How to Choose Colors that Flatter Your Skin Tone {Giveaway}

I hope you all had a lovely Easter! Brian and I enjoyed the Easter breakfast, choir cantata, and drama at our church yesterday. Brian was in the drama, and it was definitely out of his comfort zone, but he did a great job! I was so proud!

Alright, now we are week two of our fashion series. This week we will focus on shopping, and there’s a new giveaway and a new homework assignment, but wait ’til the end of the post for that.

But first, I feel like our discussion of style personality and body shape isn’t complete without talking about colors that look good with our skin tone. This has always been tricky for me. I have a hard time knowing if something is washing me out or if it isn’t “my” color. So I learned a lot from researching for this post!
To determine which colors flatter you, the first step is to find which “season” you are. Skin tones are divided into four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

Winter

Features:

You have pink or blue undertones.
Your complexion could be pale white, yellowish-olive, or dark.
You have dark eyes.
You have dark hair.

Good colors:

bright, striking, and pure colors
White, red, bright blue, bright pink, and bright yellow are good choices
Jewel tones, such as dark red, emerald, and teal are also flattering.
Avoid subdued oranges and pale neutrals, such as beiges.

Spring

Features:

Your skin has golden undertones.
Your complexion is creamy white or peach.
Generally, you have blonde, strawberry blonde, or red hair.
You have freckles and rosy cheeks.
You have blue or green eyes.

Good colors:

Warm colors like peach, coral, golden yellow and golden brown.
Light colors, such as pastels, are flattering.
Blues and greens, especially aqua and teal, bring out the red highlights in your hair and accentuate your eyes.
Watch out for dusty hues, such as rose or dusty blue. These can wash you out.

Summer

Features:

Like winters, you have blue or pink undertones.
Your skin is pale and pink.
You have naturally blonde hair, or naturally brown hair.
You have light colored eyes.

Good colors:

Pastels and neutrals with warm, pinkish undertones.
Lavender, plum, browns, and rose.
Avoid orange and colors that are too golden.
You can wear bright colors as well, such as hot pinks, bright blue, and green.

Autumn

Features:

You have light brown, dark blonde, or red hair.
Your skin has golden undertones.
Unlike springs, you have brown or hazel eyes.

Good colors:

Choose colors with gold undertones.
Camel, beige, gold, orange, and dark brown flatter your skin, hair, and eyes.
Avoid dark colors with blue undertones, such as navy.
Jewel tones such as plum and teal are flattering.

Images Source: gilded-butterfly.lovelyish.com

Universally flattering color:

Eggplant.

Amethyst from ShabbyApple.com

More Info

Color Simplified. Sally McGraw simplifies finding flattering colors with three simple questions to ask yourself. This article is a must read!
How to Use Makeup on Different Skin Tones. This ehow video shows you what makeup to use on warm skin tones, although the presenter mentions what to use with cool tones. How to Pick the Right Makeup Colors for Your Skin Tone illustrates what colors to use on cool tones, and gives a few tips for warm skin. So if you watch both videos, you’ll know how to do both.

Homework

The rest of this week, we will be talking about shopping. On facebook, several of you responded to my poll about fashion hang ups, and by far, the biggest hang up was the expense. So this week, your homework is to shop your closet!

You will need:

A timer
A clean, large, flat surface, such as your bed or floor.
A digital camera

Here’s how it works:

Set a timer for 30 minutes.
Dump your drawers and closet onto your bed so that you can see everything you have. I know it makes a mess, but it is the best way to really see what’s there! (Don’t include your shoes or accessories at this point)
In the time left, see how many combinations you can come up with. You can do tried and true combinations you wear all the time, but try stretching yourself to come up with new outfits.
Snap a quick picture of each one!
After the timer runs out, look through your pictures. Pick your favorite NEW outfit, and add accessories and shoes.
Take a picture of yourself wearing it, or if you’d rather not post a picture of yourself, just take a picture of the outfit. Then post it to the Scribbles From Emily Facebook wall so we can all be inspired by you! Let us know how many combinations total you came up with.

Once the picture is downloaded to your computer, go to Scribbles wall and choose “Photo” and upload.

There are several benefits to this exercise. You get to see all that you have all together, and you will come up with new ways to wear what you already have. This helps prevent you from buying things you already have. You also might find items deep in your closet that you’ve forgotten about.

Taking a picture of each outfit helps solidify the outfits in your mind, and gives you a visual reminder. I’ve read about women who put the pictures of their outfits into a photo album and keep it by their bed. In the morning, they flip through it and pick out what they want to wear that day. If you have trouble finding something to wear, maybe you should give that a try!

This Week’s Giveaway

For this week’s giveaway, I actually shopped my bathroom cabinets. For some reason, people love giving me body spray. I’m just not a body spray person I guess, because I’ve never ever used it! I’m also not a hair product person, I keep my hair routine simple and use as little product as possible. So, this week I’m giving away: