Discover Your Personal Best Colors and Curate a Wardrobe That Harmonizes with Your Unique Beauty
When it comes to building a wardrobe that truly enhances your appearance, understanding your best colors is the essential foundation. Discovering these colors not only boosts your overall look but also brings a range of benefits, including saving money and promoting sustainability as it reduces the resources required to produce unnecessary clothing items. By recognizing the connection between your personal color pattern and your wardrobe, you can make informed choices that eliminate impulse buying and prevent unworn garments from cluttering your closet.
Discovering Your Personal Best Colors:
So, how do you determine which colors work best for you? Discovering your personal best colors involves analyzing the temperature, value, and intensity connections between your unique body coloring and the colors you wear.
Temperature: Warm or Cool Undertones
The first step in this process is identifying whether you have warm, cool, or neutral undertones. Undertone refers to the underlying color beneath your skin's surface, while skin tone refers to the overall color of your skin. It's important to note that undertones and skin tone are not the same thing. Undertones are categorized into three types:
warm: golden, peachy, or yellow undertones,
cool: bluish, red, or pink undertones, and
neutral: a mixture of warm and cool undertones.
Unlike skin tone, which can change due to external factors, your undertone remains consistent throughout your life. Understanding your undertone helps you choose colors for makeup and clothing that enhance your natural complexion.
Simple Tests to Determine Undertones:
Determining your undertone can be done through simple tests that you can try at home:
Check your tan: Observe how your skin tone changes with sun exposure. If you burn easily or tan to rosy or reddish shades, you likely have cool undertones. If your skin turns to peach, golden, caramel, or olive tones, you probably have warm undertones. If your skin doesn't have a predominant shade and burns or tans equally, you may have neutral undertones.
Hold up a white paper: Find a spot with bright, natural light and hold a white piece of paper next to your face. If your skin appears pinkish against the paper, you likely have cooler undertones. If your skin looks yellow against the paper, you probably have warmer undertones. If you don't see an obvious undertone, you may have neutral undertones.
Natural Hair Tone and Eye Color: While not definitive, your natural hair and eye color can provide some clues. Lighter hair and eye colors tend to be associated with cool or neutral undertones, while darker hair and eye colors often indicate warm undertones. However, use this as a guide alongside other tests, as there are exceptions.
Vein color: Examine the veins on your wrist or under your eyes. If they appear more purple/blue, you likely have cool undertones. If they lean towards green, you probably have warm undertones.
Best neutrals: Compare warm and cool neutrals like white vs. cream, gray vs. camel, and black vs. brown against your skin. If you look best in white, gray, and black, you likely have cool undertones. If cream, camel, and brown are more flattering, then warm undertones may be present.
Gold or Silver Test:
To confidently determine whether your undertones lean towards warmth or coolness, you can conduct the “gold and silver test”. Start by gathering gold and silver paper or fabric with a reflective metallic finish. Find a well-lit location, preferably with natural light, where you can comfortably examine the colors against your skin. Ensure your face is clean and free from any makeup or residue that could potentially affect the test results.
Hold the gold metallic paper or fabric against your cheek or jawline, ensuring it covers a substantial area and is well-illuminated. Observe how the gold material reflects light onto your skin and any changes it brings to your complexion, such as enhanced warmth or a radiant glow. Repeat the process with the silver metallic paper or fabric, noting its effects on your skin compared to the gold.
If your complexion appears more radiant, healthy, and harmonious with the gold material, it suggests warm undertones. Conversely, if your skin looks better with the silver material, it indicates cool undertones. Remember to consider other factors such as vein color, natural hair tone, and eye color to get a comprehensive understanding of your undertone.
J.Lo's warm complexion is accentuated by gold and golden-based shades, while Emma Stone's cool complexion is complemented by silver and cooler, non-golden hues.
The Element of Value:
The next consideration is the element of value, which refers to how light or dark a color is. Your personal value is determined by the combination of your skin, hair, and eyes. By wearing colors that are close in value to your personal color pattern, you create a unified appearance from head to toe, making you look taller and trimmer. On the other hand, wearing significantly mismatched values can create a disconnect between your head and your body.
Sonam Kapoor's dark-skinned and dark-haired appearance contrasts with the pale pink, but it is better balanced with the darker, stronger tones in the black and gold combination.
Here are other examples:
Warm Skin, Warm Hair, Warm Eyes: If you have warm-toned skin, warm hair colors such as honey blonde or rich copper, and warm eye colors like hazel or brown with golden flecks, you can enhance your personal value by incorporating earthy tones into your wardrobe. Think warm browns, olive greens, mustard yellows, and rusty oranges. These colors will complement your warm features and bring out your natural radiance.
Warm Skin, Cool Hair, Cool Eyes: If you have warm-toned skin but cool hair color like ash blonde or platinum, as well as cool eye color such as blue or gray, you can create an intriguing contrast in your personal value. Opt for a mix of warm and cool tones in your wardrobe. Pair warm neutrals like camel or beige with cool shades like navy or charcoal gray. This combination will add depth and sophistication to your overall look.
Cool Skin, Cool Hair, Cool Eyes: If you have cool-toned skin with pink or blue undertones, cool hair colors like icy blonde or ash brown, and cool eye colors like green or blue with smoky tones, you can emphasize your personal value by embracing cool colors in your fashion choices. Experiment with shades of blue, purple, silver, and gray. These hues will harmonize with your cool undertones and create a polished and elegant appearance.
Cool Skin, Warm Hair, Warm Eyes: If you have cool-toned skin but prefer warm hair colors like golden brown or auburn, as well as warm eye colors with golden or amber hues, you can balance your personal value by combining cool and warm tones in your outfits. Mix cool pastels like lavender or mint with warm earthy shades like terracotta or mustard. This combination will add dimension and interest to your style.
Intensity:
Intensity, the clarity of a color, also plays a role in finding your best colors. Intense coloring, characterized by bright eyes, hair color, smooth skin, and sleek hair texture, calls for colors that are equally bright and clear. On the contrary, those with gentle, muted coloring should opt for more muted wardrobe colors to enhance their natural glow. It's important to avoid the misconception that wearing overly bright colors will brighten up muted coloring, as it can actually dull the overall appearance. The key is to select colors that are as bright or as muted as one's own color pattern.
Helen Mirren's clear complexion harmonizes beautifully with vibrant, vivid colors such as the yellow on the right, while appearing lackluster when paired with more subdued shades like the gray on the left.
Jessica Biel's understated complexion is accentuated by subdued fashion colors on the left, but is overpowered by bold, vibrant ones like the red and blue on the right. The gray-blue shade of the dress on the left complements the intensity of her striking grey-blue eyes.
Discovering your personal best colors is about harmonizing with your natural features and embracing your unique beauty. By understanding the temperature, value, and intensity connections, you can curate a wardrobe that not only flatters your complexion but also showcases your individuality. So, embark on this colorful journey and let your personal best colors bring out the most radiant version of yourself.
