watercolor effect helps.
Yes, or having a sense of the contrast that feels comfortable, as you have :)
So perfect - I just had my colour analysis done two days ago and I'm a light summer!! Very excited to watch
Congratulations! Hope you find some useful ideas :)
I agree with you on the difficulty with deep color variations. I always have trouble comparing deep teal with indigo and have ended up with the wrong color garments as a result.
Yes, I find it helps to compare colours of similar darkness levels but it seems as though you're already there. It may also help to have a sample of the colours you do and don't want, whether in fabric or wallet-size palettes to have something to compare the colours with besides each other.
Impossible to say how much you have added to my color/texture knowledge with your incisive analysis and excellent imagery. It really helps train the eye. As a Soft 60+ Summer, I need a lot of direction in subtlety! Please keep making videos analyzing the best and worst choices of the Red Carpet events. Nothing could be more encouraging than knowing your humble $20 dress from Walmart is actually doing more for your looks than the lavish couture dresses and overblown styling of celebrities that misses the mark. Having the best of the best for comparison is so useful. Love those videos!
Thank you, I sincerely appreciate hearing that the videos have helped you. Thanks also for the comment regarding celebrity videos and that you find them encouraging. I wondered if they were serving the opposite purpose but you've shown me another way to look at them. My aim is to choose many more good choices than less harmonious choices and to explain my reasoning, and I used to look through the fashions for each event for those 80-20 outfits worked so well for the wearer. They were rare and I gradually stopped, but I'll pay more attention in the future.
This video really illustrates how hard it is to pick clothes in a real life situation. To me, it is just not always obvious, and the various tools that you offer here are really helpful. I appreciate that you come at it from many angles (colour, reflective quality, light and shade, intensity of colour, comparison to other seasons, emotion, etc.). I am a bit of a fashion moron, so I need lots of help. Lol.
This is my season, so I watched very carefully and even made notes.
I will share my thoughts here, and I hope it is useful to you.
1. At the 7:00 mark: This slide really helped illustrate the Summer "version" of black and white.
2. I liked what you said about a colour "not being part of the story". This creates context for the colour and takes it out of isolation.
3. At the 9:30 mark: Comparing an item to an obviously Winter item in the same colour helps illustrate which one is the better choice for LSu.
4. At the 26:30 mark: The high contrast items surprised me, as I usually avoid this. I really liked seeing the highly pigmented items in this wardrobe.
5. At the 17:00 mark: I was really interested to see the combinations, which included one element that did not fit. This again served as a great illustration of when things have gone too far.
Overall, what I have learned is that I need to put my palette into a larger context to understand where it fits. While Winter colours are very strong, I am seeing that LSu colours are just as strong in context (thinking of that pink T-shirt).
Thanks very much for your multi-faceted approach. This was very helpful.
I'm so glad it helped and I appreciate the detailed notes. You're no more a fashion moron than I am. Or it depends on the benchmark. What's coming down runways isn't really helpful in my every day life, it might actually make dressing more confusing. Like what's happening in museums isn't related to how I decorate my home. There may be distant relationships and it's always mind-opening to look at artistry, but it doesn't furnish our practical life. Maybe that's the point of artistry, to furnish our dreams : )
Hello! So happy to see you back!
Could you make a video about True Summers? I’m one, but I have trouble finding ressources on this particular color season. Stylists and even True Summers themselves always seem to warm up their hair with dye or their skin tone with self-tanning, and it’s difficult to truly see the harmony between the colors and the person when they’re « masquerading » as something they are not (sometimes as Winters, Autumns or even Springs). We’re kinda left behind, as most people really don’t seem to appreciate the lack of brightness and contrast combined with the fully cool undertones.
I just recently decided to embrace my muted complexion and ashy brown hair, but I really deplore the lack of representation.
What you say regarding TSu is entirely true, of course. The beauty those colours can achieve is rarely offered in media. I'd be happy to make a video if we could think a bit more about the content. I have the same challenge as you do in finding images of people wearing these colours well, which will make it difficult to show the harmony between person and clothing that you mention. What I can show are images of clothing and accessories, like in the most recent videos.
If media were irrelevant and clothing choices were plentiful, would your question be answered? Or might there be still be questions about putting the look together or how certain colours might look in stores? The first one is the playing field we're working with. The second one, maybe I can help.
This is so helpful! This one and your icy vs pastel comparison help think through these so much. I had thought for a while that I couldn’t be light summer because I couldn’t wear such light colors. I love jewel tones, but saturated heavy ones are too much for me.
I also within the last year ordered a dress (that I couldn’t return) that I thought would work and it looks just like that coat @16:05. !!! It turns out that it doesn’t match anything else in my closet, doesn’t work right with me, only matches black and white I have available but which I don’t like to wear. I prefer grays, and it doesn’t look quite right with my grays either, at least on me.
I’m pretty sure I’m a light summer after these clarifying videos. I also didn’t know before if my hair is quite light enough to be light summer since I’m not Swedish blonde which is often shown as for examples, right alongside celebs who clearly bleach/dye, while I never have.
So glad you found the video useful :) I can hear your understanding in your words ("only matches black and white", for example), and your clearer perception of your colours relative to others. The Nordic blonde tones can just as often belong to Winter and of the celebrities who may be LSu, most have hair dyed too bright, light, or yellow. Good on you to leave your hair colour as is, possibly the single decision that makes wearing our colours look as beautiful as they can.
Your hair looks fantastic. I love your take on natural hair colour and turning silver. At 42, I'm 10% grey with 12 months natural growth. I thank your videos over the years for the courage to do so. Hairdressers want to put blonde foils in to "blend" it away - but the warmth of that clashes against cool dark brows, so I decline the offer and stick to cuts only. Thanks again for great content.
Thank you :) I like how it keeps changing. At first, it was finally the right colour of highlights. Now, I've noticed it's the same colour as the neutral lid eyeshadow colour (Mary Kay Silver Satin). I'm hoping the silver strands get more striped, which could look artistic! I also like the freedom, I can barely get round to haircuts, let alone colour upkeep. I've never been one to see silver hair as old and I am trying to do better with hairstyle (haven't started yet!!)
Thank you for sharing this with us.
My pleasure :) Thank you for listening.
I’m a cool winter and I have had to think really hard about how to distinguish my icy lights from summer pastels. Buttercream. If I think I would get that color in my kitchen with buttercream frosting, it’s summer (or at least not winter!). That red color looks like buttercream red to me.
That's a good idea! There's always a creamy or hazy quality to the colour.
Christine! It’s so good to hear from you! I was actually just thinking of you because I was trying to explain to my sister (who’s a DA in some other 12-season system) that there’s a difference between dark and “pigmented.” Maybe this could be a video idea for you? I’ve looked through your library of videos multiple times and haven’t seen one where you explain it, I don’t think.
I’ve also been struggling with understanding the summer reds. I’m a SSu, but tend to grab reds from DW or even DA by accident. I think I have trouble wrapping my head around summer reds.
Hi :) I love speaking with people in the CZcams format. For your sister's question, do you mean the difference between light-dark and soft-bright, and how colours can be dark without being bright? We may have looked at that in the Your Best Purple video, maybe the Soft Autumn section. I'd love to do more short videos on these directed topics, can you tell me more about where the crossover or confusion is happening? Is it how to tell them apart?
Summer reds challenge everyone, I think. They're not as plentiful as blue and we're less used to seeing them. It can be easier to just decide to stay one step back from the darkness limit. Once you're comfortable there, those darker reds may just appear on their own.
Yes, the difference between dark and bright. As I mentioned, she’s a DA (in a different analysis system, but my guess is she would be in Sci/Art as well). She was looking for a new denim jacket and kept showing options for ones that are VERY BLUE. I showed her one that had some charcoal and gold in it, and she said it was too soft. She said that she needs one with more pigment because she’s a Dark season. I couldn’t seem to explain how all the Autumns are “soft” compared to winter, and how “dark” doesn’t mean “more pigment.” I did share your video on the topic of denim though. Hopefully that helps her with that, but she tends to go too bright with her color-colors too.
Also, that first slide: I thought they were two different pink shirts because of how faded the bottom one looks next to black/white. Amazing, like an optical illusion.
Understood. It may be better for your DA friend to stay with the definitions in the system she was analyzed in.
I was happy to see how well the differences in the pink showed up on CZcams. In the Jewelry slide, #7, the top earrings on the No side, they actually look less shaded and would be quite ok for LSu.
can you do videos for males? asian, black, people of colour please.. by the way, you are gorgeous
Thank you :) I've always wanted to do a video with Idris Elba. I've looked at images of men in the past and the range of colours they wear can be narrow, meaning I'd probably include a few men, the way we had in the People of Colour video for women. Question(s) for you: starting with the videos of men already on the channel and with women of colour, what would this video focus on or illustrate or explain? Got any particular men in mind?
Omar Sy, the actor in the French series Lupin, is amazing. He seems to wear a variety of colours.
@@ChristineScaman
I looked him up. Great suggestion!
I truly love your videos 🤍✨🤍 could you please make a video on the “right white” for the season. It would be so helpful for brides 👰♀️
Thank you, it means a lot to know that you find value in the videos. I've tried whites and light neutrals a few times and not been quite satisfied with how the images look. Maybe it's the white background, but the whites are either hard to separate from the page or from each other when they're all grouped. In this video. I added whites and neutrals with the colours and they seemed more meaningful. I'll do the same in the next video and we'll see how effective it is. I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts :)
I appreciate your precision with color. It has helped me a lot with yellow and purple, which I find to be the most difficult colors for me to style. I like this video very much as I am a light summer. My comment is, I used to have blonde hair, yellow with a lot of caramel undertones. As I’ve have aged my hair has gotten lighter, White with gold tones on the top and gray tones underneath. I feel like this is created a lot more contrast in my coloring than there used to be, and I’m not sure how to work with this new hair color. Any comments would be appreciated
Your new hair colour sounds gorgeous and dimensional. I think of hair colour as the hat we wear every day meaning just another colour area in our overall impression. As the hair colour shifts to a more neutral tone (from the same palette), the energy and interest in our presentation can be preserved by adding colour elsewhere, such as lipstick and blush or a blouse or jacket, items placed in the upper half where the hair colour was, for the definition in the facial features and youthful effect on the skin texture. Contrast is calculated into the palettes for every member of a Season at all life stages, and Summers have the choice of higher or lower contrast as they choose for different occasions, like the outfits shown in the video.
Another thought with hair colour for person with light skin tones is that the hair and skin colour may come to resemble one another quite closely, which causes a blurring of the facial contour in addition to the natural softening of features with time. I find that happens much more often with blonde hair dye rather than the natural silver hair, which is closer to what you describe and beautifully defining. The dark tones within the hair are valuable for creating natural contrast, especially when light colours are worn in the upper half. The easiest answers to create definition may be cosmetics,, even the simplest application of a brow pencil and tinted lip balm, substituting a neutral earring for a coloured one, or having a few signature scarves or necklaces in various colours. Wonderful question, thank you for asking :)
I never grow tired of listening to the way you put words together ☺ you may not be a painter but you paint pictures with your words. I'm a warm autumn and I love wearing rich colors, but I'm also very attracted to the light neutral outfits that have been so trendy these past years. They look calm and peaceful and I really like the idea of them, but find it hard to look good in beiges. I like how I look in very light cream, peachy cream and even ecru. And a rich camel brown. But I feel that my skin looks too orange or bright in the tones in between. This might not be a problem for most warm autumns? But if it is, could you possibly help with how to create outfits that look neutral and light and calm - and still harmonious - on a warm autumn person?
Thank you for your kind words, and the excellent question. I hope to create a video about TA very soon and will keep your question in mind. I can't say that I recognize the situation you describe among TA's although I have an impression of a TA wearing Spring beige, which could have a similar reaction.
@@ChristineScaman I might be picking the wrong beige in the sea of beiges. Looking very much forward to a video on true autumns 🥰
I would say that the purse in the “light summer 5” is a watermelon red 🍉 A fresh , watery, summer fruit 😊
Watermelon is a great word for the cooler reds :)
Hi Christie, first off love your content and these videos! I’m a medium soft autumn and I’m having trouble with building an outfit as it seems the most popular colors for SA are for the lighter softer side. I need colors that are on the medium contrast level for this palette, EASY to find in stores, and that are monochromatic or tonal (high contrast doesn’t suit my body shape either). I also want them to be interesting. I need business casual attire for work but also want some sense of style in my out of work outfits. I’m in my early 30s and pretty modest. I’m sure I can adjust that last piece based on what you show and tell. :)
Thank you, I'm happy to hear that the content is useful for you :) As I think about putting together this video, I appreciate how clearly you describe the challenges you've encountered. Where I'm uncertain about how to help is, it sounds as though you're able to recognize the colours and create the looks, and you know exactly what you need for your wardrobe. It's finding the colours and styles in the first place that's difficult. Would that be accurate? A video may be not help, although I do add colours in current retail to my Pinterest boards and I'm happy to look at a website where you might shop and pin from there. (I regret to say that 'easy to find' is something everyone would like, but it may not be possible unless you sew or knit.)
Thank you! Super helpful.
Would love a video on how olive skin affects a colour palette. I am a light summer, but being a cool olive, not all the recommended colours work for me. I think being light and olive makes it’s even harder to find content.
I think about olive skin tones a lot because many people ask the same question about how Season is affected. At this point, my answer would still be that within a Season, skin tone doesn't outweigh natural colouring (eyes, hair, lip) and personal taste in terms of colour choices. In a given Season, skin tones may include various darkness levels of beige, yellow, pink, olive, or brown, or a combination of these. The analysis process is the same and the harmony with the colours is the same for all of them. However, each person in a Season will create their own unique closet based on colours they feel suit them or don't. The one place where I see skin tone making a choice difference for certain skin tones is with blush and cheek colour, with better choices for the individual in the warm, neutral, or cool choices, or between red and fuchsia, depending on the Season. But then, makeup and hair colour are always one-person-at-a-time choices within the Season's larger menu.
You bring up an interesting point about cool olive skin and lighter colours. I'm not sure of the answer in your particular situation, and your answer might be specific to you. A new colour analyst was trained last week, a person who was already very familiar with style and the Season conversations. Among our models, we saw people in each of the main Season groups, each one with different skin tones. I asked at the end if she found that skin tone made any difference to the analysis or how the person might wear their colours. Her answer was, "No difference at all. Once you have your colour menu, choices are as specific or broad as each person chooses, and they're still better than other Seasons' versions of those colours." I completely agree.
Thank you Christine! Appreciate your long and detailed response. There a few places where it seems like the cool olive skin makes a difference. One is with the greens. Even though I am a light summer, the greens I choose are more of a true summer (less yellow) but perhaps my colouring is somewhere between the two seasons. The other issue is with purples. I would really love your take on this, as I have never heard anyone else talk about this. It seems that certain shades of purple or lavender brings out the yellow in my colouring. I know with a makeup foundation it is supposed to balance it, but for fabric next to skin, it seems to accentuate it. I’m not sure if it’s just an ‘olive’ issue, as I notice that even too mauvy a lipstick can make my teeth look yellow. 😂
Am I imagining this?
I doubt that you're imagining it, you sound very perceptive about your colours, but the effects you describe may be individual to your colouring, or related to an aspect of colour other than the colour family you're wearing, like green or violet. I often find that the brightness (saturation) of colour has a lot of influence over these effects and perhaps the brighter versions of these colours would be more wearable. I think of makeup or foundation as intended to match skin tone rather than balance or correct it, but I appreciate that if the colour we wear is placing unnatural casts in our skin, then it can be difficult to choose makeup. Without seeing your colour reactions in person, the best advice may be to follow your instincts.
Very interesting! You’re right, it’s the lighter colors (closer to skin color) where I notice this the most. Will experience with brighter colors.
Thank you so much!
Light Summer reds - watermelon, maybe?
Officially going with watermelon!
I live in Maine and we have long winters. I find myself in coats, jackets and sweaters all year long. Since I a very tall deep winter I'm learning to embrace the presence and mystique we seem to have, but I wonder can deep winters look soft and approachable - less severe or intimidating?
Light and medium colour may be the answer. Most often, intimidating or severe is how those colours look on people who are not that Season, or if the look is allover dark. In their colours, the word noble can come to mind with DW and TW and wearing their colours looks normal, not so much depressing or breathtaking, no particular adjectives come to mind. Along with more colour (rose, dark orange, redwood, rich pine), adding interesting prints or elements of Autumn can raise the energy and you may find ideas in the previous video (How to be a DW, not TW).
Hello, Christine! Glad to see you back!
In one of your previous videos (don't remember which one exactly) you mentioned that some people were deciding between LSu and BW palettes with LSu/BW being one another's second best option. I'm very interested in this scenario - when both brightness and lightness are very important, softness/darkness is dragging down.
For whose with BSp/LSp dilemma it may be easier because both belong to the spring family, just generally staying on the cooler side of spring.
When on the cusp of BW/Lsu (especially for whose fairly neutral in their temperature) not only none of the true seasons feels right, but textbook BW or LSu palette is also not quite right - LSu is too soft, "bleached" and missing something, BW is a bit too much. Fully committing to one of the seasons feels like leaving out something important. And those in-between items outside of the palettes you show on the slides seem like good fit for the wardrobe in-between the seasons.
If I have to choose one particular area of interest:
_How to make lighter version of BW without compromising brightness and contrast?_
How to make it look/feel like winter sunny day or sunny resort, not just like "brighter version of TW/DW"? How to add more spring - movement, lightness, sunshine - without going too warm? Using BSp formula like "bright colours + adding some b&w for crispness"?
From "Your best purple" video slide N11 - light purple hat and floral bag feel like good starting point for "brightness & lightness" direction.
On the side note: Koreans with dark hair being colour analyzed as light seasons adds to the confusion (they have slightly different system as far as I know).
I was musing about this topic for quite some time now and wanted to leave a comment/suggestion under your previous video DW/TW, trying to formulate and choose the right words. Imagine my surprise when this video popped up! I'm not sure now if my question is still relevant after this video but "jewel tones for LSu" feels about something else. So if LSu/BW crossover (lightness&brightness) falls too much under the same topic for you, I will be glad with just lighter version of BW.
Another area of interest for me is merging BW/BSp pallettes. I find myself loving combinations of some BSp colours with BW palette and vice versa. I like the dynamic it adds. So in this case I'm interested more in similarities and how to create a tonal palette (brightness).
And just in theory I'll be glad if someone requested SSu/DW (soft&dark) crossover palette. I like those colours so much.
Thank you!
These are great ideas, thank you! Brightness is built-in for all the colours and wouldn't be compromised. About how to preserve contrast and also limit the light-dark range to the lighter end, first thing that comes to mind is substitute black for white. This will be an interesting video to make! Between BW and BSp, could you say which particular colour combinations you love (also, what is a 'tonal palette')?
@@ChristineScaman I guess I picked up term 'tonal' from one of the colour analysis systems, where they emphasize the main characteristic shared by both pallettes - in this case the brightness, and the secondary characteristic of neutral-cool/neutral-warm being not so important. I guess for those who tested closer to TW this approach might not work, but for those closer to BSp border it may expand options greatly.
I'm still figuring out my temperature range and I may be more neutral than I expected. I found one of my best blues/violets in the cooler side of BSp and segueing into topic of favourite BW/BSp combinations - BSp blue (perhaps it's royal blue) with BW colours may be one of my best finds. Especially with black. And flowing into another favourite - cooler BSp colours (for example, bright pink) + black. It gives overall lighter look (more sunshine in spring colours) without going overboard with warmth and still looks good with black.
- Orange. I've never expected that I would love this colour so much (at some point in my life I even disliked it) and it is still growing on me. Though I don't know if I use BW or BSp orange, because while orange is not officially a part of the winter palette in "your best orange" you showed winter options and on BW Pinterest board the example with mini skirt is the closest one. Overall I prefer very bright orange with pink-coral hint that is closer to BSp "fruit salad" impression and I like how it stands out with BW sky blues (with warm colours it blends in too much for my taste).
Combination of orange with black+white or light/medium grey I prefer better than orange+black (especially 'winter' orange looks too heavy). Orange+black only when orange is neon.
- Orange + cooler pink.
- Light lilac/lavender from the cooler side of the spring looks amazing with neutral-cool blue-greens. And I love blue-greens + blue-violets combination in general.
- Pinks + blues/blue-greens.
I like using BSp coolest neutrals like bright ivory away from the face with BW colours. And BW icy grey + BSp cooler colours.
I also use blue-greens, blues and blue-violets as neutrals rather than like colours.
- BSp lime/grass/parakeet as an accent with BW colours (but to be honest I've seen similar colours in BW palettes depending on the system). Especially I like it paired with BW b&w and grey and BW cyan.
I guess I can write a novel about colours. Sorry for incredibly long reply :) and thank you for your time!
About 'substitute black for white' - yes, I explore this option as well, just trying to be cautious with the widening effect of white colour on the bottom half.
And I found that garments with built-in contrast such as print/pattern/trim/etc work for me much better than solid colours. I don't know if it has to do with my colouring or bone structure or both. My best outfits happen to include at least one piece with built-in contrast. But outfit containing only solid coloured pieces looks incomplete on me like I wanted to make pancakes, took eggs, flour and milk and just stopped there without making actual pancakes.
Eventually, b&w print + BW/BSp bright colours (blue-green/blue/blue-violet if I want full neutral look) became my go-to formula and comfort zone and I wonder if I'm missing out on other wonderful options.
Hi Christine, I find your videos most helpful, thanks a lot! I recently had a colour analysis and found out I‘m a „cool summer“. I find very little information about this type on the internet and find it quite difficult to differentiate from the other summer and winter types. Would you be able to share some light into this colour type in a video perhaps? I’d love to know your views on cool summers ☺️ take care, Steph
Cool Summer may be a term used in colour analysis systems other than the one I use. It may be similar to True Summer, which I'm familiar with, but there may be differences that I don't appreciate, and I may not be able to answer your great questions (like how it differs from other W and Su types). Maybe your colour analyst could direct you towards resources within their system?
Will there be more podcast episodes? I have a podcast/video suggestion: green for 12 seasons.
I would love that.
My own participation in the Chrysalis podcasts may have come to an end. I find myself overwhelmingly busy with other projects and the podcast is a commitment of time that I no longer have. I cannot speak for Jorunn of course, and I do hope that one or two analysts have an interest in continuing that project.
@@ChristineScaman That is understandable. I do enjoy listening to it, though. Maybe Jorunn and Cate or any other willing analyst could record an episode on occasion…
Love how you explain in detail !! I’m a true summer and was told I can wear all the colours in summer sub seasons . Is this true ?
Different colour analysis systems have their own ways of applying Season and using the colour, so it may be a good idea to consult with your analyst. In my view of Seasons, the answer would be, it depends on the colour. There are similar colours between neighbour Seasons and among Season in the same True Season grouping, and some will be better tolerated than others. The True Seasons are defined by high coolness or warmth, which goes along with being least accepting of compromises in this dimension of colour. The warmer colours of the Summer Neutral Seasons may be less wearable for a TSu.
Thanks for this video; I have never been analyzed (saving up for it), but I seem to get the most compliments, and feel I look best, in some of these colors. It's a little confusing, because I have light brown hair & hazel brown eyes, and I would've thought a light summer is more blonde, w/ cool tone eyes. Yet another reason for me to get analyzed!
Glad it was helpful! I hope you're able to know your Season one day. Maybe it will have colour dimensions that are close to Light Summer, explaining the compliments.
This was fun, I was kinda shocked at how bright these colors look in their own context - like sidewalk chalk!
Are you still taking questions re: how to use one's colors? I'm trying to DIY my season (pro analysis is over my budget right now), and have it narrowed down to DA or DW. I'm wondering if I'm subconsciously avoiding DW because of how intense the colors are - I'm introverted, and clothes that are "louder than I am" both feel uncomfortable and send the wrong message to others. If you're interested, I'd love to see a guide on making a subdued/gentle impression with the DW palette. (If not, that's cool. This channel's a goldmine regardless.)
Sidewalk chalk is brilliant! Wow, really good analogy, thank you. Folks often ask about how to do subtle impressions of the Winter Seasons and I'm never sure of the answer. All light outfits look incomplete. Too soft looks powdery. We look for meaning in what we see to guide our decisions and next steps, and when the world sees us as incomplete or powdery, it makes certain choices that may not benefit us. It's so easy to forget that those colours can be a lot when non-Winters wear them, or on a hanger in a store, but when Winters wear them, they're totally normal. The key may be in how we combine them, like more neutrals with one or two colours, which is how Winter colours look most meaningful. There's a video on the channel "Nextdoor Season Colours" that may help find the boundary between two Seasons.
Always taking suggestions for videos :)
Can you do one for light springs? I thoroughly enjoy your content and expertise
I'd be happy to. Videos are much made faster when I have specific questions to focus on. Could you share 4 or 5 questions you have with Light Spring? I see from a comment to another video that something around blue and purple could be a question, could you narrow it down? I appreciate that these are challenging colours to find, although here in Canada, the next few months are prime time for Light Season shopping and it be helpful to read detailed information (30 page e-book) about your Season (and possibly also Light Summer or True Spring, many overlaps). You may already be aware of this, but if not, you'll find them on my website (link in Desc. box) under E-Books.
Perhaps the red bag is a watermelon shade?
Yes I also thought ‘watermelon’!
That's 3 votes for watermelon. I like it because the colour is great and it takes into account the way the water softens the colour.
Those reds look more corally to me. Quite bright.
You mean with the strawberry sorbet bag, backpack and skirt? The skirt and backpack are bright for sure, but for an occasion when a person might want a little extra, they could be nice and still make an outfit with colours we already own. Like safe stretching :)
@@ChristineScaman a delicate reach for a little colour punch?
Exactly! Good to know where to look :)
PLEASE DO A VIDEO ON A JEWEL WINTER! 💜
Jewel Winter is a term from a different system of colour analysis, but you might find information you could apply in any video on this channel relating to True Winter or Bright Winter. Once the video shows the colours, you could compare them with your own palette and see if there are similarities.
Is a jewel winter the same as a true winter? Are they both the same thing?
Thank you to anyone who answer. God bless
❤❤❤
I’d be interested in different blues for the flows of summer.
A great suggestion, thank you!
Can a light summer be olive also? Do you find some light summers so cool they're a cool summer but super light? Many things turn orange on me, I have recently learned that this can be due to olive but I'm light, natural blonde, light green cool green eyes, pale skin with a slight pink in it.
I'm not able to provide a specific answer about olive (or any other) skin tone and Season. Many variations are possible within any Season, beyond the lightness or darkness of the complexion. Yellow beige or rosy beige as just two examples that may be seen in LSu with lighter surface pigmentation. Many Seasons have a variation of olive, if the term refers to a yellow-green tone, with variations in brightness or saturation.
I do see LSu who are very near TSu, but the difference isn't lightness, it's warmth. Complexion colour can appear to change due to warmth of the drape colour, also amount of warmth, also saturation level of the warmth, and so on. It often comes down to degrees of the colour dimensions, meaning how light, how orange, and so on.
If ever you're able to have an in-person colour analysis, every question should be answered, along with knowing your Season :)
@@ChristineScaman Thank you for your very thorough reply! I appreciate that a lot. I have been draped twice, 4 season only, summer both times. I will look into being draped by one trained in your system. Gabrielle Arruda gave you credit for her recent draping, absolutely amazing for her! Thank you again!
Thank you so much for these videos! I have learned a ton! I am not seeing one on “your best green”. Do you have that one and I’m just not finding it? I was diagnosed by a House Of Colour analyst as true summer/pastel summer. I thought I was a soft summer, leaning toward autumn, so I have been collecting tons of green. I need to know which ones to let go of! Any clarification would be much appreciated. Can I wear gray green?
Wonderful to know that the videos have helped you, thank you. We haven't done green yet. Because each Season has so many greens, the subject would have to be divided, probably cool Seasons and warm ones. For gray green where the gray is easily visible, a version appears in the Soft Seasons, True Summer has gray green among its neutrals, and Light Summer doesn't have a version that comes to mind.
@@ChristineScaman Ah, that makes perfect sense! I have a pearl necklace that was my late mother's, which I'm trying to decide if it works for me. I'm not sure how to even describe what color it is, but I'm calling it gray-green. It's a choker, so it's worn right next to the face. I'm not seeing a color like it in my swatch fan from HoC. When I put it next to silver, it harmonizes, but when I put it next to gold, it looks not quite right. Yet it doesn't seem to be blue-green like the greens in my palette, so it has me stumped. When I put it next to clothes that I know are my correct colors, it looks great. But when I put it next to something olive green or yellowish tan it looks fine, too. Maybe it's one of those transition colors. I might decide I'm wearing it whether it's my best color or not; I love the necklace, and this is not meant to put us in a box but rather to liberate us! I was typed 30 years ago as a summer, but I guess back then we didn't know sub-types. I discovered makeup a couple years ago in my late 50s and was having the worst time finding the right foundation shades, so I decided to get typed again a couple weeks ago. I'm having so much fun decluttering the things that don't work for me and getting new things in beautiful colors that do! Thanks for listening! I hope you do the green video!!
Wearing items we love is important and it sounds as though the necklace is neutral enough that it might work with quite a few colours. Pearl also has a lovely reflectivity for Summers.
@@ChristineScaman thank you so much!!
Hi, I recently did a color color analysis and found out I was a light summer. I really like diamonds but im a afraid that it could be to harsh sometimes for my skintone. My color analysis said that I could wear diamonds as long as I balance it with a softer outfit. can you give me tips of What type of diamonds should I avoid wearing? I know that Baguette cut, Asscher cut and Emerald cut diamonds don't sparkle so much so mabye thats the way to go? would like a tennis chain or bracelet be to much you thing? Thank you
Congratulations on learning your Season :) Colour analysis systems vary in their methods and advice, and you know a lot. more about the shapes of jewelry than I do. Diamonds can be lovely because they reflect light and don't alter the skin tone, although I'd agree that large stones placed near the face may take centre stage. Smaller stones can be beautiful in earrings and necklaces. Further from the face, slightly larger stones are fine too. Overall, the shape and scale of jewelry seems best when its suits the shape and scale of the person wearing it more than the colour Season, and a bracelet would be a very good choice.
@@ChristineScaman Thank you! Very good and useful content on your Chanel :)
Would it be ok for a bright winter dark brown hair to put in some light brown highlights
Hair colour is a one-person-at-a-time decision and my thoughts may be more for an 'average' dark brown BW hair colour than yours. Second thing to keep in mind about chemical hair colour is that there's always a trade-off or risk of some sort so it's essential to know what you want to accomplish with this choice or change in your appearance.
On average, I'd have two concerns with your hair. First is the colour, which depends on the light brown. I have difficulty imagining what colour will actually be an improvement over what you have already. If I picture BW persons of various depths of skin tone, none look better with light brown highlights, whether eyes are blue and the overall look is cool, or eyes are dark brown and the natural look is Autumn or Winter-like.
Second concern is the reflectivity, which chemical colour doesn't replicate well for the Brights. Some have naturally light brown hair, like herbal teas, and it's phenomenal, but chemical colour is more opaque than the glassy quality of the natural colour. Between these possible outcomes, the final colour may look striped, bleached, ashy, or brassy. The best bet may be to try a few strands with your chosen colour in the lower half, in strands beneath the top layer. Brings the risk as low as possible and helps you decide one way or the other.
@@ChristineScaman I really appreciate the detailed answer I was having second thoughts and this confirmed it. Thank you 🙏
Glad it helped!
I have brown-black hair, fair skin and dark hazel eyes.
What I'm sure that I look so much better in muted colors.
My worst colors are any dark colors ( especially black) and any bright colors. Off-white look good on me but make me A bit yellowish. True white make me look tired. Which color season do you think i belong to ? Thanks in advance ❤
I wish I could give you an answer, but even if you sent me a photo, I could not know your Season. How Season is identified is by a series of colour comparisons placed beneath your face and observing how your natural colours React. Your observations are perceptive but between 12 Seasons, we would need to fine tune them. When you say muted colours, we would want to define how muted. And then how warm and how light or dark.