I’m showing my age but I remember back in the nineties everyone having an obsession with ‘Colour Me Beautiful.’ They used to run sessions where they held scarves up against your face to find which suited your skin colouring best. I remember being told what colours suit me – peach and lime green which I wasn’t too keen on, but they also introduced me to grey and that has remained a lifelong love affair. They do still appear when you Google them but I haven’t heard anything about them for years.

Anyway by the time you’re 40 you should have some instinct about what colours suit you and what a difference they can make. Usually when people tell you that you look well it’s because of the colour you’ve chosen next to your face. The difference can be really subtle, take navy for example, I know I look terrible in ‘school uniform navy’ like the blazer below.

dark navy blazer

But if I take it just a few shades lighter to more of a midnight blue like this jacket below it’s fine.

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I’ve found the Kettlewell Colours site a good way to identify your palette. By looking through it I knew which colours were mine (Spring) without paying for a consultation because I was instinctively drawn to them. The models that they have chosen also give you a good steer. Unfortunately a lot of their clothes are on the frumpy side.

Anyway, to give you an idea, here they’ve styled an outfit in the 4 colour families (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) which gives you an idea of what a difference it can make. I think it’s really interesting to see that they’ve used a strong accent next to the face each time.

Spring

Blonde / Light brown hair with a warm but fair skintone.

What colours suit me

Summer

Often redheads with a cool, fair skintone

What colour suits me

Autumn

Blonde / brunette, skintone not as fair as Spring

What Colour Suits Me

Winter

Dark hair, olive skin.

What Colour Suits Me

If you don’t like their clothes, it’s always worth referring to their colour palettes when you’re shopping online. Unless you fancy the pain and expense of a chemical peel, it’s probably the best boost you can give to pale winter skin.

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Colorful Curtain Fabric Samples