“Knowing what colors look best on you is arguably the most important part of styling, and the first step that should be considered when creating or updating your wardrobe.”
Karen April @myconfidentstyle
Do you know which colors bring out your best look?
When you did your closet purge *see blog post on How to Purge & Organize Your Closet here did you find a number of items in the same color? You may have found 5 green shirts but does THAT color green look good on you? Let’s find out.
Color Made Easy – Breaking It All Down
Think of an artist’s color wheel. There are warm and cool colors. When you think of warm colors you typically picture orange, yellow, spring green, tomato red, rusty earth-toned clay, and browns, and that would be correct. When thinking of cooler-toned colors you may imagine turquoise blue, lilac, emerald green, deep royal purple, and ruby reds, and all of these would be correct
What To Do With Neutrals
What about classic neutral colors such as black, gray, brown, taupe, stone, and white, where do those fit in if I’m on one side of the color wheel what does that mean for me? Once you determine which side of the wheel you are on, either warm, or cool, then you will be able to determine which neutrals will bring out your best look because even neutrals tend to lean toward warm or cool.
How To Determine Your Basic Color Scheme
First, let’s determine your basic color scheme, and then we will re-visit neutrals. Let’s find out which category you fit best in and what works best for you. We will start with those on the cool side of the color wheel. Most often those who look best in cool colors have lighter skin, blue or greyish colored eyes, fair or pale skin, and tend to burn easily when tanning.
Do any of these predictors match you? If you’re still not sure you can try doing the wrist check. Examine your wrist for a minute; what color are your veins? If they are blue or blueish chances are you are on the cool side of the color wheel. Still not 100% sure, there are a few more tests you can run. Do you tend to lean toward and enjoy silver jewelry? This is another indication that you look your best wearing colors on the cool side of the color wheel.
If that doesn’t seal the deal for you, you may want to check out fabric swatches in both warm and cool colors, or when out shopping place a top you like in a cool color and a warm color taking turns holding each one up to your face. How do you look? One will definitely look better than the other. I run on the cool side of the color wheel. If I placed 2 tops in front of me that was a cool shade of green like emerald green, and one that was warm lime green, I would totally see a difference in my vibe. The warm-toned green would make me look tired, and sallow, while the emerald green would make me look youthful and rejuvenated. If you are on the cool side of the color wheel you have a beautiful array of colors that will look amazing on you.
Those who look best in warm colors typically have dark, olive, or golden skin, brown or green eyes, medium to dark hair, and tan easily when sunbathing. Do any of these predictors sound true for you? Still not sure? Check your wrist; are your veins greenish in color? Typically, if you look best in warm-toned colors you wear gold jewelry or tend to gravitate toward gold. if you are on the warm side of the color wheel there is an entire array of gorgeous deep rich colors for you to wear.
What To Do With Trends And Color
The 70’s styles have been coming in hot for a while now, and so are the colors! If you are a cool color person what do you do with mustard yellows, deep camels, and olive greens that are everywhere in style right now? The key is not having that color near your face so tops, scarves, headbands of those colors are a NO NO!! It’s definitely safe to play around with bottoms that have those colors in them though. (I’ve seen some really cute striped skirts with both warm and cool colors) or perhaps a pocketbook or wedges. If you go with a skirt whose color is NOT in your color scheme be sure your top is in a cool color to bring balance to your look. The key is using these colors so they work FOR you!
Final Thoughts On Color And Styling
Beauty was given to you by your Creator; it’s up to you to accept that and walk in the truth of it. Dress to highlight your favorite areas and don’t worry about hiding the ones that aren’t! The best gift you can give yourself is love and acceptance. You honoring yourself in this way is a form of love to God. You’re saying to Him that you are happy with His creation! We spend way too much time obsessing over what we don’t like about ourselves!! DON’T get caught in that trap! With that in mind don’t choose your outfit trying to hide behind your clothes; use them as a tool to bring forth your BEST self every single day! Rock it sister!
Cheering you on always,
xoxo Karen
