Winter Color Palate

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Famous Winters:

Halle Berry

Katherine Zeta Jones

Courtney Cox-Arquette

Typical Winter Traits: Dark hair, eyes and skin (ex., African American, Indian), dark hair and eyes with olive skin or fair skin (ex, Latino, Middle Eastern, and Asian) or high contrast coloring such as blue eyes with black hair (ex., "Black Irish")

Worth noting: Winters don't look good in brown. If you're a Winter, your version of brown is the "putty" color found in the right hand row of swatches. You look fabulous in jet black and snow white, making yours the easiest

color palate to dress and accessorize! The majority of the world's population are Winters.

Summer Color Palate

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Famous Summers:

Gwyneth Paltrow

Patricia Arquette

Typical Summer Traits: Fair skin and light eyes, blonde or light brown hair with ash tones. (Ex., Scandinavian and many Eastern Europeans)

Worth noting: If eyes are blue, they'll most likely be a slate blue, or almost grey. Summer is the second largest group, and typically look great in pastels.

Autumn Color Palate

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Famous Autumns:

Julianne Moore

Lindsay Lohan

Typical Autumn Traits: Auburn or Chestnut hair, green or hazel eyes, and freckled skin. If eyes are brown or blue, they may have flecks of yellow or green mixed in. Autumns usually tan in the sun.

Worth Noting: Although this group is the third largest in the population, they number are far fewer than the Summers. Autumns look great in terra cotta, mustard, and olive and their version of white is like the white of an unbleached muslin fabric.

Spring Color Palate

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Famous Springs:

David Caruso (CSI Miami's "Horatio Caine")

Conan O'Brien (Late night Comedian)

Typical Spring Traits: Hair is Honey Blonde, Strawberry Blonde or Orangey Red. Skin tone is fair and many Springs look rosy-cheeked, as if they're naturally blushing, or can have ruddy complexions (a reddish skin tone). Freckles are common but usually not as dark or as many as you'd find with an Autumn. Most Springs burn easily in the sun, and may not tan at all. Eyes are usually a rich, Cornflower blue.

Worth Noting: Spring is the rarest of the color types, and the only group who looks great in Kermit-the-frog green!

Winter II Color Palate

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This is getting really fine-tuned! I can't give you examples of famous Winter II's, because it's hard to pin down any "typical" traits. They're a small group of people who definitely are Winters, but don't look as great in the Winter color palate as they should.

The Winter II color palate seems to be a wee bit warmer in tone.

I found two from this group in my days of color draping. One was a woman with olive skin, dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. The other was a gentleman with fair skin, medium brown hair, and hazel eyes. All I can say is that, if you've ruled out the other three palates, but Winter colors are only "good", not "great", try on some Winter II !

Worth Noting: My own color palate is Summer, but I have much darker hair than most which makes my coloring more "high contrast". I look washed out the pastels, which look great on most Summers. Some color experts have suggested a group called "Bright Summer", and this group needs more color intensity to look their best. If you're a Bright Summer, you cannot wear the palest of the Summer colors or you'll look pale too!

Bottom Line:

As I've said before, there are always exceptions to the rules, and rules on color-typing are just guidelines for you to follow.

If you really want to "nail it" as far as what colors will make you look your best, get a professional. Image consultants usually have training in color draping, but ask if they've taken any courses in it and have been certified. A certified color specialist has taken classes and passed tests, and is the person most likely to be right on when it comes to picking your colors.