I am often asked whether your colour palette changes throughout your life. This is a contentious subject as some seasonal analysts are adamant that it doesn’t: once an autumn, always an autumn, even if your hair has faded from fiery red to grey! Nowadays though lots of analysts (particularly those who use tonal and other systems) believe it can. Let me explain why.

Like most others, the Colour Me Beautiful tonal system which I use, takes into account your skin tone, eye colour and hair colour.  It looks at three aspects in particular:

Hue – undertone – Do you have an overall “warm” or “cool” look?

Chroma – clarity – Do you have vibrant colouring with lots of natural contrast? Or is your look soft and blended?

Value – depth – How light or dark is your overall look?

Depending on the significance of each of  these aspects for your colouring, I put together your personal colour palette containing the 42 shades that will make you look your most healthy and attractive. There are 24 variations of colour palette available to me, so you can be sure that it is very much tailored to you. Importantly, as well as showing you each of your individual colours, I show you how to wear them.

How can my colouring change?

It is because aspects of our colouring tend to change throughout our lives that we may need to update our palette from time to time to reflect this. Not convinced? Just think of your hair colour. Even if you have never coloured it, it is unlikely that it’s exactly the same shade as when you were a child. Lots of us who start off blond as babies but find that our hair darkens significantly as we age. If and when we go grey, this can have a big impact on our overall look. Whilst eyes don’t change colour as such, you may have noticed that yours aren’t as bright and clear as in your youth. Similarly, as we age, hormonal changes and  environmental factors can affect the look of our skin. These changes can be subtle or more pronounced, but I don’t think many of us are lucky enough in our fifties and sixties to retain the clear skin, bright eyes and exact hair colour we had in our twenties. If you’ve managed this feat, I would love to know your secret!

Some seasonal analysts (though by no means all) maintain that a change of hair colour doesn’t affect your colour palette. They also feel that any changes to skin and eyes will not be significant enough to move you to a different season. This makes some sense if you’re working with just four palettes as the changes would need to be radical to shift you to a different one.  Nonetheless, just look how CMB Managing Director, Cliff’s colouring has changed over time!

 

 

Tonal analysis does take account of hair colour; after all it frames your face and is an important part of your overall look.  Having 24 variations of colour palette means that the CMB tonal system is very nuanced, so we can take account of the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle!) shifts in colouring that occur throughout life. Whatever stage of life you are at, we give you the palette that flatters your colouring as it is now.

Do I need to review my colour palette?

If you had a colour analysis some time ago and are wondering if you need an update, ask yourself these questions:

• Has my hair colour changed significantly since my original analysis?
• Are there some colours I used to like that I no longer wear?
• Am I feeling drawn to different shades these days?
• Do I look “washed out” in some of the colours in my palette?
• Am I bored with my palette and need some fresh inspiration?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes” it could be worth investing in a colour review which may result in a few tweeks to your existing palette or a whole new one, depending how significantly your colouring and level of contrast between your hair, eye and skin tone has changed.

If, on the other hand, you still feel happy, attractive and confident in your original colour palette, it’s obviously still serving you well and you probably don’t need to make any changes.