I know a lot of things. I know how to assemble my own custom PC, I know how to file my taxes, and I even know the gestational period of elephants. But one thing I don’t know is my undertone. If you’re like me, scrolling on TikTok before bed, you maybe got hooked on trying out as many filters possible to figure out if you’re a gold or silver girly. I know I did.
I found myself trying every thinkable test or “hack” to find my undertone. Was I warm-toned or cool-toned? What made it worse is that you can be BOTH! After all the research I did, I landed the concept of colour theory and colour seasons. This page explains it very well.
According to the theory, there are three main factors that determine your colour season.
1. Hue
Your hue uses whether you have a warm, cool or neutral undertone. Warm-toned people have a warmer, yellow undertone whereas cool has more blue tones.
2. Value and Contrast
Value, in this sense, is used to determine how light or dark your features are. Once you know that, you can find the contrast level of your features. For example, if you have light and fairer skin and dark eyes, eyebrows and hair, you have highly contrasting features.
3. Chroma
Chroma looks at how you suit bright and soft colours. Bright colours are more saturated in colour and soft colours are less powerful and much more muted. Soft colours can be described as having grey added to bright colours. Think of a muted “Olive Green” over a bright “Kelly Green”.
The Colour Seasons
The combination of your hue, contrast and chroma will lead you to a specific colour palette of colours that will suit you. The palettes have been named as seasons for a long time, going back to when painters would use certain colours to reference a particular season.
Spring
The Spring colour palette is very bright and warm, giving the same fresh and clear feeling as the season.
Summer
The Summer colour palette has cooler colours that are more muted. Summers wear colours that give off the same airy vibe.
Autumn
The Autumn colours elicit the same cozy feeling as the fall season. The palette has warm and muted colours.
Winter
The Winter palette has a lot of extremes, from icy white to rich dark colours.
As obsessed as I am with finding out which palette suits me the best, I still encourage everyone to wear and rock the colours and styles that they love. I don’t believe colour theory to be a firm rule of do’s or don’ts.
If you want to tag along in my fun journey of finding my colours, follow along with this mini-series! Maybe this is the year I figure it out.
