Are You Wondering If You Are A Dark Winter Color Palette?
I’ve got you covered with these answers from a stylist and artist
How Dark Winter Was Actually Created
Characteristics Of Dark Winter Color Palette
Your colors might deviate a little; after all, it’s a cold season that is during the transitional jump.
If you are a Dark Winter, your features will speak for themselves, and the most dominant color you will notice will always be dark.
You are not the light summer type with golden blond hair and soft blue eyes, you are a dark winter with deep dark glossy hair and dark mesmerizing eyes.
You are a Dark Winter if you have a cool appearance overall, and you are most definitely aware that cold colors and undertones suit you better than warm and soft ones.
It’s effortless to make a test with jewelry. Just take something golden and something silver covered and put it right near your face.
I, for example, put one gold earring on the left ear and one silver on the right one.
I will definitely say that golden earrings suit my skin much better than silver ones. Because gold has a yellow (warmer) undertone, and silver is cold.
My skin naturally has a yellow undertone, so a warm palette will suit me better. For you, it’s vice-versa.
How to find out if your skin type is warm or cold?
That is really easy to do! The fastest way to understand what your main type is is to face yourself in the mirror and play around with gold and silver jewelry.
For example, If you see that you have a slightly pinkish skin undertone and silver earrings suit you better – you are a cold type.
If you have olive-shaded (warm-toned or tanned) skin and gold jewels suit you better – you are a warm type.
You do have a strong appearance colorwise, but it’s not completely true when technical resources say that your “features appear somewhat “greyed” out or toned down”.
There are people with grey-ish appearances, but their blue eyes definitely stand out and do yours.
Your true colors are cool and sharp, somewhat “screaming,” but if you add perfect color to your features (or at least one of them), those will definitely create a balance.
With the right palette, your features will be enhanced!
It might be true that the contrast between your skin, eyes, and hair is highly contrasted.
But the important thing is that a person who reads these statements will not be able to identify that contrast.
It’s difficult to figure out which chroma, hue, and contrast your own appearance has.
My advice to you is not to pay so much attention to these “technicalities” and just go along with a simpler explication of what your true palette is.
The Features Of Dark Winter Color Palette
I. Eyes
Dark Winter eyes are cool and color combinations can vary from cold to medium olive.
These are dark olive, dark hazel, hazel, medium hazel, brown and black.
II. Skin
Skin can be from fair to well-tanned. It is predominantly cool in an undertone, but since it’s mixed with an autumn color palette, silver and gold will suit you well.
III. Hair
Dark winter hair is always dark, like a black and deep brunette. However, there might be slight deviations, like medium-dark copper.
There wouldn’t be any sunlight or highlights since there is no room for a summer vibe.
Dark Winter or Dark Autumn?
Dark Winter is also associated with Autumn’s rich colors, and sometimes people get confused by it. You can get a more in-depth explanation here.
To be more precise, between those two palettes, you need to know that Dark Winter has a sharp, easily visible contrast between the darkness and saturation of the hair, eyes, and paleness/darkness of skin.
Since it’s winter, it is cool in the undertone.
Dark Autumn is warm in an undertone, and all of the features blend in together with less of a contrast.
All of the autumn colors are mixed into one composition with softness and it looks sort of “greyed down”, while winter is sharp and crisp.
A very vivid example would be Kat Dennings; you see a clear contrast that appears to be very evident.
The hair is dark and almost clashes with the whiteness of the fair skin. Her lips are always dark red, which stands out from her eyes even more.
If you pay closer attention, you will see that her outfit choice is always dark, deep, and vivid. There are almost no soft summer colorings.
The other example is Natalie Portman, which looks like a vivid transition from autumn to winter.
Her appearance is more subtle and soft than incorporating autumn warmness, but still, her outfits blend well with her Dark Winter palette.
Her overall look is high in contrast.
Even though her skin might look tanned, it is still very slight, creating an incongruity with summer types.
The Color Palette Of Dark Winter
Dark Winter is the palette that brings on the magic of the cold night somewhere in Paris.
The bright lights allure through the Eiffel Tower while the stars are brimming in the skies.
The wind is apparent in the air, bringing the harshness of reality.
Everything becomes mystic and almost fairy-tale, like when you hear champagne popping in the middle of the street.
The night has never been better, and the colorful lights have never been brighter.
The winter vibe brings a high contrast between the hustle during the night and the stillness of the morning.
The early time of the day brings peace and no harm, only grey pastel shades blended in with off-white dullness.
The Palette Of Dark Winter
How To Understand Dark Winter Color Palette
It has already been indicated that the Dark Winter color palette has high contrast.
You can clearly see how fair the skin of an actress is.
Black hair creates a rough outline and a sharp, edgy end. The eyes are brown with a cold undertone.
It’s a highly contrasted appearance and if you look similar, you are definitely a Dark Winter.
How to mix and match a dark winter color palette in your wardrobe?
In technical fashion materials, it is stated that you should only combine colors from one color palette that belongs to your skin tone.
So, colors that work for a bright winter palette should only be chosen from the palette given to you.
Harsh and way too bright/cold colors can create an undesirable effect on the skin, especially if you have a delicate/muted appearance.
But that is right on the contrary for you, sharp colors are right for you!
I have already mentioned that dark/warmer colors can still be used for the lower body. The main center is always your facial zone, which attracts the most attention.
So, you mainly need to concentrate on the face and decolletage zone with your true winter palette.
You have to understand that even if you use all blue combinations or all dusty pink or creamy combinations in your upper and lower body.
It will be color-correct for your skin but still unflattering if your body shape is not a perfect hourglass shape.
Especially, it concerns those that have an ampler bottom-like pear body shape.
So that would mean that light pink pants will not be the best choice for your bottom line because they can make you look bigger than you actually are.
And this is what we are trying to avoid when constructing the perfect wardrobe.
- Inverted Triangle Body Shape: Capsule Wardrobe
- Pear Shaped Body: Capsule Wardrobe
- Apple Body Shape Shape: Capsule Wardrobe
- Hourglass Body Shape: Capsule Wardrobe
- Rectangle Body Shape: Capsule Wardrobe
Styling For Dark Winter Color Palette
Neutrals
Dark Winter is the original Winter season. As such, the palette contains both true black and white.
You also have dark blues and browns, which you can use as dark neutrals.
And apart from true white, you have light beiges and greys, which can act as light neutrals.
On that note, black and white is the classic Dark Winter combination and will look truly striking on you.
Colors to Avoid For Dark Winter Color Palette
We have already established that in order to enhance your beauty, you need to use cold and rich colors in your wardrobe.
Yellow or golden tones will look unflattering on you, and you’d rather keep away or use them in smaller accessories like bags, belts, etc.
Patterns & Prints for Dark Winter Color Palette
Patterns are usually used for upper body garments like blouses and sweaters, etc., or summer dresses.
People rarely wear trousers with patterns; most likely, blatant colors are used.
As a Dark WInter type, you can wear prints, but those would need to be in the right color palette for you.
If you see a patterned fabric, you need to concentrate on the primary color of the whole garment.
There might be blue flowers on white, but you need to figure out which color is primary here.
It’s primarily white, which is basic here, so you need to see if that primary color is from your Dark Winter color palette.
It’s believed that Dark Winter needs to use low to medium contrasts because of the delicacy of natural beauty.
You might still go for low-level contrast, which would be right for you. However, there is always a solution for you if you don’t find anything from this guide.
Jewelry For Dark Winter Color Palette
How you could fix your non-perfect colored look with just one thing. It’s a necklace, and for me it’s pearls.
Be mindful that pearls need to fit your skin color perfectly. When you put something like a pearl necklace on your neck, you create a rough separation between the “wrong” color of your skin and the necklace.
So, the chain is going to be the primary color reflector for your skin color.
For example, I have a purple dress that does not really fit my skin color, and my face tends to look a bit tired with it.
You know it, especially if you have blue-eye bags in the morning. It doesn’t make me look the best.
So I created a cut between the color and my face with a pearl necklace that perfectly fits my skin.
So, the jewelry is the first color reflector near my face.
Check out my article: “How to wear pearl necklace and where to buy it. “
As stated, between gold and silver, I’d recommend silver as it’s cold enough for your skin tone.
Gold is appropriate if it is mixed with silver and looks primarily cool-toned.
Pearls need to be bright white in color as they match your complexion perfectly.
You can even use colorful plastic earrings of vibrant shades like Samantha from Sex and City wore.
