You wouldn’t choose a shade of paint for your living room without consulting a swatch book of color samples, would you? You should also give your wardrobe the same level of consideration.
Once you complete your initial color analysis consultation, you’ll become the proud owner of your very own color swatch book. This handy tool, also sometimes called a color swatch palette or color wheel, fits easily in a purse or pocket and helps you identify your unique colors in clothing, fabric, paints, and more.
Using your swatch book might feel strange at first, but with a little practice, you’ll be able to pinpoint your signature shades in everything from t-shirts to hair color to wallpaper. The Indigo Tones Personal Color Plume© swatch book lets you shop confidently for clothing, accessories, cosmetics, hair color, and any time color choices are made. Read on to learn how to use your swatch book to build a coordinated, colorful wardrobe with total confidence.
Your goal is to curate a closet full of clothes you love, to have a few key accessories that let you pull multiple different outfits together, and to have a consolidated cosmetics bag with only the makeup that harmonizes with your skin tone.
Ideally, from now on, everything you purchase should align with the colors in your swatch book. These colors will automatically enrich the appearance of your skin tone, your natural hair color, and your eyes. In addition, it should reflect your unique style and fit your body’s shape.
Be patient. Try not to be overwhelmed by all you have learned about your coloring and color harmony. Don’t worry about the clothing items in your closet that aren’t quite right. A personal color consultation is about learning to make better choices for future purchases.
Once you learn how to use your color swatch book to find the colors that work best for you, this information will last a lifetime. But the process of creating a simplified, harmonious wardrobe takes time and commitment. Give yourself some space to become accustomed to getting to know the colors and shopping differently.
Take a look at a picture of my closet from just 10 years ago, and compare it to the photo I snapped this morning. Because I’ve curated only the shades and fabrics that work with my swatch book and style, it would be glaringly obvious if I tried to work in an item that didn’t quite fit. Once you get the hang of sticking to your colors, you’ll naturally gravitate toward the items you’ll love for the long term, and your wardrobe will start to take care of itself.
Your color swatch book is laid out in sections. Each color family is grouped together, usually moving from the lightest colors closest to the pin, out toward the darker colors at the top of each page. This matters when it comes to creating the right contrast that works with your seasonal tone. For example, soft seasons suit low contrast (think complementary shades of one color), while bright seasons suit higher contrast (think dark and light or bold color combos).
The cover page of your swatch book has the name of your seasonal tone harmony. It references a month of the year and reflects the vibe in the landscape that also harmonizes with your natural coloring. You should look to the natural world during that time for inspiration on how to wear your colors and what color names and colors will work best for you.
The first pages of the book are your neutrals. These are the colors found in your natural hair color and occasionally, your eyes. Your neutrals will be your versions of white and gray. For some, neutrals also include black, brown, taupe, cream, ivory, and so on. These shades will be the building block colors in your wardrobe. Your closet should have shoes, pants, skirts, belts, purses, coats and layering pieces in these colors. At least one quarter of your closet should be in these colors. (See my closet above for reference).
The last page represents your metallics. Reference these shiny shades when choosing jewelry, eyeglass frames, accent stitching, buckles, snaps, buttons, metallic clothing, and so on.
The pages in between are your color family groups. These are your versions of the basic color families: red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and orange. These colors are unique to your seasonal tone and don’t overlap with other seasons, although some may look similar to a season that has something in common with yours.
Some of the colors on the swatch book may appear to be the same color, but a closer look under natural lighting will show that they’re actually distinct shades. The more harmonious colors are to each other, the more they can resemble each other, creating a flow that is pleasing even to the most untrained eye.
A “match” should be an exact match, not “close". The colors on the swatch book and the color on the item (fabric, cosmetic, nail polish, yarn etc.) should literally bleed together when held next to each other. You shouldn’t be able to tell where one begins and the other ends. When there is harmony, the fabric might actually look like it matches several colors on the book. The color palette and the fabric create a oneness that feels right and unified.
Even a slight discrepancy can prevent the “magic” that color harmony can bring you. It is best to recheck the match in direct sunlight because the lighting in the typical store can be inadequate. If you find that the color doesn’t match don’t be afraid to return the item.
There are thousands of colors in the visible spectrum and the Personal Color Plumes© have been created to represent the essence of the seasonal tone with as much variety as possible. In order to be a useful tool for shopping, they represent variations of the key color families without being cumbersome.
There may be additional colors that when placed against the book as a whole are “accepted” by the other colors and create a unified feeling (like the above right pic) although they don’t perfectly match any one color. This gets easier to see with practice and by being persistent in getting exact matches early on. The more things you own that are just right, the more your will be able to see clearly what might also work or what is off.
To get a feel for where your current closet stands in relation to your ideal wardrobe, look at the items in your closet with your swatch book in hand.Pull out some of your favorite pieces and compare them to the colors in your book. If you find a match, that item would be a great starting point for collecting similar items in the future.
Hold on to anything in your closet that you absolutely love or has any of the three characteristics identified during your personal color analysis. These three dimensions of color are the guiding principles in creating color harmony in how you pull an outfit together, and what makes a good investment for your closet. Eliminate anything in your closet that is too far from your harmonious colors and you haven’t worn recently, or doesn’t fit properly.
Color trends come and go. Wearing only colors that suit you is economical and "trend-proof". Some years, you may not find your colors easily in stores, while other fashion seasons favor your colors and they are everywhere. That is when you might pick up many items all at the same time and stretch your budget if you can. Shopping resale is also a great strategy for finding style and colors that flatter you at reasonable prices, regardless of what is currently trending.
Try buying just a few inexpensive tops and wearing subtle makeup only in your colors. The feedback from family, friends, and strangers should start trickling in soon. Sometimes family members might need a little time to adjust to a big change, so be sure to be patient with them, too. But even without knowing what color harmony is, other people will start to take note of the effect it has on you right away.
Always take your swatch book with you when shopping. In the beginning, it might be hard to remember to bring your swatch book or to feel comfortable diligently identify exact color matches while in stores. Eventually it will become second nature. Give yourself some time to get used to looking for colors you may not have gravitated toward in the past. You could match the colors when you get home, but it helps to start using the swatch book as a tool when eyeing clothes, and getting a feel for exact matches. Without your swatch book on hand, finding clothing that works with your style can be frustrating and disappointing.
Be open to purchasing clothes when you see them if they are the right color, style and size, rather than frantically searching last minute for an upcoming event or specific need. When a piece is right, it will be worth the investment! Over time, you will have a thoughtfully curated wardrobe collection of pieces that complement you and each other.
Resist the temptation to purchase clothing because it’s on sale, because it’s a “close” match, or because you are frustrated and want to get something new in your closet.
It takes persistence to pull a wardrobe together that really works for you, but the simple, harmonious end result is well worth the wait!
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It is my pleasure to introduce you to this month’s Dark Winter feature, eyebrow, skincare and permanent hair removal expert, Gia Pauldine. Gia was one of my first clients when I started my color analysis business nearly 20 years ago. It was around that time that she also founded her business, Restoration Electrolysis, LLC.
Gia was easy to analyze. Her deep brown hair worked well with black and dark brown neutrals that were then and still are so easy to shop for. A few pops of rich reds, deep greens and purples and she was good to go for many years. When she decided to go gray more recently and wondered how to incorporate it with her clothing choices, we had the pleasure of reconnecting and working on her wardrobe and closet. I was amazed at how gorgeous her skin looked and she introduced me to some of the skin revitalization services she offers now including light therapy. Learn more about her unique, wholistic eyebrow makeovers and skincare maintenance to the process she went through in letting her hair go naturally from a dark brown to a multi-hued gray and how it impacted her clothing choices.
It’s a treat to introduce you to this month's colorful lives feature, Soft Autumn Tim Stich who is also my son!! Tim’s experience with shopping for clothing and wearing color is unique as I become a color analyst when he was quite young. When he and his sister Clare were little, I tried dressing them in bright colors with strong patterns as was the style then.....but even before learning about personal color harmony, I started to sense that the clothes overwhelmed them and began dressing them in softer colors and solids. I was even shocked the other day to discover when I pulled out his school photos that every single photo (even before I learned of his color palette) was taken in a Soft Autumn color. You can see how his life has evolved wearing the soft, earthy colors that suit his ruddy hair, freckles and soft blue/green eyes.
Over the years, he has mostly been very eager to wear what suits him and looked to me to help him distinguish soft autumn colors from the two seasons nearby - warm autumn and soft summer. We enjoy shopping together, especially now that he lives in Manhattan and the shopping is abundant. It can be a challenge to find his colors in sizes and style that fit but when its perfect, it feels great and he knows it. Read on to learn more about what it’s like to be a guy whose mom is a color consultant!
I am so excited to introduce you the “entertainingly irreverent” (Associated Press) Soft Summer, Valerie Peterson. Valerie is an extraordinary storyteller in a variety of media including scriptwriting, screenplays, fiction, non-fiction and book publishing/consulting. I analyzed her colors years ago in Rhode Island at a girls weekend hosted by a mutual friend (color analysis and girls weekends make a great combo!). In the years since, Valerie has embraced her Soft Summer colors in spite of living and working in New York City where black is a standard and practical.
It was a thrill when her publisher chose a photo of my family for her wonderfully spirited book, Peterson’s Happy Hour. On page 46, you can find me with my family - brothers, Mike and Tim and my parents Marcia and J. Michael Jones circa 1970. The book features many more photographic gems and recipes for a fabulous social gathering!
In this month’s colorful lives blog, Valerie shares her journey with her color palette. As with all her writing projects, she is humorous, colorful and entertaining! She has kept in great condition and still uses the Sci Art swatch book that I provided back in those days!! Be sure to check out her large body of work on valeriepeterson.net and read more in the blog:
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Evie Douglas
March 09, 2022
Thoroughly enjoyed our joint consultation with you this week! Learned so much and even used my swatch pallet to purchase two perfectly matched tops (plum sweater, teal shirt) at Lily’s consignment in Canandaigua. I’m looking forward to sorting out my closet during the up and coming snow storm! Happy travels to you!