FASHION - Want To Know Which Colours Look Best On You?

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Summary - 

Colour should be one of the first things you think about when getting dressed. Why? Because the impact of colour is felt and recognised within seconds of that first interaction with another person. If you’re unsure which colours look best on you and your skin-tone, this episode will clear things up for you! 

Things I Mention - 

  • What someone is really noticing when they tell you “you look great!” 

  • What factors influence which colours are going to look great on you with little to no effort.

  • Why you are able to wear every colour with a little know-how.

  • How to recognise if a particular colour is considered warm or cool. 

PLUS, I teach you how to quickly identify (within seconds) whether warm or cool colours are more commonly recommended for your skin-tone. 

Links & Helpful Resources - 

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And how is this the first episode dedicated to colour? That really surprises me actually because it’s a topic I love which I’m sure you’ve heard me mention here and there in previous episodes. 

Colour can be really daunting for a lot of women and for good reason, it’s quite complex and like Mia Connor said in Episode #22, how can anyone expect to know and understand everything there is to know about colour if they’ve never been taught or haven’t undertaken some sort of further education on this topic. 

I feel as though I have a real one-up when it comes to colour because in all my years of study, I’ve been fortunate to learn about colour in lots of different ways and applications. Before styling, I studied Interior Design and as you can imagine, colour was a HUGE part of this course from how colour can change the entire mood of a space to colour psychology to how to market effectively  using colour to how to create colour palettes that are aesthetically pleasing. From here, I went on to study Fashion which taught us all about which colours look best on different skin tones, how to use colour to increase the versatility of your wardrobe, how colour can change your mood & mindset and of course how colour can also negatively impact the way you look too. And a little unexpected crash course in colour has come from my husband actually who is a lighting designer. He has taught me the importance of colour temperature and how light can distort the look of certain colours especially if we’re in a change room for example. So, if I had to choose just one theme that’s remained consistent throughout all of my studies, it would be colour. 

In my eBook The A to Z of Confidence, I go into a lot more detail about colour (including how to work out which colour type you are plus the most flattering colours for each colour type) so please do yourself a big favour and download a copy of that if you’ve got to adulthood and you’re still really unsure what colours look good on you. Otherwise, if you really want to look your best, I send you your entire colour palette in digital swatches as part of my 1:1 coaching service, so get in touch if you’d prefer a more personalised approach. In this episode though, I’m going to try my best to explain the difference between cool vs warm colours, a way in which you can quickly determine whether cool or warm colours are best suited to you and some of the nitty gritty behind colour which will dramatically improve the way you dress. 

I’ve said this before but it’s worth mentioning again - in my opinion, colour should be one of the first things you think about when getting dressed but strangely enough, it is often overlooked. There tends to be a lot more focus on the clothes and how you will mix & match different clothes to create a killer outfit - little thought goes into colour though which I’m hoping is about to change because like I said, in my opinion, it is more powerful than what clothes you decide to wear. Why? Because the impact of colour is felt and recognised within seconds of that first interaction with another person. When somebody says ‘Wow, you look great today!’, I guarantee they’ve noticed how great you look because of the colour you’re wearing, not because you’re wearing an a-line skirt. 

There are a number of factors that I take into account to determine which colours will look best on my clients. Some of these include their current hair colour, eyebrow and eyelash colour and of course, the natural undertones of their skin. This does mean that if you change your hair colour or get a dark spray tan for example, that colours that weren’t said to be your best initially, may be more flattering on you now. 

Most people look best in either colours that are considered to be more cool (which is any colour with blue undertones) or colours that are considered to be more warm (which is any colours with yellow undertones), therefore it pays to know the difference between cool vs warm colours. 

My biggest pet peeve as a Stylist is hearing other Stylists tell their clients that they can’t wear this or they can’t wear that, colour included. It’s not about never wearing this colour or that colour ever again. What a boring world it would be if we were all pigeon-holed like that. Instead, I like to teach women that for ease of dressing, there are definitely styles of clothes and certain colours that will look more flattering on them with little to no thought required. If you want to dabble in anything outside of this, then you might need your thinking cap on if you still want to look your best. When it comes to colour, you can wear every colour under the sun but there are different variations of each colour that are going to look better on you and when you wear these, they will give the illusion of a more youthful appearance, they will brighten your entire complexion which will make your eyes look striking, your skin look more flawless and your hair look healthy & strong. Who wouldn’t want that? 

Now just quickly, going back to my previous example, when somebody says ‘You don’t look so good or you look really tired today’. You’re more than likely just wearing a colour that isn’t considered your best which has created a tired, washed-out effect. It doesn’t mean you can't’ wear that colour ever again but if you want to look good with little to no effort or thinking required, then I’d aim to avoid it or learn the best ways to wear colours that aren’t considered your best (which I’ll explain in another episode). 

Most of us are familiar with the colour wheel we were taught way back in primary school - it is a wheel made up of the colours - red, purple, blue, green, yellow and orange. If you were to draw a line through the centre of the colour wheel, you could split the wheel into warm vs cool colours without getting too technical. Having said this and very generally speaking, if you have cool (blue) undertones to your skin, it’s likely that you could easily pull off and look great in any variation of the colours purple, blue and green because they are considered ‘cool’. When wearing yellow, orange and red however a bit more care should be taken to ensure that you choose the cool (blue) variation of these colours, as they are commonly considered ‘warm’. 

So to quickly identify what colour your skin undertone might be, you can look at the colour of your veins on your wrist. A lot more goes into this when working 1:1 with a client however to give you an actionable step that you can do right now, feel free to do this little exercise - If your veins are more blue than green, then you likely have blue (cool) undertones and therefore can wear any cool colours with ease.  

What happens though if you have blue undertones and you’d like to wear the colour red which is considered a warm colour? Well this is where things start to get a little more technical but rest assured, the more you flex your colour variation muscle, the better you will get at this and you’ll be able to identify what is a cool red and what is a warm red. 

Picture this for just a second - a piece of paper with 2 blobs of true red coloured paint on it. Add a speck of blue paint to one of these blobs and add a speck of yellow paint to the other blob. Mix both blobs separately and imagine now what the original true right paint now looks like. 

The red paint with a speck of blue added, would now look more like a ‘burgundy red’ while the red paint mixed with a speck of yellow paint, would now look more like a ‘scarlet red’ The more blue that’s added, the deeper and darker the true red would become and the more yellow that’s added, the more bright and vibrant the true red would become. This is what I’m talking about when I say the cool or warm variations of a particular colour. They’re both red right?! but if you have blue undertones to your skin then the burgundy red is going to look better on you than the scarlet red would so it just takes a little more time, thought and practice to be able to pull these off. 

I know this was a heavy topic today and like I said at the beginning of this episode, colour can be daunting for good reason. The important takeaways though are this - 

  • Identify if you have blue or yellow undertones to your skin

  • If you want to look your best minus the effort and you have blue undertones, stick with wearing cool colours. If you have yellow undertones, stick with wearing warm colours. 

  • If you know cool colours looks best but you want to wear some of the colours that are considered ‘warm’, practice practice practice. 

Practice identifying every variation of a colour whether out in nature, at home, in books or on the tv to see if you can identify if its a cool or warm variation of its true colour. Alternatively, download my eBook or book in for 1:1 Coaching.

Elisha CasagrandeWomens Confidence, FEEL BE LOOK, Confidence, Brisbane Personal Stylist, Online Personal Stylist, Styling Tips, Outfit Styling, Clothes Pyschology, Fashion Psychology, Style Rut, Fashion Tips, Styling Advice, Shopping Budget, Fashion Budget, Repurpose Clothes, Personal Style, Defined Personal Style, Wardrobe Versatility, Investment Buys, Shopping, Online Shopping, Add To Cart, Colour, Skintone, Cool Colours, Warm Colours