Color Analysis: Finding Your Season & Contrast
I am so passionate about color analysis. First, it’s just plain fun. Second, I feel like it’s really helped me see fashion in a different way, and how it can work for me. Whether you’ve been wanting to dip your toes into color analysis or you’ve been wanting to dive in head first, here’s a comprehensive explanation of color analysis, including finding your season and contrast.
What is color analysis?
Color analysis identifies which tones and colors best enhance one’s appearance using the 4 seasons. There are many variations within a season, such as soft, true, and bright, however I’m keeping this guide simple and sticking with the basics.
So what?
Why does color analysis matter? Because it’s a confidence booster. Wearing colors that automatically light up your face will make you feel great. Knowing what colors look best on you also helps you create easy, go-to outfits, optimizes your natural beauty, and is fun!
A little caveat before we dive in: you do not have to wear colors in your season. Color analysis is ultimately supposed to be fun and educational, not a restriction.
Another caveat lol - just because you are not wearing your season does not necessarily mean you look bad. Wearing your colors enhances your beauty, and while some colors truly detract from it, some colors are kind of just neutral.
Finding your season
The first thing to do when trying to find your color season is determining whether you’re cool toned or warm toned. Cool tones are summer and winter, and warm tones are spring and fall.
WARM vs COOL
a. Green veins b. blue/purple veins
a. gold jewelry b. Silver jewelry
a. Blue-green, green, golden flecks in eyes b. True blue, purple, brown eyes
a. cream is your neutral b. Gray as your neutral
a. Honey blond, red head, rich brown ha b. Ashy blonde, brunette, black hair
After you’ve determined whether you’re warm or cool toned, then you can determine which season you are. If you have light features (fair skin, light hair, etc.), you’re either spring or summer. If you have darker features, you’re either fall or a winter.
Here’s this chart to help you:
PLEASE NOTE: warm tones and cool tones are about the tone of the color - NOT the color itself. We all know from elementary school that cool colors are blue, green, and purple, and warm colors are orange, red, and yellow. This is not what we are talking about. The tone isn’t the color itself, but the undercurrent of the color.
Here are some images to help you see each color season, along with celebrities who embody the seasons:
SPRING
SUMMER
FALL
WINTER
It always helps me to see people both in and out of their color season - it really drives home the effects of wearing your season.
Zoe Deschanel - In the first picture, she is in warm, spring tones. Her hair is a warm blonde and her top is a creamy white. The tones do not compliment her, and are washing her out. In the second picture, she has embraced her dark, cool toned hair and is a true winter.
Hailey Bieber - Hailey Bieber is a great example that being out of harmony with your season doesn’t mean you automatically look bad. She looks pretty good with cool tones, but you can see how the warm tones on the right are more harmonious and actively complement her.
Zendaya - again, Zendaya doesn’t look bad in a bright, cool green and black hair. BUT. She looks more vibrant and harmonious on rich, warm tones.
Finding your contrast
Contrast is the difference in the depth of shade between your skin and your hair. It is either low, medium, or high.
Here are some celebrity examples of low, medium, and high contrast:
If you’re having a hard time seeing the contrast, you can turn the images black and white (with no filter) and see the contrast better.
You can see that Amanda Seyfried (left) is low contrast - there’s almost no difference between her skin and her hair. Irina Shayk (middle) has medium contrast. Her skin is mid-toned, and her hair is dark. There’s a notable difference, but it’s not drastic. Anne Hathaway (right), is high contrast. Her skin is very pale, and her hair is extremely dark.
Will changing your hair color change your contrast? Yes! Here are examples of Beyonce over the years with different color contrasts:
On the left, she is low contrast with her honey blonde hair and medium skin. In the middle, she shows a medium contrast with darker hair with blonde highlights, and medium skin. On the left, she is a high contrast, with jet black hair and medium-light skin.
Balancing contrast
Knowing your contrast is helpful so that you neither overpower nor underwhelm yourself. If you have a high contrast, you want to wear deeper shades to feed into your dramatic contrast. For example, Anne Hathaway would look great in darker shades, and lighter shades may wash her out.
Basically, you want to match the shade and depth of your contrast.
Here are some examples of in balance and out of balance contrast:
Sydney Sweeney - on the left, she wore a dark wig for the Met Gala, making her high contrast. However, she feeds into a low contrast look with soft makeup and a light colored dress. To balance the contrast, she could have worn a dramatic lip color, or a darker shade of blue.
On the right, she is a low contrast. She feeds into it with a light colored sweater and light, neutral makeup. It is balanced!
JLO - On the left, JLO is a medium contrast, however she’s wearing a super light and bright dress. Of course, she doesn’t look bad, however she looks out of balanced. On the right, JLO is balanced with a medium toned dress and warm, makeup.
What if I want to wear a shade against my contrast?
Contrast should not limit you and what you wear! Here are ways you can balance shades that aren’t in alignment with your color contrast.
Wear a bold lip - it can help combat your face getting washed out.
Distance the color - wear the color further away from your face, like a strapless neckline.
Sheer color - a great example is black. It can be a harsh color for warm seasons, so wearing black in a sheer fabric takes away it’s harshness.
I hope this comprehensive color analysis has been helpful in understanding and finding your season and your color contrast!
Until next time - may your weekend be full of creativity and style.
