Today, cosmetic manufacturers and beauty consultants are advising beauty seekers to choose their colors based on whether or not they have “warm” tones or “cool” tones in their complexions. The test is very simple. Consultants ask beauty seekers to hold up a pink color and an orange color next to their skin to decipher which color brightens their complexion more and which color makes it look more washed out. The consultants then go on to say that individuals who have warm coloring need to wear earthy and woodsy colors with red and orange tones. Individuals with cool coloring need to wear pinks and berries.
This method of choosing your colors may actually be inadequate and choosing your colors may actually have a few more complexities to the process. Mainly the test is misleading because pinks can have both blue and yellow bases to them, especially colors like raspberry and strawberry. Really what you need to see is whether or not a person has yellow, gold or red highlights in their skin and hair, or whether or not they have an absence of yellow, gold, or red highlights. Individuals with an absence of yellow, gold, or red highlights have silver or blue highlights in their skin and hair.
Furthermore, there is a group of individuals in the warm category that absolutely shouldn’t frequently wear harsh reds and absolutely need to wear more muted yellow-based pinks and berries. Likewise there are groups of individuals in the cool category who do best in harsher, bolder colors and those who do best in muted colors.
The method of four-season grouping places every person’s coloring into one of four seasons: Winter, Summer, Spring, Autumn. Coloring is grouped not just based on whether or not a person has warm or cool tones in their skin, but also how dramatic or soft their overall coloring is based on hair and eye color as well. The two cool groups in the four-season color chart are Winter and Summer. The two warm groups are Spring and Autumn.
You can easily spot the difference between people with cool coloring and people with warm coloring. Generally you can blue or pink highlights in a person’s skin with cool coloring and yellow highlights in skin that is warm. In a person with cool coloring, you will also be able to see that their veins look blue through their skin, while veins in a person with warm coloring look more greenish. The color white is also a good indicator. Hold a piece of pure white paper near your skin. If you still can’t see either the yellow or blue highlights in your skin, you should be able to see that the white either looks flattering next to your skin, or it doesn’t. True white looks flattering on people with cool coloring, while off white, or ivory looks flattering on people with warm coloring.
Winter
Winters have the most dramatic coloring of all the season groups. All winters have very rich intense coloring in their hair, skin, and eyes. They generally have dark hair, dark eyes, and an absence of yellow highlights in their skin and an absence of yellow or red highlights in their hair. Just like Summers, their skin tone is cool and has a bluish or pinkish tone to it. What distinguishes them from Summers, though, is while Summers can have brown hair, Winters will always have the darkest hair, typically dark brown or black. Also, while most Winters have dark eyes, just like Summers, some Winters will have blue eyes. Although Winters will have intensely blue eyes while Summers will have more pale blue eyes. Most African and Asian people are Winters. Caucasians are Winters if they have dark hair, fair skin, and very strongly colored eyes. Think Snow White of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Because Winters have such striking and intense natural coloring, unlike Summers, Winters look best in dark striking colors. Wear eye shadows in grays, purples, and mauves. Wear lipsticks in plumbs, mauves, and blue based pinks, berries, and reds. The current trendy evening look of charcoal colored smoky eyes looks best on a Winter. The evening look of red lips and pale eyes also looks best on a Winter, although other golden Springs and Autumns can make it work. Think about Snow White again. There was a reason why fairy tale Mother Nature gave her lips as red as a rose.
Summer
Summers are the rarest of all the coloring types. They have the most delicate coloring of all the seasons. They can have either blonde or brown hair, but their will never be anything very striking about their coloring. They will never have black hair. Their coloring will always look very soft and subtle.
Because of their subtle coloring, Summers always look best when their whole look is balanced. They should never make either their eyes or their lips look too bold, but keep everything subtle. Their best colors are cool pinks, grays, and taupe. They should never use a pink, berry, or red with a yellow base in it. They should always use blue based colors, such as blue based pinks and mauves.
Spring
When you think a person with Spring coloring you should think of warm golden sunlight, bright greens, bright blues, and bright blooming blossoms and flowers. Springs are on the warm end of the color spectrum, but the colors that look best on them are brighter and less earthy than the colors that look best on an autumn. Springs also look best in colors that bring out their eyes.
Since Springs should wear warm colors, they should focus on golden browns, yellows, bright peaches, corals, and salmons, and blues, greens, and grey in accordance with their eye color. For lips, Springs look best in bright raspberries, cinnamon, coral, and both yellow based reds and pinks. A Spring should never wear a lipstick color that’s too earthy, such as a brown or a mocha. Pink, red, or raspberry with a little bit of brown in it is acceptable, but a Spring should never focus on brown.
Autumn
When you think of a person with Autumn coloring your mind should instantly conjure up an image of the season. You should think of bright yellows, deep spicy reds, crisp oranges, even muted fading colors, and one should smell as well as see the earthiness and the deep browns. Autumn again is on the warm side of the spectrum, but unlike a Spring an Autumn should not be afraid to wear rich spicy colors and deep browns. Autumns also look beautiful in muted colors as well.
Autumns should feel free to wear eye shadows in rich chocolate browns, deep grays, peaches, pinks, and muted taupe. For lipsticks they should feel free to wear rich cinnamons, bricks, spicy yellow reds, and burnt red browns. They should also feel free to wear muted yellow based pinks, corals, and mochas.
There are some colors that are neutral and look great on everybody. Neutral colors are taupe, greens, and some blues. As far as lipsticks go, pinks with brown tones in them are neutral and look great on everyone.
So as you can see, there are color ranges beyond today’s typical categorization of warm and cool. Not everyone in the warm range should wear the same warm colors, and not everyone in the cool range should wear the same cool colors. There are color types within both the warm and cool range that should wear either darker or lighter colors.
The four-season color grouping may seem complicated, but it’s not once you get the hang of it. Once you can decipher which color type is warm and which is cool, you’ll easily be able to decipher between the two polar opposites within the warm and cool ranges. You’ll soon be able to walk through the grocery store, looking at all the different faces, and think to yourself, “Autumn, autumn, autumn, spring, winter, spring…oooh summer. Definitely a summer!”
