Real Women Case Study (continued)

We continue with the real woman case study examples from previous page.

Real Women Case Study #8

Terra has graciously allowed me to use her photos for my “Real Women” page so I want to give a special thanks to her.

She is one of the nicest people on the planet, and she was also one of the more challenging people to analyze. You will see why below.

As I like to do with any analysis, I looked at her current photos to establish my initial impressions of her. And then I like to look at her childhood/teenage photos, if available. Then I look at the rest of her photos.

Terra had colored her hair nearly every color imaginable. I can usually tell which ones were flattering and which weren’t, which helps me in my analysis, acting as a sort of ‘test draping’ only with hair.

The problem was, Terra didn’t look horrible in any of them! Most looked just fine. So that didn’t help me much.

So I try to determine what she was as a child/teenager. I am positive Terra was some sort of Autumn when she was younger.

Her eyes are a soft green. She was probably one of the soft autumns.

Regardless of which particular Autumn she was early in life, she was cooling down as grey hair is starting to come in.

Of course, the grey hair doesn’t look bad either.

Which was most confusing as warm seasons usually have the most difficulty with greying hair (not always but very often).

When I saw this current photo (left), I was sure she was a Sunlit Soft Summer.

Her eyes look almost blue here.

But some photos looked warmer, some looked cooler, and some looked totally neutral.  

While it was challenging to determine if currently her undertones were warmer or cooler, I knew for sure her dominant trait was Soft. 

She provided lots of photos. So I was able to see that anything too warm or too cool was not best for her.

She’s literally dancing between two seasons: the Sunlit Soft Summer and the Dusty Soft Autumn.

So we spoke on the phone awhile, and I explained this balancing of two seasons and asked what she was going to do with her hair. In most cases where a warm season starts to transition to a cooler temperature, what one does with their hair can make all the difference.

She said she did not want to add any color to her hair. I was quite positive Sunlit Soft Summer was best.

However, again, the warm in the eyes, and slight warmth in the skin, plus the fact she was naturally warmer originally, made me suggest she try the Dusty Soft Autumn,  unless or until she is ready to transition to the summer or her hair gets much more grey.

So I sent her ebooks for both seasons.

Situations like these are truly done on a case-by-case basis. 

When I sent her an email today telling her I was going to post her case study today, she sent the following email with a photo :)

"Here I am with my smoky gray eyeliner and not black clothes, unshiny necklace :) I don’t mean for you to feel like you need to use this - but I just want you to see! I’m obsessed with this cooler vibe!! ….l since I’m transitioning, for now I avoid the warmest colors from soft autumn and the coolest colors from soft summers, and sort of experiment there in the middle. I keep it all soft and muted which was a huge shift for me as I gravitated toward deep colors (dark olives and reds, and rusts) before, and black, lots of black!

Just softening it all lit me right up! I’m actually shocked at how many cooler dusty colors really work for me. I haven’t identified all my “power” colors yet, but since our meeting, I have a great feel for where I can shine, and what neutrals I should be wearing (clay white, charcoal) - I’m seeing color everywhere, now. On me, on others - and I’m having so much fun!”

Real Women Case Study #7

Daniela was a pretty easy case because I've seen her coloring many times before. 
 
Here are the first photos I got from her. 

To me, she is a perfect example of a Soft Autumn.  Because of her eyes, I'd put her as the deeper soft autumn. Specifically, in my ColorBreeze system, I'd label her a Smokey Soft Autumn.

I should say that I was pretty sure of my first impression. Different lighting can alter everything, and I couldn't be sure if the softness might be due to the photos maybe being taken with a cell phone camera (they are notorious for 'softening' images.)

Her somewhat neutral-but-still-warm warm hair is obvious but sometimes it can be a result of haircoloring or a very dark hair transitioning to grey.  

So I asked for some childhood photos. 

This is why I love childhood and teenage photos. They show you what a person was when coloring is in its full bloom and its most undeniably natural state. 

Here are the photos she sent:

You can see as I did that Daniela's coloring was not much different as a child than it is now! Soft coloring, neutral but more warm than cool. So my initial impression was correct :)

Results: Smokey Soft Autumn

Real Women Case Study #6

If you read Case #5, you know that my client, Holly, had taken a style course that had a component about color analysis.

She was told she was a Spring, and, to 'rock her world' (her words) even further, my assessment of her was the opposite of the one her teacher gave her.

I gave my assessment of some of her friends and family that she had also used as case studies in her training. And my assessments were not the same either.

Evelyn was one of them. The image on the left above was the original photo of her. She was assessed as a Winter by the teacher.

But I couldn't see that the wintery blue top doing anything for her. It certainly didn't light her up like that shade of magenta would do if she were truly a Winter.
Also, I saw nothing but muted, rich earthiness in her eyes.

I changed her top color to a nice Autumny brown. And as I applied the rich earth tones to her via makeup, it only confirmed my analysis.

Can you see how the earth tones bring out her rich eye color?

Results: Smokey Soft Autumn

Real Women Case Study #5

My latest case study is an interesting one.
I analyzed Holly as a Cool Summer many years ago. And she was happy.

But then she wanted to learn about style and body shapes, and she found an online course that taught that. And she learned a lot from it.

But it had a color analysis component, too. And Holly was told she was a Spring. Which, in her words, 'rocked her world". It sent her on a long quest to make the Spring season work for her.

She even went to two more online consultants for their opinions. And both of them said she was a Spring!

Again, she tried to make it work. But it just didn't. She instinctively knew it didn't work, but three experts telling her otherwise? It was difficult, to say the least. She later told me she was close to not believing in the whole field of color analysis anymore.

When she took me up on my "2nd Look Offer," I had recognized her name. I remember testing colors on her before, and she was nothing but cool, in my opinion. Then she told me her entire journey. And we talked on the phone. And we talked more. And then more.

If anyone has ever talked to me on the phone, they will know that despite me being pretty much of an introvert, I can talk for hours about color analysis. And this is what Holly and I did and still do 😉

When I saw her photo again, nothing changed regarding her assessment. I mention this caveat in my listing of how I may just still see you as the exact same season. And this was the case with Holly.

But just to reassure her after her long, expensive ordeal, I went to my colleague, who was once my trainer/mentor, to ask for my own second opinion.

It was a 2nd-second opinion because I went to her years ago asking for her opinion originally. I think I was using the 16 season system back then and was still a little unsure of myself and conferred with my mentor often. When I contacted her this time, I didn't tell her what she thought of her years ago nor what my thoughts were then or now. She, too, said Cool Summer was her best season.

If you look at Holly, you will see there is nothing warm about her.  Not only is she cool, but it is her dominant characteristic.

As a picture is worth a thousand words, I did some makeover for comparison since she sent nice, high definition photos.

First I applied the Spring colors and the Cool Summer colors.

I only applied eyeshadow, lipstick and blush on her; I did not apply any foundation. I did take out the slight warmth out of her hair (she said it could be from the sun bleaching it or well water but it was not natural).

You can see the Spring colors just ‘sit there’ on her skin. Those peachy colors would light up a true Spring. The cool colors blend in more naturally. They certainly bring out her beautiful blue eyes.

For the next makeover, I used the warmest Autumn colors possible.

Can you see how the heavy, warm colors just sit there, too? They do nothing to harmonize with her natural coloring at all.

Are you able to see how the laugh lines under the eyes are less noticeable with the Summer colors?

TIP: Do the 3-second trick: close your eyes for 3 seconds and then open your eyes. See which photo shows the colors that 'sink in' and look more natural. The one which brings Holly's eyes forward and makes you see HER first and not the colors first.

It's clearly the Cool Summer.
I will let you read her reaction to the makeovers, and what she has learned from this whole color analysis journey she's been on (below):

Real Women Case Study #3

This next "Real Women" example shows how much lighting can affect one's perceived season.
It is something I deal with working with virtual clients, and one must always be aware of how it can affect your coloring.

The first thing I noticed when I saw "Kayla" was that her dominant trait was light. I love it when I can definitely identify a dominant trait because that narrows things down significantly.

So she's either a Light Spring or a Light Summer. Well, in my ColorBreeze Complete, she could be one of 4 seasons (all-cool Icy Light Summer, traditional Light Summer, traditional Light Spring, all-warm Sunlit Light Spring).

Here are some of the photos she sent me and my initial reactions to them.

The first photo above looked more cool than warm. The next two below look more warm than cool.

This one on the right above looks especially Light Spring-like.
If this were the only photo I saw (and rarely do I ever want to say with assurance one's season with only one photo), I would no doubt say she's a Light Spring. But she is in sunlight, and sunlight can bathe a person in warmth, whether she is naturally warm or not.

This photo (left) in particular, struck me as summery because of the fact her new hair growth looks ashy to me, and I see a bit of pink in her skin.

This light and somewhat dusty blue would look pretty flat on a Spring. I think it looks good on her.

Her hair roots are ashy, and her skin looks a little pink.

She sent me lots of photos. And it was challenging to find which undertone seemed to be more dominant.

But before I tried any of my Face Flash Cards, I found a set of photos she sent me which were essentially two critical cool vs. warm test colors:  hot pink and bright orange. Basically she sent me the perfect test colors to determine her undertone! Nothing more was needed for me to make my decision :)

In my opinion, the hot pink was more clarifying and overall flattering than the orange. Since she was not all-cool, I eliminated the Icy Light Summer as a possible choice for her.

Results: Light Summer

Real Women Case Study #2

When I analyzed Alexis, I knew she was very warm. But she was way too deep to be a Warm Autumn. At the time, I was using my original version of my ColorBreeze System, but there was only a Deep Autumn season and the newest soft Autumn deep that was very warm (see case #2) called the Toasted Soft Autumn.

Still, I felt she was too deep to be even the Toasted Autumn. So I chose the Deep Autumn season for her, feeling that her dominant trait of Deep overrode her need for warmth. There was no other option.

Alexis wasn't completely happy with the assessment, because she knew she needed more warmth than the Deep Autumn season provides.
Plus, she really did not seem to flow into Winter. If she flowed anywhere, it was into Warm Autumn.

However, at this very same time, I was formulating the theory for the 'missing' seasons that eventually completed my ColorBreeze Complete system.

And one of those was the Hot Deep Autumn season, which is, essentially, a hybrid of a Deep Autumn and Warm Autumn.

Alexis was thrilled to find the perfect season!
She's contacted me several times to tell me how happy she is with this season, and it makes me very happy when one of my clients is, too.
As you can see in her most recent photo, she is warm yet deep. She can handle a lot of depth but has to make the colors warm for the best effect.

Here is one of your comments she sent me not too long ago:

"Dear Lora,
I just wanted to provide some feedback on my post analysis experience.

Dark Autumn 2017 - didn't work out and wasn't feeling attractive at all or in my skin with colours and makeup (struggled to accept it but there was no other season I could be).

2018 Hot autumn - all my colours are working even without colouring my hair. the copper makeup is perfect and even the accent colour mustard can work as a fashion colour (tweaking jewellery etc) I never thought I could look so beautiful last year was the worst as a traditional neutral DA.

With blonde I used your toasted autumn e-book makeup recommendations (have swatch book too) but everyone's traditional DA recommendations repeatedly failed and made me look ugly. The purpose of this feedback is people should know when they are working well and if they are on track.

Well done Lora (can we have what to follow if hot Autumn goes blonde too in the new ebook?).

Boo to 12 seasons am not happy with them."
Alexis - England

Just an fyi: While I was trying to think of celebrity examples for this new season, actress Raquel Welch came to mind (left).

I thought perhaps Sophia Loren is one, too, but one of my Italian colleagues swears Sophia is a Winter who just colors her hair. I won't disagree.

But I knew Raquel is an Autumn. A very warm one.

Real Women Case Study #1

I've seen coloring like this before. Rich, heavy Autumn coloring that struck me as either a Deep Autumn or a Warm Autumn. Clearly an Autumn, but with a definite heaviness to her with the dark brown eyes and rich auburn hair.

Additionally, of the many photos my client sent me, the majority had varying shades of red hair, though some, like the one below, had almost black hair.

Because of the heaviness, I labeled her a Deep Autumn but said she was almost a blend of both Deep and Warm. I advised her to wear the warmest colors of the Deep Autumn or the deepest colors of the Warm Autumn palette.

Note, I did not consider the deeper soft Autumn since, at that time, the deeper soft autumn season was deep but muted. Elena clearly needed warmth.

Long story short, she contacted me again for some more clarification about her season. At the time she contacted me, I had the seed of the ColorBreeze system growing in my mind. In the end, because of my brand new ColorBreeze season "Toasted Autumn," things made sense to me about these deep, very warm Autumns who were not deep enough to be Deep Autumns, but too deep to be Warm Autumns.

This made sense to her. Here is her response after getting her new Toasted Autumn swatch: 

"Let me say it's really a beautiful object. You added a lot of information, and I like the shiny paper even more than the satin version. But I liked my new colors, above all. When I opened it, I finally felt to have found my home. Neither the shaded nor the pure Autumn swatches gave me this feeling. Thanks, thanks, thanks!"
-Elena, Italy

About these Real Women Examples

While everyone loves to see celebrity examples, many people want to see 'real women' who typify particular seasons.

I do ask many clients if it is ok to use their pictures and most politely say no. Many don't like me using pictures of them without makeup, which I totally understand. I feel like a hypocrite asking people for photos since I don't even like showing photos of myself on my own website, and these are even pictures of me all made up! I have issues.

But for an accurate color analysis, it is critical for me to see women without makeup so I can see their skin and natural coloring. So I am especially grateful to the ladies below who volunteered to be posted on here so others can see 'real women' and their seasons.

By the way, I don't come right out an ask anymore, unless they mark that they may be interested in being a model on my site on their questionnaire.

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