My Story
When I was a kid, every time I visited Home Depot with my dad, I collected a few paint chips. My dad is a general contractor and we visited Home Depot a lot, which means that I collected A LOT of paint chips. My dad said that he found boxes with hundreds of them while he was cleaning out their garage recently.
Actually, I can’t lie, I still collect paint chips every time I go to Home Depot. So, it’s safe to say that I’ve always been pretty obsessed with color.
Then, when I was in high school I came across Carole Jackson’s Color Me Beautiful. It was like all my color dreams had come true! Okay, so the book was a little outdated. The women shown had very obvious 80’s hair and clothes but the color charts were still very relevant. Colors for each season, which translated to a person’s coloring.
This book explained why certain colors looked good on certain people while others washed them out. The possibilities were endless. You could be more confident when buying clothes. Your wardrobe could became more coordinated. You could stop wasting money on clothes that didn’t suit you and grow confidence from receiving compliments from friends and even strangers.
I self-analyzed myself as an Autumn because my skin has a yellow undertone, I have dark brown hair with natural red-tones in the sun, and deep brown eyes. Now, if you have coloring like this, it’s also possible to be classified as a Winter. But I was pretty confident that I was an Autumn. After all, warm colors like orange and even deeper, richer shades of brown were flattering on me. I looked good in gold jewelry. I was very happy in my red/brown lipsticks, brown/gold/copper eyeshadows, and rich peachy blushes.
But I also looked good in black. And silver/white gold jewelry looked good on me too. The seasons are further divided into Clear, Warm, Light, Deep, Cool, and Soft. So, that must make me a Deep Autumn. Because technically, the only people that “can” wear black are Winters. Or possibly Deep Autumns and Clear Springs because these types have a more neutral coloring.
I realized recently that I have always worn both yellow gold and white gold, and almost always intermixed as well. What could this mean?
When I decided to get certified as a color analyst, I discovered that it’s estimated that only 20% of the world’s population have a neutral coloring. The majority are either warm or cool. If you’re warm, gold toned jewelry will be best on you and if you’re cool, silver toned jewelry will be best on you.
My instructor and fellow students helped me to see that I am actually not an Autumn or a Winter. Or a Spring for that matter. I’m actually just Bright or Clear. This was so liberating to me! I now understood my own coloring so much better which has helped me to understand others’ coloring better.
I love helping my clients to discover and understand their personal coloring and see them become more confident, knowing that what they’re wearing gets them noticed for the right reasons instead of the wrong ones.
I was an extremely shy child and have suffered from social anxiety my entire life. There were so many times that I felt like I had nothing important to say or that no one would care about what I had to share.
I truly believe that color has the power to change the world. Color made me realize that I am a human being and worth listening to.
I would love to help you be confident and noticed too.
