How To Work Out Your Colours

After my recent post on how to choose colours for your capsule wardrobe (if you missed it you can catch up here), I received a few requests to help you figure out which colour suits your complexion. While nothing beats being able to have an in-person consultation to work out your colours, this is a topic myself and my styling partner Rachel Worden explore in great detail in our online style course, Not About Size, and today I've borrowed a few of these colour tips to share with you.  

1. What colours are you wearing?

If you're unsure of what colour works for you, start by looking at the clothes you've been wearing.

Which do you wear and feel really good in? What pieces seem to always get you compliments?

Line these pieces up according to colour and see if you can find any commonality. For example - do they all seem to have shades of blue or green? Or perhaps you wear a lot of golds or mustards?

Take note of these - you'll need to refer to these shades again later.

2. What jewellery do you wear?

Similar to your wardrobe, rummage through your jewels and see what you wear all the time.

Generally speaking we tend to wear either gold (or bronzes) or silvers (or pewters).

Again - take note of what you tend to wear for later as these give an indication as to what colours suit you best.

3. Pink or yellow undertone?

Finally, take a look at whether you have a pink or yellow undertone. While this may not be easy to tell, try to look at your wrist or the crook of your elbow.

These areas are generally less affected by the sun, spray tans and bronzers, so is generally a good reflection of your undertone.

Try holding up a pink-ish or blue piece of clothing (or even a scarf or piece of cloth will do) against your face, and compare that with an orange or yellow-toned piece of clothing. If the pink item makes you glow and look healthy then you are likely to have a pink/ blue undertone, and vice-versa. If the yellow item makes you look warm and glowing then you are likely to have a yellow undertone.

Once you've taken a look at the above, download our Colour Cheat Sheet here to help narrow down your colour palette.

How to Work Out Your Colours

There's no doubt that assessing colours remotely isn't always easy, but hopefully with the tips and cheat sheet above you'll start to get a good idea of which palette you might suit. And as I always say -- there are only two rules when it comes to colours: wear the colours you feel FABULOUS in, and then ENJOY!

With wardrobe happiness,