Update 2021-Dusty Soft Summer

I wanted to give an update! House of color post was probably about 4 years ago!

I had Heather Noakes make me a custom fan. She also had draped me as soft summer maybe something like 8 years ago? She’s seen my coloring a lot on social media and I trusted she would make me a fan that was spot on.

I also identified myself as cooling down a bit. Whatever warmer colors I could pull off in my 20’s was just not happening any more. I actually think Laura Alexander’s Dusty soft summer is pretty spot on for me. Previously I had thought Sunlit soft summer or some type of darker summer. But I just can’t stand anything too warm. Backtrack 10 years ago I would have told you I couldn’t stand anything too cool!

Look at the difference between the palette I wore in my mid 20’s verse now mid 30’s.

I’m always fighting the warmth in my hair. Cooler is always better on me. I do have some brassy dye in my hair, so the warmth isn’t natural…

And staying away from yellow, which has become harsher and harsher of a hair color the older I get.

The yellow was never good. It’s just that now my skin can’t tolerate it at all, because it’s so aging.

Here my hair is the coolness I like, for my wedding last summer.

here are some color matches to my fan I love!

Here I am without any sun influence.

I really like the cooler softer colors now. I would have never said that 10 years ago. I’ve changed a lot in how I see myself and what I find harmonious. I love the soft summer colors and the cooler browns in the palette. You won’t catch me in orange anytime soon. I adore tropical spring colors but just not on me anymore.

till my next update, thanks for following!

House of Colour: Our Color Analysis Journey in Pittsburgh

My Experience with House of Colour in Pittsburgh with Julie Shields

Intro

My Mom’s Color Analysis

My Color Analysis

Final Reflection 

Intro: 

I live in the DC area and traveled with my mom and partner to Pittsburgh which took a not-so-bad 3 1/2 hours.

We enjoyed the city! The trip was a fun mini vacation and learning session about color analysis in the House of Colour world. Of course, as many of you know, I am obsessed with color analysis and have been analyzed in many different systems  that use drapes including Sci-art, 12 blueprints, Color Alliance, Color Breeze, Kim Bolsovar, and now HOC (House of Colour).

I have been analyzed using drapes as a Soft Summer in sci-art/12 blueprints and a summer in Color Alliance. I was analyzed as a Spring or Light Summer in a few online analysis. Nothing has ever really felt 100% right which I theorized came down to the drapes themselves being used, the limitations of the system at hand. I know this is true because I own the Color Breeze drapes and analyzed myself as a Soft Summer (light) with exception of loving the navy drape from Deep Summer Soft but not caring for the other drapes. I wanted to try something different like House of Colour, and who knew…maybe I would end up a unique season, or the drapes would show something different about me and why nothing seemed to put my color season puzzle together.

We started with a House of Colour educational session about the different seasons and yellow and blue based colors.

My Mom’s Color Analysis:

My mom went first! Julie noticed that she had brightness right away and tested for Winter and Spring. Julie knew it was unlikely my mom was a Winter but tested to be sure. The winter blue and white is cutting her off down the middle which is undesirable.

Here is spring white and brown and looks much better.

Since my mom is warm we checked Autumn, but it was so heavy and blah on her. Summer was not great either and washed my mom’s warm complexion out.

Makeup time for my mom! This got her out of her comfort zone because she does not like to wear a lot of makeup and does not like bright makeup. It was a tough adjustment for her after the makeup was put on. I have draped my mom before as a Light Spring in the Color Breeze system. My mom is fair and feel like a little goes a long way and prefers the natural look.

She is all made up with makeup! and ready to see the drapes from her season! We gave her a lot of positive talk about how the makeup looked good. Makeup can be purchased at : https://www.houseofcolour.co.uk/shop 

Here Julie talked about how you can combining colors in outfits by showing the drapes paired together beautifully.

Colors can be used in color pops like a scarf.

We loved the coral pink on her with her spring pink lipstick.

I am floored every time I see my mom in this apple green drape and the fact that she can pull that color off! She looked beautiful in the apple Color Breeze drape too when I had analyzed her in the Color Breeze system.

Julie really loved this Geranium colored drape on my mom. I would never imagine my mom wearing this color but after contemplating about it, I could definitely see it worn as a dress and perhaps farther from her face with a scoop neck for a special occasion.

The light yellow was amazing on my mom and it brought out her natural highlights. Julie loved her hair and said the hair color added warmth around her face which helped keep my mom looking bright and warm.

A really pretty aqua color from Spring palette.

….and drum roll……My mom is a Paint Box Spring!

Find out more about the Kettlewell Spring seasons here. Since my mom could wear many of the colors in a wide colorful variety, almost like all the colors in the Crayola crayon box, my mom was announced a Paintbox Spring. Julie said she thought my mom might have been her first Paintbox spring.

Reflection on my Mom’s Analysis

I was definitely surprised my mom didn’t get the Pastel Spring, she did look fabulous in all of the Light Spring pastels. For sure if she was analyzed in 12 blueprints, I’d bet she would come out a Light Spring. I do again think that this comes down to preference and the Color Analyst is using their own artistic eyes and preferences.

Even though analyzed as a Paintbox Spring my mom can still wear many of the colors from the overall Spring palette. Her sub-season was determined by the 2 star ** colors that Julie said my mom could wear from Head to Toe (100%). However my mom received many other double stars in her 75% range (coat, suite, dress) and 50% range (top, sweater, pant, jacket, skirt that were the lighter pastels of Spring.

It did seem like some of the bolder colors really are very nice on my mom so I do like Julie’s eye for my mom to wear some of the bolder and warmer color mixes from the palette and not to just stick to the pastels.

My Color Analysis

Here my hair is pretty warm and brassed after many Coconut oil treatments to help heal my hair and of course me being neutral I am pulling this off a tad more then what one would think I should. Julie asked me if my hair was natural and she said it looked good. I told her it was dyed and went a little warm and by a little sort of a lot! My partner shouted out that my hair isn’t this orange color naturally, haha so now there was no question.

My hair is pulled back, and I am excited. Trying to keep in my expressions or my opinions because I have become very opinionated about colors over the years on me from studying color.

 

 

So here, I looked pretty okay in both the warm and cool drapes. There is no “high spectrum lighting” on me which in my opinion washes and cools out subtle warmth like mine immediately. I was tricky at first. Julie said that I am not as bright as my mom but still had some brightness and definite brightness in my eyes. I personally also think my skin has an unusual “soft” brightness.

Here is my eye color and my natural hair color. You can see my eyes have some clarity and my hair can look darker when it has no sun influence, but give my hair some sunlight and my hair is a much lighter and warms up with less visible ash.

We looked at ivory verse a blue based white and really it wasn’t obvious at first for Spring or Summer.

The apple green looks surprisingly okay on me from side view but was creating some blotchy skin from front view. I don’t seem to look as great in it as my mom did.

So many decisions to make here!

Oh the yellow! For sure, yellow is not my best color, even in my own season it’s not great and it certainly was not great in Spring.

Again the Spring blue is a bit much and blotchy on my face, but I didn’t think it was terrible just not really harmonizing.

Finally in a cooler, darker and brighter color my face started to clear and look good.

Autumn was the worst on me in my opinion. I was so surprised how bad it was!

In Color Alliance my best two were Summer and Autumn and it was right between the two seasons. I don’t remember my worst. I was a newbie to color analysis.

In Sci-art, Summer was best but we looked at Deep winter, there was something about it good on me but then I just couldn’t fully pull of the saturation. My analyst suggested the 12 tone corporate fan and to avoid the dusty colors on the end.

In 12 blueprints, Spring/Winter was my worst and I did like a soft autumn brown on me but other then that summer was clearly better. We gravitated towards the lighter side of the Soft Summer palette this time as a final result with the 12 blueprint luxury drapes, and I went home with the 12 tone classic fan.

In HOC, Autumn seemed to put a dull dirty blanket over my face and clash with my coloring the most! Spring was okay but not great. and we’ll find out about winter in just a bit!!!! ……

Summer blue was great on me and even though much like my color analysis with sci-art (Heather Noakes) we decided Winter wasn’t best even though I had a tad more clarity but again not a light clarity (light Summer) and not a winter clarity (Deep Winter) but a darker clarity still.

 

 

Summer V. Winter blues. Here we are testing Winter since I just seemed to have this darker brightness to me but not a Summer lightness aka Light Summer.

 

 

Summer V. Winter Magentas

Winter just too much and too much the main focus. Although the colors are exciting for sure.

Winter cut a line down me with the white and Navy and SUMMER it was!

What is my Summer Sub-Season?

Applying my Summer makeup.

Here I am seeing a combination of colors I could use, colors of 3 will always look interesting on me. I love this idea because I am not too big into monochromatic. The 3 colors included clothes and accessories.

I loved this color and immediately wanted to know where I could buy a top in this color!

My skin is peaceful and like porcelain here!

I did like some of the lighter colors, wow they looked so cool! I can imagine this is a button up shirt under a blazer. It looked really cool with my eyes and changed my eyes to this color!!!

Blues were so good on me, they were just phenomenal. When I was younger, teenage years at least, I knew that Navy and Black has a darkness that clears my face. Now I know black isn’t my best and a bit harsh and I should opt for charcoal but I innately went for these darker cool colors, until well, someone told me I dressed in too many bruised colors! Which I took too seriously, and started to try to wear other colors for better or for worse.

Another really pretty light color that just was so amazing with my eyes!

A combination of blues!

This drape was a bit much! And I was like “wow” okay! too much and not great lol.

I also love my purples, they are so pretty!

Very pretty but I can see why this one is not 100%.

Oh the blues! So good and 100% 2 stars **.

I love the sea-green.

Okay, so this whole time, in all these drapes I feel like I’m wearing color and I feel vibrant! Even in the pictures I posted, the drapes on me look like I’m wearing color and not neutrals. I felt like I was wearing neutrals all the time with my 12 tone soft summer fan purchases and some of the 12 blueprint drapes. There were drapes I did love in 12 blueprints like the rose coral and blues and plum, and brighter pastels but some I just wasn’t crazy about and just couldn’t see how the 12 tone classic fan was my best palette overall.

I love the bright blue greens!

Sky Blue! It was good on me! I was suprised!

Smoked Grape was also one of my best 2 star ** colors.

 

 

3 drapes that really were not my best. They just seemed too disconnected with my natural coloring.

The red was a lot. So I wasn’t really a fan of it.

This was better then the red! It was 75% 2 star.

I wanted to like the coral a lot more then what I did on me. Too bright and Light but it is a fun color!

A lighter softer pink was better then the coral or red. But really didn’t do too much for me. This is much how I feel when I see the Soft Summer  12 tone classic fan, doesn’t seem to do much, but this color seems more exciting then some of those dusty pastels from the 12 tone classic fan in contrast.

All my 2 star ** drapes for 100% of my outfit head to toe.

So without further wait, my sub-season is ………………..

Dark Summer! But wait what is Dark Summer?!

Because the darkest brightest end of the Summer palette looked the best on me, my season is the Dark or Deep Summer!

Check out more here at Kettlewell about Dark Summer or other summer sub-seasons. 

I was pondering that I would end up a Brown Summer, but I didn’t. Some of the colors were good but they just were not bold and dark enough to be my 100% 2 stars ** . Mushroom, Taupe, and Plum ended up being my only 1 star * at 100%. My 2 Stars ** at 100% were French Navy, Air-force Blue, Sea-green, Smoked Grape, and Burgundy. We added some of my one star 100% drapes since I only had 5 100% 2 star colors for the final draping picture.

Now you might be thinking I look to “fair” to be a Deep or Dark Summer but you’d be wrong to stereotype because I have a brightness to my skin and eyes and an ability to handle dark colors with skin perfection. My complexion doesn’t lie when the darker and more vibrant summer colors are put near my face.

Here is some detail about the Soft Brown Summer below which I did not drape as. But I can wear a variety of colors from it’s palette along with the Pastel Summer:

I will admit I did doctor this photo up with my photoshop skills, and took the red out of my hair and messed around with my eye makeup to make it more dramatic. But this is a good representation of the drapes! Unfortunately, the Plum drape did not make it on me but it should have been there.

Below is the color rating book for summer and my results

Julie also wrote down the makeup that I used. I really liked the Plum lipstick!! and the Lagoon Eye liner pencil.

I do feel much happier with this color result! and I even noticed my colors harmonized somewhat with the Color Breeze Toasted Soft Summer fan. In this collage my hair was dyed a bit darker to a closer to natural shade and you can see how much my face glows when my hair color is good next to my face!

Which fan to use for Dark Summer?

I asked Julie about the color palettes, and she was not a fan of the Soft Summer Prism Xll palette for me, she said it did run too warm and in my opinion it is too soft for me however it is a gorgeous looking palette.

She also wasn’t a fan of the 12 tone Soft Summer fan for me, she didn’t like the grays for me or the yellows which I thought was so spot on! I told her when I used the 12 tone classic palette to shop and purchase clothing, it just seemed to buy me results that were too dusty on me.

Julie thought the 12 tone Soft Summer corporate palette was okay, just that I need to be aware of the yellows/grays. My thoughts were that I needed to avoid the dusty colors at the tips of the fan just like Heather Noakes pointed out in my first sci-art analysis with her.

I decided to make my own fan, even though I could just use the HOC Summer color wallet that correlates with many of my colors from my Rating Booklet and with the online Kettlewell shop. The wallet was included in the price of the color analysis. I decided to make my own color fan and took apart 3 Color Breeze color fans to do so. I didn’t want to just be a “toasted soft summer”. I wanted my own unique color fan custom made by me and only my best colors!

I took apart the fans and compared to my Colour Ratings Summer book and my HOC color wallet. I used the star rating scale to match or at least harmonize my best colors.

Harmonizing here!

Writing down important information on the back of the swatches.

Here I am organizing the loo% at the front of the fan, the 75% next, then 50%,  then added some more neutrals, and some of the brighter colors for color pops in my outfits to use as the 25% of my outfit.

And here it is! Still a work in progress, because I would like to add more darker blues and blue variations. But you can see this is more vibrant than the typical 12 tone classic soft summer fan, and no wonder I always felt dressed in neutrals when I fan matched to it. But now I suspect and hope I find colors with the right level of saturation with my new custom fan.

My new custom fan harmonizes nice with the drapes! and I left out the yellows, which never looked good on me, even in small patches. So I didn’t want to include them at this point in time.

Comparison of 12 tone corporate Soft Summer fan and my custom palette based on HOC Dark Summer: 

It is nice to have the custom fan so I can avoid colors from the 12 tone fan: the too dusty colors and also avoid the yellows and some of those grays.

I do give a lot of credit now to Heather Noakes for seeing me as a darker soft summer first. I couldn’t really understand it at the time, but I now realize she did a great job for what season limitations their are in the sci-art system.  In the Color Breeze season this is considered Soft Summer Deep but I’d never get analyzed as a Deep in that system.

Final Reflections:

-I loved the technique that House of Colour uses to determine warm and cool

-I love the open mindedness of being able to wear the colors from your broad season

-I love the fact that HOC uses natural lighting for the analysis.

-I also love the rating scale and finding your best colors in your season based on how they individually look on you as the unique individual.

-The Color Rating Scale Reference Book, Color Wallet, Kettlewell website for purchasing clothing  (that matches your colors), the HOC online makeup store, and the Kettlewell blog are all great tools.

Shop at Kettlewell 

The House of Color analysis gives the client way more tools to be successful after they leave the color analysis. I also really loved the quality of the  drapes and how they looked on me. I finally felt that “wow” feeling that other’s feel when getting draped for the first time that I hadn’t experienced entirely, with colors that felt vibrant on me.

These darker and more vibrant Summer colors look great. I really do believe now I have a color home and it feels amazing to finally have found it. I finally feel like I am wearing colors that pop on me, instead of colors that feel like dusty neutrals. A huge thanks to Julie Shields and House of Colour for finally figuring out my best colors!

~Heather

NaturalColorMosaic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming appointment with House of Colour!

I just want to point out how fascinating this is! Unless I misunderstood this, it is a bit different than Kim Bolsovar’s analysis on my eye pattern/color however similar result in CMAS…It does appear the bottom eye has the pattern for Soft Summer and this makes a lot of sense to me that this pattern would be connected to Soft Summer, and the color reminds me of the Soft Autumn secondary. The top picture is more blue and less warm of a color. It also resembles the patterns of Light Summer with Spring Secondary. I have two different patterns and colors and this explains why I feel so torn between my seasons. I do love soft summer but then it’s like I need a little bit of something else. Something less languid and blended, I need more crisp and colors pops.

I need the darker muted quality from Soft Summer, however I need to borrow some brightness/saturation from Light Summer. Could these two fans have a love child? Really?! But what is semi the closest thing? Oh yes, that is my Zyla palette.

Some of my Zyla colors are like the Light Summer fan but they are a bit more muted but not too much more muted. This is the Soft Summer and Light Summer love child I am talking about. You can see this is the Light Summer Prism XII palette, my Zyla palette, and the Toned Spring fan form PYW. My Zyla palette sort of sits between the Light Summer and Toned Spring region but has the influence of Soft Summer greying it down. I wish I didn’t lose my romantic colors because I’d love to compare them here.

Another shot of the XLL Light Summer fan and some makeup matches.  I was very drawn to these colors and when I ordered the makeup from Ella Blake they said they were universal summer and they turn out to be mostly sided with Light Summer.

Here is a collage I made of my Zyla Floral Spring palette. I really like the tropical colors. Zyla said they were like vitamins for me. Which brings up another whole line of thought, it is not just colors to match your skin perfectly 100% but colors that make you happy to wear them and within a bounds of reason of what could actually look good. What I mean is, if the colors I needed were Bright Spring, I’d be in trouble because there is no way I can wear bright spring without fading away behind the colored fabrics.

I made a collage using eye pattern and color with CMAS since it correlates so nicely with eye pattern and season. I found that my left eye has the Indian Summer pattern, my right eye has the Sunshine summer pattern, my eye color goes warmer and matches the gentle autumn color but not the pattern, my skin tone matches the orange peach tone of Indian summer but has the brightness of skin-tone as of the sunshine summer. My hair color also looks somewhere between the Sunshine and Indian Summer, fwiw my hair can swatch pretty warm but it isn’t really brown-red but it does have rose gold highlights. Rose gold is my favorite metal especially in the summer time.

My favorite colors are periwinkle purple, peach, aqua, and various blues including Navy and french blue. My favorite palette is my Zyla palette but I’d love to find a connection between the colors David picked out and a standard draping. That’s why I am going to do a HOC, House of Color consultation. I’d love to see some of the colors I like in the mix as a good color for me during the draping. However, I am aware that this might not happen. It’s very possible the Zyla world won’t connect with the draping work but I have a hunch that Light Summer wasn’t so bad on me in the last draping with some of the colors and just finding some of those colors to be good will make me satisfied.

You might be aware that I just draped myself a Sunlit Soft Summer again in the Color Breeze system but those drapes I feel are designed to push you out of a season completely and they are the extreme drapes from the season, so I never got to try on the any flattering colors I think could work from Toned Spring or Light Summer.

I am drawn to House of Color because the vast opportunity of having your top star colors within one of the four sub seasons (winter, spring, summer, autumn), and then more opportunity for great colors that are personalized as your best from the season. I am feeling that the 12 season system is limiting me in that I am only Soft. I agree I am soft but I also think I have a light brightness and again that is why I keep searching and searching for more answers. Because I know my best colors are really a tad brighter then the Soft summer fan but a tad more muted then the Light summer fan. I would just love an analysis that were to recognize this or understand that this is possible, just like HOC allows for season cross over colors and they also allow you to wear other colors from your broad season and give you a percent ranking of how much you can wear other colors from your broad season.

You could call this a confirmation wish. And I wouldn’t say that was wrong. I want the stars to align. I want that aha moment and for me to not be the only one who sees or gets that but it’s shared experience, and the evidence that we all don’t fit in the perfect neat boxes. I have a high standard for what should look good on me, and I don’t want to settle as I had said probably a thousand times through all my blogs, and I still think the same!

I see peoples seasons or coloring as in a graph format of various points. I don’t see it the way it is represented in most systems. And that’s why I am in the process of creating my own palette and color analysis system. But I love to learn and I am excited to learn as much as I can as well from the House of Colour analysis. What a great experience it will be!

Until then!

~Heather

naturalcolormosaic.com

Light Summer or a Mix Between?

Revlon “Wink for Pink” is a Light Summer rec. I thought I’d try it. I was recently analyzed again by Kim Bolsovar who gave me Light Summer. She said that I would generally fit the bill as a Soft Summer in the 12 season system however that my eyes were unusual. I will get to that later. Also she took into account my personality which is a “yellow” Spring personality with a “Blue” summer secondary.

Here I am wearing the “Wink for Pink” LS rec. I thought after I have been told so many times that LS was too bright for me in my sci-art drapings that this color should be bright. But I didn’t feel that way at all wearing it, it seemed normal to me. It is a color I would have picked before I knew anything about color analysis and before I was drawn to certain color palettes like Toned Spring were I developed a wanting to be warmer and avoid cool colors.

Kim recommended to me to explore more purples, blues, and aquas. Many of these colors in the collage I made are in my Zyla palette. Although a major difference would be that my Zyla palette goes pretty warm with my version of red which is definitely Toned Spring. But here I find myself really liking this raspberry Light Summer color (on right of collage). These are some of my favorite colors for sure.

This is a similar look I wore years ago with this raspberry hoodie and the water color hand painted scarf. My lipstick here is Cairns “Coral Tulip” which is a bit of a L. spring and L. summer crossover color. I feel like I have cooled down a tad since a few years ago. I still like Cairns “Coral Tulip” but do think it might be a tad orange and think that the L.Spring cooler color of “wink for pink” is a bit more natural, and again just a different look.

 

 

Kim took an eye color and pattern course a while ago. And she said that my left eye is spring color, pattern and clarity but my right eye is for sure summer and cooler. I thought how interesting! This exactly describes my frustrations with colors being too bright and too muted and too cool and too warm. I kind of look good with cool and warm colors paired together to balance this out and maybe even softer and brighter colors paired together to balance this out.

                                                

(Soft Summer left, Light Summer right)

This is also were I can ask myself, is the balance better?  When I look at the Soft Summer drape I see muted color underneath and when I see the Light Summer color I see more of a balance of my skin brightness and the color. To me the Soft Summer color looks more like a neutral even though it’s a color, and I think that is due to the muted quality. And alas that is always how I feel in Soft Summer, like I’m always wearing neutrals.

In my opinion, this is my best color. It’s a purple periwinkle and it also is my Zyla dramatic color. I think it’s Light Summer, don’t currently have a fan to compare because I sold all my LS fans a long while ago but I did just order one but yet to come in the mail.

 

 

Here yet another example of the Soft Summer a tad muted on me on the left and the Light summer brighter and more level with my brightness. Zyla also said I need crisp colors and L.summer would be closer to the description of crisp then Soft Summer.

The drapes I did like from my Soft Summer draping were the ones with the shine. I like shine and sparkle, and of course the right levels of it. I notice a lot of the Soft Summer’s I talk to do not really like shine or sparkle and I do.

This is an older picture and not great lighting but here is a great teal and aqua color on me with the scarf and the scarf has a shimmery glittery fabric. I do like sparkle and I also wear sparkle on my eyes.

 

You can see that the eye shadow color I like is a shimmery orchid color, Stila “Cloud”. I also notice how some of the colors are similar that I custom picked out for myself on my blazers without looking or comparing to any color palette. It does have resemblance to L. summer fan.

I have another custom palette I have made I am interested to share this as well to see how it compares.

Perhaps the L.S. scarf it light and candy on me, Zyla also never liked pink on me as he said “candy” and that’s why he chose the warmer peaches, peachy-pinks, and corals. However I do say even if candy I do have a liking to this scarf and to the orchid color.

Until my next post where I share my custom palette and have a Light Summer fan in hand to test some of my favorite colors out!

Thanks for reading!

 

 

New Website:NaturalColorMosaic.com

Hi Soft Mosaic followers!

I’ve created a new website called: naturalcolormosaic.com

~I will be posting on my new website a lot!

Please watch my video! It is about Sunlit Soft Summer from Color Breeze System.

Here is for Sunlit Soft Summer fan! I have really had some great luck using this fan for shopping and makeup.

Here are color combinations that are awesome for the sunlit soft summer: Rosy Sable/Stone and Raspberry purse. I love this look, especially for Autumn/Fall!

Makeup and nail polish matches!

Neutral-Cool Grayish Browns below

~SoftMosaic

Soft Summer.

I’m exploring Soft Summer again during a trip to Europe. I found that I had some disappointments with the Cooler Soft Spring palette, Dusty Soft Spring. It’s still to saturated, bright, warm and I can tell it changed the colors in my face to less flattering hues. Sunlit Soft Summer is definitely the better palette for me. However as much as I liked the PYW fans, I am back to using my sci-art 12 blueprints (12 tone fan). Go figure!

12 tone fan….

Soft green shades, beautiful with purple accessories. With the statue of Liberty (France) this is a mixed Swiss/French inspiration idea.

 

Shades of soft red, purple, and pink. I love this card it has this movement that is interesting and reminds me of the heart pastries with the white and purple jam filled center.

Soft yellow with texture like the cathedral. I usually don’t wear this much texture, however it is fun and yet still soft.

Pinky-Purple greyed brown top with a floral scarf much like the color in the castle’s archway.

Detailing in a French dress…

So what about my beloved Zyla palette? I think it will work great still, and especially in the Fall when all the leaves turn gorgeous colors and I want to play along. I can wear some of those peachy-pink-oranges. Some of those brighter Zyla colors are fun to include in accessories. Some of the palette goes already with my fan or near close but some are not. I really think the 12 tone fan palette is my best. But yet draped twice was not good enough, I had to REALLY see it myself and compare all other options available especially with the new colors systems out there. User error was my main issue with this fan and for me that yellow strip is one of my saving graces when comparing “clean” or “dirty” yellow as being a good indicator when checking fabrics.

~Softmosaic

 

 

Color Breeze System: Dusty Soft Spring Vs. Sunlit Soft Summer Part 1

I’ve done a lot of work trying to compare the Toned Spring and Toned Summer palettes. I realized though I am using the old system. I have ordered The Dusty Soft Spring (a cooler spring) and the Sunlit Soft Summer (a lighter value Soft Summer) and am excited to compare my favorite colors to those fans!

Curious too about this…and how different the colors will be from the Toned Summer fan.

This Spring has blue eyes and looks cooler and a lot more like me. I am curious to see if these colors are better on me and match my personal found best colors closer. I’m very curious too because in my Soft Summer 12 blueprints draping, there was a Light Summer yellow that looked good on me and curious to know if it really was it’s relation to Dusty Soft Spring yellow that we were seeing work.

Another angle of my favorite green. It’s close but the fan sits a bit with the Toned Spring fan, I wonder if the Dusty Soft Spring will match better. I can’t wait to find out!

The palette (Toned Summer) sinks in, so it’s a better match for me then Toned Spring.

Even with that subtle orange sheen that made me think it was originally Toned Spring, the Toned Spring fan here does sit a bit and isn’t fully sinking in…

Again, another better match! Sinking in with Toned Summer fan. So curious as to how Sunlit Soft Summer will look to this favorite pink color of mine and how it will also compare to the Dusty Soft Spring.

These were my favorite draping colors from my most recent experiment. When I receive the new fans I will swatch and share right away.

I am so happy there is a cooler Soft Spring, and that there is a lighter Soft Summer. Those palettes, I am already positive will be superior for me, to these old palettes I’ve been using. I am also very curious on how they will match my personal custom color palettes…

Thanks for reading!

~Softmosaic

Toned Spring Outfit Collection

Toned Spring/Zyla palette outfit inspirations:

 

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~Softmosaic

 

 

 

 

 

Soft Spring Color Palette

 

When I painted this picture, I felt I added the right amount of gray and warmth. I had been dressing in Soft Summer colors at the time and hadn’t worn my custom palettes in months.

My custom palettes tend to match my painting much better.Kathy fan left and Zyla palette on the right.

The painting on the left is a bit overpowering to the soft summer fan. The fan lacks the warmth and clarity of the lively yet toned palette.Reminiscent of Spring and Autumn with Summer influence on the left.

Here I am in Soft Summer Green, hair part natural part dyed ash. My skin is clear and rosy but I do notice circles under the eyes. Look beneath they eyes, you will see they look heavy. A kind of frozen look, that is somewhat harsh but just a tad. I’m wearing soft summer makeup and under eye concealer. I agree this 12 blueprints Soft Summer does give my face the most “lit up” glow. Also I see that ‘pine’ connection of the eyes that is a 12 blueprints quote of Soft Summer person. As well, some Soft Summers can wear warmer makeup, mine is probably more towards neutral here not even “cool” foundation, but the lipstick and blush is Soft Summer recs.

 

Not the same clarity in my skin in the warmer colors and warmer hair. However my under eyes look much improved. I feel healthier here. Here I am wearing no makeup, and no under eye concealer. Maybe my skin is brighter in Soft Summer but the under eye circles are much worse in all of the pictures I have of myself in Soft Summer colors. It’s taken me a few years to really develop the eye to see the impact of different colors on my face/skin.

Sporting my Zyla metal color in a scarf in the photo above. Zyla told me this was my “Best” metal color.

Even under eye circles in the draping pictures. Although I admit these soft summer drapes are much more vibrant then any soft summer colors I’ve come across in the stores. I also drove a long way to this draping so my eyes could have been strained from the lights… My skin looks illuminated and amazing here, just the under eyes. But yet I do notice in the corners of forehead, eyes, chin… my skin looks a bit like purpling of the skin. Is it the colors then or just the false lighting-even though its supposed to mimic natural sunlight…

Soft Summer. Periwinkle shirt, just reads as a neutral on me not a color. I notice my hair is more ash, toned here to match my roots better and get rid of the yellow that was sitting there before. It is a pretty look, just hard to maintain, my hair warms so easily in the sun. Of course, as I have read the Soft Summer can have warmer hair and/or eyes and that is okay. But something about it doesn’t sit right in the harmony that I see-and perhaps that is personal preference for me to prefer warmer colors because of this.

Soft Spring. Warmer hair by sun and the cool toner slowly fading out of my hair and revealing the warmth underneath and natural hair at the roots.

See a similarity? This is what it is like for colors to feel happy to me, this specific feeling and look. Interesting how what one might view as a happy color someone else views as a completely different color. This is what makes us unique.

A clutch I fell in love with matches my toned spring fan.

Zyla palette colors, the cards reflect a lot of unwanted light but you can get the color schemes here.

Soft Summer 12 tone fan left, Zyla palette right. Both with no makeup. Interesting how the different colors bring out different colors in my complexion.

Soft Summer versus Zyla browns. The soft summer color connects with my eyebrows, yet I don’t prefer it with my skin… I’ve always liked the soft summer whites better on me then the grey. My eyebrows have always been ashier then my hair.

Zyla Romantic Bracelet and nail polish.

I love the colors much like these earrings, not bright but still bright enough and not too warm but warm enough.

 

I love the mixture of softer and brighter, just like this Toned Spring fan. Why can’t this exist on a person? Obviously the toned person uses the bright colors as color pops…and can mix muted and brighter colors together. To me this looks dynamic, and I prefer the look.

Zyla recs, Floral Spring color Pops. Pops of tropical toned blue-greens.

 

Not only does Toned Spring, Zyla, Kathy palette agree more with color pops, it also tends to have the a-line, sweetheart/scoop neck that fits with my style recommendations. I can’t wear languid, flowy type styles which tend to be more in the Soft Summer shades.

In my soft spring colors I feel more energetic. I think Soft Summer can work in the winter season with my natural hair color when it has no sun. Strange how a palette only seems right during some of the time and I also feel that I need to ashen my hair to feel harmony in times other then winter because my hair warms so easy in the sun. As far as Soft Summer putting dark circles under my eyes in “some of the colors”, I think I’d rather have yellowed skin from a warmer palette then dark under eyes from a cooler one. It’s a toss up that is probably personal preference…The dark circles: is it just the cold that is doing that and/or the saturation too?

My boyfriend painted this, with my colors/style as an inspiration. Interesting enough my  best friend agreed, “so me”. I do think it is a little intense but i’m open to other perceptions of me and I also think the painter often has some of their own natural colors or influences that get mixed in. It feels almost like a Toned Spring hybrid of another dark season….Dark Autumn Soft (It looks the most like to me). Dark winter was way to bright compared to the painting, even though that was my initial palette guess but its warmer indeed.

My Kathy fan I requested darker colors, so it seems to harmonize closer then my other palettes to this painting.

Pic above: Dark Autumn (Lora Alexander-Pretty Your World Book) Close, maybe a little over powering of a palette?

Above: Dark Autumn Soft (Lora Alexander-Pretty Your World Book) Zing this seems to be closest palette match!

Above: Toned Spring (Lora Alexander-Pretty Your World Book), Toned spring is too fair…

Kathy and Zyla palette

Full Zyla Palette

Eye color and Palettes:

I do see how the model from Lora Alexander (pic on far right) is a definite match to to toned spring and warmer then my eye which is bottom left. I think my eye is bluer which makes it seem cooler. However I like how it goes with the soft blues from the toned spring fan below better then the soft blues from the soft summer fan. However, I can’t disagree Soft Summer blue, greens, taupes can jive with my eye color too. It’s not rare that a Soft Summer has warmer eyes and or hair.

Eye color outside in sunlight above compared with Toned Spring fan.

 

Eye color inside under “natural light” lightbulb. So different then outside true natural light! To mention, my custom palettes are all made uses natural sunlight and not from the artificial sunlights of full spectrum lighting (12 blueprints-for me Soft Summer result).

Toned spring eye comparison, Lora Alexander pretty your world picture on left, and my eye on right.

Another Toned Spring palette picture match to my eye from the clutch I loved….

 

~SoftMosaic