This piece of information is something you never heard before

If you were wondering why you never belong to only one type – here is the answer

I love color and I hate when people limit themselves to only one seasonal color type trying to stay on the safe side of colors sticking to a certain palette.

Most of the time it doesn’t work just like that and there are lots of colors that you will use that are not indicated in your designated color palette.

Still, somehow nobody really explains how it happened that you being a Soft Autumn for example can wear Soft Summer colors and Spring pinks and even Deep Autumn or Winter blues.

Or how come you have red hair when you are in a soft summer or a winter with a cold undertone?

Many times we see winter types wearing red pigmented hair or even ginger and it doesn’t contradict their overall tonality.

I am going to start with something basic that you have to know and probably by the end of this summary, you will understand why you had multiple color analyses done and all of them were different.

What is color and why do you need to know its structure

Color is not static. It’s moving, just as time. And on top of that, all colors already exist in you. And that is the most important thing you need to remember.

Shocking, right?

Color is a constant movement and so is your physical body. When we are born we don’t preserve the same physicality as time progresses forward.

The body and its colors are not static – they are “frozen in time” at some particular moment, or in a specific frame of circumstances and prism – basically it’s a constant change.

Physically, we cannot see time in motion (you can only see the clock ticking), but with color – we can only see its fractions.

In that sense, we identified it and broke it down by name. We named each color, shade by shade, etc. so we would have a feel of it.

In the same way, we measure time by hours, seconds, days, years, etc. Just the same way we have the feel of the time.

Monday does not have the same feel as Friday, does it? 🙂

This is the way that color is perceived as well we consider something wholly illogical when we consider that there is no such thing as white, gold, blue, or black.

Lotto said: “A color exists only in your head”… “An entity known as light exists”.

And this is exactly the concept that was used with the color. Light creates color through the prism and this is how we see the rainbow.

We broke it down by naming color by color, but what we cannot feel with time is the movement.

That is going to be a very important note here for you to understand the color.

You can say the color is alive and the color in you is also alive.

I know that if you were previously confused about your type, you would probably become even more confused.

Have you ever wondered why certain colors make you feel and look vibrant and alive, while others seem to drain the life out of you?

Or why a particular shade of blue that looks stunning on your friend makes you look washed out?

The answer lies in color analysis, a fascinating science that can change the way you dress and perceive color.

Color analysis is not just about identifying your favorite colors. It’s about understanding how different hues interact with you, hair color, and eye color to create a harmonious or discordant effect.

It’s about learning to use color to enhance your natural beauty, boost your confidence, and express your unique personality.

Imagine walking into a room and instantly attracting attention because you’re wearing colors that make you glow.

Imagine feeling more confident in your clothes because you know they flatter you perfectly.

Isaac Newton observed that when white light passes through a glass prism, the light rays are refracted at different angles, creating a range of colors. He called this range of colors a spectrum.

Furthermore, Newton proved that when these colored rays are combined, they produce white light again.

Today, we know that these colored rays are actually waves with different wavelengths. This proves that the color is not static – it’s a movement.

He stated that the ability to see the color correctly is not associated with any particular color.

His explanation was that color is actually a perception created by the mind in response to light, similar to how sound is a perception created by the mind in response to physical vibrations in the air.

Why are the three primary colors so important for your undertone?

You may already know that when mixing colors, three primary colors are typically used.

In the same way, when blending lights, there are also three main colors that are used: red, yellow, and blue.

Every color including white, is produced by mixing lights of three fundamental colors.

Please take a moment to consider this question: Even though the spectrum contains many different wavelengths, what causes three colors to be unique?

Where does this number three come from?

If the spectrum consists of wavelengths that vary from short to long, what causes colors to form a circular pattern?

The answer to both questions lies in Newton’s assertion that the rays of light do not have inherent color.

The only difference between the rays in the spectrum is their wavelength, and it is our eyes and brain that perceive and interpret colors.

Furthermore, individuals may perceive different colors from the same light. That would also mean that we all might see the same color at a different angle than the rest.

Primary colors are grouped in threes because the human eye has three types of light-sensitive cells, known as cone cells, which are responsible for perceiving color.

The L cones are most responsive to yellow wavelengths, while the M cones are most responsive to green wavelengths. The S cones, on the other hand, are most responsive to blue and violet wavelengths.

When mixing colored lights, the three main colors cause one type of cone cell to react more than the other two.

On the other hand, when mixing paints, the three primary colors absorb one of these light-mixing primaries.

If we observe a set of light wavelengths that are evenly distributed, our L, M, and S cone cells react in a comparable manner, resulting in us perceiving the light as the color white.

The color wheel: why do we need it?

The color wheel will help you figure out how tones interact with each other and your appearance.

Itten’s color wheel is a model of the interaction of shades with each other: separation by primary and secondary colors, by wavelength, into cold and warm tones, and also builds the order of combination.

The color wheel was invented as a tool for working with paints for beginners and now we can also use to determine your color type. 

This little picture shows the parent properties of the primary colors: yellow, blue, and red. 

The triangles on the sides of the central figure are child tones. So green is the result of mixing yellow with blue, and orange is red with yellow, in turn, magenta is the result of red with blue. 

The shell, in the form of a circle, describes the spectrum (the dependence of color on the light wave): from red (the longest wave) to violet (the shortest), the connection between its two ends is purple, which has no wave.

It turns out that the purple tone combines positive and negative infinity, thereby describing the biological feature of the relationship of color with the human eye: if red and purple hit the retina at the same time,

However, the color wheel is a flat (in the literal sense of the word) representation of the overall color model, we are not limited to 12 colors, but use thousands and thousands of shades. 

The full model looks like a ball, where the shades of the color wheel are the equator, and the poles are white and black:

The spread will already contain information about the interaction of shades in the color ball: from pastel to dark tones.

Inside this ball, there is an axis: from white to black – medium gray. This allows any section of the ball to see a gradient from gray to light or dark tones of any color.

If we imagine not an exaggeratedly segmented ball, but with an iridescent gradient, then all possible shades will fit into it.

What is undertone and overtone?

Your distinct coloring is the result of your outward look, which includes the hues of your skin, hair, and eyes.

You are using this as your overtone. It’s important to keep in mind that the value (how light or dark) and intensity (how clear or muted) of your skin, hair, and eye color can all be influenced by things like your age, how much time you spend in the sun in the summer and winter, whether you color your hair, and your general health, nutrition, and well-being.

A person’s overall overtone can be affected by significant changes from the inside as well as the outside factors, such as when her hair color changes from brown to blonde or from auburn to grey.

As a result, it will influence which colors are more wearable than others. It might also affect the makeup that someone chooses.

An excellent image consultant will advise you to revisit your color choices every five to ten years, since your life may have undergone significant change. And not just that, you should be reevaluating your coloring every season.

It is possible to refer to a person’s undertone as their “invisible color” or color that is concealed beneath the skin.

What contributes to and decides your true color is melanin.

Melanin is a skin pigment produced in the cells called melanocytes. It is responsible for giving skin, hair, and eyes their color and helps protect the skin from the sun’s UV rays.

It is vital in protecting the skin from sun damage, which can cause premature aging, wrinkles, discoloration, and other long-term damage. 

This is your key to understanding which hues complement your particular features and complexion and what color temperature looks best on your skin tone.

When you drape, a personal color analysis will show you your undertone, which is either Warm (yellow) or Cool (blue).

Your primary and secondary color directions will be determined by the combination of undertone and overtone. Let us now investigate these in more detail.

Firstly, the overtone of a person is the combination of their three natural features (skin tone, hair, and eyes) that are visible to us when we look at them.

Your skin and hair would occupy a large amount of the composition if you were to paint a portrait of your face on a canvas, which is why they are important to this overtone.

But don’t let that fool you—eye colors are significant and can provide insight into a person’s blood type.

Your hair and eyes could be dark brown, and your complexion could be olive-tanned. Given your brown eyes, it could initially appear as though you have a warm skin tone.

Upon closer inspection, your brown eyes may actually have more black-brown pigmentation than those of someone with more amber (yellow-copper) pigment.

Furthermore, even if you have some yellow or golden tones in your skin tone, warm colors might not always go well with it.

The undertone of a person becomes important at this point and can be discovered in person when draped in a studio or virtually using digital color tools. By the way, it does matter if you use the natural lighting or the studio softboxes. Softbox is never going to give you the most realistic result because the lighting there artificial and we want the natural result.

Sometimes people become confused when they attempt to understand someone’s primary direction and undertone first, then their overtone.

People who are not trained in color analysis might say that you would look fantastic in a mustard-colored top because they think your overtone is naturally “warm.”.

However, even if your overtone is neutral (a warm and cool combination), and your hair is more naturally cool chocolate in color and does not have red or golden highlights, your undertone may not necessarily be warm.

It’s very likely that you have a cooler undertone in this situation. Your undertone will ultimately determine your primary color direction and whether your swatch has more warm or cool colors.

Your overtone indicates the secondary color direction, as well as the value and intensity of the colors in your temperature range.

What’s the deal here with the undertone?

Here is the thing…

We are coming back to the primary 3 colors: blue, yellow, and red.

Attention, this information does not exist anywhere else, please take it into consideration by re-reading it a few times.

Three primary colors this is what make your undertone, and secondary colors appear on the surface making an overtone.

What do I mean by that?

The colors red, blue, and yellow are present in everybody’s undertone, the only difference between them is the percentage of them.

For example, you might have red pigment more powerful in you which takes 80%, which also makes the skin white, and more translucent, and a lot of times you can see the blush appearing often. Such people might have really white skin and stay away from the sun because they burn easily.

yellow pigment will be present only 10% and blue 10%.

But also red corresponds to the brightness of your skin and basically the collagen in your face.

A person with a dominant yellow pigment will rather have high melanin and will tan really well – Autumn types.

A person with blue dominant t pigment will have a rather greyish appearance, the skin might be really white and almost translucent, which could be into Summer types.

If your ratio is blue dominant together with red – the brightness (50 to 40%) you will be light but bright – a rather Spring type.

It’s going to depend on your own personal ration of these 3 colors.

Now, the thing is that as we already established, the color is the movement – these ratios will also change most of the time.

The level of red color will drop with time, and you will see that as red is gripping, the second color becomes more dominant (for example blue – the second dominant) – and you see more grey overtone in you.

How would you determine the levels of your 3 colors?

It will depend on your climate and your personal appearance changes through time.

You will have to take a test for the warm and cold undertone – the one that we always discuss where we play with golden and silver jewelry near the face.

You identify your yellow color – present – or not present.

I like to test it at least 2 times per year because I’m drawn to changes at all seasons. When it’s summer the levels of yellow and red go high and when it’s winter both of them go down and I am able to see a little bit of greyness that definitely requires a red and yellow booster.

Once you have 2 pictures of yourself summer vs winter face- you will see the correlation.

Here from this analysis, we can see how different the summer vs winter skin tones are. We see that during winter color palettes from Soft Summer and Soft Autumn match very well depending on the skin condition.

Obviously, deeply Autumn colors are a miss because the skin does not have that much warmth in it. Deep navy blue does accentuate blue undereys, but if you use concealer in that place the color of the eyes will be very well accentuated and emphasized.

While Light Summer fits very well only during actual summer.

When we need to conceal and take the stress away from the red sport on the skin – we use green, blue colors around the face. Everything warm derrivated will accentuate the redness. So use the Soft Autumn warm colors but use the foundation for the face.

Here you can see how the skin looks different during different seasons. That is an in-transition type Soft SUmmer vs Soft Autumn with an upgrade to Light Spring during summer.

That is the way this particular skin is changing and this is the colors this person will use.

An In-transition type In the Color Analysis

And let’s not forget about the In-Transition types that sit in between the transitional palettes.

Soft Autumn and Soft Summer types are both transitional types, and not only that but also they are seasonal and factual “neighbors.”

Here you can see how the color moves. Here is how you being an in-transition type can move to a completely opposite type on the color wheel, from the Summer/Autumn to Spring. That is a natural movement of the color.

Dark Autumn and Dark Winter are also transitional neighbors. The only True Autumn is central – which is the concentrate, of the actual Autumn palette.

Here, you have to understand one thing: True Autumn is the canon in which all the other palettes were created and applied as per each and every category.

And that is why all the Autumn palettes will share the True Autumn palette here and there anyway.

They will fluctuate from Soft to True Autumn or from Dark Autumn to True Autumn, depending on the way their appearance is able to change.

The true canon palette is always there – you have to remember that.

On top of that, we have additional types of In-Transition between the transits, like Dark Autumn and Dark Winter.

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