Colours and Confidence: Six Lessons on Colour Analysis

Photo curtesy of Your Colour Confidence

Like almost everyone else on the internet, I learned about personal colour analysis on my For You page. I saw so many videos where the analyst revealed someone’s correct season and you could see how the right colours made the subject glow. My mom and I have always loved shopping together and, during Covid, we enjoyed spending time together digging into our personal styles and learning about what kind of clothes make us feel our best. Through this process, my mom became really interested in colour analysis. After lots of research, we got our colours done by Lisa Kelly in Ottawa in 2023. We learned a lot of information on the day of our draping about each of our seasons, how colour analysis works and how to use our fans to shop in our palette. Our session was very well done but it was a lot of information to take in!

Through practicing working with my seasonal colour pallette, chatting with Lisa, and my mom doing her colour analyst training, I’ve learned a lot in the years since my analysis. Here are my top six lessons learned on colour analysis.

1. Shopping becomes more fun and efficient once you know your colours

Knowing your colour palette makes shopping a completely different experience. We’ve all tried something on in a dressing room and been disappointed by the way it washed us out or made us look weird. Knowing your colour season allows you to eliminate one factor that can lead to dressing room disappointments, making the experience more fun. I also find I’m much more efficient when I shop. A quick scan of the store can often give me an idea of if there are any colours worth a closer look or if I should move on. Knowing my colors gives me a starting point when I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking for, helping me to stay focused and avoid feeling overwhelmed by the selection.

2. Knowing your season doesn’t limit what you can wear

At first glance, a palette might seem restrictive but I’ve found that’s really not the case at all! Colour seasons are about the warmth, brightness and saturation of the colours, not about telling you if you should or shouldn’t wear blue, red, or yellow. Most seasons will have a version of every colour that makes them glow. When it comes to not wearing specific colours, my analysis confirmed things I already knew. I’ve always hated the way that I look in really dark colours, especially black. Learning that my True Spring palette doesn’t really include black, provided an explanation for the sense I already had. I’ve also always disliked the way I look in white. When I got my colours done, I learned that bright whites aren’t really included in my palette but softer versions like ivory are. I was shocked to find that I could love the way I looked in a white shirt if it was the right white!

Colour palettes aren’t meant to be restrictive, but to provide guidance and make you feel more confident in your choices while shopping. It is completely up to you how strictly you want to follow your colour palette. Before I got my colours done, I was sure that I would keep wearing whatever colours I wanted. Once I saw the difference it could make, I swung completely in the other direction and vowed to only ever wear true spring colours. As I’ve settled into my palette and done some more learning, I’ve reached what I think is a sweet spot. I wear primarily true spring colours but if I find something I love in my neighbouring seasons I’ll buy that too. I won’t splurge for something outside of my season but if I’m thrifting, I might compromise a little on colour for a fun piece that’s a good fit and a good price.

3. I feel at home in my palette

In addition to feeling like my palette doesn’t limit what I wear, I find that I gravitate to my palette anyways. I’ve always loved bright vibrant colours and that’s exactly what’s in the true spring palette. Knowing my seasonal colour palette has helped give me the confidence to fully lean into wearing the colours I love. In turn, this has helped me create a wardrobe that feels really true to me, that I love to wear.

Photo provided by Your Colour Confidence

4. Packing and choosing outfits gets easier

Maybe one of the coolest benefits of dressing in your season is that everything goes together. Seasonal colour palettes focus on harmonizing the warmth, brightness and saturation of colours with each other, which means colour combos you might not have considered before suddenly look really good! When all your pieces look good together, it creates a capsule wardrobe that makes it easy to pick out an outfit that looks good (even if you’re procrastinating your laundry like me). As an added benefit, it gets easier to pack a suitcase with options for different weather and activities without going overboard.

5. Colour availability varies

If you find a new item you love in your colour, you should snap it up right away because colours in each season aren’t always available. While every season seems to get its turn, it’s common to walk into a store and notice that the stock is 90% in one season. When the prominent season isn’t yours, you can still get lucky on sale racks and when it is yours, I recommend scooping up some new clothes while they’re available (as long as you’re buying what you need and avoiding overconsumption). Thrift stores don’t follow the same seasonal rotations, so consider checking them out for a better seasonal palette variety and a good deal.

6. Having your colours done is a big undertaking

Getting your colours done is a big investment of time and money. My mom and I got ours done together and it took us about 6.5 hours to have our seasons identified and learn all about our palettes. There are free or inexpensive tools available online that claim to be able to determine your colours in seconds but, in my experience, they aren’t accurate. I personally feel that an in person analysis is the only way to get a completely accurate result.

The biggest surprise that came with having my colours done was how much learning was required to master my palette. We did a ton of learning on the day we had our analysis but we also spent countless hours after, practicing identifying our colours in the store and using our fans effectively to do it. It took me quite a while to feel confident in my ability to identify a colour’s season with my fan, but the effort was worth it, as I can now identify a lot of colours on sight. The learning process was also quite fun and I really enjoyed sharing the whole colours experience with my mom.

Want to know more about colour analysis?

If you’re interested in learning more or getting your colours done in Manitoba, you can reach out to Melanie Wotton at Your Colour Confidence. After seeing the huge difference colour analysis made in both our lives, my mom was inspired to help others build their confidence through colour analysis. Check out her Instagram or Facebook to learn more or book your analysis!

If you’re looking for analysts in other parts of Canada, United States or Europe check out this link.