If You Want to Discover Your Best Colors, You Need to Stop Trying to Find out Whether You Are a Spring, a Summer, an Autumn, or a Winter
30 years ago, no one knew better but we do now
On January 5th, 2024, The Times in London wrote that the GenZ are flocking to get their colors done (1,4 billion views on TikTok color analysis).
On April 5th 2024, New York Times wrote: “Are You a “Spring” or a “Winter”? It Could Cost You $500 to Find Out.
Great stories, but if you are categorized as one of the four seasons, you are not getting the whole story.
Color analysis has evolved in the past 30 years, just like everything else.
Instead of looking for a season, you need to focus on your dominant color characteristics.
You need to think about what kind of colors resonate with your own colors because the seasons don’t offer all the information you need to discover your personal best colors.
It is easy to get it wrong if you only look at the four alternatives because people have more types of colorings than just four.
There Is More
First it was four seasons, then they were divided into three types of each season. This was a bit complicated, and people easily lost interest.
It was clear that there had to be more alternatives, so the best solution was to group colors according to their characteristics.
I also started out working with the four seasons, like everyone else in those days. It was all brand new at the time and it took a few years for people to get their head around the concept and to accept the fact that there was value in learning about it.
Colors make a difference. They are everywhere either working for us or against us.
My worldview changed quite a bit during all those years of consulting people from all walks of life and training consultants. It was interesting to say the least.
As with everything, we learn by experience and understand more as we keep on doing something and start questioning things that were not questioned before.
That’s how things usually work and that is what happened with color analysis, too.
The reason why it is not so easy to find your own colors is because there are many different color characteristics at play at the same time.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter Doesn´t Cut It
The first time I heard about color analysis was when a friend recommended a book by Carole Jackson. It was about how colors can be divided into the four seasons and that people can be categorized accordingly. It was a good place to start but after a while, we realized it was not enough.
Just like the seasons, we too, are a part of nature. Nature is not black and white.
It seems complex with so many different colors of people and colors, but once you learn more, it is not. It is simple but at the same time it is not simple.
Think: what colors do you see at springtime? Then think about what colors you see in the summer. Do the same for autumn and winter.
That´s a clue.
There is much more to finding out the result, i.e. which range of colors you need to be wearing to look your best and stand out so that people will stop in awe to look at you.
That is what happens when you do.
Everyone´s colors are beautiful. You need to love your own colors because they are what they should be. You can wear all colors when the shade and intensity match your own shade and intensity of colors.
When this happens, we call it beautiful.
Fashion and Trends Are About Something Else
Fashion is fun, but it is a runaway train.
The fashion world has taken advantage of using colors in extreme ways to catch our eye. Each season something wild is created so that people will keep on buying new products. This is not what is necessarily needed in real life. Fashion is more entertainment but because today to everyone has access to everything, there is a challenge to keep up.
It is easy to use colors that scream: LOOK AT ME! All you need to do is to wear colors that overpower your own colors. This is what is happening right now, and the consequences are not what we originally wanted.
When we use colors like children in a candy shop, mixing everything with everything, people see the colors and forget who was wearing them.
We are people and we live a normal life and want to be noticed in a positive way that helps us to have a good life. The fact of the matter is that when we are comfortable in our own skin, other people are attracted to us. When our own colors resonate with the colors we put on, we are a complete package of harmony. That is pleasing to the eye.
Colors help you relay the message that you are in harmony with yourself. Others interpret what they see as beautiful.
You get noticed.
When you see others looking at you wanting to ask you something but can´t quite put their finger on what to ask or are asking you “has something good happened to you?” you will know that you have succeeded in finding your best colors.
Today many people are using colors that are “arguing” with their own colors because it is popular to be loud. The music is played loud, people are shouting and screaming, and screaming colors are jumping at us from every screen.
Yes, that gets our attention and marketing people have discovered that bright bold colors attract attention and sell their stuff better.
The question is: how do you want to be noticed?
All this screaming gets to be too much after a while. It must have an effect our wellbeing on a broader level.
There Is Hope for Better
Everyone is online today engaged in a never-ending atmosphere of extremes.
Since the GenZ have now discovered color analysis after 30 years, there is hope that we are getting tired of all the screaming that has become the new normal.
That people are wanting to settle down to a quieter kind of being.
Like Mother Nature intended.
We need harmony because it feels good.
Since the young people are again discovering color analysis, they need information that takes them on the right path. Colors are basic building blocks we all need and can use for our benefit.
We already made all the mistakes 30 years ago. There is no reason for everyone to repeat the same mistakes.
Colors Can Be Your “Secret Power”
Colors are much more than we can imagine.
The concept of finding your own best colors is simple and at the same time it is not simple.
There is a reason that every year in the spring, light, bright green leaves come back to life in nature. After a while they turn into a softer green in the summer months and in the autumn, they start to become red, yellow, and brown until they fall off. In the winter, the scene is dark.
People are a part of this cycle in their own way. Just like wolves are grey and lions are yellow because they live in surroundings that resonate with their own colors.
If you have noticed that some colors make you look like a million dollars while others seem to wipe you out completely, you need to know why this happens.
It is because your personal coloring is either “hitting it off” with the vibrations of your clothes/make-up/hair color/etc. or they are repelling each other.
This is because colors are vibrations and frequencies, and you have your own vibration and frequency. They need to match to be part of the flow. The flow is beautiful.
Just like everything else, people, colors and everything are vibrations and frequencies.
We just call it “looking great” or “looking terrible”.
Same thing.
What Should I Look For?
You, as a person, are a combination of colors. We all are. Some of us have blond hair while others have dark or red hair or something in between. People have many shades and intensities of color when you look at their hair, eyes, and skin.
You don’t need a magnifying glass to examine these characteristics. Take a selfie and have a good look at what you see. Or have a sit down with a friend or two. Ask them what they see.
Sometimes we can´t see clearly when we look at our own colors.
Think of moods when looking at different colors on you and others. There are some colors that are universal, meaning that they go well with almost anyone. Soft white is one of these colors, so it is a safe color to choose when you need a white but don´t know what is your best white.
Pure white, on the other hand, is a color that emphasizes its user only if they have a certain type of strong coloring.
Color Analysis in a Group
Color analysis is best done in a small group for many reasons.
To give you an example:
During one consultation, a customer who had blond hair, blue eyes and light skin became very upset when I showed her that her best colors would be light colors. After a couple of tests, we could both see that it was the light, cool colors, which were the best.
Everything went well, until I told her that she was a light Summer. This means that she could wear all light and cool colors successfully. Black was not a part of her color scheme, especially next to her face.
She was mortified. She said that everyone in her family has blond hair and that she was the darkest blond in her family. She wanted to be categorized as a deep Winter because she loved black, and she had always been told by her family that she was the darkest in their family.
Fortunately, we had a group of ladies at that session, and they agreed with me that she needed light cool colors and that the Winter colors would overpower her own colors.
It is good to have more eyes on a person when determining her/his best colors. If for nothing else, for moral support.
I am sure she had the darkest colors in her family, but her colors were not dark enough to wear the strongest colors that exist. It is a question of what colors to compare.
A person who needs deep colors to enhance their own colors needs to have similar coloring — one way or another. There are two categories for people who have strong coloring, and they are Autumn and Winter.
There is an abundance of colors in this world. If your coloring is deep, you would need to find out what kind of deep colors you would need. Autumn deep means warm, strong colors, whereas Winter deep means cool, strong colors.
In this case we looked only at the light and deep categories in a nutshell. The other characteristics we need to look at are warm, cool, soft, and clear. They are all equally important.
There are people who need mostly warm or cool colors. Those would be some of the people with red hair = warm or grey hair = cool.
I used to have dark brown hair, light skin, and dark brown eyes. My dominant color used to be deep. With my white hair today, my dominant color characteristic is cool and therefore I look best in cool, deep colors. Some people´s coloring changes as they age, so they need to adjust accordingly.
It is not only the people with white hair that need a cool coloring. There are also lots of young people who need their colors cool to look their best.
The other characteristics to think about are soft and clear. There are a lot of people on this planet, to who this applies and if they are told that they are one of the four seasons, they may never find their best colors.
Simple is Best
This might sound complicated, but I promise you, it simplifies the whole concept of color analysis.
It took me years of working with people, but it was all worth it to discover how and why colors work like they do. It is no secret. It is just a question of understanding what Mother Nature had in mind.
Instead of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, try thinking:
Light
Deep
Warm
Cool
Soft
Clear
Which of these color characteristics resonates with your coloring? If you can´t decide on one, choose two and start experimenting.
For some reason, we people think we know it all, but we don´t. We can either learn what colors can do for us or just keep on going like we have always done and waste money on things that do not support our own wellbeing.
There is no reason to buy stuff that does nothing for you because this kind of thinking, in addition to you not being happy with your purchases, it accumulates mountains of waste.
The key to colors is that they, too, are energy. Silent energy that always works in the background. When colors “click” with your personal coloring, we say it makes you look more beautiful.
Knowing your own best colors can be your “secret power” and make life more enjoyable for you.
Colors are free.
If you have never had the experience of feeling good in certain colors or had someone stop in their tracks when they see you, you can´t know what I´m talking about. You need to experience it for yourself to find out.
It´s a pretty wonderful feeling when people can´t get their eyes off of you. They are wondering what is going on with you but can´t bring themselves to ask because they don´t know what to ask. They are just mesmerized.
That must be a reason why I have been hooked on colors all these years.
You can begin by thinking back about which clothes you had the best time of your life in. Which pieces of clothing do you always go back to? In which colors do you feel more energized? Which colors “pull” you towards them? Which colors catch your attention?
Once you learn the system of categorizing colors by their characteristics, you will begin to see colors differently. It will help you to see and understand which type of colors will support your own coloring and help make the best you.
When you have discovered which colors are your best ones you might only need to test a few colors if you want to do some finetuning.
There is no mystery. It is a very natural way of looking at colors.
Colors “click” when they are in harmony with your coloring giving you that inner glow that people notice.
The best thing about using this system is that it works.
