To put it in simpler terms, the reason why one may think their colour palette does not work for them is because it does not easily correlate with their natural essence. For example, it may be a bit difficult for someone with dominantly dramatic essence to work with a light spring palette because the colours that come with the light spring palette (mainly pastels) are not typically associated with the intimidating and dominant aspects of dramatic essence that can be more easily captured with darker seasonal palettes (deep autumn/deep winter). However, it may be easier for an individual with dominantly ingenue essence to work with a light seasonal palette because both possess similar qualities that pertain to specific emotions.
Color anylsis works - what doesn't work is seasonal categories and it's crippling people from developing an objective eye and learning color because they're just hunting for their "box" or label.
And people arent getting typed in person. Draping helps so much. Because they give you your actual best colors. By draping you may find there are colors in another season that look good on you because they align with your other characteristics ie your skin color, your contrast, your clarity, your brightness, or how deep or light your features are. Going through the clothes i have already bought, and trying stuff on in the store is so helpful in that regard.
I have never seen Blake Lively typed as anything but a Spring! But I think you're right that the warm toned people look better in everything, and it's the cool toned people who benefit from the right colors. I say this as someone who avoids even standing near yellow, orange, or brown.
I'm warmed toned and I'd disagree to a certain degree. Can't wear anything too bright. Bright spring/bright winter make me look like a thirsty vampire. Same with anything too icy. I can wear some cool tones but they don't look as good as my warm tones. Anything too dusty or too muted I look grey and black is just bleurgh on me
I agree with you; I am warm toned and cannot get near my husbands navy sweater (If I grab in a hurry when I am cold!) or his white tee shirts. I look completely washed out and goulish, almost like a corpse, so unhealthy. I have read that a warm navy is supposed to work for us, but you try and find it in the shops! I have never found a navy that does not wash me out. @@chellep7463
@@chellep7463Haha yeah. It's all about dominant and worst characteristics. One doesn't need to be focused only on the colour hue. There are also chroma and value in colours. And everyone got their own best and worst characteristics in colours.
"warm toned people look better in everything" heavy disagree I look ill in bright colours or heavily diluted colours. My hair and eyes are deep soft warm colours, dark, skin is medium. Colours that fit me are deep and soft and dark. That's not an accident. But I have a friend who is pale and hair si more towards black. and she looks amazing in bright colours that are saturated like a very bright red. Also friend who is pale and with hair darker dirty blonde and light brown eyes and she also looks amazing in bright colours that are tinted like pastels
me too dude! LOL. I got this camel brown coat for Christmas and now that I learned my best colors I'm running and screaming away from brown, tan, yellow, orange. Lol.
I like the color season system as a base for understanding how the saturation of a color interacts with contrast. The very lightest and very darkest of colors cannot be very saturated, and when they do appear 'bright' such as with optic white or shiny black, they will appear cooler rather than warmer. This means that the very highest of contrasts will often lean cool. Also, if you bring the coolest colors blue, indigo, and bluegreen to their brightest, they will appear way darker than the warmest bright colors yellow, orange, and acid green. This creates a critical interaction between contrast levels and saturation when you are warm or cool, meaning you cannot analyze these three aspects of color separately. In addition, I tend to think of colors you wear as creating matches and contrast with different aspects of your personal color. Your brain works in such a way where these matches will happen even if the colors are not the same (people with grayish or hazel eyes can attest to their color changing property when you wear different colors). If two colors are similar enough, your brain will just say they are the same for ease of processing. You are wearing blue and your eyes are blueish? Psh basically the same- eyes appear the same color blue. However, this happens for every single aspect of color you have. My skin is very close to neutral, a very light warm and delicate. Low saturation warm colors match temperature with my skin, making it appear warm. However, low saturation cool colors like navy blue, dark cool gray, and light pink also match temperature with my skin, making me appear cool. But push the color to a more saturated cool and my skin contrasts, appearing warm again. My favorite colors interact in more than one way with me. Matching with my hair and contrasting my skin, or matching both saturation and brightness with my skin. My worst colors don't match or contrast. White is too light to match with my skin, but my skin is too light to contrast and make me appear tanned. It also does not make my hair appear darker since my dark hair already contrasts with my skin. It looks separate. I believe this can apply to any aspect of color. To figure out your best colors, you need to figure out where a color is matching or contrasting with you, and if you like the resulting effect.
That is quite some thought you have put into your comment. What you say actually makes a lot of sense to me. You basically pointed out how our brain works when we are mindful of our color choices in our clothing n style. 😊
The flaw in all systems is they don't take personality and personal taste into account - you can be right by every "system" but if it doesn't reflect your personality you will look faded
This is such an important topic I should probably make a video on it. It's not either or. The systems are the technical skills that make expressing your style easier.
in the technical analysis i only take into account the temperature, intensity, deepness and contrast of the person i'm analyzing. throughout the process i'm asking the person how they're feeling and if i reach a tie or i'm unsure, i ask what is that the person likes best, their image desire and how they want to be perceived by others. don't care about body type - i don't take that in consideration at all, just visual weight and how the person wants their body to look like [i don't go directly to harmonizing their looks]
also, there are people with olive skin - i'm one of them - and olive skin can be tricky. my sking appears to be warm, but in fact it's cool, but because of it, there are some cool colors i can't wear in make up, for example. i have to wear warm blushes, so i don't look dead. but cool lips and eyes are perfect. i can't wear warm yellows, i can't wear oranges, cause i look too yellow. most cool colors for my clothes on the top work better.
I’ve discovered that not everyone fits into every system (myself included). Better to take what works for you, discard what doesn’t and never get stuck following definitive rules.
Yes, I was typed by Merriam as cool & delicate with high contrast. There is no option for me in any of the season systems. My eyes are a medium teal and my hair is medium brown so I would probably be placed in soft summer but my body type is dramatic with dramatic essence so bumping my colors to a higher contrast is most harmonious. I can definitely pull off all the soft summer colors but look my best in slightly darker ones. It's surprisingly hard to find dark muted colors in clothing so I end up dying alot of my clothes.
Hi, Merriam. Would you do a video about best colors for different body types? I felt very difficult to find the best color and color analysis doesn’t work. Thank you.❤
Youre speaking from my heart, Im a white girl. I thought in the past that because im white, I should wear cool toned no contrast pastels. The issue here is that im 173 cm and I have eastern European features meaning strong eyebrows, dark hair and ivory skin. Since I started wearing more black and contrasted it with warm creams and neutrals, my life has changed, is like my facial features are finally showing up. What you're saying is so true. I believe you, theres so much confusion.
Being white doesn‘t mean you should wear low contrast colors. If you have high contrast in your feautures you should wear high contrast colors to match that.
Very interesting Merriam! For me it was that I have dark eyes, dark hair and cool olive skin. I supposed to be deep winter but then realized soft/muted summer works best with me. I am a DC
same for me. I have pale, yellow toned skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair that has strong golden tones. Classic toasted or dark autumn by seasonal color analysis lol I am a SD and I feel dark colors drag me down even if they are warm toned. I feel like I need a light colored piece in a very dark outfit, especially if it's black, to make it work on me. I am so contrasted yet I don't like colors that give me that extreme contrast. I think muted and mid toned colors look the best on me as they give me contrast, but are still light enough.
I love listening to you talking about colour. I trust your system of warm to cool spectrum more than the seasons system. Maybe it's easier for me to wrap my head around it or maybe it just works so well for me, that I don't need to know more.
This is why I find Dressing Your Truth is actually incredibly accurate - because it's looking at bone structure to determine type, and therefore color direction (its a 4 type system, like Artistic License, so there is a lot of freedom within each palette). All of the ladies in your examples of seasonal conflict are Type 1's, analogus to Spring - warm and bright. And absolutely, heavy Autumn colors would weigh them down and overwhelm. When you take the visual trickery of a person's perceived coloring out of the equation, the resulting color palette is often more harmonious with body type and personality.
The colors you are wearing here work beautifully on you! We are the same coloring, and so I'm taking note. In addition, i think you are so on point with this concept...can this be a new way of looking at body typing and color overall...it would be a super custom feature to artistic license, perhaps. I even think Kibbe himself, in the end, didn't believe Kibbe is a definitive guideline to follow.❤
Completely agree, as a FG/MT and soft delicate, I look a bit pale/drab in muted colors. I need a ton a contrast, loads of black to look lively. Thank you, I learned so much from you over the years 😊
I’m warm and delicate and rounded mixed. (typed by you) Brown is my worst color! And I thought I was a cool olive. Thanks to you everything cleared up in my head 🤍 video suggestion: foundation colors from different beauty brands for olive warm and delicate. I’m still struggling to find my match! All warm olive foundations make me look gray! Especially on the chin and around mouth area (area of pigment like a male beard) Thank you for everything you do 🙏 You’re a genius Merrriam! 💕
This video is a bit confusing for me. On what basis are Isla Fisher and Salma Hayek Autumn, and Blake Lively a Summer? Both Isla and Salma look muddy in earth tones so clearly neither are Autumns. Isla looks like a True Spring. Salma - not so sure, could be some a Dark Winter or even Bright Spring (neutral leaning). Blake has obvious warmth and lightness so seems to be a Light Spring...
the point is that people look at their own features and then classify themselves to figure out their best colors. If you already know your best shades, why would you bother with color analysis. This is why seasonal color analysis is bs. I am an autumn, but look the best in mid toned, warm, muted colors with no red. I can also pull of some spring colors as I am super yellow, pale and with a high contrast, so green, yellow and gold in bright shades look better than a muted warm red or orange on me. An all dark outfit still drags me down, even as an SD. This is why every individual needs to look at themselves as an individual and not a category. Two people in the same category of color analysis and/or body typing can look good in vastly different colors.
@@Laura-vs6fs my point is that determining one's season based on hair colour, eye colour and skin colour is wrong. If that were the case, all brown women (black hair, brown eyes, tan skin etc) would be Dark Autumns or Dark Winters. Your season is determined by what colours, temperatures, chromas and brightness levels are most harmonious with your skin.
I was characterized as a true autumn, however I feel like bright cooler colors like baby blue or pink make me more vibrant and get me more compliments than wearing toned down earthy tones for example. So I began to hesitate to believe this "seasonal system“.. really interesting take on it
Great video. I’ve had a similar experience. I have bright warm skin like a bright spring but light blonde hair which excludes me from that category. There really isn’t anywhere to put me either. But the thing is, even though light blonde hair is technically in other categories, I still have the medium contrast of a bright spring because my skin is so bright and so extremely light that it still provides contrast even against my blonde hair. If I take a photo of myself and turn it black and white, I actually look high contrast. To further complicate things, I am a dramatic! So wearing the darkest colors in the bright spring palette works best. I wear a lot of black and sure, it looks slightly intense on me, but my personal is quite serious and intense so it’s actually quite on-brand for me. Now that I’ve learned the effect certain colors have on me, I try to intentionally create the effect I want vs sticking to one single color category.
Wow! I would love to see a picture of you! Sounds so interesting but frustrating I’m sure. I have opposite problem - don’t fit neatly as dark autumn or deep winter.
For me the seasonal system didn't work. I'm some kind of spring, probably light spring (warm light skin and light golden-blonde hair, blue-grey eyes). There are so many colors in the spring palettes that don't look great on me (all the greys, chocolate brown, all purples and lilacs, turquoise, most beiges and tans). In the Artistic Licence system I think I'm in between warm & bright and warm & muted - and I learned, just to look for warm springcolors that are a little softer (in summer brighter warm colors are ok, too, or sometimes contrasting blues). That helped tremendously. I'm suspecting I'm something in between a blended sharpened and a mixed taut body type. Too muted colors look drab on me - even when they are warm, they wash me out and I kinda fade into the background. Too bright and it overpowers me. Too many colors or too weird patterns look horrible on me, but minimal details look boring. So I actually mix the line recommendations from DC and FG, that works quite well.
this was an amazing video because it confirms some of the choices I've made intuitively. I'm soft gamine and soft summer but a lot of the soft grays in that palette look drab on me because I need more playful, upbeat colors and combinations to match my body type. similarly, my fiancé is a warm and muted soft dramatic, and not only looks best in darker and richer, more glamorous shades of the soft autumn quadrant, he still looks great in deep, cool, partly muted shades that feel dramatic and elegant
This is so interesting to me! I’m a Romantic body type in Autumn season. I tend to avoid the typical True Autumn colors because I feel “lost” in them. Thank you for sharing this with us! Very informative and helpful.
there's a system - expanded seasonal analysis - that works with seasons and their caracteristics - temperature, intensity and saturation, besides contrast and where in the palette is your best range. i love this system cause it embraces more ethnicities.
@@peacefreedomandwealth That crossed my mind too, but aren’t sprints typically blonde and blue eyes? I don’t see many brunette and brown eyed spring examples.
Just reminds me that these systems are guidelines that are supposed to help you not limit you. Ultimately if something looks or feels off don’t wear it!
I was watching this video. Sometimes I think you have a dominate feature. Like it's contrast that is important for you or the saturation. Like I've learned the colors aren't so important, but that the colors need to be muted. Also, I do think your body type makes a difference. I read an article once about this by another person that you have your color pallet but like if you're high romantic type, then you are going to look best in the red shades of that color pallet. Or like gamines will look best in the high colorful colors of that pallet. Even if it's muted, you get the colorful muted colors (if that makes sense). Honestly, I think most of us look best in variations of a narrow window of clothing. Which sounds like it sucks, but honestly, I feel you can look good everyday if you stick with that narrow window.
I’m a Theatrical Romantic. I don’t like wearing fall colors, they feel to heavy on me. I am light to medium cool olive, I gravitate towards jeweled tones because their shine feels lighter to wear. I feel a shimmer or sparkle feels lighter. I hope I am making myself clear or someone understand what I mean. 🤷🏻♀️😊
Color theory/analysis was made for us warm & delicate or cool delicate ladies with a muted undertone, we are the ones who need it the most! Thank you for this ❤
Oh my god . This is so on point . Since a few days, I have been uploading my photos to facebook groups to get myself colour analysed . And everyone analysed me Dark winter but they were also confused how I can handle black and bright colours so nicely . I am almost exclusively told that I am cool toned . Dude, I know I am warm . Yes you are correct that Dark and bright are my two traits but also I am warm. I look better in Dark winter than Dark autumn but this video just makes so much sense
Wow, thanks . That Salma segment has really really helped me. I could never understand why those Deep Winter lipsticks esp the dark ones do not suit me and I suit bright colors. It often made me wonder am I bright spring. But now I see. 👍😊
I've had my seasons checked twice by 2 different people. One said Bright Winter (I disagree) and the other said true winter as cool summer being my sister palette. What I noticed is that not all colors in that season are good for me. Some are great, but also noticed some warmer leaning colors look good on me as well. One of the people told me that I am neutral, so I noticed is something is TOO cool, it looks weird and if it looks TOO warm, it looks not great on me either. I realized this season system isn't that accurate, but it did guide me in the right direction.
That is so interesting about body and colour typing not being harmonious. I'm pretty fortunate to be cool and delicate and blended soft, so outfit inspo online for my body type nearly always includes colours I can use. The only issue is actually finding said pieces in stores :')
This is me to a T. I’m African American. I wear a Neutral Warm honey beige foundation in summer and Neutral/Neutral Cool foundation in winter. I’m mostly warm but my hair is ashy black with dark brown eyes. I’m a soft natural but alot of earth tones look blah on me. I’m technically a dark autumn but I think deep winter colors look better on me.
I am soft dramatic and a dark autumn. Both need rich coloring, but I am a strong neutral warm dark autumn; I should have a lot of color. But I am not a fan of most of the autumn prints, they make me look bigger and messy. I prefer the dark autumn prints that provide more sharpness and vertical; making me look taller and slimmer. Also, I don't look bad in multiple colors (ie an autumn trait) which is the opposite of soft dramatic, which is supposed to use the same color up and down or multiple shades in the same colors. I have medium to high contrast, and I can't wear one color. I need contrast stitching in white or bright shiny jewelry to make monochrome work. But as an autumn & a soft dramatic, I should not wear shiny jewelry or contrast stitching. I think some of us are more dark/light, or neutral or clear/muddy/dusky or bright/muted than we are warm or cool. Thats why color season analysis doesn't automatically work on us. It's all about our personal coloring, and what comes first for us in color analysis, but there is no training for that type of understanding. They are hell-bent on the temperature being the first and the most important part of our undertone. My favorite shirt color is pure white, which is a winter color. I look horrible in oatmeal and cream.
I love your content. You can tell you analyze body types,color analysis to come with very keen observations. In my case I was typed as a Deep Winter but the mayority of the colors in the palette look waaaay too heavy on me. Im a FG or SG ( heigth 5"0) . I always end up wearing colors closer to the cool summer palette or in the house of color's shaded winter palette. Also - when I was typed I had a pixie cut- hair roots usually look darker than the growth. Now Im letting my hair grow and it's starting to look ligther ( medium ash brown ). Im not sure if this had something to do with it - case in point- very cool brigth colors drown me. Turquoise works on me, lavander, creamy white, black, greys, ligth to medium cool pinks, peach, baby blue, burgundy, emerald, ligth green- what doesnt work for me- earthy tones, brigth yellows, oranges, brigth reds, navy blue, purple, very cool brigth white, very warm green and neons
I think there is a HUGE problem with people typing themselves by their primary characteristics, hair color, eye color, lightness or darkness of the skin, because it's those things that won't work. You actually have to go through the process of testing colors against your skin to find out. This is the only way to know. The rest is stereoptyping, and there will always be exceptions. But the internet is flooded with these descriptive categories and people wanting to place themselves fast instead of taking the time to actually understand colors and their effects on you. You can't always see the undertone. People can have a cool undertone but warmer overtones and wise versa in which case you can only figure it out thorough testing. My and my mum both don't fit the descriptions of the categories we are in. People who are closer to neutral and olive skin tones often won't. But by testing things it became really obvious which colors work best and which ones won't. Also those pallets will be slightly different depending from where you get them from it seems, which companies, countries etc. which again is a reason to learn to understand the value of the colors in your pallet and which shades of red, blue, green, etc work best for you rather than sticking to a list others created. All systems only work and can only grow and be refined when we stay open minded rather than dogmatic. But too many people in this field will stick to dogma and spread misconceptions unfortunately. Find the ones who are truly professional if you want to learn, watch the analysis online to see the process rather than relying on primary markers.
I supoose if we had to visualise how this works, we could each make a venn diagram for ourselves. One circle includes the colours of your skin tone, the other circle includes the colours that flatter your body type. And then see which ones cross over in the middle to find your best colours, reflective of you as an individual rather than your "type". Then of course the colours outside the cross over sections may instead cross over other circles like personality, essence etc whatever you want. Just a thought experiment 😅
This is why it’s important to not concentrate on a season, but your chroma, value, and saturation. Most of all your personal style and what feels right to you. I was put into the deep autumn category and I find that a lot of the colors don’t suit me, but remember its just a guide, not law.
5:05 yes. “True autumn” here who really doesn’t look quite right in the warm terracotta or brick red shades and no oranges unless they are a specific light peach color…but even then they aren’t quite intense enough. But like Isla I am way more flattered by some “warmer” purples & mauves (close to neutral but leaning warm) & I’m trying to square that. I almost look better in more of the deep autumn colors than true autumn because so much of my warmth is yellow and no red…I do not like how warm autumn reds and oranges look on me at all & I like the colors so it isn’t personal preference.
im warm and delicate with a fair olive somehow muted somehow not so muted skin but quite a lot of contrast and can confirm. Some muted warm colours drain me, some really pop. Some cool colours are a no go some really pop. Purple is one of my personal best, and not even speaking of particularly warm one. Rust and warm reds are best in winter, pistachio and soft summer blues are best in summer as I seem to tan myself cooler or something, I can’t wear rust in summer :D burgundy is bad, brown is not too good either but when burgundy and brown are mixed it’s the best and oh black somehow works, it’s all a mystery to me but I have gotten better at identifying what works and what not. Grey is the worst always, white is even worse. Really warm colours make me look very yellow. I think I’m warm and delicate and most colours are either too warm or too cool and I look best in colours that are a mix of warm and cool, so no primary colours for me!
And why isn't Salma Hayek a spring? Warm and bright as you said. She could wear the darker colours of her spring palette to match her features. The most of us have "better" colours in our palette and ones that work not as good.
Exactly! I'm a bright winter but due to being dark blond (which isn't typical for that palette) I can't do the yellow from that palette, which looks amazing on dark haired winters. Some colors are better than others, some blues and green I actually prefer from the spring palette even though I can't wear the warmer colors from there.
She looks like she may be a true autumn which has a brightness /intensity to the rich colours. Have you looked into the 16 colour seasons ? This is the most thorough system. I'm warm but I can't handle cool colours ,they don't all make me look more yellow, only blue (apart from teal) makes me look yellow and light grey makes me yellow if I have a tan but makes me look grey without a tan ,many cool colours make me look grey such as purple , dark greys (apart from charcoal) and burgundy.
That's really interesting about your experience with looking gray even as a warm undertone. I just wouldn't be comfortable with Salma in autumn colors, even if they are richer or brighter as a whole, simply because rich earth tones especially will weigh her down the most and look too heavy on her. I suspect with skin tone and features alone, she is indeed some kind of 'autumn', but like Isla Fisher, she simply will not be served by that approach alone, and her body type must be included to really get to her best colors.
I strongly dislike the seasonal approach. Not only is it confusing, but not everyone fits in the categories given, so you see people creating ad hoc versions of the seasons to fill in the gaps. I discovered a creator behind a system called Your Color Style - she has 3 categories - warm/cool, bright/soft, light/medium/deep. In the system I am a bright, warm, deep. It makes so much more sense to me and is infinitely easier to follow.
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Oh man, hello from a fellow bright/warm/deep who is about to give up on seasonal categories!! Thanks for the tip
This makes sense. Similar to Salma Hayak, I am warm and muted, and theatrical romantic. I always struggled with my colors. I can look at my skin and see that I am definitely warm and muted, but my skin really pops when I wear colors like red, fuchsia, saturated teals, black etc. I think it's because I am rounded, dark-skinned, and high contrast. Warm and muted colors don't contrast against me so I kind of look plain. When I wear colors that pop, I start to really shine. Because I am warm, when I wear cool colors, my skin starts to look even more warm, which gives me that pop my body type needs.
As a true spring, warm and bright, naturally blonde kibbe natural I think all shades of grey look good on me BUT I make sure I am a little tan. Can't explain it just does the opposite of what you think of grey as and makes me look vibrant, sexy maybe. I generally think greys, especially icy look sooo good on warm and brights. It's like the most amount of contrast you can get for us plus it's so trendy!
Well, if it works for you, that's awesome! At least for me, fellow spring here, it really doesn't. Grey looks horrible on me, it makes me look like I have jaundice... 😞
@@sophie1766 it's never going to be our best color but I am determined to make it work and it actually does. You could try greige it's a more warmed up option.
You just ridiculously enlightened me Merriam! Medium to dark skinned ppl were really confusing to me to color analyze. Thank you so much for your insight.
Totally agree. I fall into Salma Hayek category... I'm neutral leaning warm so when I'm tanned I look best in Deep Winter palette, can handle even Autumn colours very well, but when I'm pale I am typed as a True Winter. But then especially cool True Winter make up feels off on my face... In the end I wear mostly gold and have to figure out myself what colors look best on me. It is certainly the deeper and more intense ones.
as a south asian with 50 different shades on brown in my skin and dark hair and eyes i dont think i really fit in to any season. according to the suggestions i should look good in deep autumn ,but i look horrible in dark deep colours.i think muted soft neutral/pastel colours and muted earth tones looks really good on me.i am beveled soft.and i very much agree on the fact that seasonal colour analysis do not really work for skin tones other than white. can you make a video on colours that would look good on each body type
try looking up dark soft autumn and dark soft winter; also try dark summer and soft summer. (all of these are neutral first and then either warm or cool.
i do can wear some colours from all the above soasons as long as they are muted.that is why i had a hard time pinning down to one cateory.thanks for your recommendations. @@ReneeDeane
Your video gave me a lot of food for thought and so do all of these comments! I’m finding it hard to fit into many systems including seasonal colour theory. Changing sizes and getting older also seem to be changing what colours look best on me. Another aspect that effects what colours suit me is my queer identity- I just feel like my ‘soft classic’ kibbe and soft/muted summer colours do not suit my personality as a masc/androgynous pansexual. A lot of the time, I feel like a shirt that has looked good on me in the past, doesn’t look good in the present. I know I appear warmer in summer, but I have either a neutral or cool undertone but I have olive skin and tan easily. My eyes are dark but small and I often cut my black hair into a buzzcut, so it doesn’t look as dark. Now that I’m growing out my hair, colours that I thought looked good, don’t anymore! Your channel is helpful in just telling me that I’m not the only one with difficulties, and why it might be difficult, so thank you!
Ok I found this out just.recently. Merriam typed me as.a warm and delicate but said I could wear brighter colors because I am a mixed type. I did that for a few years and it worked but I was so curious to get an in person color analysis so I could see thr drapes on me it was so interesting...all the muted colors looked awful but the bright colors lit me up - both warm and cool interestingly enough..the analysis said I was a winter and put cool makeup on me and it looked awful! I even dyed my hair a cool tone and that looked even worse. Bottom line sometimes it is the quality of the color that can matter most. I should have just listened to Merriam.
I'm a bright winter as well but when it comes to make up, lips and blush at least I need to go for bright spring coral reds. Bright spring would be the sister season you can go to as well. This is because even though I have a cool undertone I have a more yellow warm overtone (making me neutral or olive basically). The red in my skin is a coral red. Now if I were to put cool winter pink on my cheeks it would clash with my overtones and make me look painted clownish. I basically wear bronzer with orange hints as blush, yet wearing an orange T-shirt would be super off for me. My hair color also matches with my overtone rather than undertone. Pretty sure this is often the case for people who are more neutral/olive/between warm and cool. It's important to take the sister season into account in that case.
That is so true! Not sure exactly what my type is, it’s probably dramatic classic and I’m very tall. But my soft summer palette is often times making me so boring looking… I love wearing more jewel tones instead like maroon or emerald, even darker bright blue, it makes me look more professional and not so washed out. Love wearing berry colored lip
Thank you Merriam! I'm a huge fan of your channel, you are doing such a great job and help people to feel better in their own skin🤗 I have a little struggel figuring out, if I'm warm and delicate or warm and bright. And now I think may be I am warm and delicate but the reason why some bright colors, for examle yellow, suit me really well, is because I am a Gamine😅 so may be I can kind of pull of some bright colors because of my body type.
That sounds really familiar, I'm also in between warm & bright and warm & delicate. In summer more bright, in winter more muted. What Merriam always says is, that it is a color spectrum. Meaning, you don't have only the two options bright or delicate, but you might be falling just somewhere in between. ;-) So you might be happier with colors that aren't super bright or super muted. My body type is a DC leaning towards a FG, so I also need some contrast and substance. This is how I do it: for the "neutrals" I choose more saturated/clear colors (chestnut brown, cream, navy; black and pure white sparingly), for the brighter colors I stick to a little softer hues (but not the most soft! i.e salmon instead of peach or orange). Maybe that helps? 🙂
Hey! Warm and delicate persons here. Neutral-warm, muted, light! I have really been bothered by how bright some color systems "Muted" is... both True Color International and Direct Colour International's muted pallets are too dark and bright! Any recs for a better place I can order a swatch book from? The good news is that I am a kibbe soft natural and my Kitchener essences are Natural, Romantic and Ethereal - so soft colors don't clash with my body type.
Interesting video. I don´t know my body type. Maybe i am romantic, theatrical romantic, or soft gamine. My skin is cool soft summer 🤔. I look horrible in yellow, black. terracotta, heavy earth colors. The first woman in video looked stunning in colorful clothes. Thank you, Merriam. I´ve been wondering if age can be change skin tone! ?
This is such a good explanation about colour analysis. I have a similar problem with the colour seasons and body shapes as Isla Fisher; I'm Theatrical Romantic with a warm colouring but I don't seem to suit earth tones or neutrals. I have blonde/red hair, and blue/green eyes with very blonde eyebrows and eyelashes. I looked back at photos and I very much suit bright reds. They just elevate my colouring rather than looking overwhelming. I think tailoring the colour seasons to your own personal style is key.
I don't fit into seasonal colour analysis very well. I am close to neutral with slightly red brown hair and my ancestry is mainly scottish with some irish. I go to irish knitting shops and buy from them and the colours always work. If you are part of an ethnicity with a history of fashion you can look back at that for inspiration. As I understand it the Louis Vuitton patterns were very much inspired by african tribal patterns. I am always amazed by how much better women of African decent look in traditional clothing because the colours are so much better.
This is very fascinating to me. In color analysis I would be a dark autumn which I very much resonate with. Due to the high contrast I have with my light skin dark hair and eyes, I do like to dabble into winter and spring too. Then for body type, I am a romantic which I would say still works with autumn coloring. But, I have a very dominant ingenue essence and I think the essence is harder to combine. Sometimes I want to go for more pastels, but at the same time I will look too washed out.
"I dont know what more you want" 😅 i love it. Makes so much sense. I feel like im similar to salma....TR deep winter/deep autumn ish. I look good in jewel tones, hot pink. Peacock blue, mustard yellow, but also bright coral and electric blue. Blue balck hair is my jam and warm hair is awful on me, but i wear a warm ish foundation mac NC 20 in winter and NC 30 is summer. Im so confused 😕
Isla Fisher looks like somewhere between/a mixture of neutral and warm to me looking at her skin, and more so leaning to neutral than warm. Her warm red hair can make it hard for the eye to observe her skin colour accurately. Bright neutrals probably look best on her. And Salma Hayek looks more like between warm and olive, leaning more towards warm than olive. So that is why seasonal colour theory doesn't work cookie cutter perfectly for some people I think, because they both sit between two seasons or types? So maybe they need to pick a few various colours from their nearest seasons that they sit in the middle of. That does not mean that seasonal colour theory is wrong or bad etc, because it does help a lot of people. And when someone like Salma who is high contrast that looks better in dark hair, sometimes colours her hair a somewhat lighter shade of brown, it makes it harder for clothes colours to make her pop because her own features are less clear and flattering in themselves.
Thank you so much for this video Merriam ! 💜🙏🏼 I am a Soft Dramatic, and my coloring is more like soft summer, it really clashes with the recommendations for this Kibbe type… i also feel more like « myself » in brighter colors and more contrast…
I am a toasted/dark autumn by seasonal analysis and warm and delicate by merriam. I am also a SD. I personally feel dark colors drag me down, so I go against all recommendations lol I think mid tones really give me contrast and are still light enough for me as I am pale af. I love warm, muted ones, but a bright and not too dark green or yellow looks great on me too or greys, pale blues, cool toned greens. If an outgit has all black I always need pale blue jeans to light up the outfit. A head to toe dark outfit just doesn't suit me as much.
I find that a lot of Indians fall into this. A lot of them have very warm skin, but they get mistaken as deep winter or warm autumn, but they look AMAZING in bright colors. The closest person I can think of is Priyanka Chopra. They are usually medium to high contrast with warm skin, and more yin body types. Their skin can look somewhat grey-ish or olive, but it's really because they have dark skin with yellow undertones. It's like adding a black overlay to yellow. You get this olive green/grey color. Priyanka and Salma have that look to their skin.
Thankyou Merriam 🙏 for this discussion about colours and style, you have explained it very well. I love your hair up, it brings out you beautiful bone structure and your top looks perfect, allowing you to pop ❤
I think when you were talking about Salma, you meant that she’s warm and dark value so she should fit into autumn but doesn’t, right? But you were saying warm and high contrast instead of dark value, but warm and high contrast is actually spring, spring is just also light value instead of dark. things like warm, dark value and high contrast doesn’t exist as a combination within seasonal colour analysis, which is why some people use a 16 season version instead of a 12 season one, but as far as i can tell, even that’s not sufficient. in order to account for every possible combination, i believe you would need 20 colour seasons
Yesss I’m on the opposite end, need muted medium depth colours… winter chroma is dark enough but too saturated, summer colours are muted enough but too light, the 12 seasons don’t fit
high contrast and bright are differemt things. Contrast is between light and dark, so a person with pale to medium skin with dark hair and eyes is high contrast. Spring is the opposite with generally lighter hair colors and bright, warm colors. This is why seasonal analysis sucks tho. I would be toasted/deep autumn, but my skin tone is pale and yellow. I look the best in warm, muted and medium depth colors with no red.
I've always thought red heads look stunning in jewel tones especially the contrast of it. "Simultaneous contrast" is what the late Sandy Dumont - who went by the brand 'image achitect' - said works well for most people. Pastels, beiges and muddy colours work well for very few of us she said. She claimed Autumns are actually really rare. I often wonder if categories are a good thing or not. Great video!!!
I am a bright spring and a dramatic classic, which is really hard for styling 😢 I cannot pull off red at all, only in small quantities. Black top down drains me out as well. And the metal, that looks the best on me, is rose gold😅
I'm a "Light Summer" and a Dramatic Classic... Im definitely cool toned, but I love pure black on me even though every book I've read tells me it's "too harsh", lol. Your analysis makes perfect sense to me. :)
17:13 omg yes! Warm & delicate & close to neutral! I am struggling big time even after being “typed” as true autumn. Lol flam gam with a natural- ethereal essence… warm & delicate & close to neutral so I have no idea what my actual best colors would be.
hmmmm well if you have a strong ethereal essence I'm imagining that you'd do well with soft muted colors that are light....like ivory, soft peach, moss green. think Lisa Bonet, she is a muted coloring and FG and also has a strong ethereal essence. If you're not going for an ethereal look then actually going for dynamic color choices like 'warm' purples, 'warm' fuchsias, and 'warm' blues paired with even pure black accents will work well with your bone structure.
Yeah seasonal colour analysis doesn’t work for me either. I am somewhat between winter and summer, essentially muted but I need more saturation than the soft palettes and cannot handle warmth of any kind. Also have hazel eyes and freckles and slightly yellow skin so people immediately say “autumn” when I actually have cool undertones (I am 1000% certain). It seems on the whole that it relies on “types” and if you don’t fit into a type, it just doesn’t work.
I agree it doesn’t always work, and I would add that cool and warm colours exist together in nature so why are we going against that in colour analysis? And further, I find wearing my colours makes me just look one way, sometimes I want to look warm and bright even though it isn’t how I’ve been typed. I find the typing rather limiting and doesn’t take into account the effect you want to make or personality. Thanks Merriam .
Thank you for always making time to speak about the limitations of categorical systems. Thank you also for being inclusive of and speaking to races and ethnicities that are underrepresented in this space. 🤗 I really like your methods and case by case approach. Your videos on olive skin tone were so interesting and helpful; I was able to see that my middle eastern mom and I both are radiant, but she is warm + slightly neutral while I am cool + slightly neutral (my dad is definitely cool, so this makes sense). As for body type, I am pretty sure she is blended soft, while I think I’m in between beveled soft and beveled firm. Funny thing is, a family friend who does seasonal color analysis had freely told us years ago that my mom is dark winter and I am dark autumn….Even then we had a feeling that was incorrect and thankfully didn’t make use of the information. 😅 On a topic related to this video, I think a person’s essence really contributes to why you may not like the way a color looks on you, even when it fits with your color analysis and other people think it looks amazing on you. For instance, I was a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding last month and had to wear a sage green dress with gold jewelry. I obviously didn’t complain, but I thought it looked terrible on me and it felt like I was wearing a costume…Meanwhile everyone was complimenting me on how amazing I looked (including people who rarely give compliments to anyone). 😂🙃 Once in a blue moon, I’ll go to a shop and try on a color on that would, in theory, work for my skin and body type (and is in a style/fabric that would also work in theory), and it’s been years since I’ve added an additional solid color to my wardrobe. My wardrobe and jewelry is predominantly black, pewter, and silver. I love it and do not fight it anymore. I have some bits of color in prints with a black background, but I only have four pieces that are a solid color, which include cobalt blue, fuchsia, and navy blue. Maybe one day this will change, but for now I’m happy and feel 100% me this way. ☺️
I’m confused abt the season discussion. I had a typing and am soft natural and cool and radiant ( no mention of seasons) long lines in clothing. Texture, asymmetry, flowing airy fabrics with silver/ high contrast . Has the typing expanded??
I’m in this category with medium warm olive skin, dark eyebrows and brown hair like Selma but a rectangle body type (I don’t know my kibbie). I’ve been color typed as true spring. Grey and cool muted tones are my worst colors. I wonder why Selma wouldn’t also be a spring with all its bright warm tones that seem good on her??
Some spring colors would be wonderful on her for sure. Bright peaches, fire engine red, even turquoise and of course golden yellow. Spring is missing those darker colors though to balance her darker features.
I’m olive skin cool but close to neutral. Cool and delicate olive here, Probably somewhere between true & light summer. Too much gold overtone to do the light summer colors but true summer is too grey. Can only do a few colors in middle. And dark colors in both palette way too strong.
Great video, I'm olive and warm radiant, and recently found i'm a dramatic classic. I learnt something today, thank you! Love your color analysis videos. I needed a warm radiant video talk :)
Hi! I found this video really interesting. You said that if you're cool, warm colours can make you look gray. I am wondering what does it mean if warm colours make you look slightly more yellow, but cool colours make you look pinker??
Maybe just me but I think contrast in your coloring and style could be a key factor in personal style. Figuring out how to work with them could enhance your own unique look. I say this a true winter flamboyant gamine. Now my combination is not very incongruent but just my thought. And with seasonal analysis there are a lot of colors in a palette to choose from. I don’t think anyone would l8kelt resonate with every color
Another case where your system works much better is very pale very cool toned people who need bright colors. I would love a video on this. These people watch a lot of color videos because they look sickly in warm, overpowered in dark, and lifeless in muted colors. This rules out every season. Just like there is no light autumn (soft, warm, light) there is no light winter (cool, bright, light). These people are too light for winter, too cool for light summer, and too bright for cool summer. It seems like a smaller palate is needed. And it’s even harder if you are a crisp type like SD/softened sharp.
figured this a while ago really..coz my colouring resembles Salma Hayek. I AM SO WARM, deep brown eyes, black brows, black hair. Spent time just trying which colours look good on me. When I dyed my hair in a brown balayage, I looked more 'blended'. But earth tones look sorta awful on me,\
dark brown eyes and black hair are not warm though. Brown eyes as in midtone brown eyes and dark brown hair that has strong or yellow tones is warm. I know bc I have those and I am warm and muted. I am a SD that looks best in muted, warm colors with no red. Many autumn colors just pull too red. An all dark outfit is just too much contrast and I need some brightness to not drown me. An all light outfit is also not the best.
@@Laura-vs6fs i do realize that, i was talking abt my yellow skin referring to "I AM SO WARM". My eyes are a warm brown. And my hair are black :|. I don't think I am muted tho..I have contrast. I am not sure of my Kibbe yet, but i think I have trained my eye as to what drowns me and what is cohesive. And i see why dark outfits may mess up wi you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, friend!
Checkout the short that Charisma Catalyst did on Salma. I don't think she's warm toned. I was surprised as well, but the cool looks so much better. Gold on her is meh, compared to silver.
I don't find the system works on me. I have medium blonde hair with brown eyes and eyebrows. My eyes are quite dark, but not black. I get put into autumn because of my brown eyes and apparently summers "shouldn't" have brown eyes and blonde hair according to many. Well, I look awful in heavy autumn tones like pumpkin and olive green. I love wearing black and I feel I need contrast because my hair and eyes contrast ... but then I read only winters can wear black and I have blonde hair! Yep - colour analysis is tricky for me!
People who try to classify you according to your hair or eye color are not professionals, regardless of what they say. Actual professionals will tell you that they cannot know what season you are unless the go through the process of draping with you, testing different colors against each other. There is no way to see your undertones unless you test colors. You can do this yourself at home too and see what makes you look and feel best. Too many people seem to misunderstand this and go with stereotypes. Regardless of your hair and skin overtones you can be any season, some things are rare but not impossible. My mum has medium dark brown hair and is a light summer. Any dark colors age her, lightness is her primary feature. I'm a dark blond and a bright winter. Muted colors make my look pale and wash me out. I can do black perfectly fine though, actually adds warms to my face through the contrast. Most people would easily say based on our looks at first glace that I should be light summer and she should be bright or dark winter 😂 It would be a disaster... other than the colors we share like white and a light pink and blue or so 😂
This video is so timely. I’m FN but possibly Soft Summer which is a bit mismatched. I have also asked groups for help typing and I’ve gotten every summer plus light spring and bright spring plus soft autumn lol. When I tried to study the twelve seasons my main question was like why isn’t there something for medium-everything. Medium chroma, hue, value, contrast. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ nothing is really standing out it’s all just medium
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Merriam: "You're not going to look blue [in cool tones as a warm person]" My under-eye circles: We beg to differ
I believe that I'm soft natural, cool and delicate with olive undertone. But I also have very dark brown hair with dark brown eyes. I think cool and delicate color matches my skin and body, just not my long dark hair.
I was draped clear winter, and body types romantic natural with ethereal essence . I’m curious what your opinion would be. Sometimes something feels off to me.
warm and delicate is a broader category which includes all light and dark muted warm colors. so that means soft peaches, dusty warm burgundies are all included. I find that autumn tends toward darker colors or more earth tones. However, the darker portion of the warm and delicate palette is more or less soft autumn.
So I assume it's about the appearance in 3D, right? So I think it's about the complete composition of colour (theory), of proportions and for me of some kind of how the person bring all that to life
Could someone explain how a purple, a red and a blue can be warmer? I can see it visually but from a physical point of view, how are those colours made, since normally to make a colours warmer you must add yellow to it, but you get green if you mix blue qith yellow etc. Very confusing
This is an excellent question. Adding red to purple makes it warmer. This is because red is closer to neutral. All purples are indeed cool, and a true red is neutral, so adding red to a purple makes it 'warmer' because it makes it less cool. You can imagine the continuum going from blue, through red, to yellow, like this: (adding red) blue, 'cool' purple', 'warm' purple', 'cool red', true red, we can't add any more red because we are at a true neutral red.....now to continue we will add yellow, these will be the actual warm colors: warm red, cool orange, warm yellow, cool yellow. Everything to the yellow side of true red is actually warm, and everything to the blue side of true red is cool. To make a warm blue, those are closer to cyan, so you can think of it as getting closer to the color green. green is also neutral, so in that sense you are making the blue 'warmer' simply because you're making it less cool and more neutral. I always say that a blue is cool of course, any blue is cool......if you think of it as a temperature outside, some blues are -15 degrees, and some blues are -5 degrees, that is, some aren't as cool (warmer), and some are very cool, but ALL blues are cool.
To put it in simpler terms, the reason why one may think their colour palette does not work for them is because it does not easily correlate with their natural essence. For example, it may be a bit difficult for someone with dominantly dramatic essence to work with a light spring palette because the colours that come with the light spring palette (mainly pastels) are not typically associated with the intimidating and dominant aspects of dramatic essence that can be more easily captured with darker seasonal palettes (deep autumn/deep winter). However, it may be easier for an individual with dominantly ingenue essence to work with a light seasonal palette because both possess similar qualities that pertain to specific emotions.
Color anylsis works - what doesn't work is seasonal categories and it's crippling people from developing an objective eye and learning color because they're just hunting for their "box" or label.
And people arent getting typed in person. Draping helps so much. Because they give you your actual best colors. By draping you may find there are colors in another season that look good on you because they align with your other characteristics ie your skin color, your contrast, your clarity, your brightness, or how deep or light your features are. Going through the clothes i have already bought, and trying stuff on in the store is so helpful in that regard.
100% the color "season" box categories, and the people who tout them like they're Biblical, are maddening.
👏👏👏
Nope. Still doesnt
I have never seen Blake Lively typed as anything but a Spring! But I think you're right that the warm toned people look better in everything, and it's the cool toned people who benefit from the right colors. I say this as someone who avoids even standing near yellow, orange, or brown.
I'm warmed toned and I'd disagree to a certain degree. Can't wear anything too bright. Bright spring/bright winter make me look like a thirsty vampire. Same with anything too icy. I can wear some cool tones but they don't look as good as my warm tones. Anything too dusty or too muted I look grey and black is just bleurgh on me
I agree with you; I am warm toned and cannot get near my husbands navy sweater (If I grab in a hurry when I am cold!) or his white tee shirts. I look completely washed out and goulish, almost like a corpse, so unhealthy. I have read that a warm navy is supposed to work for us, but you try and find it in the shops! I have never found a navy that does not wash me out. @@chellep7463
@@chellep7463Haha yeah. It's all about dominant and worst characteristics. One doesn't need to be focused only on the colour hue. There are also chroma and value in colours. And everyone got their own best and worst characteristics in colours.
"warm toned people look better in everything" heavy disagree I look ill in bright colours or heavily diluted colours. My hair and eyes are deep soft warm colours, dark, skin is medium. Colours that fit me are deep and soft and dark. That's not an accident. But I have a friend who is pale and hair si more towards black. and she looks amazing in bright colours that are saturated like a very bright red. Also friend who is pale and with hair darker dirty blonde and light brown eyes and she also looks amazing in bright colours that are tinted like pastels
me too dude! LOL. I got this camel brown coat for Christmas and now that I learned my best colors I'm running and screaming away from brown, tan, yellow, orange. Lol.
I like the color season system as a base for understanding how the saturation of a color interacts with contrast. The very lightest and very darkest of colors cannot be very saturated, and when they do appear 'bright' such as with optic white or shiny black, they will appear cooler rather than warmer. This means that the very highest of contrasts will often lean cool.
Also, if you bring the coolest colors blue, indigo, and bluegreen to their brightest, they will appear way darker than the warmest bright colors yellow, orange, and acid green. This creates a critical interaction between contrast levels and saturation when you are warm or cool, meaning you cannot analyze these three aspects of color separately.
In addition, I tend to think of colors you wear as creating matches and contrast with different aspects of your personal color. Your brain works in such a way where these matches will happen even if the colors are not the same (people with grayish or hazel eyes can attest to their color changing property when you wear different colors). If two colors are similar enough, your brain will just say they are the same for ease of processing. You are wearing blue and your eyes are blueish? Psh basically the same- eyes appear the same color blue.
However, this happens for every single aspect of color you have. My skin is very close to neutral, a very light warm and delicate. Low saturation warm colors match temperature with my skin, making it appear warm. However, low saturation cool colors like navy blue, dark cool gray, and light pink also match temperature with my skin, making me appear cool. But push the color to a more saturated cool and my skin contrasts, appearing warm again.
My favorite colors interact in more than one way with me. Matching with my hair and contrasting my skin, or matching both saturation and brightness with my skin. My worst colors don't match or contrast. White is too light to match with my skin, but my skin is too light to contrast and make me appear tanned. It also does not make my hair appear darker since my dark hair already contrasts with my skin. It looks separate.
I believe this can apply to any aspect of color. To figure out your best colors, you need to figure out where a color is matching or contrasting with you, and if you like the resulting effect.
This comment is incredible thank you
That is quite some thought you have put into your comment. What you say actually makes a lot of sense to me. You basically pointed out how our brain works when we are mindful of our color choices in our clothing n style. 😊
The flaw in all systems is they don't take personality and personal taste into account - you can be right by every "system" but if it doesn't reflect your personality you will look faded
Don't use a system then. They're a guide, not rules.
This is such an important topic I should probably make a video on it. It's not either or. The systems are the technical skills that make expressing your style easier.
maybe if you can add the 16, 20, 24 systems. I think that will help a lot of people out.@@merriamstyle
in the technical analysis i only take into account the temperature, intensity, deepness and contrast of the person i'm analyzing. throughout the process i'm asking the person how they're feeling and if i reach a tie or i'm unsure, i ask what is that the person likes best, their image desire and how they want to be perceived by others. don't care about body type - i don't take that in consideration at all, just visual weight and how the person wants their body to look like [i don't go directly to harmonizing their looks]
also, there are people with olive skin - i'm one of them - and olive skin can be tricky. my sking appears to be warm, but in fact it's cool, but because of it, there are some cool colors i can't wear in make up, for example. i have to wear warm blushes, so i don't look dead. but cool lips and eyes are perfect. i can't wear warm yellows, i can't wear oranges, cause i look too yellow. most cool colors for my clothes on the top work better.
I’ve discovered that not everyone fits into every system (myself included). Better to take what works for you, discard what doesn’t and never get stuck following definitive rules.
This is why I love Merriam's approach. Everyone gets fixated on Kibbe's rules and Merriam just says the lines don't lie.
I am no expert, but Isla Fisher seems like a True Spring to me. Which is why she needs some vividness in her colours and earth tones don't suit her.
Yes, I was typed by Merriam as cool & delicate with high contrast. There is no option for me in any of the season systems. My eyes are a medium teal and my hair is medium brown so I would probably be placed in soft summer but my body type is dramatic with dramatic essence so bumping my colors to a higher contrast is most harmonious. I can definitely pull off all the soft summer colors but look my best in slightly darker ones. It's surprisingly hard to find dark muted colors in clothing so I end up dying alot of my clothes.
Did you like the typing? I was considering having it done.
Hi, Merriam. Would you do a video about best colors for different body types? I felt very difficult to find the best color and color analysis doesn’t work. Thank you.❤
I am Theatrical Romantic and autumn and I look awful in heavy, dark, earthy tones. Thank you for this clarification.
"I don't know what more you want??" lmaoo
you're really a visionary out here educating the people, love your work!
Youre speaking from my heart, Im a white girl. I thought in the past that because im white, I should wear cool toned no contrast pastels. The issue here is that im 173 cm and I have eastern European features meaning strong eyebrows, dark hair and ivory skin. Since I started wearing more black and contrasted it with warm creams and neutrals, my life has changed, is like my facial features are finally showing up. What you're saying is so true. I believe you, theres so much confusion.
Being white doesn‘t mean you should wear low contrast colors. If you have high contrast in your feautures you should wear high contrast colors to match that.
@@rumeyue you wrote back what I wrote in the first place
Doesn't mean you should also wear cool colors either. There are light/fair skinned people that are warm toned.
Very interesting Merriam! For me it was that I have dark eyes, dark hair and cool olive skin. I supposed to be deep winter but then realized soft/muted summer works best with me. I am a DC
same for me. I have pale, yellow toned skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair that has strong golden tones. Classic toasted or dark autumn by seasonal color analysis lol I am a SD and I feel dark colors drag me down even if they are warm toned. I feel like I need a light colored piece in a very dark outfit, especially if it's black, to make it work on me. I am so contrasted yet I don't like colors that give me that extreme contrast. I think muted and mid toned colors look the best on me as they give me contrast, but are still light enough.
I love listening to you talking about colour. I trust your system of warm to cool spectrum more than the seasons system. Maybe it's easier for me to wrap my head around it or maybe it just works so well for me, that I don't need to know more.
This is why I find Dressing Your Truth is actually incredibly accurate - because it's looking at bone structure to determine type, and therefore color direction (its a 4 type system, like Artistic License, so there is a lot of freedom within each palette). All of the ladies in your examples of seasonal conflict are Type 1's, analogus to Spring - warm and bright. And absolutely, heavy Autumn colors would weigh them down and overwhelm. When you take the visual trickery of a person's perceived coloring out of the equation, the resulting color palette is often more harmonious with body type and personality.
The colors you are wearing here work beautifully on you! We are the same coloring, and so I'm taking note. In addition, i think you are so on point with this concept...can this be a new way of looking at body typing and color overall...it would be a super custom feature to artistic license, perhaps. I even think Kibbe himself, in the end, didn't believe Kibbe is a definitive guideline to follow.❤
Completely agree, as a FG/MT and soft delicate, I look a bit pale/drab in muted colors. I need a ton a contrast, loads of black to look lively. Thank you, I learned so much from you over the years 😊
I’m warm and delicate and rounded mixed. (typed by you)
Brown is my worst color! And I thought I was a cool olive.
Thanks to you everything cleared up in my head 🤍
video suggestion: foundation colors from different beauty brands for olive warm and delicate. I’m still struggling to find my match! All warm olive foundations make me look gray! Especially on the chin and around mouth area (area of pigment like a male beard)
Thank you for everything you do 🙏
You’re a genius Merrriam! 💕
This video is a bit confusing for me. On what basis are Isla Fisher and Salma Hayek Autumn, and Blake Lively a Summer? Both Isla and Salma look muddy in earth tones so clearly neither are Autumns. Isla looks like a True Spring. Salma - not so sure, could be some a Dark Winter or even Bright Spring (neutral leaning). Blake has obvious warmth and lightness so seems to be a Light Spring...
the point is that people look at their own features and then classify themselves to figure out their best colors. If you already know your best shades, why would you bother with color analysis. This is why seasonal color analysis is bs. I am an autumn, but look the best in mid toned, warm, muted colors with no red. I can also pull of some spring colors as I am super yellow, pale and with a high contrast, so green, yellow and gold in bright shades look better than a muted warm red or orange on me. An all dark outfit still drags me down, even as an SD. This is why every individual needs to look at themselves as an individual and not a category. Two people in the same category of color analysis and/or body typing can look good in vastly different colors.
@@Laura-vs6fs my point is that determining one's season based on hair colour, eye colour and skin colour is wrong. If that were the case, all brown women (black hair, brown eyes, tan skin etc) would be Dark Autumns or Dark Winters. Your season is determined by what colours, temperatures, chromas and brightness levels are most harmonious with your skin.
I was characterized as a true autumn, however I feel like bright cooler colors like baby blue or pink make me more vibrant and get me more compliments than wearing toned down earthy tones for example. So I began to hesitate to believe this "seasonal system“.. really interesting take on it
Great video. I’ve had a similar experience. I have bright warm skin like a bright spring but light blonde hair which excludes me from that category. There really isn’t anywhere to put me either. But the thing is, even though light blonde hair is technically in other categories, I still have the medium contrast of a bright spring because my skin is so bright and so extremely light that it still provides contrast even against my blonde hair. If I take a photo of myself and turn it black and white, I actually look high contrast. To further complicate things, I am a dramatic! So wearing the darkest colors in the bright spring palette works best. I wear a lot of black and sure, it looks slightly intense on me, but my personal is quite serious and intense so it’s actually quite on-brand for me. Now that I’ve learned the effect certain colors have on me, I try to intentionally create the effect I want vs sticking to one single color category.
But isn’t light blonde hair exactly what springs have ?
Your hair colour doesn't determine your season.
Wow! I would love to see a picture of you! Sounds so interesting but frustrating I’m sure. I have opposite problem - don’t fit neatly as dark autumn or deep winter.
you should expand to the 16, 22, or 24 season. It sounds like you are a light spring or a vivid spring. They are still bright and warm.
For me the seasonal system didn't work. I'm some kind of spring, probably light spring (warm light skin and light golden-blonde hair, blue-grey eyes). There are so many colors in the spring palettes that don't look great on me (all the greys, chocolate brown, all purples and lilacs, turquoise, most beiges and tans). In the Artistic Licence system I think I'm in between warm & bright and warm & muted - and I learned, just to look for warm springcolors that are a little softer (in summer brighter warm colors are ok, too, or sometimes contrasting blues). That helped tremendously.
I'm suspecting I'm something in between a blended sharpened and a mixed taut body type. Too muted colors look drab on me - even when they are warm, they wash me out and I kinda fade into the background. Too bright and it overpowers me. Too many colors or too weird patterns look horrible on me, but minimal details look boring. So I actually mix the line recommendations from DC and FG, that works quite well.
this was an amazing video because it confirms some of the choices I've made intuitively. I'm soft gamine and soft summer but a lot of the soft grays in that palette look drab on me because I need more playful, upbeat colors and combinations to match my body type. similarly, my fiancé is a warm and muted soft dramatic, and not only looks best in darker and richer, more glamorous shades of the soft autumn quadrant, he still looks great in deep, cool, partly muted shades that feel dramatic and elegant
This is so interesting to me! I’m a Romantic body type in Autumn season. I tend to avoid the typical True Autumn colors because I feel “lost” in them. Thank you for sharing this with us! Very informative and helpful.
there's a system - expanded seasonal analysis - that works with seasons and their caracteristics - temperature, intensity and saturation, besides contrast and where in the palette is your best range. i love this system cause it embraces more ethnicities.
@@r0zinha Thank you so much for sharing. Will look into this over the weekend!
You're probably not True Autumn, but True Spring for example.
@@peacefreedomandwealth That crossed my mind too, but aren’t sprints typically blonde and blue eyes? I don’t see many brunette and brown eyed spring examples.
@@youheartmelno they can have dark hair too. Carol Brailey has a recent video on that.
Just reminds me that these systems are guidelines that are supposed to help you not limit you. Ultimately if something looks or feels off don’t wear it!
I was watching this video. Sometimes I think you have a dominate feature. Like it's contrast that is important for you or the saturation. Like I've learned the colors aren't so important, but that the colors need to be muted. Also, I do think your body type makes a difference. I read an article once about this by another person that you have your color pallet but like if you're high romantic type, then you are going to look best in the red shades of that color pallet. Or like gamines will look best in the high colorful colors of that pallet. Even if it's muted, you get the colorful muted colors (if that makes sense). Honestly, I think most of us look best in variations of a narrow window of clothing. Which sounds like it sucks, but honestly, I feel you can look good everyday if you stick with that narrow window.
I’m a Theatrical Romantic. I don’t like wearing fall colors, they feel to heavy on me. I am light to medium cool olive, I gravitate towards jeweled tones because their shine feels lighter to wear.
I feel a shimmer or sparkle feels lighter.
I hope I am making myself clear or someone understand what I mean. 🤷🏻♀️😊
Wait, why can't Selma Hayek be a bright spring?
No, a deep Winter.
Color theory/analysis was made for us warm & delicate or cool delicate ladies with a muted undertone, we are the ones who need it the most! Thank you for this ❤
Oh my god . This is so on point . Since a few days, I have been uploading my photos to facebook groups to get myself colour analysed . And everyone analysed me Dark winter but they were also confused how I can handle black and bright colours so nicely . I am almost exclusively told that I am cool toned . Dude, I know I am warm . Yes you are correct that Dark and bright are my two traits but also I am warm. I look better in Dark winter than Dark autumn but this video just makes so much sense
Wow, thanks . That Salma segment has really really helped me. I could never understand why those Deep Winter lipsticks esp the dark ones do not suit me and I suit bright colors. It often made me wonder am I bright spring. But now I see. 👍😊
I've had my seasons checked twice by 2 different people. One said Bright Winter (I disagree) and the other said true winter as cool summer being my sister palette. What I noticed is that not all colors in that season are good for me. Some are great, but also noticed some warmer leaning colors look good on me as well. One of the people told me that I am neutral, so I noticed is something is TOO cool, it looks weird and if it looks TOO warm, it looks not great on me either. I realized this season system isn't that accurate, but it did guide me in the right direction.
That means you're mistyped.
That is so interesting about body and colour typing not being harmonious. I'm pretty fortunate to be cool and delicate and blended soft, so outfit inspo online for my body type nearly always includes colours I can use. The only issue is actually finding said pieces in stores :')
YOU'RE BACK!! I thought you stopped making videos permanently. 🤗
This is me to a T. I’m African American. I wear a Neutral Warm honey beige foundation in summer and Neutral/Neutral Cool foundation in winter. I’m mostly warm but my hair is ashy black with dark brown eyes. I’m a soft natural but alot of earth tones look blah on me. I’m technically a dark autumn but I think deep winter colors look better on me.
I am soft dramatic and a dark autumn. Both need rich coloring, but I am a strong neutral warm dark autumn; I should have a lot of color. But I am not a fan of most of the autumn prints, they make me look bigger and messy. I prefer the dark autumn prints that provide more sharpness and vertical; making me look taller and slimmer. Also, I don't look bad in multiple colors (ie an autumn trait) which is the opposite of soft dramatic, which is supposed to use the same color up and down or multiple shades in the same colors. I have medium to high contrast, and I can't wear one color. I need contrast stitching in white or bright shiny jewelry to make monochrome work. But as an autumn & a soft dramatic, I should not wear shiny jewelry or contrast stitching. I think some of us are more dark/light, or neutral or clear/muddy/dusky or bright/muted than we are warm or cool. Thats why color season analysis doesn't automatically work on us. It's all about our personal coloring, and what comes first for us in color analysis, but there is no training for that type of understanding. They are hell-bent on the temperature being the first and the most important part of our undertone. My favorite shirt color is pure white, which is a winter color. I look horrible in oatmeal and cream.
I love your content. You can tell you analyze body types,color analysis to come with very keen observations. In my case I was typed as a Deep Winter but the mayority of the colors in the palette look waaaay too heavy on me. Im a FG or SG ( heigth 5"0) . I always end up wearing colors closer to the cool summer palette or in the house of color's shaded winter palette. Also - when I was typed I had a pixie cut- hair roots usually look darker than the growth. Now Im letting my hair grow and it's starting to look ligther ( medium ash brown ). Im not sure if this had something to do with it - case in point- very cool brigth colors drown me.
Turquoise works on me, lavander, creamy white, black, greys, ligth to medium cool pinks, peach, baby blue, burgundy, emerald, ligth green- what doesnt work for me- earthy tones, brigth yellows, oranges, brigth reds, navy blue, purple, very cool brigth white, very warm green and neons
I think there is a HUGE problem with people typing themselves by their primary characteristics, hair color, eye color, lightness or darkness of the skin, because it's those things that won't work.
You actually have to go through the process of testing colors against your skin to find out.
This is the only way to know. The rest is stereoptyping, and there will always be exceptions.
But the internet is flooded with these descriptive categories and people wanting to place themselves fast instead of taking the time to actually understand colors and their effects on you.
You can't always see the undertone. People can have a cool undertone but warmer overtones and wise versa in which case you can only figure it out thorough testing.
My and my mum both don't fit the descriptions of the categories we are in. People who are closer to neutral and olive skin tones often won't.
But by testing things it became really obvious which colors work best and which ones won't.
Also those pallets will be slightly different depending from where you get them from it seems, which companies, countries etc.
which again is a reason to learn to understand the value of the colors in your pallet and which shades of red, blue, green, etc work best for you rather than sticking to a list others created.
All systems only work and can only grow and be refined when we stay open minded rather than dogmatic. But too many people in this field will stick to dogma and spread misconceptions unfortunately.
Find the ones who are truly professional if you want to learn, watch the analysis online to see the process rather than relying on primary markers.
I supoose if we had to visualise how this works, we could each make a venn diagram for ourselves. One circle includes the colours of your skin tone, the other circle includes the colours that flatter your body type. And then see which ones cross over in the middle to find your best colours, reflective of you as an individual rather than your "type". Then of course the colours outside the cross over sections may instead cross over other circles like personality, essence etc whatever you want.
Just a thought experiment 😅
That's a brilliant idea. I should try that sometime
Love this idea!
This is why it’s important to not concentrate on a season, but your chroma, value, and saturation. Most of all your personal style and what feels right to you. I was put into the deep autumn category and I find that a lot of the colors don’t suit me, but remember its just a guide, not law.
5:05 yes. “True autumn” here who really doesn’t look quite right in the warm terracotta or brick red shades and no oranges unless they are a specific light peach color…but even then they aren’t quite intense enough. But like Isla I am way more flattered by some “warmer” purples & mauves (close to neutral but leaning warm) & I’m trying to square that. I almost look better in more of the deep autumn colors than true autumn because so much of my warmth is yellow and no red…I do not like how warm autumn reds and oranges look on me at all & I like the colors so it isn’t personal preference.
im warm and delicate with a fair olive somehow muted somehow not so muted skin but quite a lot of contrast and can confirm. Some muted warm colours drain me, some really pop. Some cool colours are a no go some really pop. Purple is one of my personal best, and not even speaking of particularly warm one. Rust and warm reds are best in winter, pistachio and soft summer blues are best in summer as I seem to tan myself cooler or something, I can’t wear rust in summer :D burgundy is bad, brown is not too good either but when burgundy and brown are mixed it’s the best and oh black somehow works, it’s all a mystery to me but I have gotten better at identifying what works and what not. Grey is the worst always, white is even worse. Really warm colours make me look very yellow. I think I’m warm and delicate and most colours are either too warm or too cool and I look best in colours that are a mix of warm and cool, so no primary colours for me!
And why isn't Salma Hayek a spring? Warm and bright as you said. She could wear the darker colours of her spring palette to match her features. The most of us have "better" colours in our palette and ones that work not as good.
Exactly! I'm a bright winter but due to being dark blond (which isn't typical for that palette) I can't do the yellow from that palette, which looks amazing on dark haired winters. Some colors are better than others, some blues and green I actually prefer from the spring palette even though I can't wear the warmer colors from there.
Agreed
She looks like she may be a true autumn which has a brightness /intensity to the rich colours. Have you looked into the 16 colour seasons ? This is the most thorough system. I'm warm but I can't handle cool colours ,they don't all make me look more yellow, only blue (apart from teal) makes me look yellow and light grey makes me yellow if I have a tan but makes me look grey without a tan ,many cool colours make me look grey such as purple , dark greys (apart from charcoal) and burgundy.
That's really interesting about your experience with looking gray even as a warm undertone. I just wouldn't be comfortable with Salma in autumn colors, even if they are richer or brighter as a whole, simply because rich earth tones especially will weigh her down the most and look too heavy on her. I suspect with skin tone and features alone, she is indeed some kind of 'autumn', but like Isla Fisher, she simply will not be served by that approach alone, and her body type must be included to really get to her best colors.
I strongly dislike the seasonal approach. Not only is it confusing, but not everyone fits in the categories given, so you see people creating ad hoc versions of the seasons to fill in the gaps. I discovered a creator behind a system called Your Color Style - she has 3 categories - warm/cool, bright/soft, light/medium/deep. In the system I am a bright, warm, deep. It makes so much more sense to me and is infinitely easier to follow.
Oh man, hello from a fellow bright/warm/deep who is about to give up on seasonal categories!! Thanks for the tip
This makes sense. Similar to Salma Hayak, I am warm and muted, and theatrical romantic. I always struggled with my colors. I can look at my skin and see that I am definitely warm and muted, but my skin really pops when I wear colors like red, fuchsia, saturated teals, black etc. I think it's because I am rounded, dark-skinned, and high contrast. Warm and muted colors don't contrast against me so I kind of look plain. When I wear colors that pop, I start to really shine. Because I am warm, when I wear cool colors, my skin starts to look even more warm, which gives me that pop my body type needs.
As a true spring, warm and bright, naturally blonde kibbe natural I think all shades of grey look good on me BUT I make sure I am a little tan. Can't explain it just does the opposite of what you think of grey as and makes me look vibrant, sexy maybe. I generally think greys, especially icy look sooo good on warm and brights. It's like the most amount of contrast you can get for us plus it's so trendy!
Well, if it works for you, that's awesome! At least for me, fellow spring here, it really doesn't. Grey looks horrible on me, it makes me look like I have jaundice... 😞
@@sophie1766 it's never going to be our best color but I am determined to make it work and it actually does. You could try greige it's a more warmed up option.
You just ridiculously enlightened me Merriam!
Medium to dark skinned ppl were really confusing to me to color analyze.
Thank you so much for your insight.
Totally agree. I fall into Salma Hayek category... I'm neutral leaning warm so when I'm tanned I look best in Deep Winter palette, can handle even Autumn colours very well, but when I'm pale I am typed as a True Winter. But then especially cool True Winter make up feels off on my face... In the end I wear mostly gold and have to figure out myself what colors look best on me. It is certainly the deeper and more intense ones.
as a south asian with 50 different shades on brown in my skin and dark hair and eyes i dont think i really fit in to any season. according to the suggestions i should look good in deep autumn ,but i look horrible in dark deep colours.i think muted soft neutral/pastel colours and muted earth tones looks really good on me.i am beveled soft.and i very much agree on the fact that seasonal colour analysis do not really work for skin tones other than white. can you make a video on colours that would look good on each body type
try looking up dark soft autumn and dark soft winter; also try dark summer and soft summer. (all of these are neutral first and then either warm or cool.
i do can wear some colours from all the above soasons as long as they are muted.that is why i had a hard time pinning down to one cateory.thanks for your recommendations. @@ReneeDeane
Your video gave me a lot of food for thought and so do all of these comments! I’m finding it hard to fit into many systems including seasonal colour theory. Changing sizes and getting older also seem to be changing what colours look best on me. Another aspect that effects what colours suit me is my queer identity- I just feel like my ‘soft classic’ kibbe and soft/muted summer colours do not suit my personality as a masc/androgynous pansexual.
A lot of the time, I feel like a shirt that has looked good on me in the past, doesn’t look good in the present. I know I appear warmer in summer, but I have either a neutral or cool undertone but I have olive skin and tan easily. My eyes are dark but small and I often cut my black hair into a buzzcut, so it doesn’t look as dark. Now that I’m growing out my hair, colours that I thought looked good, don’t anymore!
Your channel is helpful in just telling me that I’m not the only one with difficulties, and why it might be difficult, so thank you!
Ok I found this out just.recently. Merriam typed me as.a warm and delicate but said I could wear brighter colors because I am a mixed type. I did that for a few years and it worked but I was so curious to get an in person color analysis so I could see thr drapes on me it was so interesting...all the muted colors looked awful but the bright colors lit me up - both warm and cool interestingly enough..the analysis said I was a winter and put cool makeup on me and it looked awful! I even dyed my hair a cool tone and that looked even worse. Bottom line sometimes it is the quality of the color that can matter most. I should have just listened to Merriam.
aw thank you so much for such a lovely comment.
I'm a bright winter as well but when it comes to make up, lips and blush at least I need to go for bright spring coral reds.
Bright spring would be the sister season you can go to as well.
This is because even though I have a cool undertone I have a more yellow warm overtone (making me neutral or olive basically).
The red in my skin is a coral red.
Now if I were to put cool winter pink on my cheeks it would clash with my overtones and make me look painted clownish.
I basically wear bronzer with orange hints as blush, yet wearing an orange T-shirt would be super off for me.
My hair color also matches with my overtone rather than undertone.
Pretty sure this is often the case for people who are more neutral/olive/between warm and cool. It's important to take the sister season into account in that case.
that is so interesting thank you for your advice, this may be what I need. @@Dani-lc9hq
That is so true! Not sure exactly what my type is, it’s probably dramatic classic and I’m very tall. But my soft summer palette is often times making me so boring looking… I love wearing more jewel tones instead like maroon or emerald, even darker bright blue, it makes me look more professional and not so washed out. Love wearing berry colored lip
Thank you Merriam! I'm a huge fan of your channel, you are doing such a great job and help people to feel better in their own skin🤗
I have a little struggel figuring out, if I'm warm and delicate or warm and bright. And now I think may be I am warm and delicate but the reason why some bright colors, for examle yellow, suit me really well, is because I am a Gamine😅 so may be I can kind of pull of some bright colors because of my body type.
That sounds really familiar, I'm also in between warm & bright and warm & delicate. In summer more bright, in winter more muted. What Merriam always says is, that it is a color spectrum. Meaning, you don't have only the two options bright or delicate, but you might be falling just somewhere in between. ;-) So you might be happier with colors that aren't super bright or super muted.
My body type is a DC leaning towards a FG, so I also need some contrast and substance. This is how I do it: for the "neutrals" I choose more saturated/clear colors (chestnut brown, cream, navy; black and pure white sparingly), for the brighter colors I stick to a little softer hues (but not the most soft! i.e salmon instead of peach or orange).
Maybe that helps? 🙂
Hey! Warm and delicate persons here. Neutral-warm, muted, light! I have really been bothered by how bright some color systems "Muted" is... both True Color International and Direct Colour International's muted pallets are too dark and bright! Any recs for a better place I can order a swatch book from?
The good news is that I am a kibbe soft natural and my Kitchener essences are Natural, Romantic and Ethereal - so soft colors don't clash with my body type.
Interesting video. I don´t know my body type. Maybe i am romantic, theatrical romantic, or soft gamine. My skin is cool soft summer 🤔. I look horrible in yellow, black. terracotta, heavy earth colors. The first woman in video looked stunning in colorful clothes. Thank you, Merriam. I´ve been wondering if age can be change skin tone! ?
So glad you said my feelings about warm & delicate -- I'm a "light" soft autumn, which does't exist 🙃
This is such a good explanation about colour analysis. I have a similar problem with the colour seasons and body shapes as Isla Fisher; I'm Theatrical Romantic with a warm colouring but I don't seem to suit earth tones or neutrals. I have blonde/red hair, and blue/green eyes with very blonde eyebrows and eyelashes. I looked back at photos and I very much suit bright reds. They just elevate my colouring rather than looking overwhelming. I think tailoring the colour seasons to your own personal style is key.
I don't fit into seasonal colour analysis very well. I am close to neutral with slightly red brown hair and my ancestry is mainly scottish with some irish. I go to irish knitting shops and buy from them and the colours always work. If you are part of an ethnicity with a history of fashion you can look back at that for inspiration. As I understand it the Louis Vuitton patterns were very much inspired by african tribal patterns. I am always amazed by how much better women of African decent look in traditional clothing because the colours are so much better.
This is very fascinating to me. In color analysis I would be a dark autumn which I very much resonate with. Due to the high contrast I have with my light skin dark hair and eyes, I do like to dabble into winter and spring too. Then for body type, I am a romantic which I would say still works with autumn coloring. But, I have a very dominant ingenue essence and I think the essence is harder to combine. Sometimes I want to go for more pastels, but at the same time I will look too washed out.
"I dont know what more you want" 😅 i love it. Makes so much sense. I feel like im similar to salma....TR deep winter/deep autumn ish. I look good in jewel tones, hot pink. Peacock blue, mustard yellow, but also bright coral and electric blue. Blue balck hair is my jam and warm hair is awful on me, but i wear a warm ish foundation mac NC 20 in winter and NC 30 is summer. Im so confused 😕
Isla Fisher looks like somewhere between/a mixture of neutral and warm to me looking at her skin, and more so leaning to neutral than warm. Her warm red hair can make it hard for the eye to observe her skin colour accurately. Bright neutrals probably look best on her.
And Salma Hayek looks more like between warm and olive, leaning more towards warm than olive. So that is why seasonal colour theory doesn't work cookie cutter perfectly for some people I think, because they both sit between two seasons or types? So maybe they need to pick a few various colours from their nearest seasons that they sit in the middle of. That does not mean that seasonal colour theory is wrong or bad etc, because it does help a lot of people.
And when someone like Salma who is high contrast that looks better in dark hair, sometimes colours her hair a somewhat lighter shade of brown, it makes it harder for clothes colours to make her pop because her own features are less clear and flattering in themselves.
Thank you so much for this video Merriam ! 💜🙏🏼 I am a Soft Dramatic, and my coloring is more like soft summer, it really clashes with the recommendations for this Kibbe type… i also feel more like « myself » in brighter colors and more contrast…
In your system, I’m warm and delicate !!
I am a toasted/dark autumn by seasonal analysis and warm and delicate by merriam. I am also a SD. I personally feel dark colors drag me down, so I go against all recommendations lol I think mid tones really give me contrast and are still light enough for me as I am pale af. I love warm, muted ones, but a bright and not too dark green or yellow looks great on me too or greys, pale blues, cool toned greens. If an outgit has all black I always need pale blue jeans to light up the outfit. A head to toe dark outfit just doesn't suit me as much.
Thanx for sharing 💜 I can relate to what you say about the medium tones giving us enough contrast ! That’s totally it ! 💜✨@@Laura-vs6fs
I find that a lot of Indians fall into this. A lot of them have very warm skin, but they get mistaken as deep winter or warm autumn, but they look AMAZING in bright colors. The closest person I can think of is Priyanka Chopra.
They are usually medium to high contrast with warm skin, and more yin body types. Their skin can look somewhat grey-ish or olive, but it's really because they have dark skin with yellow undertones. It's like adding a black overlay to yellow. You get this olive green/grey color. Priyanka and Salma have that look to their skin.
Thankyou Merriam 🙏 for this discussion about colours and style, you have explained it very well. I love your hair up, it brings out you beautiful bone structure and your top looks perfect, allowing you to pop ❤
I think when you were talking about Salma, you meant that she’s warm and dark value so she should fit into autumn but doesn’t, right? But you were saying warm and high contrast instead of dark value, but warm and high contrast is actually spring, spring is just also light value instead of dark. things like warm, dark value and high contrast doesn’t exist as a combination within seasonal colour analysis, which is why some people use a 16 season version instead of a 12 season one, but as far as i can tell, even that’s not sufficient. in order to account for every possible combination, i believe you would need 20 colour seasons
Yesss I’m on the opposite end, need muted medium depth colours… winter chroma is dark enough but too saturated, summer colours are muted enough but too light, the 12 seasons don’t fit
high contrast and bright are differemt things. Contrast is between light and dark, so a person with pale to medium skin with dark hair and eyes is high contrast. Spring is the opposite with generally lighter hair colors and bright, warm colors. This is why seasonal analysis sucks tho. I would be toasted/deep autumn, but my skin tone is pale and yellow. I look the best in warm, muted and medium depth colors with no red.
I've always thought red heads look stunning in jewel tones especially the contrast of it. "Simultaneous contrast" is what the late Sandy Dumont - who went by the brand 'image achitect' - said works well for most people. Pastels, beiges and muddy colours work well for very few of us she said. She claimed Autumns are actually really rare. I often wonder if categories are a good thing or not. Great video!!!
Yeah, I think in the 16 system she would be a light autumn or soft spring maybe
Why can't Selma Hayak be a Deep Autumn? To me undertone fully trumps any need for brightness (actually I don't see that need for brightness in her).
I am a bright spring and a dramatic classic, which is really hard for styling 😢 I cannot pull off red at all, only in small quantities. Black top down drains me out as well. And the metal, that looks the best on me, is rose gold😅
I'm a "Light Summer" and a Dramatic Classic... Im definitely cool toned, but I love pure black on me even though every book I've read tells me it's "too harsh", lol. Your analysis makes perfect sense to me. :)
17:13 omg yes! Warm & delicate & close to neutral! I am struggling big time even after being “typed” as true autumn. Lol flam gam with a natural- ethereal essence… warm & delicate & close to neutral so I have no idea what my actual best colors would be.
hmmmm well if you have a strong ethereal essence I'm imagining that you'd do well with soft muted colors that are light....like ivory, soft peach, moss green. think Lisa Bonet, she is a muted coloring and FG and also has a strong ethereal essence. If you're not going for an ethereal look then actually going for dynamic color choices like 'warm' purples, 'warm' fuchsias, and 'warm' blues paired with even pure black accents will work well with your bone structure.
Yeah seasonal colour analysis doesn’t work for me either. I am somewhat between winter and summer, essentially muted but I need more saturation than the soft palettes and cannot handle warmth of any kind.
Also have hazel eyes and freckles and slightly yellow skin so people immediately say “autumn” when I actually have cool undertones (I am 1000% certain).
It seems on the whole that it relies on “types” and if you don’t fit into a type, it just doesn’t work.
I agree it doesn’t always work, and I would add that cool and warm colours exist together in nature so why are we going against that in colour analysis? And further, I find wearing my colours makes me just look one way, sometimes I want to look warm and bright even though it isn’t how I’ve been typed. I find the typing rather limiting and doesn’t take into account the effect you want to make or personality. Thanks Merriam .
Thank you for always making time to speak about the limitations of categorical systems. Thank you also for being inclusive of and speaking to races and ethnicities that are underrepresented in this space. 🤗
I really like your methods and case by case approach. Your videos on olive skin tone were so interesting and helpful; I was able to see that my middle eastern mom and I both are radiant, but she is warm + slightly neutral while I am cool + slightly neutral (my dad is definitely cool, so this makes sense). As for body type, I am pretty sure she is blended soft, while I think I’m in between beveled soft and beveled firm. Funny thing is, a family friend who does seasonal color analysis had freely told us years ago that my mom is dark winter and I am dark autumn….Even then we had a feeling that was incorrect and thankfully didn’t make use of the information. 😅
On a topic related to this video, I think a person’s essence really contributes to why you may not like the way a color looks on you, even when it fits with your color analysis and other people think it looks amazing on you. For instance, I was a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding last month and had to wear a sage green dress with gold jewelry. I obviously didn’t complain, but I thought it looked terrible on me and it felt like I was wearing a costume…Meanwhile everyone was complimenting me on how amazing I looked (including people who rarely give compliments to anyone). 😂🙃 Once in a blue moon, I’ll go to a shop and try on a color on that would, in theory, work for my skin and body type (and is in a style/fabric that would also work in theory), and it’s been years since I’ve added an additional solid color to my wardrobe. My wardrobe and jewelry is predominantly black, pewter, and silver. I love it and do not fight it anymore. I have some bits of color in prints with a black background, but I only have four pieces that are a solid color, which include cobalt blue, fuchsia, and navy blue.
Maybe one day this will change, but for now I’m happy and feel 100% me this way. ☺️
I’m confused abt the season discussion. I had a typing and am soft natural and cool and radiant ( no mention of seasons) long lines in clothing. Texture, asymmetry, flowing airy fabrics with silver/ high contrast . Has the typing expanded??
Yes! I’m a dramatic classic, but was draped a summer. I look horrendous in soft pink, or really anything too muted.
I’m in this category with medium warm olive skin, dark eyebrows and brown hair like Selma but a rectangle body type (I don’t know my kibbie). I’ve been color typed as true spring. Grey and cool muted tones are my worst colors. I wonder why Selma wouldn’t also be a spring with all its bright warm tones that seem good on her??
Some spring colors would be wonderful on her for sure. Bright peaches, fire engine red, even turquoise and of course golden yellow. Spring is missing those darker colors though to balance her darker features.
@@merriamstyledoesn't Bright Spring go pretty "dark" almost flowing into Winter?
@@merriamstyle I've heard color analysts say that bright springs pull off black, even more so than deep autumns.
@merriamstyle omg yes! All those colors look great on me as well but I think I'm a deep winter. Does Salma have an olive undertone by any chance?
yes salma is definitely olive.@@chandraadam3656
I’m olive skin cool but close to neutral. Cool and delicate olive here, Probably somewhere between true & light summer. Too much gold overtone to do the light summer colors but true summer is too grey. Can only do a few colors in middle. And dark colors in both palette way too strong.
You already know this, but red looks great on you, Merriam. 🎉
Hi Merriam, I love this video. I wish to see a lot more on Warm and delicate/soft gamine looks...if you are looking for topics. Happy New Year!
Great video, I'm olive and warm radiant, and recently found i'm a dramatic classic. I learnt something today, thank you! Love your color analysis videos. I needed a warm radiant video talk :)
This is literally my case. I am SN and I look better in the palette of true summer. Jewel tones, navy, and cool-leaning light colors.
Hi! I found this video really interesting. You said that if you're cool, warm colours can make you look gray. I am wondering what does it mean if warm colours make you look slightly more yellow, but cool colours make you look pinker??
If Salma Hayek is warm and bright, she is Warm Spring, according to colour analysis. Simple. No need to create an ideology over her dark features.
Maybe just me but I think contrast in your coloring and style could be a key factor in personal style. Figuring out how to work with them could enhance your own unique look. I say this a true winter flamboyant gamine. Now my combination is not very incongruent but just my thought. And with seasonal analysis there are a lot of colors in a palette to choose from. I don’t think anyone would l8kelt resonate with every color
Another case where your system works much better is very pale very cool toned people who need bright colors. I would love a video on this. These people watch a lot of color videos because they look sickly in warm, overpowered in dark, and lifeless in muted colors. This rules out every season.
Just like there is no light autumn (soft, warm, light) there is no light winter (cool, bright, light).
These people are too light for winter, too cool for light summer, and too bright for cool summer.
It seems like a smaller palate is needed. And it’s even harder if you are a crisp type like SD/softened sharp.
figured this a while ago really..coz my colouring resembles Salma Hayek. I AM SO WARM, deep brown eyes, black brows, black hair. Spent time just trying which colours look good on me. When I dyed my hair in a brown balayage, I looked more 'blended'. But earth tones look sorta awful on me,\
dark brown eyes and black hair are not warm though. Brown eyes as in midtone brown eyes and dark brown hair that has strong or yellow tones is warm. I know bc I have those and I am warm and muted. I am a SD that looks best in muted, warm colors with no red. Many autumn colors just pull too red. An all dark outfit is just too much contrast and I need some brightness to not drown me. An all light outfit is also not the best.
@@Laura-vs6fs i do realize that, i was talking abt my yellow skin referring to "I AM SO WARM". My eyes are a warm brown. And my hair are black :|. I don't think I am muted tho..I have contrast. I am not sure of my Kibbe yet, but i think I have trained my eye as to what drowns me and what is cohesive. And i see why dark outfits may mess up wi you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, friend!
Checkout the short that Charisma Catalyst did on Salma. I don't think she's warm toned. I was surprised as well, but the cool looks so much better. Gold on her is meh, compared to silver.
Loved this ❤..what I was feeling about colour analysis but didn't know exactly why.
I don't find the system works on me. I have medium blonde hair with brown eyes and eyebrows. My eyes are quite dark, but not black. I get put into autumn because of my brown eyes and apparently summers "shouldn't" have brown eyes and blonde hair according to many. Well, I look awful in heavy autumn tones like pumpkin and olive green. I love wearing black and I feel I need contrast because my hair and eyes contrast ... but then I read only winters can wear black and I have blonde hair! Yep - colour analysis is tricky for me!
People who try to classify you according to your hair or eye color are not professionals, regardless of what they say. Actual professionals will tell you that they cannot know what season you are unless the go through the process of draping with you, testing different colors against each other.
There is no way to see your undertones unless you test colors.
You can do this yourself at home too and see what makes you look and feel best.
Too many people seem to misunderstand this and go with stereotypes. Regardless of your hair and skin overtones you can be any season, some things are rare but not impossible.
My mum has medium dark brown hair and is a light summer. Any dark colors age her, lightness is her primary feature.
I'm a dark blond and a bright winter. Muted colors make my look pale and wash me out. I can do black perfectly fine though, actually adds warms to my face through the contrast.
Most people would easily say based on our looks at first glace that I should be light summer and she should be bright or dark winter 😂 It would be a disaster... other than the colors we share like white and a light pink and blue or so 😂
This video is so timely. I’m FN but possibly Soft Summer which is a bit mismatched. I have also asked groups for help typing and I’ve gotten every summer plus light spring and bright spring plus soft autumn lol. When I tried to study the twelve seasons my main question was like why isn’t there something for medium-everything. Medium chroma, hue, value, contrast. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ nothing is really standing out it’s all just medium
Merriam: "You're not going to look blue [in cool tones as a warm person]"
My under-eye circles: We beg to differ
I believe that I'm soft natural, cool and delicate with olive undertone. But I also have very dark brown hair with dark brown eyes. I think cool and delicate color matches my skin and body, just not my long dark hair.
I was draped clear winter, and body types romantic natural with ethereal essence . I’m curious what your opinion would be. Sometimes something feels off to me.
wait this is sooooo validating I've been trying to figure out my season for MONTHS and I don't fit into one!
This makes so much sense. I suspect I'm cool and delicate but I'm also Mixed body type with high contrast so my colors seem to be all over the place 😅
What would be the difference between warm & delicate vs soft autumn?
warm and delicate is a broader category which includes all light and dark muted warm colors. so that means soft peaches, dusty warm burgundies are all included. I find that autumn tends toward darker colors or more earth tones. However, the darker portion of the warm and delicate palette is more or less soft autumn.
So I assume it's about the appearance in 3D, right? So I think it's about the complete composition of colour (theory), of proportions and for me of some kind of how the person bring all that to life
Could someone explain how a purple, a red and a blue can be warmer? I can see it visually but from a physical point of view, how are those colours made, since normally to make a colours warmer you must add yellow to it, but you get green if you mix blue qith yellow etc. Very confusing
This is an excellent question. Adding red to purple makes it warmer. This is because red is closer to neutral. All purples are indeed cool, and a true red is neutral, so adding red to a purple makes it 'warmer' because it makes it less cool. You can imagine the continuum going from blue, through red, to yellow, like this: (adding red) blue, 'cool' purple', 'warm' purple', 'cool red', true red, we can't add any more red because we are at a true neutral red.....now to continue we will add yellow, these will be the actual warm colors: warm red, cool orange, warm yellow, cool yellow. Everything to the yellow side of true red is actually warm, and everything to the blue side of true red is cool.
To make a warm blue, those are closer to cyan, so you can think of it as getting closer to the color green. green is also neutral, so in that sense you are making the blue 'warmer' simply because you're making it less cool and more neutral. I always say that a blue is cool of course, any blue is cool......if you think of it as a temperature outside, some blues are -15 degrees, and some blues are -5 degrees, that is, some aren't as cool (warmer), and some are very cool, but ALL blues are cool.