The Power of Colour
And what it can do for you.
Colour has a subconscious impact on our everyday lives. From a personal reaction on an emotional level, to the role in marketing and communication. From the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the surroundings we live and work in.
The artist Paul Gauguin called colour the inner force as he considered it an experience, rather than merely seeing. He proposed that colour had a symbolic vocabulary which could be used to visually translate a range of emotions.
The U.S jewellry company Tiffany & Co feel so strongly about their brand colour Tiffany, or robin egg blue they protected it with a colour trade mark.
So what can colour do for us on a personal level?
Wearing the right colours.
The best colours can smooth your complexion and give it a more youthful look, as well as enhance the colours in your hair and eyes. Wearing your best and favourite shades can lift your confidence, boost a mood and give you greater control in dressing and shopping as you know exactly the shades that suit you and why.
Wearing the wrong colours.
The wrong colours can make you look tired, drawn and older than you are, aswell as highlight any dark shadows already on the skin. The wrong colours can pull your mood down and your confidence too.
In the business world.
Choosing the appropriate colour can have a positive impact on your overall image and how you are perceived and received. Wearing darker colours such as black, blue or charcoal in a business environment suggests authority; communicates trust, dependability, honesty and integrity.
Wearing lighter colours can have the opposite effect as they lack authority, but can be used when a friendly, more relaxed approach is required, for example in health and wellness.
We are all born with either a blue (cool) undertone in our skin (the colour or hue under your skin made up of melanin), or a yellow undertone (warm) and it is from this that we can establish the best colours to wear close to the face, as a whole, or in details like shoes, bags or accessories.
Warm skintone.
Your hair coloring will be coppery brown, dark brown, chestnut or dark golden blond red or dark or light auburn.
Your eyes will be hazel, pale green, or blue.
Your complexion will be golden brown, yellow beige, peach or ivory. you may have freckles & tan easily
Colour suggestions for you: Bronze, burnt orange, red, yellows, rose, brown, blues and golden shades.
Cool skintone.
Your hair coloring will be black, dark brown, brunette, ash blonde silver grey or white
Your eyes will be dark brown, green, hazel or dark blue
Your complexion is black olive, fair, rosy or pale and your skin often burns in the sun
Colour suggestions for you: purples, red, dark green, plum, ruby,royal blue, teal, black, aubergine
And my top 10 tips for wearing colour are:
To find out the tone of your skin, take a look at the inside of your wrist to see if the skin has a blue tint, or a yellow-green one.
Wear a white shirt or hold a piece of white paper to your face and do the following:
If your skin tone against white looks yellow or warm, you have warm undertones.
If your skin tone against white looks blue or pink, you have cool undertones.
Hold a colour under your chin and wrap around your neck to see what it does to your natural colouring
The right colours will lift and smooth your complexion.
The wrong colours will draw out lines and shadows in your face.
If you want to start slowly with colour, wear it in lipsticks, eyeshadow, jewellery and bags
If there is a colour you love but it doesn’t look good next to your face, wear it in trousers, bags or shoes.
If you think your hair colour is wrong for your natural colouring, go to any good hair salon for a colour consultation-It could make all the difference to your image and confidence!
