How to Tell the Difference Between Warm and Cool Colors?
To some people, this might feel like a silly question but it really isn´t. Ever since I first started working with colors, people were most concerned about whether they needed to wear colors that were COOL or WARM.
If your dominant color characteristic is not WARM or COOL, this has little to do with your best color choices. Actually, one of the other dominant color characteristics: DEEP, SOFT, CLEAR and LIGHT, are probably more important than WARM or COOL for you, when making color choices.
Once we understand this, it is very easy to start looking for your best colors in everything, when you want to look great.
Many people know intuitively which colors are good for them because they feel differently in colors they “like”. It is, however, difficult to know whether you like some colors because they are a perfect fit for you, or whether it is just something you were taught to like. Many people have strong feelings about colors.
Years ago, I taught at many beauty schools. In those days, it was a brand new way of categorizing colors and applying them to each person´s make-up and overall appearance. It was very difficult to get it all together and since it was quite challenging to distinguish between 12 different alternatives, people began to just think: do I need my colors WARM or COOL? Somehow, it stopped there, although that was only the beginning and for most people, the WARM or COOL is not the most important criteria at all.
In a palette of WARM colors, all the colors are yellow based. Some are more yellowish and others are less yellowish, even though the undertone is yellow. It is not always visible to the eye, but because of its undertone, it enhances the person´s coloring, with the same undertone, better.
In a palette of COOL colors all the colors are blue based. Some are more blueish and others are less blueish, although the undertone is blue. This works in the same way with a person´s own undertone. In this case blue.
If we think of warm or cool in coloring, we should also think: do we need the warm or cool colors to be deep or light? Do we need them to be clear or soft?
A young lady I knew, had discovered that she needs to wear soft colors but didn´t realize that her soft colors would enhance her coloring better if she chose soft and cool colors instead of soft and warm colors. It made all the difference to her look and how she felt, when she decided to wear cool and soft colors. She said that she had been feeling tired and without energy but it made a complete change in her wellbeing after seeing herself in the mirror in cool and soft colors. She also changed her make-up and tells me that it is very easy to choose a lipstick nowadays!
Today we have come far from those days and people are more color conscious and do get it right more often. There is still quite a bit of fine tuning to be done so that every single person makes beneficial decisions when shopping.
I often hear that people either love or hate red. That is a big sentence. Everyone can wear red, when the shade and intensity corresponds with the shade and intensity of the person´s own colors. A red (and a blue, green, yellow, etc.) can be soft, clear, deep, light, warm or cool. At the same time it can be soft and light or soft and deep and additionally warm or cool. All at the same time. There are so many colors to choose from that everyone can, without doubt, find a wonderful red (and a blue, and green, and yellow, etc.).
To find out more, you can go get your own FREE ProfessionalShopping Guide HERE to begin your own, personal color journey and enjoy the easiness of shopping and getting it right every time!
