I love to people watch. It's amazing how much you learn just by looking at how people dress, how they walk, their facial expression, and for most ladies, how they make up.
Most people have a good sense of color combination. And I guess knowing what color goes with your skin tone comes naturally. I read somewhere that a child usually pick out colors that pleases their eyes, and these colors compliment their skin tone very nicely. Maybe mothers out there should try to remember what kind of colors their child chooses to pass on this info to him/her when he/she grows up. But then again, the natural skin tone may change due to exposure in the sun and the likes.
To know what color suits you, you'll need to find out what kind of skin tone you have.
Determining your skin tone:
Skin tones can be separated into the 4 seasons, namely winter, autumn, summer and spring. To find out if you're warm or cool, hold a pure white fabric/tissue, whatever that is purely white (not ivory) around your neckline to stop colors from your clothes reflecting on your face. Warm people have a yellow or golden tone, while cool have a pink or blue tone. Got it? On to the seasons.
Winter (cool):
These people have blue or pink undertones. Their skin can be pale white, yellowish-olive, or dark. Brunettes, with deeply colored eyes generally fall into this category. Mostly found in Asians or African Americans. I'm also in this category =) Famous winters: Alicia Keys, Zhang Ziyi
Summer (cool):
Summer is also a cool skin tone and like winter skin tones, these people have blue or pink undertones. Their skins are usually pale and pink. Natural blonds, and pale skin toned brunettes with pale eyes belong to this category. Famous summers: Gweneth Paltrow, and maybe, Nicole Kidman. Cate Blanchett probably belongs here too.
Winter vs Summer:
Winter hair is black or ash black brown without highlights, while eyes are blue, brown, hazel, or green.
Summer hair is ash blonde or light ash brown without highlights, while eyes are blue gray or blue green.
Autumn (warm):
These people have golden undertones like pale peach, golden beige or golden brown, looks like they have a nice tan. Many redheads and brunettes with golden brown eyes fall into this category. In my opinion, these people look warm and sunny. Famous autumns: Jessica Alba. I am also guessing Angelina Jolie belongs to here.
Spring(warm):
Spring complexions have golden undertones and are usually creamy white or peach. They generally have straw-colored or strawberry red hair, freckles, rosy cheeks, and very clear blue or green eyes. Famous springs:
Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox
Autumn vs Spring:
Autumn hair is golden brown, red, auburn, or chestnut, while eyes are dark brown, hazel, or green.
Spring hair is golden blond, golden brown, or red, while eyes are blue, blue gray, blue green, or light turquoise green
Ok, color time!
Coloring yourself:
Winter: Three words: Sharp, stark, clear. Think white, black, navy, shocking pink, dark purple, red. Yes, bold and colorful. But not that colorful. Colors like beige and orange and yellow and golden hues will make winters look zombie-like. Avoid pastels, choose an icy blue, pink or yellow instead. Summer: On a hot summer day, the heat wave and humidity blurs visions, causing the colors to look soft and muted. These are summer colors. Choose light neutrals, pastels (who said pastels won't look good on anyone?), or muted colors with cool undertone. Choose powder blue, dusty pink, mauve, lavender, plum, or pale yellow. Lavender, plum, rose-brown and soft blue also suit summers. What you don't want to do is intense, vivid hues, because it'll make you look wash out. Also avoid black or white, or earthy tones like browns.
Autumn:
Imagine an autumn scene. Orange, gold, brown, warm rich delicious colors come to mind. Autumn is also very earthy, so colors mentioned above, and deep greens, camel, beige will look good on you. Think rich delicious hues. No black or white, unless you want to look old and tired, and no pastels, or blue tones, because that's as bad as putting fire with water.
Spring:
Spring is usually associated with florals, sunshine, and love. Think that way when selecting your wardrobe colors. Camel, peach, golden yellow, golden brown and aqua are perfect for you. Also add vibrant hues of red, like coral, bright greens, and clear blues. Three no-nos: Dark, muted, dull. Doesn't go with the idea of spring anyway. Avoid extreme contrasts like black and white.
Picture Summary:
Disclaimer:
I'm no expert on human color theory, just only some experimenting done on myself. So I'm thinking winter types all fail-proof, and the others, I'll need to wait for feedbacks, and do more research. But basically, I'm not forcing you to stick to this theory. Experiment with colors, find out what suits you, and if your favorite color makes you look horrible, tone down its usage, maybe use this color to accessorise, instead of making it your base color. It's quite simple to look good, it's whether you like how you look in that color or not. And if someone says you look horrible, tell them to scr*w off. =D
If you can't decide what look good on you, feel free to email me with your photo (full length prefereably), and favorite color. I'll give you my humble tips and advices on color matching, and confirming your skin tone. And if I make any mistakes in this color guide, please also email me to clarify, so I can correct the wrongs. There's nothing worse than following bad advices. And I don't wanna be the one issuing them.
Have a nice day!
