Below is a colour wheel with the numbers of colours you can wear at one time according to your level of colour contrast.Īs I have worked through lots of reading matter on colour contrast I have found that consistently the warmer the season the more colours can be worn.

To create high colour contrast we could use two colours from opposite sides of the colour palette (complimentary pairs) or several colours from around the colour wheel. To get to a medium level of contrast we could use two colours together and create more contrast between them - for example using hues that sit near each other on the colour wheel(analogous) such as green and blue. The next example would be to add a colour to the neutrals as an accent. The lowest level of contrast would be no colours and just neutrals from the palette mixed all from one neutral in a monochrome - so a dark grey and light grey for example. I am giving a guide on how many colours and neutrals can be combined for each season and how contrasting these colours can be. I’m also looking here at how the colours we select should be separated - should we have sharp distinct barriers between the colours or soft blending?Ĭolour contrast has very little written about it and is the inspiration for me researching for this blog. We simply compare our features in a monochromatic photo to the grid to work out the extremes, and look at how blended our features are to work out if we need to avoid wearing our extreme values together (using our mid values), or whether we should have the biggest contrast between our light features and darkest mirrored in our clothing. Here is a reminder of what the Value Scale looks like - from white at a value of ten to black at a value of one. I thought it would be interesting to list out all of the seasons and where a typical person within that season would be on the two scales. It’s a really nice introduction into putting your colours together in a way that matches your season - and therefore harmonises with your natural features. In previous posts I analysed my own value contrast and colour contrast and invited you to analyse your own.

True autumn makeup list