Skin tone color matching
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Skin tone color matching, also called color analysis or color seasons, is the process of finding the colors of makeup and clothes that most flatter a person's complexion. In the basic form of this system, people are divided into four "seasons", based on their skin, hair, and eyes.
Winter and Summer are "cool" - they go best with colors in the blue half of the spectrum, from bluish-red through violet and blue to bluish-green. Spring and Autumn are "warm" - they go best with colors in the yellow half of the spectrum, from orange-red through orange and yellow to yellow-green.
All skin tones can also be divided into "cool" and "warm". Cool skin tones have pink or blue undertones and look better with true white than with ivory, and any visible veins look blue; silver or platinum looks better on them than gold. Warm skin tones have yellow undertones and look better with ivory than with true white, and any visible veins look greenish; gold looks better on them than silver or platinum. Someone with cool coloration attempting to wear warm colors will look sallow. Cool colors on someone with warm coloration will make their skin look dull.
However, appropriate colors for hair and clothing are also affected by the intensity of a person's coloration - someone very pale with blond hair and light eyes looks "washed-out" in black or bright colors, while someone with stronger coloring will look best in purer tones.
The basic color seasons are as follows:
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[edit] Winter:
Cool and clear. The concept is a bright winter day with snow on the ground, very stark and dramatic. Many African and Asian people are winters, as are most Caucasians with very pale skin, dark hair, and strongly colored eyes. Winters look best in true white, true black, cool greys, reds (but not orange reds), bright pink, jewel tones (emerald, royal red, royal purple), and icy pastels, but should avoid beige, orange, gold, and brown or washed out shades. Best metals for jewelry are silver, platinum and white gold.
[edit] Summer:
Cool and muted. The concept is of flowers seen through a summer haze. Skintone is either very light or a very strong complexion, always with a pinkish cast to it. Hair is always somewhat ashy or found to be duller than they would like it. Color ranges from a light platinum blond to dark brown. Highlights usually look great on Summers. Eyes are usually grayish blue or green, sometimes brown. Summers wear pastels and cool muted colors with rose or blue undertones, such as dusty pink, lavender, pale yellow, and light blue, navy, darker blue. They are the one season that looks best in Jeans and in the maritime look, blue is THE color for them, given that it does not have yellow in it and therefore appears warm. They should avoid black, and orange is deadly on them. Their metal colors are silver and white gold, sometimes rose gold will look nice.
[edit] Autumn:
Warm and muted. The concept is the colors of fallen leaves on a sunny October afternoon. Skintone ranges from a light ivory to a bronze shade, redheads often feature a rosy peach complexion. They do not tan easily and may even burn quickly in the sun or get freckles. Hair can be of rich darker red shades, golden or honey blond, sometimes even a neutral blonde with golden highlights and even dark brown, the latter usually has coppery highlights or a stronger warm reddish cast. Lighter redheads are usually Springs. Eyes can be olive green, golden brown, hazel, teal or light blue, usually with golden specks in them. Autumns look best in earthy and spicy tones, richer and muted rather than bright and clear, such as caramel, beige, burnt orange, gold, darker reds, olive, ivory, camel and browns, but should avoid cool shades, pink is especially unflattering. The jewelry metals for an Autumn should be gold, bronze or copper.
[edit] Spring:
Warm and clear. The concept is the colors of early spring, newly budded leaves and flowering trees. Springs are the brightly animated looking season. Complexion of a Spring is usually peachy to sometimes ruddy, very frequently with cheek color, more often than not do they tan easily to a golden beige. The Springs are known to blush easily when embarrassed or excited. Hair is often blonde or light golden brown, carrot tops and strawberry blondes are usually Spring. Eyes are blue, green, turquoise, or light golden brown. Springs wear brighter, fresh colors - peach, light pink, coral, yellow, spring green, lime, camel, turquoise, bright blues, kelly green - but should avoid all dark or muted colors, and high-contrast black and white. They may get away with orange but it is not ideal.
[edit] History
The major sources of the color season system are two books: Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson, first published in 1980, and Color Me A Season by Bernice Kentner, published in 1978. Both these books used the basic four-season system detailed above. "Color Me Beautiful" is now the name of a makeup line that offers makeup based on this system.
More recently, further refinements have been made—some split Winter into Winter I and II or Winter I, II, and III; others split each season into four (i.e. True Winter, Winter-Spring, Winter-Summer, Winter-Autumn, and so forth). The latter system may also take into account personality traits and the pattern of the eye coloration (such as clear radiating spokes vs. an uneven ring of color around the pupil).
