Seasonal Color Analysis for Women of Color: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

My August Report Card: How Did You Do this Month?

(1) Pick a book to read or finish and journal about it.

Three weeks ago, I finished The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul, by Sandra Maitri. And then, I read parts of it again, when I discovered that I am a type nine. So then I read The Enneagram Made Easy, by Elizabeth Wagele, and I recommend it, too. Once you know your type, you get therapeutic advice about helpful changes you might make to enjoy your life more.

(2) Homeschool planning: For our entire school year.

I'm finished, as of yesterday!!! YAY! So I am officially on vacation for this long weekend coming up. I finished most of it over the weekend but was waiting on a book that had been delayed for this one subject and it finally came on Wednesday.

(3) Create a fall capsule wardrobe: Get absolutely clear about what I am going to wear.

I've been participating in the Make It Real! Makeover style challenge and we are just at the point of beginning to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The goal is to narrow down our choices and then, look them over for insights about what our vision board says about our style. Then, I guess we get practical. It has been fun! And I may carry it over into next month.

Here's just one of the collages I made as part of my vision board extravaganza...

(4) Go see 2 Days in NY...

Well, It didn't come here, I don't think, and I haven't even been hearing anything about it. So this one didn't happen. Ah, well! I saw lots of good movies on TV.

How did you do this month?

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

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"A unique system of color analysis, firmly grounded in scientific measurements
and circumscribed by the timeless principles of art. It produces a color palette unique to you, specifically designed to complement your own skin, hair and eye color." –Color Alliance
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"When we find the set that enhances you above all the others, what we have really uncovered are the exact pigments already in your skin, in your body. When you then wear the colors you already are, you look like magic because your person and your attire is sending the same wavelength of energy to the viewer." ~~Christine Scaman, 12 Blueprints

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Celebrity Style Inspiration: Robin Roberts

Though her style is more classy than casual, Robin Roberts inspires me to try for "polished," even in my most casual outfits. It doesn't always work, because sometimes I am just making a quick trip to the store and cannot be bothered even to out on makeup!

But it's nice to have the inspiration from another vivid autumn. And speaking of vivid autumn, this color is perfect for me. Hope to find some out there as I stock up for the fall season.

(photo credit: Prevention.com)

And here's a color I already have...

(photo credit: Good Morning America)

Robin recently took a break from Good Morning America to deal with her bone marrow disease but is back now, and I hope she is feeling much better! Her dignity and grace in dealing with such a difficult illness is also inspirational.

Who inspires you?

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Magical Power Colors: Your Colors of Tranquility!

Finding Your Tranquil Colors…

In his book, Color Your Style, David Zyla has several great suggestions for how to use your tranquil color once you have found it. You can wear it to do yoga, you can wear it when you are relaxing at home, you can use it as an accent color in your chosen room, to make it more relaxing.

How or where do you find it? It is the lightest color in your eye! And just as I suggested before, I encourage you to identify not just one color but a range of colors you can think of as tranquil.

For instance, if you asked me what color my eyes are, I would probably say topaz. And I think of that as one of my tranquil colors.

But I also would include amber, smoky quartz, tiger’s eye, caramel, golden brown, honey, apple cider and maybe even rust as potential tranquil colors. If your eyes are primarily green, you might consider cypress, seagreen, fern, blue green and other similar colors.

(photo credit: Yogawell.org)

I posted this same outfit as an example of the darkest brown, because I combined three browns within it. But this really is my best recent example...

Personalized Color Analysis

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

"Make it Real" Challenge: More Style Cravings

As you know if you've been reading along, I have been participating in the Make It Real! Makeover Challenge this month. If you've missed any of the posts, here they are...

Week One
Week Two
Week Three

And now, this week...

(photo credit: Free People)

"I’m hoping that this time, after trying a thousand previous wardrobe improvement plans, I finally make the leap that lets me create a wardrobe that feels right because it expresses my true self. I don’t know how it’s going to end, but I feel like there’s no way I’m going to end up in exactly the same place I was before the challenge—with too many clothes that are close but not exactly right." ~~thoughts from Jenny, from Cultivating Style, as she participates in the challenge with us.

We are past the halfway mark in our challenge. If you are participating, how is it going for you? This is the week for beginning to separate the wheat from the chaff, I think.

Your Inner Voice, Your Style

But meanwhile, here's great encouragement from Valeria Chuba about making sure your inner voice, and not someone else's opinion, is the biggest influence on your style...

"Consider this: other people are just as subjective as you are in their assessments. Not only that, but they project themselves, their hopes, fears, prejudices and emotions on what they see before them (after all, you do it too—what makes them different?). What makes those people more qualified than you to know if an item truly resonates with your inner self? There is no one better qualified to know what’s in your heart than you. Other people’s opinions can be helpful as a supplement, but you can never let them direct you in a process as personal as creating your own style. You need to be in the driver’s seat. Everyone else is just a passenger you choose to bring along."~~Valeria Chuba, Cultivating Style

More of My Style Cravings...

(photo credit: Elle.com)

(photo credit: Marie Claire)

Strike A Pose, There's Nothing to It

And here's what happened when I devoured the September issues of Vogue and Marie Claire, looking for style inspiration...

Style Musings...

Looking at these, I see my fondness for all things warm, natural and Earthy. But I also see some other fashion feng shui elements (Wood, Water, and Fire) and some things I must miss or want more of in my style. Like animal print. Texture. Layers. The color black, mixed in with other, warmer colors.

Finally, here's what happened as I spent a little time with Lands End...

What have you been craving, lately?

Monday, August 27, 2012

A Blazing Hot Visible Monday! :)

I did actually wear this outfit on a Monday. On a day so blisteringly hot, I refused to sit in the car until the temperature in the car went down below a hundred! I was quite wilted by the time we got back home.

But it was one of my go-to outfits and was surprisingly comfortable in spite of its three layers. Hopefully, we are heading for cooler temps soon.

Is it getting any cooler where you are yet?

I am linking up today with Nicole for this week's Monday Mingle and to Not Dead, Yet Style for Visible Monday. On Wednesday, I will link up with Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday, and Melaina at Transatlantic Blonde for What I Wore Wednesday. And on Friday, I will link up to AllThingsChic for Fashion Friday.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

A Mother and Child Reunion

Okay, so we weren't actually reunited or anything; I just couldn't resist borrowing that fabulous title! It is true, though, that I sometimes forget to take pics of the two of us, and I was thinking about how down the road (and even in the near future), I want him to be able to look back at our pictures and see how much I loved him.

This is us hanging out at home, makeup free and without any fanfare...

Sometimes we need visual reminders, don't you think?

Friday, August 24, 2012

August Goals: Doing Well this Week! You?

(1) Pick a book to read or finish and journal about it: It might be Eat, Pray, Love or The Answer is Simple or another one altogether.

I haven't finished either of the ones I mentioned, but two weeks ago, I finished The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul, by Sandra Maitri. And then, I read parts of it again.

Although I am not new to the Enneagram, I am coming to understand it in a whole new way! And I realized recently that I am a type nine instead of a type five or four, as I had previously thought, and this book helped me confirm it. Another good book I finished this week was The Enneagram Made Easy, by Elizabeth Wagele, which is where this picture comes from...

(photo credit for the Type Nine child pic: Elizabeth Wagele)

(2) Homeschool planning: as always, I have left it for this month, but hopefully, I can get it done in a month. At least the outline for the year, but hopefully, even more specific planning, week by week, and month by month.

I'm doing well with this goal, too! I have quite a few months completely finished, and am fairly sure I can finish the whole year by the end of next week.

Here's some of the things we'll be singing...

And maybe...

(3) Create a fall capsule wardrobe: I feel more settled in my seasonal colors and fashion feng shui style, so now it's time to get absolutely clear about what I am going to wear.

I am still participating in the Make It Real Makeover Challenge and have just devoured the fall issues of Vogue and Marie Claire, so I will have more to add to my personal style vision board. And then, I think, next week is when we begin to separate the wheat from the chaff! :)

(4) Go see 2 Days in NY: Adding this goal because I hope it will force me to actually go to the movies this month. I always say I'm going to go but then I never do.

I don't think that's going to happen this month. I did read a fairly good review from the website where I got this picture, but it definitely doesn't seem to be getting a lot of media attention. And I don't think it has opened here yet.

Did you have a good week this week?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Does Color Analysis Work for Women of Color?

Seasonal Color Analysis for Women of Color

Does seasonal color analysis work for women of color?

That's a strange question to ask, coming from someone who is both a color analyst and a woman of color, right? But it was with that question that I first began to explore color analysis, determined to figure out why it is that women of color sometimes find themselves trying to cope with a color palette that doesn't quite fit.

So I made that my specialty, this business of figuring out what doesn't work and why, and I am still learning about it through observation & experience, because there was so little info available when I was trained.

Recently, a fellow color aficionado asked me this very question and what follows is our written conversation about it, slightly paraphrased...

Are there women of color who have trouble finding themselves within the 12 seasons?

Well, I don't fit within the 12-season system and I suspect that that is likely to be the case with many women of color. Even if they land somewhere, they may need the deeper or warmer colors within that palette.

For instance, I think I would be a SciArt bright spring. But I am actually a bright autumn, so I would need the warmest/deepest bright spring colors. I am warm and deep and clear, which is an unusual combo. I know there are others like me, who don't quite fit.

I figured out that I was brighter than warm autumn but that those were the colors I needed, because bright spring wasn't quite deep enough. Deep autumn wasn't bright enough.

So I explored 16-season systems and found bright autumn. Perfect! Kind of like Goldilocks. :)

Really, so it wasn't until you tried 16-seasons that it worked for you?

That's right! I tried everything else first. Only 16 seasons allows for the possibility of warm and clear and deep.

What about other ethnicities?

I think the same thing is true for other ethnicities. I color analyzed an Asian woman with black hair and dark eyes but the only 12-season place she fit was light spring, so that's what I told her she was. Now that I know about the 16 seasons, I know she is a deep spring.

(By the way, I have color analyzed several Asian women, but if you are reading this, and you think you might be the one, please contact me about the deep (or vivid) spring color palette.)

Color Alliance

By the way, if you are still interested in training, remind me to talk to you about Color Alliance at some point. That system offers personalized palettes (I think the possibilities number into the thousands), but their basic system is the 16-season system. In that system, I am a vivid rich autumn.

At that point, I removed myself from the computer so my son and I could watch a movie!

So there you have it, folks. Yes, I think that women of color can have difficulties squeezing into the 12-season system, but I believe there's plenty of room within the 16-season model!

Are you a woman of color who has had difficulty finding your season?

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Magical Power Colors: Finding Your Best Energy Colors

Energy Colors…

This is a color that will give you energy and help you sustain it when you need it most. David Zyla, in Color Your Style, recommends finding the darkest color in your eye and using that as an energy color. So for me, that would be an espresso or chocolate chip brown, an almost-black brown.

And I think, then, that the range of dark browns in my palette would all be energy colors for me, even if they are not quite as dark as espresso. So once you have identified the dark color in your eyes, consider the range of darkness for that color.

And this is the color you can use to strengthen the relationship with your children, according to Zyla.

“Try a sweater, a pair of slacks or even a jacket in your energy color. It will give you support for hearing any secrets your son or daughter has to share, even as it reminds your child of how open and available you are.”

(picture credit: ebay.com)