How to determine your color type of appearance: summer, spring, autumn, winter. Test, photo examples in clothes

When choosing a new item for a wardrobe or decorative cosmetics, it is not always easy to determine exactly whether their color will be successfully combined with the nuances of appearance. But, if you know your color type, it will become much easier to solve such problems.

What is the color type of appearance

It is customary to denote the combination of natural colors of skin, hair and eyes, as well as the measure of contrast between them, by the color type of appearance.

Shades can be:

• warm or cold;
• bright or muted;
• dark or light.

It should be borne in mind that the colors are not uniform, for example, the skin does not have an even uniform color throughout the body, but there are areas with different tones. Also, the color of the eyes and hair is not uniform.

Thus, each person has his own "set of colors". To determine the color characteristics, the properties of the dominant, that is, the dominant tones, are taken into account. The contrast level is determined by comparing the darkest shades to the lightest.

According to the totality of features, the appearance can belong to one of the types:

• winter;
• Spring;
• summer;
• fall.

These types are taken as the basis of the most popular analysis of appearance - seasonal.

Why know your color type of appearance?

Different color combinations can either harmonize or cause dissonance. This is true, including the combination of natural shades of appearance with the colors of cosmetics, clothing and accessories. Therefore, some things can successfully emphasize all the advantages, while others will focus on the shortcomings or visually make the facial features dull and the skin color painful.

Knowing your color type and recommendations corresponding to it will help you to correctly create a wardrobe and avoid unsuccessful experiments with makeup and hair coloring.

What are the color types of appearance

Each of the indicated color types is subdivided, in turn, into 3 subtypes:

Each color type has certain common characteristic features, and each subtype can be given an even clearer, individual description.

The name of the subtype speaks about the main characteristic of the type related to it:

1. Determine your color type of appearance "winter" you can use a "natural palette" consisting of dark, intense shades and high contrast. For girls belonging to this type, pale skin, a few grayish-brown freckles and moles, dark hair with a cold tint at the roots are inherent.

Eye color is gray, green, blue, blue, brown (from sandy to almost black). Famous representatives of "winter" are Monica Bellucci, Oksana Fedorova, Megan Fox, Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, Penelope Cruz and Angelina Jolie.

• "Cold winter" is distinguished by catchy, cold exterior colors.
• You can define "dark winter" by the presence of intense, dark shades in your natural palette. The appearance of this color type has the highest contrast.
• The "bright winter" refers to girls whose appearance is dominated by bright, clean shades.

2. "Spring" refers to warm color types. This means that warm colors dominate in the appearance of "spring" girls. Their skin is light with a yellowish or peach tint, tans easily. A distinctive feature is a healthy glow, freckles and moles of a golden hue.

Hair is often curly and thin warm tones from blond to light brown. The eyes are green, gray, or blue. The "spring" representatives include Nicole Kidman, Christina Aguilera, Anna Kournikova, Princess Diana, Elena Korikova and Anna Semenovich.

• Only pure, intense shades are visible in the exterior of the "bright spring".
• Warm spring is characterized by warm shades of hair, eyes and skin without the slightest cold undertone.
• Warm tones also dominate in the "light spring", but they are less deep.

3. "Summer", as well as "spring" - a light color type, but the appearance is not warm, but cold tones. Hair is often light, but sometimes, being light in childhood, it darkens with age. The skin is pale, or does not tan at all, or takes on a light cool brown tone.

Brown moles and freckles with a gray tint may be present. Eyes of cool tones of gray-blue, gray, brown. The degree of contrast between the tones of the natural palette is weak. Examples of the “summer” color type are Natalia Vodianova, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maria Sharapova, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton and Uma Thurman.

• The subtype "light summer" has the lowest level of contrast of natural shades among all subtypes of "summer".
• Cold muted colors dominate in the appearance of the "cold summer".
• "Soft summer" is the most difficult to define type. A feature of the appearance of this type is soft dull shades in the composition of natural colors.

4. For the color type "autumn" red and red hair color range is inherent. The skin is light with golden notes without blush, covered with freckles. The tan does not fit or has a slight golden hue. The eyes are blue, brown, honey, green, brown-green, sometimes you can see golden highlights in them. Julia Roberts, Julia Savicheva, Mila Yoovich and Lindsay Lohan have an "autumn" appearance.

• You can determine your color type of appearance "soft autumn" by the natural palette, consisting of soft warm tones, beige and nutty shades dominate.
• “Warm Autumn” can be recognized by the hair of warm shades from light chestnut to bright copper.
• "Dark Autumn" is the most contrasting "autumn" subtype, sometimes its representatives are mistaken for representatives of the "dark winter". However, if you look closely, you can see the predominance of warm colors in the appearance of the "autumn" girls.

Test for determining the color type of appearance

To test for establishing a color type, you need to answer certain questions related to your own appearance. The presented test will help to establish belonging to a certain seasonal color type (spring, summer, winter, autumn).

1. What is the skin tone?

a) light with apricot or pink tone;

b) pale with a cold tide;

c) with a strongly pronounced warm tone (apricot, golden, pink);

d) dark with a coldish tone.

2. Are there freckles and what color are they?

a) there are many, light with honey, peach or orange-pinkish tint;

b) no or very little; light with a gray tint;

c) yes, they look bright, have a golden color;

d) no.

3. What is the natural hair color?

a) warm blond, wheat, light brown, light chocolate;

b) a frosty shade of sand, light brown, dark blonde or chocolate;

c) copper, tangerine, brick-red, red-chestnut, bronze;

d) dark chestnut, black, bluish black.

4. What color are the eyebrows and eyelashes?

a) light warm shades (light brown, light brown, wheat), to match the hair or slightly darker;

b) brown or light-haired with a grayish tint;

c) rusty brown, brown, red;

d) black.

5. Eye color

a) pale green or cornflower blue, honey;

b) gray, blue, gray-green, gray-blue;

c) amber, brown, cornflower blue, green with golden spots;

d) dark gray, blue, dark brown, dark green.

6. How can you characterize the contrast in appearance?

a) low contrast, all colors are in harmony with each other;

b) low contrast, overall appearance looks a little faded;

b) medium contrast (catchy hair and eye color contrast with pale skin);

d) high contrast.

Test results:

• more answers “a” speak of belonging to the color type “spring”;
• more "b" - type "summer";
• more "v" - type "autumn";
• more "g" - type "winter";
• if the answers are divided, then the division into 4 color types is not suitable, you need to use other methods.

General recommendations for determining the color type

Before proceeding with the tests, you must carefully prepare:

1. Lighting is very important for such tests. It should be soft and natural. Strong artificial light is unacceptable, as are direct sunlight.
2. It is equally important to provide yourself with a neutral background, a white wall is ideal. All catchy, bright objects should be removed from the field of view.
3. You need to remove all jewelry, wash off decorative makeup.
4. It is desirable to expose the neck and shoulders.
5. A large mirror is needed for diagnosis. In addition, some techniques will require different colored pieces of fabric.
6. Before starting the test, you need to concentrate on some light, neutral background. You cannot look at something bright, as this can distort the sensation of color.

How to find out your color type by the color of hair, skin, eyes?

It is possible to determine your color type of appearance by the color of hair, skin and eyes only with an objective assessment of their characteristics. When it comes to determining the shade of hair, it is easiest to recognize blond, bright orange tones and blacks.

Understanding the shades of light brown and chestnut is a little more difficult. However, to determine the color type, it is not so much the color depth that is important as the temperature. It is most convenient to define it by relying on the strands that have burnt out in the sun.

Skin diagnostics require more attention. Her tone will tell a lot. A light neutral tone, which practically does not change under the influence of the sun, as a rule, belongs to the representatives of the "winter" type. "Spring" girls have a peach tone. "Summer" is distinguished by skin of warm shades, to which an even tan fits well. "Autumn" is characterized by golden shades.

When diagnosing eye color, it is worth starting from the definition of cold and warm tones. Pure shades of gray, green, blue and blue, as well as almost black (brown or blue) are referred to as cold tones. Warm ones include brown (walnut, copper), brown-green, bluish.

Additionally, you can consider the color of the lips. For "winter" pale lips are inherent, for "spring" - pink with pastel notes, for "summer" - pink with milky shades, and for "autumn" - lips of warm pink shades.

How to determine the color type using fabric

For the next test, which is considered the oldest, you need to stock up on four pieces of fabric (for example, scarves):

1. Each piece of fabric should be of a certain color and will correspond to one color type. Salmon-colored fabric will correspond to "spring", orange fabric - "autumn", gray-pink - "summer", bright pink - "winter".

   

2. The fabrics should be tied alternately around the neck (for girls with dyed hair, it is better to tie the fabric on the head).
3. If the color goes, then the imperfections (wrinkles, redness) will become less noticeable, the color of the eyes will look more expressive.
4. The wrong color, on the other hand, will make all the flaws more noticeable. When looking in the mirror, the first thing that catches your eye is the color of the fabric.

The fabric that suits the best will match the color type of the appearance.

Directional method for determining the color type

In addition to the seasonal analysis of appearance, there is a modern directional method. It is also based on the analysis of skin, hair and eye color. But according to the results, the appearance is not classified as seasonal color types, but the dominant feature is determined.

For this, the colors of the natural palette are studied according to 3 signs:

• depth;
• temperature;
• darkness.

Most often, the dominant characteristic is the color temperature.The essence of the method is the selection of the most suitable tones. So, for example, out of eight blue shades, only one can ideally match the appearance.

Method of 12 color types

You can determine your color type of appearance based on the method of 12 color types. It is based on a theory developed in the 20th century by a professor and artist from the United States, Albert Munsell, who placed all possible colors in a three-dimensional coordinate system, where the x-axis represents the color temperature, y - darkness, z - depth.

As a result, 12 color types were obtained, which correspond to the characteristics of the seasonal analysis subtypes.

To determine your subtype, the 12 subtype method involves going through 2 steps. Firstly, it is necessary to determine the dominant property (light, dark, cold, warm, muted, bright), and secondly, it is necessary to highlight the secondary property. So, for example, girls, whose dominant feature is “dark”, and the secondary feature is “warm”, corresponds to the type “dark autumn”.

Vienna test

The simplest method for determining whether an appearance belongs to a warm or cold color type is the "Vienna" test. However, it can be done only if the skin is not too dark and dense.

The test itself consists of examining the veins in the wrist or elbow bend:

1. Green veins belong to warm and neutral warm color types.
2. Blue veins indicate that they belong to cold or neutral-cold color types.
3. The presence of both green and blue veins will prompt you to belong to neutral types.

Decoration test

For the next method of identifying warm and cold types, you will need gold and silver jewelry.

There are 2 test options:

1. You need to sit down to a large mirror and apply gold and silver jewelry alternately. A product made of the wrong metal will look inharmonious.
2. It is necessary to put both jewelry on your hand and carefully see which one will look more harmonious. It is important to run the test against a neutral background.

If both jewelry goes the same (or does not go), then the appearance can be attributed to a neutral type.

How to choose clothes?

1. "Winter" girls you can safely add bright, contrasting clothes of frosty shades to your wardrobe. Things in classic colors of white and black will look no less advantageous.

• Representatives of the "dark winter" should make the basis of their wardrobe items in dark shades of blue, lavender, steel, brown and burgundy. To make the look brighter, dark things can be combined with bright ones (cold shades of catchy purple, malachite, green, scarlet).
• The base of the “cold winter” wardrobe should be bright things of cold colors - turquoise, pink, green, purple, blue. To these you can add dark blue, maroon and dark emerald things. It is also worth picking up a few light garments of menthol, cold light pink, white, light gray colors.
• On the representative of "bright winter" clothes of bright cold tone (blue, green, pink, lemon), diluted with things of dark purple, eggplant, maroon, light yellow, menthol and white colors will look best.

2. "Spring" girls it is better to give preference to things in pastel colors. It is better to replace classic white with milky.

• Things in rich shades of green, orange-red, warm blue, dark brown, light green and honey are also suitable for "bright spring".
• Representatives of "warm spring" are recommended to combine things in light and dark colors in their image.The dark range can be made up of objects of deep tones of brown, blue, green. Light - things of orange-red, beige, peach, yellow-green.
• The base of the “light spring” wardrobe can be made up of things of light colors - pink, deep, green, yellow, coral. The image can be composed entirely using only light objects or adding a little dark colors of gray, blue, taupe, emerald and black tones.

3. For "summer" girls things of light cold shades are great.

• Representatives of the "light summer" will look great in a look composed of monochrome things in pastel shades with a gray undertone.
• "Cold summer" can not be limited only to light objects, it is worth adding clothes of soft dark cold tones to them. For an evening look, a monochromatic outfit in bright cold tones of scarlet or cornflower blue is perfect.
• The ideal color for a "mild summer" is light gray. Clothes in this tone, diluted with dark accessories, will create an image that suits this color type.

4. "Autumn" girls you can safely experiment with things in saturated red tones. Otherwise, you can give preference to more muted tones - sand, brown, earthy.

• Representatives of "soft autumn" should try on items of clothing of dark steel, gray-brown, blue-green, deep blue with a warm undertone. Also, light things of honey, beige, brick-red and scarlet tones are suitable.
• For a “warm autumn” look, garments of bright red, peach, yellow and beige tones are suitable. Moreover, it is best to combine bright objects with light ones in one image.
• Dark things of dark green, wine and dark blue tones, which can be diluted with objects from bright and light palettes - bright coral, bright green, red, peach, beige, warm cornflower blue and turquoise will look best on the "dark autumn" tones.

How to choose makeup?

• "Winter" girls can wear pretty bright makeup, but it should be moderate in performance. Recommended colors are pink, blue, gray, beige, emerald green.
• Light makeup is suitable for representatives of "spring", in which tones will be used as close as possible to the natural palette of appearance. A set with shades of hazelnuts, apricots, aquamarine is well suited.
• Light makeup is also suitable for "summer" girls. The recommended palette is silvery, grays, cool browns and purples.
• The color type "autumn" is suitable for dim and medium bright makeup, which will contain brown, golden and olive tones.

There are several methods for analyzing appearance, and since the seasonal method, which includes only 4 types, is not suitable for everyone, it is worth trying to determine your subtype, relying on the method of 12 color types, which offers clearer descriptions of characteristics and recommendations for choosing clothes.

Article design: Vladimir the Great

Video about color types

What are the color types of appearance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOn37oVBPqc