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Culling your make up

Culling your make up

Time to cull your make up

Culling your make up

How’s your make up stash? Have you a box full or multiple drawers of make up? Have you been collecting since the 80’s or are you someone that has a very small amount of make up?

Make up is like clothes

Make up is like clothes. You can only wear so much. If you have been hoarding the stuff for years, there will be drawers full of unhygienic matter, so maybe it’s time to cull.

Being organized and only carrying the right amount of anything is just a good idea, one that becomes more appealing to me as I grow older. So let’s get busy and cull our make up and get sorted in the make up department.

Ideally our make up should be a neat little package of the current cosmetics that are totally suited to us. Whenever I see my clients for a make up session or a personal stylist session, I always ask them to bring  all their make up along. That way we can determine together what is and what isn't helpful for them to wear.

What to throw away

The very first thing that must go is make up in the wrong colours. So many women say they have trouble getting the right foundation for example. So we find a foundation that’s perfect for them. It really is no use wearing the wrong make up just because you spent money on it.

Eyeshadows, lipsticks and blushes in the wrong colours have to go as well.

Black mascara and the wrong colour kohl pencils are not good to keep.

Any make up that’s over 2 years old, most definitely should be tossed out.

It will probably be going off.

They say we should even replace our mascara every 6 months. Putting the wand in and out and applying to our lashes can introduce little germs.

Old brushes are best to be replaced and brushes, make up bags and containers need a regular clean.

What make up do we need?

Make up of course is individual. Some women love make up and are very good at applying it and other women are completely lost when it comes to wearing make up.

As an Image consultant, my view is mature women need make up to cover aging signs and define those fading features, like brows and lips. We can have a more youthful look just by wearing our make up well.

Make up for mature women

Before and after-Make up in the right colours

Make up essentials.

Here is a little list of the make up basics that after the original outlay will not break the bank, because you’ll use every drop of each product.

  1. Foundation-A great place to start. In the right colour of course, the right foundation can make you look years younger. YCS Cosmetics has foundation for ALL skin tones. It’s then just about choosing the formula you love to wear.

YCS Foundation for mature skin

2. Concealer A must product for older clients as it hides the dark and aged skin tone. Also doubles as a lovely eye base as well. I use the #104 on all my clients.

Ycs Concealer

3. Eyeshadows.Choose 1-5 in light, medium and darker shades in your colour palette of course. Mix and match and create your own eyeshadow look.

YCS Eyeshadows

4. Kohl pencils 1 or 2 in your colours are ample. Use for tight lines, highlighting lids etc

YCS Kohl

5. Brown mascara. Is a must for mature eyes. So much softer and more appealing.

YCS Mascara  YCS Brown Mascara

6. Lip pencils. Mature lips need to be defined and no better way than a lip pencil. A couple in darker shades and lighter shades to highlight your lipstick colours. You can also use lip pencils to create lots of lip colour ideas.

YCS Retractable lip pencils

7. Lipsticks. My favourite so have as many as you like in your colours. Great for lip condition and YCS lipsticks are chock full of essential oils.

YCS Lipsticks

8. Powder-Powder is optional so go for a translucent powder or a neutral wet and dry powder to seal your foundation, remove shine or just act as a foundation on it’s own.

YCS Translucent powder YCS wet and dry powder

9. Blush or rose gold bronzer in your colours to lift cheeks, define and shine. It looks beautiful.

YCS BlushYCS Your Colours Bronzing powder

10 Brow kit. Our brows need colour and definition. They thin and go grey, so a brow kit does wonders.

Cougar brow kit

 

These are go anywhere, suit every make up solution.

If you would like a free make up session contact your colours and style. Or see our great hands on make up classes.

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New Year New Image

New Year New Image

Your Image Overhaul for 2024.

Image Overhaul

New year New you

You’ve heard this sentiment a thousand times before but what better time to take a look at your Image than January of every new year.

Are you totally happy with the way you look or do you think there may be a few little tweeks you can do to improve what you see in the mirror?

Let’s face it none of us are getting any younger, and as I cater to the mature woman those usually over 50 or 60 and beyond,  I see lot's of changes that can be made for the better.

So do you think you can handle another checklist for 2024 and see if there are one or two things you can do to improve your look, feel better about yourself and set yourself up to win?

So here is my New Year checklist and if you find something that stands out to you, I’m happy to give you some guidance about the change(s) that you can make, to achieve your ultimate new look.

The best place to start for a top to toe transformation is at the top, obviously.

Before and after

So how’s your hair? Did you know that I recommend a change of hair cut, style, colour to nearly all my clients?

And did you know a new doo can literally alter your appearance, make you look 10 years younger, make you look more attractive and in general change your image completely?

Note how this Russian stylist has made all the difference with this lovely hairstyle and colour and of course having the client wear the right colours for her underskin tone.

So if you need some colour, cut, style advice all you need to do is send a pic of your head. That is a head shot. You know from the neck up. I’ll send you a few pics for you to take to your hairdresser.

Next step is the face.

Before and after make up

Oh yes and the make up in the right colours is a real game changer. If you’ve noticed some really bad looking make up on celebrities for example, I can guarantee they are in the wrong seasonal colours make up.

Remember Colours make up is in the seasonal make up colours. So it takes all the guess work out of choosing the right colour make up.

The next step is wearing your seasonal colours.

Seasonal colours wardrobe analysis

Even if you’ve had your colours done with me and are pretty good with your colours, I’m certain I can help you fine tune that wardrobe even more. At least add some more pizazz and scope and inject some things you’ve not thought of before. Always start with your colours.

This lovely client, was wearing just the wrong colours on the left and switching to the right colours in her wardrobe changed the way she looked completely. Note the difference in body shape as well.

If you feel you’re not sure about your colours or if someone has not done your colours correctly, please have them checked until you’re happy. There are some interesting information around colours these days.

Lastly putting the whole thing together, can add that final bit of flair to your style.

Having an outside opinion is always a powerful thing to do and especially with a colour specialist so what are you waiting for?

Get your colours right check out the check list and contact me if you need any help.

Ros Your Colours and style.

 

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How to do an accurate colour analysis

How to do an accurate colour analysis

 

Step by step Colour analysis

Colour analysis tester drapes

 

Colour analysis has gone through many changes over the last decades. 

Some changes are not so good because the colour drapes some consultants are using are a bit dubious and you would have to say open to interpretation. Many colours are added to certain seasons that do not belong.

So let's just go back to basics and highlight a few simple but good and accurate steps to follow a logical path to do a colour analysis and come up with an accurate and good result. 

Tester drapes

What is a good way to compile a set of drapes, to determine skin tone and value?

We start with a warm shade usually peach and then a cool shade usually pink to denote a cool shade, as the first part of the analysis.

Then there is one of each shade in each season. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter yellows, and blues, greens whites and reds. There are 22 drapes in all.

The analysis begins by determining the underskin tone. 

Is your underkin tone warm or cool?

This is done by the very first part of the colour analysis.

coral tester drape Pink tester drape

 

A warm cloth is draped over the client wearing no make up and covered hair.

The hair is covered so as not to confuse warm or cool as the hair may throw warm or cool tones.

This cloth is usually a very predictable warm colour like peach.

A cool cloth is a very definite cool pink. These two drapes are a real decider when it comes to determining underskin tone

What you're looking for at this stage is the cloth that enhances the skin tone and face.

For example which cloth makes the skin appear more even without changing the natural skin colour.

Other things to look for are eye brightness, clarity in eye whiteness. Note if the face turns more red, or dark or pigmented.

Skin imperfections become more obvious with the wrong shade. Teeth will look more yellow with the wrong shade. Shadow will appear under the chin with the wrong shade.

Dark shadows around eyes and under the eyes are more noticeable with the wrong colour.

Once you have made a clear decision about warm or cool, you can then eliminate all warm or all cool shades respectively. 

Warm colours are in the Autumn and Spring palettes. Cool colours are in the Winter and Summer Palettes. 

The next step is determining the value. By value I mean depth of shades. 

The stronger shades are in the (cool) Winter palette and the (warm) Autumn palette.

 Winter drape  Autumn drape

                  Winter blue                                Autumn blue

 

If you've eliminated all warm colours then obviously you're left with Winter and Summer colours only.

Summer blue

 Summer blue

If you eliminate the Deep value of Winter colours then you're left with the softer more muted shades of the Summer palette.

 

Just a note here. You can see that doing your own colour analysis is not that simple.

In fact over the years I've seen lots of clients that are just plain confused and have no idea what season they are, no matter how hard they try to work their own colours out.

The most important reason for this is because there are over 16million colours and in fact there are an infinite number of colours. Also because it's only experience that helps you to slot those colours into their categories.

Without some pretty in depth experience you're going to find it difficult to determine what is a warm or cool colour and then what is a Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring colour.

Spring blue

You can have a guess but it's only a true experienced colour consultant who can really identify all the colours correctly.

As much as it's a lot of fun trying to guess or work out your colours, I strongly suggest investing in a one time colour analysis and get your colours right to start with.

For more expert information please contact us.

You may try the online colour analysis for an accurate colour analysis or of course attend my workshops or one on one colour and style analysis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The four Seasonal Colour Palettes

The four Seasonal Colour Palettes

Where did the colour theories begin?

Colour wheel for colour analysis

Johannes Itten (1888-1967) was a Swiss painter, designer and theorist.

He believed colour could invoke feelings, and I agree. What do you feel when you walk into a strong bold monochromatic office? How do you feel when you visit a warm old country farm enriched with the golden hues of the Autumn Palette?

What colours do you envisage would enhance a seaside apartment, and how do you feel when you are in that space?  Do you feel light, airy, fresh and happy in the shades of the Muted Summer Palette.

Then there are the bright and light colours of Spring and how do we feel at that time of the year, when we experience new growth and blossoms of the bright spring palette?

Itten theorized seven types of colour contrast, contrast by hue, value, temperature, compliments, simultaneous contrast, contrast by saturation and contrast by extension. He explained by using a colour sphere with the primary colours of red, yellow and blue.

He was the first to associate colour palettes with four types of people and labelled these with the four seasons.

What are the four seasons?

Four seasonal colour swatches

After many years the four seasons were developed in the 1950’s.

These four seasons reflect the seasons of nature. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

It was a clever way of grouping the seasonal colours as they reflect characteristics of the seasons they represent. Colours of the Winter season like the black sky, the white ice and grey days, paint a picture of dominant cool clear colours.

The soft muted colours of Summer-clear blue sky, soft yellow sand, soft green grass and the calypso colours that accompany our beautiful summer season.  

Autumn ushers in the mossy greens and the brilliant colours of autumn leaves with the burnished colours of the trees.

Finally the delightful and delicate and bright colours of Spring with the fresh green grass and spring collection of budding flowers.

In relation to people, a particular colour palette with loads of variety can be designated to each person.

How did the four seasons  become 12 or 16 seasons?

After many years, certain colour consultants deemed that 4 seasons were not enough to identify the numerous “types” of people on the planet.

This only managed to dilute and distort a perfectly functional and accurate way of doing colours.

The original stated whether you are warm or cool ie, Autumn and Spring warm or Winter or Summer cool.

Then once that is determined a further breakdown accessed if you were the deeper or lighter of that breakdown.

So simple and so straightforward was this system. The problem was colour consultants failed to “see”the colours against the clients skin, thereby giving a false reading.

Therefore needing more sub categories.

And so we now have a further diluting of each of the four seasons, calling Spring warm, light and bright. Summer cool, light and soft. Winter bright deep and cool and Autumn warm, deep and soft which is just a further explanation of what these four main categories are. It’s just a repetition of what they are.

Further confusion with the seasonal colours.

Sadly now we have thousands of interpretations of what each of these colour breakups look like.

If you search it out each colour analyst will have different colours in each palette, and in fact most have a combination of all the seasonal colour palettes included in each category, with the colours from each of the spring, summer, autumn and winter palettes.

This leads to ultimate confusion for the client and a colour palette they adhere to with a real miss mash of colours and a totally uncoordinated wardrobe.

 I see these clients after a while and they are not adhering to their palette at all because the palette may only have some of their colours and many wrong colours.

My final analysis on colour.

Stick to the four seasonal colour palettes.

Find accurate colour palettes that identify colours this way.

Winter colours are Cool, blue based, strong, primary and bold. They include black, white, all greys, Deep deep chocolate brown, extremely pale icy colours for contrast and the rich primary colours.

Summer colours are also cool, soft, muted and contain the deep colours of milk chocolate brown, beiges, taupes, soft grey, soft denims, burgundys, mint greens, soft emeralds, lemon yellows, muted pinks and purples, wedgewood blues, light blues and soft muted navys

Autumn colours are rich and deep and warm. Pumpkins and ochres and rich warm purples and golden yellows and warm golden browns and creams and teal and muted blues and rich warm burgundys as well as orange reds and all oranges.

Spring colours are similar to Summer colours and are often mistaken because they are the less intense, versions of colours, but they are much brighter due to the warm component and yellow base. You have lime greens and soft warm corals and peaches and warm browns and warm caramel browns and yellow beiges. Bright blues and bright greens and bright yellows are the happy colours of Spring.

 

This is just a small sampling of the colours that fit into the four palettes. All I know as an experienced colour analyst your colouring will suit one only of the four seasonal colour palettes. From there the rest is easy just start wearing ALL the many many many colours in your beautiful palette for a beautiful and colourful and co-ordinated functional wardrobe.

For more information contact Your Colours and Style.

 

 

 

 

  

 

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