I have always had a difficult time determining my skin undertone. Despite my best efforts I have been told conflicting things by different makeup artists and even other hairstylists. “You’re definetly warm,” “You’re definetly cool,” and the most confusing of all, “You’re both!”. I have been researching color analysis for a while, and I knew I was ready to try it and finally get some clarity. My friend Erin Morgan is a color consultant with House of Colour, a UK based company that started with seasonal color analysis in the 1980’s. Since everything is more fun with a friend, I convinced Sarah, one of my college roommates and dearest friends, to do it too. The results were fascinating, and I think it will change the way I shop in the future.

Seasonal color analysis works by first determining the undertone of your skin. Your undertone is the color that comes through from beneath your skin, giving everyone their own unique hue. A warm undertone is considered yellow, while a cool undertone is blue. Erin asked us to arrive at her home with no makeup on, so there would be nothing to obstruct our natural skin tone. I fudged this a little bit by wearing concealer (because my morning under eye situation is a real beast) but don’t worry, Erin had me wipe it off when I got seated in her chair.

Erin started with Sarah, having her sit in a chair in front of a window with a mirror in front of her. She began by determining whether Sarah had a blue (cool) or yellow (warm) undertone by draping her in different colors and watching to see how her skin changed in the warm or cool tones. We all continually chose the warm colors for Sarah which would place her in either the spring or autumn category. Next, Erin continued to drape Sarah in different colors until she determined that Sarah was a spring by watching how her skin changed in different colors. The whole process takes about 1.5 hours per person and includes makeup recommendations as well.

Now I have to admit, because I was so invested in this I had done a fair amount of reading and decided (prematurely) that I was an Autumn. I went in with an open mind and tried to not impose any of my pre-conceived ideas onto the consultation. However, when I was sitting in Erin’s chair and she started draping me in different colors, I have to be honest – I started to get really confused. It quickly became obvious that I looked better in cool colors, which would make me not an autumn, but a winter. SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS. As I am writing this I think I am still trying to process it. It was quite a paradigm shift. Looking through my closet and comparing my clothes with the swatches from the swatch book I realize I do actually have a lot of winter colors. There are some colors that I thought were warm that are actually cool, so some of what I need to do going forward is train my eye to determine which hue of each color is cool vs warm.

I found this to be such a fascinating process and I know it will help me pick out colors in the future. I don’t know that I can promise that I will ONLY wear winter colors in the future, I think I’m a little too color curious for that. I now know what colors to seek out when I’m confronted with a shirt or dress that comes in 10 different color options. When I’m shopping for an outfit for a special event ( ie: family pictures, job interview, wedding guest attire etc…) I’ll know which colors to look for and which colors to avoid. I see this less as a box that I have to fit into and more as valuable knowledge and education about what colors suit me best. Have you ever had seasonal color analysis? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this process, or any questions you may have in the comments!