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Free Personal Color Analysis

I’ve reviewed a number of books and websites and used my color analysis experience to see if I can offer a reliable self color assessment. This is what I’ve found...

The ‘In Your Wardrobe’ Approach

Trinny and Susannah (TV stylists on the first UK What Not to Wear program) don’t subscribe to flow seasonal or seasonal color analysis. However they do suggest a novel approach which I’ve adapted here for seasonal color analysis.

You will need…

Your wardrobe of clothes
A full length mirror
Good natural daylight
And perhaps a good friend to help you. One that you can trust to tell you the truth!

The idea is that in your current wardrobe you have clothes in a range of colors. For each color category there will likely be a range of hues, temperatures, values and intensities (see the sidebar Understanding Color on this page ).

Sort your clothes into piles by color category. For example all reds together, all blues together and so on . Ignore the ones that are a mix of colors. Don’t worry about whether you actually wear the garment or even like it. We’re just looking at colors here.

For each color category pile take a garment and drape it under your chin, from shoulder to shoulder. Look in the mirror and see what the color does to your skin, hair, eyes and overall facial appearance.

Self Assessing with Help from a Friend?
If you’ve enlisted a friend who has different colors in their wardrobe you could try draping some of their clothes too.

The Reject Pile

Does it…

Throw shadows up onto your face?
Make you look grey, yellow, orange, blue
Emphasise facial contours and lines?
Emphasise dark circles under your eyes?
Make your eyes and teeth look yellow or grey or dull?
Make your skin or hair look flat, dull and lifeless?
Dominate your face, so your eyes are dragged down towards the garment?

If it does any of the above put it into a ‘reject’ pile.

The Accept Pile

Or does it…

Light up your face (skin, hair and eyes)?
Make your eyes sparkle?
Emphasise the color of your eyes?
Make you look healthy and vivacious?
Draw your eyes up towards your face?

If it does any of the above put it into an ‘accept’ pile.

Your Personal Best Colors

At the end you should have a pile of clothes whose colors suit you. Take a look at the seasonal color ranges here and pick which season this range predominantly falls into. If in doubt analyse the color’s temperature, value and intensity.

Making Clothes in the Wrong Colors Work
No need to throw out clothes that aren't in your best colors. Make them work better for you instead, by minimizing the amount of the wrong color reflecting onto your face.

It's only colors above the waist that reflect onto your face. So it may be possible to make a top or dress work by wearing a jacket or cardigan in one of your colors. Or by adding a scarf or necklace in the right color.

Verdict of the ‘In Your Wardrobe Approach’

This method sounds good in theory. However, before I had my colors done (many, many years ago) I don’t think I had even 1 item of clothing in my wardrobe in 1 of my colors! However, many of my customers do seem to have an innate leaning towards their best colors. So, I guess I was an extreme example.

Why Have a Professional Color Analysis?
Even if you do have an innate ability to pick the best colors for you most of the time it helps to know why these colors are right for you. This way you can always pick your best colors and save wasting time, energy and money on the maybe 20% of wrong choices. Or, if you want to try a different color to the usual colors you head for it is good to do so knowing you are picking a good color for you.

An Image Consultant will also teach you other factors involved, as well as color, in choosing clothes that work for you. Such as contrast levels and fabric characteristics that will work best for your coloring.

If you’re one of the people who generally picks their best colors then by all means try this method.

If you’re more like I was and feel you hardly ever look good in the colors you pick then this method will not be for you.

The Self Assessment Quiz Approach

The other main technique I’ve found is to answer a number of questions about your coloring and color preferences. There are a few websites around offering various ‘flavors’ of quizzes. Some are based on hair color only, others on skin and hair. I haven’t yet found one that looks at skin, hair, and eyes.

The way you answer the questions determines the choices on the questions you are asked next. For example if you answer light golden blonde for hair color your choices of skin color are different from if you picked cool dark brown for your hair color.

Each quiz results in either a general classification (for example, Warm colors suit you best), or in a specific seasonal classification (either Winter, Summer, Autumn or Spring).

Verdict of Self Assessment Quizzes

Out of the 6 quizzes I took only 1 correctly determined that I am an Autumn. Not a particularly encouraging success rate! And certainly not reliable enough to risk replacing all your clothes!

Overall Verdict of Free Personal Color Assessment

So far I haven’t found an approach that is particularly reliable. If you already have a good feeling for the colors that suit you best then the ‘In Your Wardrobe’ approach described above might work for you. However, the self assessment quiz approach seems too hit-and-miss.

Perhaps this quiz approach could work if the quiz was crafted carefully enough. And if it supplied enough pictures of skin, hair and eye colors to help you understand how to answer accurately.

Maybe the quiz approach would work better if combined with the ‘In Your Wardrobe Approach’.

I am working on creating a reliable DIY assessment quiz. (Watch this space!)

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