Color Analysis 101: Seasons, Undertones, and Finding Your Best Colors
with Co-Hosts, Blair Petroni & Erin Cox
Confused by seasonal color analysis? You’re not alone. In this episode of Style Rebellion, hosts Blair Petroni and Erin Cox break down the fundamentals of color analysis so you can finally understand why certain colors make you glow and others make you look tired.
Welcome to Color 101.
Blair and Erin explore the core building blocks of personal color analysis, including hue, value, and chroma, and explain how these elements interact with your natural coloring to create harmony in your wardrobe. Blair also shares her five principles of color analysis, offering practical guidance for navigating the many color systems used by stylists today.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
The meaning of hue, value, and chroma in color analysis
Why undertone is the foundation of seasonal color systems
The difference between 4-season, 12-season, 16-season, and 23-season color systems
Why “true red” works for everyone, but the right red varies
Why wearing colors that make you happy still matters
Blair and Erin also discuss personalized color palettes, including the work of renowned color expert John Kitchener, whose approach moves beyond seasonal categories to create truly individualized color profiles.
This episode will give you the foundation you need to start understanding your colors and using them to build a wardrobe that actually works for you.
Check out Blair’s favorite Color Analysis books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4pCXFdm
Follow Blair and Erin on Instagram:
Subscribe to the Podcast:
Follow us on Instagram:
-
Erin Cox 0:00
For like, a hot minute. I helped my friend do some newborn photography, so she trained me well and like, but she also does maternity and stuff like that, and so like, things like checking the wedding ring to make sure it's not spun, and she's she's that, yeah, meticulous. That's my grown up word that I was thinking of and unable to find. Friday, you.
Blair Petroni 0:27
Well, hello, Blair. Hi, Erin. How are you? I'm so good. I have a story about staying at the hotel.
Erin Cox 0:36
So what you guys need to know is that I did invite Blair to stay at our house, but she's never alone, ever, ever, ever, ever like she's either always with clients or on her way to and from clients or with her family. And so one of the things that she shared very honestly and vulnerably when we were in Palm Springs, is that that is something that she needs. And so when she decided to book the flight to come here to film these episodes. I said to her, we have plenty of room at our house, and you're a welcome guest, but you were heard and you were seen, and so feel free to choose to do what you need to do with a future soul while you're here. So there's a graduate hotel in Knoxville there is, and it is Blair's lifelong dream to stay at a graduate Hotel. There's only
Blair Petroni 1:24
five of them in the United States. And I know this sounds so stupid, like I'm well aware you guys, but each of them is so individual, and they're so fun, and they're decorated so kitschy, and so like, gamine and weird and interesting. And as I was looking at all the hotel options, I was like, boring, boring. And I looked and I was like, they have a graduate. And so I messaged Lauren, and I went, Uh oh, you guys have a graduate. And I messaged her, and she goes, Oh, shit. Now I want to stay at the graduate.
Erin Cox 1:58
It's true. It's true. If you follow any sports at all, you may be familiar with the infamous Tennessee orange. No, it's no. So infamous means bad the well, it is, I mean, depending on how you think about okay, I'm just
Blair Petroni 2:11
saying so it's famous. Infamous means, like, it's really, like, nefarious. For some people, it is infamous. No, but like, it's nefarious, like, for some in a bad way. Okay, I'm just a try that again, try that again. No, I'm no, no, no. I think it's funny that you, Oh, you don't want people to know fucked up with a word. No, I sure don't.
It's my we can just leave all this in there. Though, I'm really not as smart as I think I am. Me neither.
Blair Petroni 2:33
Dude. I willingly let people know that I am not small.
Erin Cox 2:38
Listen, here's the thing. When we moved here. My sister in law, who went to Alabama, was like, you're moving where. She was like, I need you to remember two things. One, Tennessee Orange is the ugliest orange ever, which is obviously completely personal opinion. She was like, Just remember when you bleed, it's crimson. And I was like, anyway, okay, yeah, so here we are, anyway, all that to say there's orange. There's a lot of orange in the hotel. It's really fun, if you like orange.
Blair Petroni 3:08
I think it's tastefully done. Yes, as someone who really, by the way, this is a color episode, but as someone who really enjoys color just in general, I think it's really tastefully done. I don't think it's overdone. I think it's really well integrated into an autumnal palette. Yes, inside of the hotel, all of the rooms are just like, so fun and kitschy and weird, but like, really homey and comfy. And there's this dog wallpaper in the bathroom that Erin is obsessed
with. Well,
Blair Petroni 3:45
Smokey, no one knows who that is, except for you
Erin Cox 3:50
here, my son chastised Amber for for not knowing who smokey dog was. It is a mascot that the the university uses. They have a real dog. And then they have the mascot version of the dog, so it is a particular variety of a hound dog, and it is all over the wallpaper in the bathroom at the graduate and my son is obsessed with the dog and but there's all kinds of cute blue gingham fabric and little orange picture frames. And it is very tasteful and super fun inside.
Blair Petroni 4:18
So well done. It's so cute, and their their breakfast area is done more like a mess hall type of situation, but like a really upscale one in college. So it's more, actually, it's more like, like a study hall center where they have like, tables where you just, like, kind of hang out with people and like, sets of four, but it's, like, really comfy, and there's, like, long tables where you meet with your friends, and I don't know it's just really what dog anyway. Here's my story. That is not the hotel story. It's not the dog wallpaper.
Now that we've waxed poetic about the decor of said hotel, tell us the real story.
Blair Petroni 4:57
Blair, here's what happened last night. What happened? Here's what happened. So last night, we get back from dinner and we walk into the hotel. I'm not sure you've actually heard the story. No, I haven't
Blair Petroni 5:12
walk into the hotel, head to the elevator, okay? This lady comes out with her little dog. And I was like, oh, hi little dog. And was just like, saying hi to this cute little Scotty that was like, just like, so happy. And the lady with her dog was so cute and so sweet. And by the way, I saw her at breakfast this morning with like, a dude sitting there with her. And I was like, Where's your little dog? And she was like, Oh, he's upstairs with my husband. And I was like, with your husband? Who's that dude? And I was like, never mind, good for you. Girl. I won't tell anybody. And she was like, This is my colleague. I was like, whatever you call him. You do you boo. And they just, like, died laughing. Like, and they were older too. They were like, probably in their late 50s, early 60s. Like, clearly I was joking. They laughed so hard. Anyway, that's, that's a side, side story. Y'all all know I'm ridiculous anyway. So we get in this elevator and, like, push the button to go to my floor. Elevator doors close a little bit. Don't go anywhere. Push the button again, nothing happens. These two dudes get in the elevator. They're probably, like, late 40s. They've clearly had a couple of drinks at a bar somewhere. Were they attractive? Of course not. They're just, like, older white dudes. They just, like, getting the elevator, and they just think, we're a bunch of dumb white women, like two dumb white women. They're like, what's going on, ladies? And I was like, your chivalry is not needed. And they just walk in and they're like, what's going on, ladies? And was like, Oh, I think something's happening with the elevator. And they're like, let's get our cards out. And so they get out their cards, and they think that their cards are going to do something. So they hold it up. They push the floors. Nothing happens. And I said, I think we should just get out, probably use the other elevator. So we do that. We push the button. My friend i and the smart man of the two get out of the other elevator, while his friend John, I know that because he said his name, proceeds to play with the broken doors on the elevator. And was like, trying to open them. And I was like, John, probably not a good idea, bud. Probably a real bad idea. And I was like, Do people lose arms and fingers? Yeah. And John was like, I don't know. I think we should stay in this one. Maybe we'll all get stuck here. And I was like, All right, serial killer, I'm going in this one also.
Erin Cox 7:42
That's why I asked if they were attractive, because if you're gonna get stuck in the elevator with something you have to look at for quite a long time, nope, I'd prefer to
Blair Petroni 7:48
enjoy these. Okay, serial killer. I'm going in this one. And so then we all get in the second elevator, and we ride to floor three for John, nine night John, floor six for Sam. That night, Sam and they both are like, good note looters, like, nobody wants to hang out with you. And then we get to Maya floor fuller seven, like, oh, sweet refuge. Thank God we got here out of this elevator safely to this one. Now here's where this is actually even funnier. I get down this morning, elevator goes down, and I look y'all there is dead. Ass a sign in front of the elevator that says, elevator unresponsive, broken. Thank you for your patience. We are working on it, so we're gonna put the photo right here, just to show you guys I am not kidding. It is broke. Did the elevator of broke did?
Erin Cox 8:43
What I was gonna ask is, if you had had a Sharpie, would you have written John? Did it?
Blair Petroni 8:48
It was John fault. I dead ass would have, yeah, 100% wasn't me. Was it look Shaggy? It was not me. It would John. Yeah, that dumb ass had way too many way tea, too many martinis.
Erin Cox 9:04
Yeah, I have really bad PTSD from elevators in college dormitories that were real high.
Blair Petroni 9:10
I was like, John, don't play with that. Yeah, please. That's not a good idea. I literally looked at my friend after the doors closed on Sam and I was like, All men are just grown up little boys. They're grown up little boys that are trying to get all of us stuck in elevators. Yeah, and the other one, like Sam goes, there's not even any ways out. I was like, both of you are trying to kill us. Get out. Please say something more creepy. I don't think y'all could if you tried Jesus.
Erin Cox 9:49
You know that elevator in the Hyatt in Austin? Yeah, with the atrium and it's glass, yeah, it used to be an embassy suite. I watched some people get stuck in that one with far, far, far too many people. Bull inside of it? Nope. And it was like sardines against the glass of people being like, let us out. Nope. I really prefer stairs. Oh, yeah, much of the time. No.
Blair Petroni 10:11
Whenever I go on cruises, we don't even get in the elevators. It is actually a rule where we only go up and down the stairs. When we are on cruises, we will never get in the elevators. I don't even care if it's 19 floors. We going up and down 19 floors. Get your exercise. Hop to it. Get those quads and glutes ready. Here we go to it. We will never go an elevator on a cruise. Also, that's the way you get norovirus. You don't want, you don't want to do to yourself on any of the
Erin Cox 10:41
Norovirus is legit.
Blair Petroni 10:42
Norovirus worse when you see them washing the walls of bleach, truth, no, no, no, no, no, no, yeah.
Erin Cox 10:50
It went around Knoxville last January, and one, one of my children got it, and I have never been so thankful for my nursing background. Ever in my life. Talk about the plague. Seriously, I looked at the rest of my family and I was like, No one uses that bathroom until this is over and it has been bleached. Like, I covered my couch with the blue and white like, like we would call them chucks in the hospital, but like the puppy pee pads. You know that some people buy the blue and white diapers, like the flat diapers covered the couch in those put, like the junky towels over the top to protect the couch. Yeah, daily, like multiple times daily, wipes down every surface, and, like, everything that had been touched with, like bleach water. And fortunately, no one else got it, but that will go through your household like the plague, and it is misery. And like, truly bleach is like the only thing, yeah, the only thing that will kill it. Insane, yeah. Again, really bad. PTSD on that too. So for real, moving on. Take, we take the stairs. Ever? Ever get your exercising. Get your steps. Smoke.
Blair Petroni 11:54
Elevators. Smoke. Elevators. Smoke them. PS, elevator companies. So, podcast.
Blair Petroni 12:06
Oh, my God, dad, like an elevator repair company. Talk nicely to you next time. John's elevator repair company, when you're down, we go up.
Erin Cox 12:22
Not no. This is a color episode. We're talking about color today, friends, oh, man, okay, so Did your mom or your grandmother, like, have their colors done
Blair Petroni 12:32
Janet or Ellen? I don't think so. I don't think either of them did, but I can tell you, I have so many clients that had like, color me beautiful work on them in the 80s. And so many of them were like, I'm an autumn, I'm a summer. And I swear to God, that color me beautiful got it opposite, because literally, all the autumns are summers and all the summers are autumn. Yeah, yeah. It happens. I mean, I was an aunt, but I'm not a summer, but I'm something else, yeah,
Blair Petroni 13:04
but you're a bright spring. Clearly, this like bright ass
Erin Cox 13:07
highlighter, Jack. Oh, beautiful. Oh, thank you so good. Yeah, this is a stretch zone piece for me. I'm not gonna lie.
Blair Petroni 13:16
I will tell you, though I never used to it, it's so beautiful. I have never actually had the chance to ask Ellen my grandmother or Janet my mom, so maybe.
Erin Cox 13:27
But yeah, I feel like there's a lot of people my mom's generation and a little bit older, that when we talk about color analysis nowadays, they're like, Oh, I had my colors Exactly. Parties, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it was a thing, then totally it's becoming, or it has become a thing.
Blair Petroni 13:44
Again, I have a theory about that, ooh, tell me why. My theory about that is because of the advent of on line ordering.
Erin Cox 13:54
Yeah, I could see that. Tell me more. The reason
Blair Petroni 13:56
I think that is because we are so we are such an online world at this point. Having Amazon being able to purchase your clothes online, there's a lot of people that don't have much time to go to stores anymore. So the ability to be able to purchase clothing, accessories, cosmetics online, yeah, it's so easy, it's so accessible. It saves so much time, right? Okay, well, if you have your colors done, you know, in theory, everything that's supposed to look good on you. So then if that is some kind of trump card to be able to know what's going to look fire on you, then that is in theory, one step removed from the equation of guessing, yeah, what's gonna look great on you? Yeah. So it's one less decision that you have to factor into online shopping. You don't have to worry about like, oh, will this lipstick look great on me? It's this lipsticks in my colors. I can go ahead. And buy confidently online, because it's in my colors. Same thing with clothing, same thing with accessories. With the increase in online shopping, I think that's why color analysis has come back with a vengeance.
Erin Cox 15:14
I also think that the gap between like our moms and us those I don't hear as many of those women talking about having their colors done no in their lifetime. So I think it kind of skipped this generation, and now you have this market that's like ripe for the picking, if you will. Everything that's Olds new again, exactly. Just keep your clothes. They'll be stylish again in 20 years.
Blair Petroni 15:38
Dead ass, right? Never get rid of anything, you guys.
Erin Cox 15:42
So what I what I don't know that our moms and grandmothers knew that we are learning now with color analysis is that it is one of the ways that you put a superpower in your wardrobe. Yeah, and I'm not just talking about looking and feeling fabulous. I'm talking about saving time and energy and money and using less product on your face and in your hair and all of the things. So it's such a helpful, helpful thing to do, to not only help you feel good in your own skin and what you're wearing, but also to really help you on your wardrobe journey and to make great choices about what you're purchasing.
Blair Petroni 16:25
Yeah, and have you be able to walk out of the door in dress, mascara, blush and a lip have a 92nd makeup routine and you look fire. What? Yes, please. Hi. What? That's a C what? Women think I'm lying when they're like you're telling me I don't need foundation or concealer. No, you don't, unless you really feel like you need to wear it. Yeah. And they're like, This bitch is crazy when I tell them that at the beginning of their color analysis, and I'm like, that's fine. You can think I'm nuts. Wait till the end. Yes, when we take photos of you in your mascara and your blush with your like, without your white like, just with the drape, yeah, put on you. And then we put your lip color and a color, yeah, on you. Nothing else this with the exact same mascara and blush, and you are going to look like you have a full face and makeup on Yeah.
Erin Cox 17:20
It's, it's amazing. It really, if you have never seen the before and after kind of inaction. It's if you ever thought color analysis was a load of garbage, bro, your mind will change so fast, literally in the flick of a wrist, you're like, Wait, what is this? What just happened? Fun. So, but there's a lot of different systems. There's a lot of variation in how the systems train and apply color theory. And you may even be a little extra confused by seeing some people kind of mysteriously change seasons. Yeah, right. And so if you're not certain about colors or color theory, or where to go or what to do, it might actually feel a little overwhelming and a little terrifying. I've heard a lot of people say I don't know if I'm ready to take the plunge on that one. Totally. I've been watching it seems really interesting, but I don't, I don't know. I don't know if I want to do that yet, or I don't know if I'm ready to do that yet. So I that yet. So in today's episode, we're going to teach you a little bit about color theory. We are going to talk to you about five principles of color analysis. We're going to touch on some of the defining characteristics of each of the four seasons. And then we're going to talk to you briefly like 10,000 foot bird's eye view of the different color systems and how to maybe take a stab at which one is the best one to serve you.
Blair Petroni 18:49
I'm so excited. So this is such a fun episode. We're gonna It is a fun episode. I love color. I do too, and this is
Blair Petroni 18:57
also one that I think has been coming for such a long time. I mean, I can't believe we've gone through like over 30 episodes and still haven't done like a foundations of color episode.
Erin Cox 19:06
Yeah, yeah. I think this is important. I think color. I used to be someone who dressed in neutrals because I was afraid of color, because I didn't know how to figure out what it was that was gonna look best, and being told I was in autumn when I was 12 and not being an autumn really didn't help matter so long at all, when I would put on colors and be like, Why do I look ill? So you know, now that I have the knowledge to figure that out, yeah, I'm much more satisfied in my color wearing experience than I ever have been before.
Blair Petroni 19:36
And in case people are like, Why is Blair just wearing neutrals head to toe today, because I flew in, because Blair took a carry on.
Erin Cox 19:48
Well, also, really, what happened was we did a lot of shopping in Palm Springs when we went in November. I honestly, it wasn't just like, Oh, we did a lot of shopping for so much fun. I had a laundry. List of needs in my closet, and I Blair was gracious enough to send me home with her large suitcase. So she was a little pigeon holed into packing on a carry on.
Blair Petroni 20:13
I wasn't I'm so glad that you did that. I was not gonna throw you under the bus in any way, shape or form, but that she's not wrong. Yeah, that did happen, yes. So the good news is,
Erin Cox 20:21
is I am sending her home with, like, a full wardrobe for her little boy, who's in the size that my little one just outgrew. So good news is, we have a giant suitcase to send you home with. But, yeah, normally Blair rocks some color, so a lot of it, yes, a lot of it. But she looks fire today in her red earrings. They're actually yours. They are, well, actually they were Amber's, but she gave them to me. That's right, because they're too natural for her, but they work for both of us. So here we are because we are ostentatious. Ai, it's a win all or all the way around. Okay, so understanding the nuance of color can take some time and some practice, but general knowledges of color is really important when you're thinking about a color analysis, because otherwise it just feels like jargon. Yeah, you're gonna start hearing words get thrown around and just think, I have no idea what that means, or I sort of get what that means, but I really don't have any idea what that means or how to use it. So let's talk about three things, Hue, value and Chroma. And those are three really important pillars of understanding how colors work, how they're made up, and how they play together. And then that will be your jumping point for understanding color analysis and color seasons. So we have a picture that we'll put on we can put on frame here to help illustrate some of these. So we'll start with hue. You want to tackle that? You want me to tackle that?
Blair Petroni 21:54
Hue is temperature. Hue is temperature. Hue is temperature. So that's all about warmth versus coolness. Okay, so warmth, if you are warm, in your undertone, that is all about, and we'll talk about like undertone and what that means, and everything. But just focusing on hue, if you are warm, that means that your season is either going to be an autumn or you're going to be a spring. Because they are warm seasons, your hue is warmth. It's gonna be yellow, okay? Or you're gonna be rocking your hue, a cool hue. You're going to end up being a winter, or you're going to be a summer, it's going to be more blue, yeah. And so we're looking at this spectrum of, like, blue versus yellow that we're sitting on, and like going back and forth between those, and that's what hue is.
Erin Cox 22:45
Yeah, if you ever made a color wheel in elementary school art, or you looked at a color wheel in elementary school art, you will see red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. And you probably remember learning about the warm colors and learning about the cool colors. And then, just if I can encourage you to think of it as as the circle that it is, there is warm and there's cool, and then there's dynamics of warm and cool that play as we go around. So it's not just if you're warm, you can only wear warm colors, like red, orange and yellow, right? Or if you're cool, you can only wear green, blue and purple, yep. There's nuance to it, but hue, temperature, main colors on the color wheel, yep.
Blair Petroni 23:35
And this is what like freaks people out where they're like, but if I'm cool, I don't get yellow. No, you get yellow. You dead. Ask it yellow, if you're cool, there is this like acid yellow that winters get that they like fire in summers, get Chardonnay. They look beautiful. And Chardonnay yellow, like, literally the color of wine. That's their yellow that they look at. Yes, you still get yellows. If you're there are cool yellows because the base of that color is blue. Yeah, if you are warm, there are warm blues. They're so pretty. They're warm purples, they're warm greens. And it blows people's minds where they're like, but I look better in blues. Uh huh. There are warm blues, there are there are also cool reds. They're like, right?
Erin Cox 24:43
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. I think the only outlier to that is orange, yeah, yeah,
Blair Petroni 24:51
that's how people, I'm like, you get everything. But if you're cool, you don't get orange, right?
Erin Cox 24:54
If you, if you can wear orange, yeah, you, you are likely have some warmth to you. You are warm. So all right, that's you. Let's talk about value. Yep, value is how light or dark a color is.
Blair Petroni 25:11
I like to say if you welcome to the light side, we have ice cream. Welcome to the dark side. We have cookies. Ooh, Oreos versus vanilla.
Erin Cox 25:19
Yes, this is where, if you played with white and black paint, yeah, let's just go back to elementary school, because this is, this is so easy, right? Like you, you put your red paint in your color palette, and you add white, and it gets lighter, right? And then you have your red paint, and you start adding, like, just a little dab of black at a time, and it gets darker and darker and darker. So that's your value, your lighter, your dark. If you are neither light nor dark, you do not play to the ends. You are medium value. And that can be a lot of fun and a little tricky, and we'll talk more about that in a little bit. Next thing we're going to talk about is Chroma. So Blair talks about colors that shout, yeah, and colors that whisper. So Chroma is how much brightness or intensity there is in a color, yeah. So on one spectrum or one end of the spectrum, you have these bright, vivid, clear, true versions of these colors that have just an intensity to them, right? Like your your truest brightest greens and your truest brightest reds. On the other end of the spectrum, you have your muted colors, or your low chroma colors, and those are the ones that, if we're going back to our paint pot, you were someone who got bored with black and white, and you started mixing gray with your black and white. And then you just decided you're going to mix all that fun together. And you took your red paint and you started mixing gray with it, and it got a little smoky and a little darker, and it lost that like, light switch clarity, right? So that's Chroma, yep, this intensity versus this muted option quality colors, yeah.
Blair Petroni 27:11
And this is what I like to tell people, if you because they're like, How do I tell if somebody's bright versus if somebody is muted or soft. So I tell you, if you can look at anyone, and immediately you look at their skin, and you can either peel it off, okay, which is it sounds not creepy at all. Sounds so Dexter, nowhere like it essentially looks or it looks like they are wearing some sort of, like, really yummy face mask from, like, Target, right? Like one of those, like brushing masks, yeah, absolutely, they're a winter, right? That's a lot of Chroma. Or if they look like so sun kissed, like they've put on so much like serum on their face, like they just look so effortlessly, like bright that's an excessive amount of Chroma. You have a lot of Chroma. That's a lot of brightness that you have, versus if you are able to look at someone and there is just this quality to them where it's almost like a veil of like what you as women, we know what there's like this texture of powder that we put on our skin. Muted people, it just looks like there's all this powder on their face, but they don't have anything on at all. It's just powder. Yeah, that's what to me, yeah, what they look like,
Erin Cox 28:52
yeah, blended is another word that I have heard to describe describe that kind of muted sensation.
Blair Petroni 28:59
It's so praise God. I like, I call them old money colors, soft, soft colors, yeah, all the soft, the mute of people, yeah. I'm like, Oh, you little real old money, yeah, yeah, those old money colors.
Erin Cox 29:12
I think another way I think about that is when you take something that, like your old sweatshirt that was like a bright navy blue, or true navy blue, and you have washed it and worn it so many times that it's almost gray now that's that's that muted quality, so, so gorgeous. Love it. So you've got your temperature, warm, cool, you've got your value so light and dark, and then you have your Chroma, which is brightness versus muted, so you now have the tools that you need to go start looking at colors and start figuring out what that looks like in reality. All right, let's talk about the five principles of color analysis, which is mine.
Blair Petroni 29:59
Yes. Nobody. This is me. Nobody has this. This is proprietary to me. This is Blair's. Blair's five principles of color analysis, and the reason we
Blair Petroni 30:08
call them principles and not rules, I'm not look at me. You guys think I'm a real person. Stop it. Everything that you learn in my studio is tools and not rules. I'm here to just bequeath information unto you.
Erin Cox 30:24
That's it. Yes, information is power. Hit me. Principle number one. Principle number one. There are 10 million colors in the world
Blair Petroni 30:35
insane, right? And we can see them because of our eyes. Okay, what's really funny is I had this dude once that works in Hollywood. He was like, IMAX cameras can see more than 10 million colors. I said, How does that do me any good if I can only see 10 million he had no answer for that. I was like, good for IMAX camera. For IMAX, if I'm sitting there in the movie theater, I can't see more than 10 million. That does nothing for me. 1 billion. Okay, thank you for mansplaining IMAX cameras. Okay?
Erin Cox 31:16
All that to say there's a lot of colors in the world, and there's a lot of nuance to all the colors in the world. There are. Some of them are for you. Some of them are not. Some of them will not love you back. They won't. So there's nothing wrong with you if a color doesn't love you back. Nope, but there's a lot of colors, and I, well, shocking. I'm a natural. I like to be outside. One of my favorite things about the seasons where I live is in spring, not because I am a spring weird, weirdly, weirdly coincidental, strange, but I love watching the buds come out in the springtime and All of the variations of green that start to come alive. Like, most of the time here there's not snow, but every once in a while, like you'll start to see some of the green pop up through the snow, but just that transition of green and then, like the slow addition of color of like the flower buds and things like that, through the spring season and into summer, nothing is the same, like there's so many variations to it. Yeah, so there's a lot of colors. You can appreciate all of them. You might not be able to wear all of them. Oh my gosh. I love color. So many colors. Okay, number two, you talk about undertone. Let's talk about undertone. A lot
Blair Petroni 32:45
of people get real confused about undertone, and they get real excited when they come in the studio. They go, you're gonna help me find my foundation, my concealer? And I go, No, nope.
Blair Petroni 32:59
That is not what this is. So your undertone is that really beautiful layer of fat that sits underneath your seven layers of skin. If it ends up leaning a little more yellow that when we were talking about hue, okay, that is what is going to make you warm, make you an autumn, gonna make you a spring. Or if your undertone leans cool, that means it's going to lean blue. It's going to make you a winter, or it's going to make you a summer, by the way, guys, you are born with your undertone. It never changes cradle to grave. Your whole life, you are your season, perpetuity. Okay? Now your overtone is the thing that dictates your foundation and your concealer. Your overtone can will and does change based on a myriad of factors, how much water you've been drinking, how much melanin you have in your skin, how much sun you've been exposed to, if you're sick, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Yeah, okay, period. That is how this works, yeah? So when you guys come to me and you're like, Oh, so you're not gonna give me foundation colors today, no.
Erin Cox 34:19
But when you're in your right colors, you don't have to wear the foundation. No, you don't want to, because the right colors are going to make your skin look so healthy that you don't need the makeup.
Blair Petroni 34:34
My favorite thing, and it happens almost on a daily basis, is is people lean forward and be like, your foundation is incredible. What do you use my skincare products,
Blair Petroni 34:50
and I literally go, and the right colors, No, literally I go, I don't own any, yeah? And they're like, What? Yeah, no, I don't own any. I don't own foundation. Do. Don't Own concealer. I don't own any, and they're like, Oh, you just take really good care of your skin. Then Not really. I mean, I just, I kind of just use Charlotte Tilbury magic cream. Like, that's kind of it,
you guys. This is a good moisturizer.
Blair Petroni 35:17
Gotten some soap. That's pretty much it for me. So no, they're like, oh well, you're just genetically blessed, guys, it's colors that's really not me wear your damn colors Absolutely.
Erin Cox 35:31
Very truly, my skin is pretty sensitive and so well, you're a natural. I am a natural, yes. But Foundation has really been a big issue for me because, because, well, I don't need it. I wear my red colors, but when, at times, when I felt like I did need it, when I thought I was not, um, but wasn't I intend? I am prone to, like, just my skin getting congested, and so that was one of the goals for me, and seeking out color analysis and nailing it was so that I could remove the need for that from my drawer altogether.
Blair Petroni 36:06
I love that. So I love that you came in with a goal. Yeah, yeah. I have a lot of women that come in with the goal of, I need to know what my lipstick is, because it is so hard for me to find them. Yes. And I love that. I'm like, Yeah, girl, come here, yeah.
Erin Cox 36:23
Also, I stopped wanted, I wanted to stop looking like I was dying of hepatitis in every color that I put on my skin.
Blair Petroni 36:32
That's because the chroma that you were picking was so muted,
Erin Cox 36:38
not right for my sister. Okay, principle number three, which I think some people have some controversy with, but let's go with it. True Red is for everyone, correct? Why?
Blair Petroni 36:56
So this one is scientific. Okay, talk about going back to elementary school, dude. Let's talk about primary colors. All right. What are the primary colors? Red, yep, get ready. Yellow, a hair and blue,
Blair Petroni 37:13
right on. Good job, dude, you are smarter than a fifth grader, so if yes, good job. Jeff Foxworthy, Thanks, Mom and Dad for that college education.
Blair Petroni 37:25
Bu, was worth it, just for this moment. So if we add more yellow to colors to make them warmer, okay, to make them more autumn or spring, or we add blue to colors to make them cooler, to make them more winter or more summer, then that leaves one color. What is it? It's red, correct? It's red, true red, pure red that has no yellow undertone, no blue undertone. It's the color of a coke can or a red solo cup. So what I jokingly tell my clients is, depends on if you like the cup or the mixer. Okay, the cup or the mixer? Yeah, that is going to help you figure out the true red. There's a reason why a lot of makeup companies will say we have a true red lip, a true red lipstick, it's because it is so neutral that they are trying to capture that part of the market that knows, oh, true red is for everyone. Yeah, it's, in theory, supposed to be for me. Now it is neutral enough that you were going to look Okay, enough in it, enough so a lot of my clients, is it your best red? Negative ghost right? Yeah, absolutely not. Negative ghost writer, this is not the red that I'm telling you that you should be wearing all time. This is perfect for you to be wearing in perpetuity. This. No, no, do not mishear me. What you will do with this, though, is, I have a lot of people that are asking me, Well, what do I do for holiday photos? I want everybody to be in the same red. Okay? True Red. True Red. I want, I want t shirts for family reunions. True Red T shirts. I want to put all of my bridesmaids in the exact same bridesmaids dress. Okay? True Red bridesmaids dresses, okay. There's all of these different options and ideas and things that you can do, dance dance teams, true red lip for the entire dance team. Yeah? Okay, that's, that's one tip that I give out a lot, lot true red lips, yeah, for dance teams, yeah, stuff like that.
Erin Cox 39:52
So everyone can do it. But not, it's not, not the best red
Blair Petroni 39:56
No, yeah, your red and your season will be perfect. Perfect for you, yes, but true red. It's not perfection on everyone, but it is doable for everyone.
Erin Cox 40:08
Okay, all right. Principle number four is, look for the Bing, as you like to say, yeah. So what does that even mean? How do I make my skin bing, bing. My skin doesn't mean Bing, hello. Is anybody there? No, okay, talk to us about Bing. Yeah.
Blair Petroni 40:29
So, as you guys already know, I have a lot of like, blairisms, what that's what I call them, like these metaphors that I use. And to me, the Bing is like the glow. It's the shine that you have. And when we are, like, doing a color analysis on you, or either you're trying to, like, figure out the colors that love you back, if you're just, like, trying to do this yourself, look for the colors that like as you're swatching yourself, or you're, like, moving colors across your face, if you like, pull it and your whole face, just like erupts in light, or like you look like you have this fire ass tan on your face where you're like, oh, there it is. That's the Bing I lovingly say. Like I want to look like your entire face is in harmony. I could ski down your face like everything just looks cohesive. That's what we call the harmony, where everything just looks like it belongs together. I should not see any demarcation or difference between you and that color. You should just look my eyes. Should just go,
Erin Cox 41:43
Okay, so for you, the Bing and the harmony are one in the same. See signora. Okay? Because there are, there are systems that talk about Wow colors within your your palette. So sure. Do you find that clients Wow in certain colors better than others, within their binging color within the Bing of their season.
Blair Petroni 42:06
What I find is that if you are rocking like a 16 a, 12 a 16 or like a 23 season system, what you're trying to do is essentially narrow yourself down to a sub season that gives you your Wow colors permanently. Yeah? That like you're trying to be given enough colors that are already your Wow colors, so that you don't have to go find them you already know them. Yeah?
Erin Cox 42:39
Okay, we're gonna talk more about what 12 and 16 and 23 look like in just a few minutes. So if you're like, you just lost me, hang on. We'll get there. Okay, principle number five, this
Blair Petroni 42:56
is the most important by the way. Wear what makes you happy? Wait, I shouldn't wear things that make me sad. Please,
Blair Petroni 43:04
don't Okay, this is the most important one. It actually is what the podcast is based off of, yeah, that's why I tell people. It's true too. If there are things that you are so obsessed with, I have people ask me all the time. Blair, can I wear this? Should I wear this? Dude? Look, if there are things that you see out there that you are so obsessed with that you would like wear them to be cremated in, that you would wear them to be buried in, that you are like, upset, you'd be like, I would wear this every single day of my life. And it doesn't matter if it's your color or your style. That is a dopamine piece for you. If it spikes your happiness and your dopamine like that much, you better wear that. I'm gonna be upset with you if you don't wear what makes you happy? We are a speck on a speck on a speck in this big ass universe. Yeah, it doesn't matter that much. Yeah, it doesn't matter.
Erin Cox 44:06
So in our most recent listener questions episode, I think that was the episode I was wearing this very loud, vertically striped shirt with all the colors in it, with a little bit of white kind of thrown in. And the story of that shirt is that I saw it and I loved it in a store, and they let me take it out on approval, so that I could go home and see it in natural light and try with some things in my wardrobe. And I tried it on at home with the wrong lipsticks, because this is before. This was just before I came to see you for my color analysis. Interesting, so I had already done my style, so hadn't, but I could see that something like what's happening was not. Not honoring me, yeah, and at the time, I still thought I was a cool season. And so the I was like, Okay, well, this settles that the shirt is too warm. No, no, the lip was too cool. So once I came to you as unwell as I was so unwell for a real long time, a couple of hours after my analysis result longer than longer than that, longer than that, but like, super unwell, super unwell for a shorter period of time, mostly unwell for for a little while longer. But one of the things that I did do was I went back to the store knowing because we had put, like, the red orange, that was a, like, a more prominent color amongst all of the colors of striping, and there was a tank top of a similar color. And I went and I tried it on again with the right lip color, and it was just like, so even though it's not super classic, it's not it's definitely on the on the gamine end of things, that for me, 100%
Blair Petroni 46:09
most people, that shirt is made for an FG,
Erin Cox 46:12
it was so fun and so colorful. And I was like, it must come home with me. So it's taken some it's taken some work to play with it, to find it, find a way that I'm really confident in wearing it, but the colors in that are, they just make my soul happy so
Blair Petroni 46:27
and I love seeing Erin wear that shirt, because it is something that is so clearly completely against her body type and her essence. There is nothing that. And I've told you so many times I was like, if you and I were shopping, I'd have never picked out that shirt for you, yeah, because there's nothing about that shirt that I'm like, that looks like Erin. In fact, I put that shirt and I'm like, that is never going to be but the fact that you love it makes me so happy when you wear it. I'm like, I love this because it's your dopamine still is.
Erin Cox 46:59
It is. And, I mean, the it's, it's a structured cotton, like shirting material, so for a natural that's, that's really too stiff, but because I'm have with the classic essence, I can lean into that a little bit. So it's kind of crispy, which is why the fgps works well. And then it just has that, those bold vertical stripes of different sizes and widths. So there's a lot of things that are happening in that that are contrary to my like, straight and narrow. Yeah, so, but it's fire, and I love it.
Blair Petroni 47:32
It's so fun. It looks like a circus.
Erin Cox 47:35
It does. But here's the other thing, because I have the vertical to contend with that. And I don't love a lot of prints, Shocking, I know I struggle with prints, so to find a stripe that has multiple colors in it that I can play with and still carry a vertical it just makes it easier to do that for me, especially in the summer months. So like, last summer, I bought a pair of, kind of, like, appley lime green linen shorts, yeah, that I can wear with that. I have a pair of, like, it's kind of like the spring navy. It's a bright Navy that's almost almost touches blue, yeah, a little bit more than than the darkness of it. I can wear it with that. Yeah, I can wear white shorts. I could wear it with black if I really wanted to, like, nail that, like, just really play up the contrast with it. So there's a lot to be able to play with within that. And I think that's it. It gives me some freedom to explore Pat, like, print pattern without having to dive into a print that I don't really love.
Blair Petroni 48:38
Did you ever see the movie? Don't tell mom the babysitter's dead, yes, okay. Do you remember at the very end where she does the the fashion show for clown dog and like, Brian comes in and she's like, our final guy, yes, just your shirt reminds me of just, like, an updated, like, super fashionable, like clown dog uniform.
Erin Cox 49:01
Okay, so the next time I wear it for a podcast recording, I'm gonna get like, a paper, my God,
Blair Petroni 49:08
I'm telling you, paper hot dog hat. I hope no one feels like I'm dogging the shirt, like it's just so gamine and just so dopamine on Erin. I love it.
Erin Cox 49:18
Yeah, it's really a lot of fun. Okay, so those are Blair's five principles of color analysis, and that gives you just a little bit more in terms of understanding how to explore and play
Blair Petroni 49:30
with color. And I call it a primer. So this is what I tell it's on the wall in my studio, and it's essentially the things for you to know before you have your style analysis, so it gets you comfortable and gives you a little bit of information about color analysis, so that you have info you can take back to your friends and family and be like, guess what?
Erin Cox 49:54
Yeah, and I think wearing what makes you happy is it's really critical. Helpful to talk about beforehand, because sometimes people have a visceral response to their color analysis result totally for some people, they're like, Yes, this is what I want it to be. I've loved these colors my whole life. Every color in my house fits in this palette and like, there's just this soul connection for them. And for other people, their result is completely different than either what they were hoping for or expecting, or maybe they have been typed in a different system, and they're they're getting an opposite result from something that they've heard before. So at the end of the day, knowing that you have the freedom to choose, to decide to wear the things that you love, even if they're not your best color or in your season, there are ways to do that and make it work for you. All right, let's talk four seasons again. This is going to be super high level. Otherwise, this episode is going to be out of control long so like we could talk four we could do multiple episodes on this, and we probably will revisit it with different angles as we go on. But for today, let's talk about the four seasons. So if somebody who's never even heard of color analysis before knows where we're getting at and let's kind of talk about keywords for those seasons, or key defining qualities of those people, to give the listeners a sense of what what that may look like. Disclaimer, there is nuance to this. So please don't go home and try to compare yourself to a mirror and be like, I am this. And believe it, it, you really do need to have a trained analyst look at you if you want to come up with, like, the perfect results, unless you're just gifted at this. So four seasons, defining characteristics, describing words. Yeah. Let's start with winter.
Blair Petroni 51:41
Okay? So for me, when I look at winters, okay, I already basically told you my scary thing, right about being like, well, you peel their face off, but winters, so I will give you four words for me, winters are cool, they're dark, they're bright, they're icy. Okay, if those words sound juxtaposed, it's because they're supposed to be. That's Dennis. But winters are, yeah, they're really juxtaposed. They have this, like, super high contrast within themselves. Think snow, white, dark hair, red lips, white skin, okay, yeah, I also want you to think Lupita Nyong'o super beautiful, melanated actress. Her skin is so dark it's almost purple. It's so beautiful. She has a bright winter, yeah, okay. She has such high contrast between her features, between her eyes and her skin, and her tongue and her teeth, the colors that look incredible on her. She's the opposite. She's the sister to Erin. Erin’s a bright spring. Lupita is a bright winter. Okay? If you are going to be a winter, your Chroma has to be exceedingly high. That is a defining characteristic of a winter. They are cool, dark, bright, icy,
Erin Cox 53:04
and when you, if you if you close your eyes and paint the picture, or you're outside in the winter, take note of the contrast that happens naturally within the season, whether it's the gray in the sky, it's the darkness of the bark on the trees, especially if you're looking at things from a distance, it is the like, how, how bright the colors do appear when you see the more like, like a holly berry, you have this deep, rich green, and then you have this bright pop of Red, yeah, in the holly berry, or some of the colors that you see in in the night sky in the wintertime as the sun setting and things are starting to be a little bit vivid, yeah, so that's what I got. That's what I got on winter. Okay, so we've talked about, like, the translucency of the skin and the high contrast. Is there anything else that you want to add. It's kind of a basic about winter and like, qualities of a winter, the i
Blair Petroni 54:06
They're part of my colors that scream, yeah? Like, if you are a winter, you need colors that scream in order to honor you, yeah? Because that's who you are. Like, your undertone, like, needs something that just like screams on you, you're gonna look better, typically, in like, glossy lipsticks or glossy makeup or something that, just like, catches the eye for that Chroma, yeah, all right, springs,
Blair Petroni 54:34
also you need colors that scream, yeah. That's number that's gonna be numer uno, numero dos. I call actually, I'm gonna go back to winters. There's one, okay, okay, because there's one thing I thought about, because there's defining characteristics, I like to tell people about the opposite. Okay, so winters, when I look at winters, I tell people, think about them like cocktail rings. Okay, if you can imagine a big fat cock. Tail ring as colors, okay? Like, if you're shopping and you're like, Okay, I'm a winter I look good in colors that are truly jewel tones. It's a big fat cocktail ring. Yeah? Okay, we're talking emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, tanzanites, rubies, right? Those are winter colors versus we're talking springs. Springs springs are warm, light, bright, clear. I call them bikinis and Greece. I do, Greece is beautiful.
Blair Petroni 55:32
I call them bikinis and Greece. And what's funny is I say that, but when you're in the studio and I show you the flag of all the colors, it looks like a story of being on a Mediterranean vacation in Greece, because it's like the waters in like all the blue water in Greece. It's all the greenery that's underneath the water. It is the lemon cello we've been drinking. It's the sorbet like this, the strawberry sorbet we've been eating. It's the color of the sand. It's the limoncello we've been drinking. Everything is like this color that looks like someone's been wearing. The blues are the color of the Greek flag, like, literally, everything looks like it's a Mediterranean vacation in Greece.
Erin Cox 56:17
Yeah, when I went to Greece, the passion flowers were blooming pretty. And the Yeah, for me, that's where my mind goes, because the purples in those flowers are just absolutely stunning.
Blair Petroni 56:30
Is a Mediterranean and very warm, very warm, right? It's so, so pretty. And if you are a spring, you can look at somebody and they just have this, like peaches and cream to their complexion, which is the way that we describe it. Like you look at them and their skin is like creamy in some way, and there's like a rosiness to their cheeks, like, for example, I don't really care how you feel about her, but Taylor Swift is a spring, yeah, peaches and cream. And you can be any season, excuse me, you can be any melanation in the whole world and be a spring. Yeah, there's springs that are African American or Indian or Chinese or whatever.
Erin Cox 57:19
I think that's a really important point, because a lot of what comes across my social media feed in terms of color analysis results, there's a lot of white women there's a lot of white women analysts, there's a lot of white women clients. And you know, when you go back to some of the origins of color analysis and where people started learning that some of that starts to make sense. But color analysis is not a tool that is limited to a certain ethnicity. No, oh,
Blair Petroni 57:53
my god, it's so big in Korea. There are so many Korean springs because their skin is so peaches and cream. Oh, when we put them in spring colors, yeah.
Erin Cox 58:03
But if you are a person of color, and you are told that you must be winter or autumn because of your color, your personal coloring is your value because of your value, and it's not sitting well with you. Just know that regardless of your ethnicity or the colors in your natural personal coloring, that every ethnicity is going to have elements of the different seasons. Yeah, just because you are of one ethnic group does not automatically make you cool or it does not automatically make you warm, totally. So just keep that in mind
Blair Petroni 58:42
Absolutely, which is why, and Erin and I haven't talked about this yet, but that's why we are so. So this is the book that's called Personal color. It's by a woman that's called, I'm gonna butcher her name. It's Anushka. Her name's Anushka. Reese. Sorry, Anushka. And if I butchered that I sincerely apologize. She is the author of the curated closet, and one of the things that she was so passionate about was creating a book on personal color. We are not being paid to promote this book. This is just something that Erin and I are obsessed with. She was so passionate about trying to find every single like version of like melanation, essentially for different Chromas, different hues, different values, so that she could show how important and the look of all of these different people are to each of the seasons, to each of the different types of like Hugh value cream, what the things could look like. And she has spoken and talked about and written about how like, how painstaking her process was. Of going in and like doing press checks of all of the photos, of making sure that everything was like the color that it needed to be, so that the book was this accurate representation of what she was looking for. Like this. If you are looking for a book about color analysis like this book is dead ass the love letter. Yeah, truly, yeah, to color analysis. So we're going to have this on the I think we're just going to go ahead and put it on our story bubbles, yeah. And we'll put it as like an Amazon link, so that we can just have it, and people can go and get it on Amazon, and we'll have it in our story bubbles, on Instagram, quick access, resource, yeah, first style rebellion, and it's
Erin Cox 1:00:53
a beautiful book. It's really educational on color, but it's also just a beautiful book. And if you are someone who wants to to learn more. Or, you know, maybe you feel like you're on a cusp of of different seasons, or you have confusion about that. There's a lot of clarity to be gained by that book.
Blair Petroni 1:01:11
Every time I look at this, I just like, I find something like another photo that I'm just obsessed with. Yeah, I'm just the truly the press checks that had to be done for this book, for the photos are awe inspiring. Yeah, it is a love letter to photography and color analysis and just she did amazing.
Erin Cox 1:01:28
It's beautiful. Okay, let's talk about summer.
Blair Petroni 1:01:32
Yeah, summers. Summers are light and dusty and muted and rosy at the end of the day summers, I call them like jeans. They're that like, favorite pair of jeans that you've had, that you've like, worn for 10 years, and every time you wash them, the color gets just like, a little bit more faded, just a little bit yeah, and they're just comfy, like, the colors are people. Some people call them muted. Some people call them soft. It doesn't, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't take away from how beautiful they are. Yeah, they are. I call them old money colors, because they are part of what I call the seasons that whisper Yeah, because if your undertone has a low level of Chroma, what that means is, in order for you to Bing or shine, you need colors that whisper, not colors that scream, yeah, winters and spring scream because you have high chroma, but summers and autumns whisper and summers are gonna whisper and they get rose gold. Everything about Summers is pink, like, there's like, a little bit of pink to summers in every thing that they do and that they wear. And what's super funny is, like, if you look at even the Grays for summers, there's some that are there's blues in them, but the grays that summers like best in there's like, pink to the pink to the gray. Yeah. You're like, how does that even happen? Is that
Blair Petroni 1:03:23
like a salmon Gray, yeah? Show leaves, yeah? And they look fire in it. They do. They do. Summer, such a beautiful season. Yeah? I love it. Okay? Gorge, all right. Autumn.
Blair Petroni 1:03:42
Camel. The season of Camel. So autumns, I love my autumns. Autumns, I say, are like coniferous forests. Okay, it is like the season of outdoors. So autumns are warm and dark and earthy and muted. And I tell my people that are autumns like in the best way, they are dirty, like they look most beautiful in the colors of the earth. You've got true earthy browns and you've got streams and you've got pebble and you've got camel and you got mustard yellow, and you've got eggplants and you've got, like, it is a talk about love letter, love letter to the earth. Like, yeah, I'm obsessed with autumnal colors. They're so beautiful. And jokingly, what I say is, y'all know I cuss, but I call the orange that's an autumn mother f and pumpkin. If you do not look good in Mother F and pumpkin, you are not an autumn. I am so sorry I do not make the rules, yeah, you is not, you're not an autumn. Yeah, yeah. So you have to look good in Mother F and pumpkin to be an autumn. But if you look fire in pumpkin. In you probably not.
Erin Cox 1:05:02
Yeah, if you can wear the colors on maple trees,
Blair Petroni 1:05:05
you probably I hate you. Well, I love you, but I hate you. There,
Blair Petroni 1:05:13
where, where I live in Houston, there's a place that's called the woodlands, that's just like, another 20 minutes north, and there's just, like, it's surrounded by, like, coniferous forests. Yeah? I jokingly say is, like, if I can throw you in the coniferous forest and, like, take a photo, and you erupt in light, you're an autumn,
Erin Cox 1:05:29
yeah, that's a Yeah. So beautiful gorge. I'm a northeastern girl, so I'm used to, like, New England autumns with all the color transition, yeah. So, so pretty okay, we are going to move into the 10,000 foot view of the different systems. So there's a four season, there's a 12 season, there's the 16 season, there's like 22 slash 23 season. System, yes. So that's why, if you're, if you're following color analysis consultants on any level, you you're going to start seeing some of the different systems applied, and that may leave you with some more questions. Yeah. So I liken this to a pizza or a pie or a circle, right? And if you were to cut it into four pieces, those are your four seasons. All right. Now, when they're in their pie all together, before you've served it out, it's a continuous circle, right? And so they're touching. So I think that one of the most important things to remember is that color is circular. It is in nature. So it's not linear. It's not extracting the piece of the pie and putting it in isolation.
Blair Petroni 1:06:55
And we're going to put it on the screen so people can see, and we
Erin Cox 1:06:59
Yeah, and this is this matters when you start dividing the pie further to remember that things are touching and there's some blend from one into the next. So your four seasons are your like, your true seasons, or your home seasons. I call them parents, parents seasons, yeah. So there's winter, spring, summer and autumn, right? So that's four seasons. When you have an analysis in a four season system, you may be handed a palette and told you can wear all of the colors in the palette. And while that is not wrong, there are going to be colors within that palette that are going to be more favorable to you than some of the others. So that is where people felt like there needed to be some greater nuance. And so from that was birthed the 12 season system. And so the 12 season system takes each quarter of the pie and divides it into three of its own pieces, all right, and all the child seasons. The child seasons, yeah, so within winter, you've got your bright and your true and your deep. Within autumn, you have your deep and your true and your soft or muted, right? Within summer, you have muted true and then light. And then within spring, you have light and true and bright or clear. So again, this circular transition through the seasons 12 pieces of the pie. And what's different between a four season and a 12 season is that in a 12 season, you're going to get your own palette for each of the child seasons, instead of having one big palette where some are going to work better for you than others.
Blair Petroni 1:08:48
And remember, think about it this way, guys, if you have 10 million colors in the world and you got four seasons, that means you just gave yourself two and a half million colors that are for you if you're one season, right? Okay, well, then you take 10 million colors and you divide it by 12 seasons. That's about 825,000 colors that you just gave yourself, yeah, if you're one season, which is what you are, like, yeah, if you were saying, Okay, here's 12 seasons, well, you're going to end up one through color analysis. That's the point, and
Erin Cox 1:09:22
that's why understanding Hue value in Chroma is really important. Because obviously no one is going to hand you a palette of 825,000 colors, or at least, I hope I never have to take that home.
Blair Petroni 1:09:33
Usually, what's going to happen is, when you are with someone, or you are like, typed by an analyst, if they are worth their salt or you need to ask, this for sure, to ask what comes with your analysis. Some of them will give you a ring of colors. Some of them will provide you digital swatches, like you need to know with me, I provide you your top 70. Best colors, neutrals and metals, and it's digital gotcha, yeah? Because I want you to be able to shop online with it and carry it with you
Erin Cox 1:10:09
everywhere, yeah. But when you understand your Hue value in Chroma, if something's not an exact match to your palette, then you have the tools to be able to say, is this close enough, right?
Blair Petroni 1:10:20
That is gonna take you 1,000,006 to 12 months to understand there are people, guys that do this for a living that still have no idea what you value in Chroma. Are, yes, yeah,
Blair Petroni 1:10:33
couldn't, couldn't tell you. So,
Erin Cox 1:10:36
so we have our 12 seasons, and then again, there's, there's some opportunities for an even more nuanced delineation within the 12 seasons, and that's where the 16 came from. So when you get into the 16 seasons, I want you to imagine the pie, but like, the diagonal pieces are kind of melting together. I don't know if that's the visual that works for anybody else, but it works. It works for me. It's not gonna work for anybody. Okay? Well, it's the reach across, right? So if you're in a diagonal, if you're in a circle, and you're reaching across to the person diagonally across from you, like you and I are going, yes, yes. So Blair's winter and I'm Summer, there you go, right? Or Blair's autumn and I'm spring. So that's how that one works. So with within that like, let's just take winter, for example, you're going to have your bright and
Blair Petroni 1:11:30
true Don't, don't go crazy. Okay, just, just, just, just leave it okay. So we're reaching. So here's what I would say, okay, because I could see where your brain's going. Don't do that. Yeah, if you are getting into a 16 season system, here's what happens. You have the exact same seasons as a 12 season system, and you have one more season that's been added in winter, you have cool winter in summer, you have cool summer. In autumn, you have warm autumn. In spring, you have warm spring when Erin, and that's actually pretty good analogy about when you say like we reach across and we go like this. There has been this initiation, this handshake of extra value that's been handed over. So if you are, let's say a cool winter, your colors are going to be a little more muted than a true winter. Now, in the 12 season system, you would just be called a true winter, but in 16 season they would go your true winter. Boy, the colors are a little more muted. They lean a little more summer, so you're cool winter, yes, and that would do the exact same thing for cool summer, your colors are a little more brighter. They're not true summer, so they're cool summer, warm, spring. Your colors aren't true spring. They lean a little darker, a little more muted. They're gonna be warm spring, warm autumn. Your colors lean a little bit brighter, a little more Chroma. Lean towards spring. You're going to be warm autumn. That's how all of this works.
Erin Cox 1:13:30
Then we bring in this question of neutrality, like neutral undertones, fully neutral, fully neutral, not yellow undertone, not blue undertone, fully neutral undertones.
Blair Petroni 1:13:46
And here's what that means. A lot of people ask me, Can two seasons have a baby? How's that can you be both? How can you be both and nobody? Nobody asked me, Can seasons have a baby, they'll say, can you be both? And then I'm the one that was like, Yeah, two seasons, can have a baby. That's called a flow.
Erin Cox 1:14:07
That is called a flow. So then when you get into 22 to 23 season systems, they are adding in the flow. For example, if winter and spring had a baby, it would be a true bright, a bright flow, flow, no season added because you're fully neutral, but you're just bright.
Blair Petroni 1:14:33
Your undertone goes to EDC and bumps EDM. Like every color is a highlighter. Yes, it is fun.
Erin Cox 1:14:41
Yeah, where spring and summer come together is
Blair Petroni 1:14:45
light life. It's you always look like you go into a baby shower.
Erin Cox 1:14:50
Yes, so, so you're not quite a light spring, and you're not quite a light summer, you're right smack in the middle, because you have a neutral undertone summer and autumn. Come together as a muted flow. Some, some people might call it soft, but it is a muted flow, so pretty, so gorgeous. And then where winter and autumn come together is this deep flow. Talk about gorgeous, dark, deep colors. Then we, as we talked about, if Summer and Winter had a baby, it would be cool. It would not be quite as bumping as winter, yep, or quite as muted as summer. Just cool, but just cool and similarly, or I guess conversely, really, yeah, it autumn and spring. Can do the same, and it is just a warm flow, correct? The 23 system, season system, adds in a universal neutral palette, yep. And that is exceptionally rare to be like, fully neutral, only universal, only had one person. But that is a great palette to use a reference if you're having to dress a large group of people for something with some degree of harmony. So universal palette, okay, Blair, what if all of what if I've looked at all of those, and I've had my colors done in multiple different systems, and I still don't feel like I fit anywhere?
Blair Petroni 1:16:17
Well, you're pounded, you're you're messed up. Honestly, by No, I'm joking. No, she's joking. I'm joking. No, she's joking. I'm joking. You guys
Blair Petroni 1:16:26
that what at that point if, if you are really that person, and you're like, I just want to get down to the nitty gritty. Do do personal color go to somebody that does, like true personal color palettes. There are people out there that believe in looking at you not through a system or through seasons, but will look at you through Hue value and Chroma, and will start pulling different colors from that angle and truly making you This palette that is fully customized. Yeah, to you, that is as you as you can go. That is an art form. It is and it is not always right. Yeah, either. So heads up on that, because all of that is also perspective and,
Erin Cox 1:17:24
yeah, so when you opinion, yeah, it with a personal with somebody who does personal coloring, like who will look at your personal coloring, they're going to either in person, or some of them do it virtually. They want really, really specific, yep, pictures, yeah. Of of your hair, of your eye, of your hand, your skin tone. And it's really like mission critical that you follow those instructions to a T to get you the best result possible. But they're going to look at the nuance of the colors to your hair. They're going to look at the nuances of the colors in your eyes. They're going to look at how your skin changes, not only from the like the pinkness or whatever coloring you get to your cheeks, but all the way down to what your skin is, all over the rest of your body, really. And they're going to give you some ranges of those colors, and then they're going to look at all of the other colors and kind of figure out what harmonizes with that as well. So John Kitchener is one of the most gifted and talented and renowned absolutely practice people who practice this method.
Blair Petroni 1:18:40
John's what he sends you is so cool.
Erin Cox 1:18:43
It's really neat. So he doesn't, he will not give you a season, nope, he will give you a percentage of characteristics. So he might say you are 70% striking contrast, right? Which means you have that Chroma. Doesn't necessarily mean he thinks you're cool, yep, or that you're a winter you have this Chroma, right? He might say that you have 10% lively, bright, so you have some element in you that has characteristics of a spring season. So whatever your percentage is, you get to, you get to dabble a little bit in that, and then he'll, he'll give you an actual swatch book of the colors that are kind of most representative of that.
Blair Petroni 1:19:31
So, yep, it's so beautiful. And it's like he literally creates you a just like a binder, essentially, that's for you. And then if you love that binder and you love those colors, you can actually send those colors back to him, and he'll create you, like this own little swatch book that you can carry around with you. It's amazing. Yeah, it's truly an art form.
Erin Cox 1:19:59
There's a lot of other. Wonderful information in there, but it's, it's, there's a lot of color psychology in there as well, too, about how to wear the colors and things like that. And I don't want to, I don't want to steal his thunder or give away the house or anything with that. But that's if you truly are sitting in a in a season, and it's in there's nothing that's feeling right personal. Color Palettes are a really wonderful opportunity to explore it more deeply and allow you some freedom to move within some of the systems. So I think that wraps our kind of bird's eye view of this of like color 101, and foundations of color and the overview of our systems and how you can kind of take a look at what you think might be the best fit for you, or maybe where you want to start your exploration. But don't be afraid to ask your analyst or your prospective analyst what you're going to get and how they do it, how long they've been doing it, and things like that. So do some research, do some playing and have fun with that, but most of all, wear what makes you happy
Blair Petroni 1:21:06
absolutely and you guys, please, Like, Subscribe, comment, follow whatever different type of platform that you are watching or listening to us on, do whatever you need to do to show us that love. We'll talk to you soon. Bye, guys!
