What colors should you wear?

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Choosing what colors should you wear depends on your skin tone and hair color

If you think the color of your clothing isn’t important think again. Put on a mustard hued sweater. Does it wash you out? Make you look green? It’s not the style of the sweater that is unflattering but the hue. Put on the same sweater in royal blue. Are your azure eyes suddenly richer and more intense? Color makes a difference.

So what palette should you wear? This depends on your skin tone, hair tone, eyes and your personality.

Granted, if you are extremely conservative and lean toward being a wall-flower you probably aren’t going to don fuchsia clothing, but if you are out-going and like being noticed you are likely to choose blatant bursts of color in your wardrobe.

A good way to see what hues look best on you is to hold a variety of different hued scarves next to your face. Does the pink scarf flatter you? Does it make your eyes and skin appear brighter? Does it give you a little extra oompft? A flattering tone actually lessens the appearance of skin blemishes and reduces the obviousness of wrinkles.~

Look at the basic tone of your complexion. Some people are pink; others are very white; some have yellow or red or even blue undertones. If you have determined your skin tone is pink or blue choose cool colors (blue and green) when buying clothing and make-up. Other cool hues include burgundy, black, pure white, bluish-gray and bright pink.

If your undertones are red or yellow, warm tones (orange) may be your best bet. Warm hues are reminiscent of sun and fire. In addition to red and orange, other warm hues are yellow, brown, yellow-green and ivory.

A bad palette makes a woman look older and even sickly. It emphasizes shadows in the skin and washes out skin, making it appear dull. Choose wisely.

Women of Color

Dark-skinned women fare well in yellow-based face foundation with dollops of brown, copper or bronzer on their cheeks. Flattering lipstick shades include rich burgundy, earth tones, pinks and neutrals. The darker the woman’s skin the brighter and bolder she can go in her make-up and clothing hues.

Women of color have the advantage of being able to pull off rich palettes as well as light, pastel shades. Red and black are always flattering while lavender, pink and yellow look good, too. The lighter shades brighten up the woman’s complexion and skin tone while the darker hues emphasize her skin’s undertone.

Fair Skin and Hair

Fair skinned women can possess either warm or cool skin tones. How do you determine which you have? Hold a silver piece of jewelry next to your face. Now put a gold piece of jewelry next to your mug. Which flatters your hair, skin and eyes the most? Silver is cool and gold is warm.

A blond with cool skin looks great in black, red, royal blue, pink, turquoise, white and lavender. On the other hand, the blond with warm skin tone looks best when wearing powder blue, dusky purple, gray, black, brown, Kelly green and purple.

Fair Skin and Dark Hair

Those who resemble Snow White, with raven hair and porcelain white skin, are advised to wear royal blue, powder blue, gray, white, red and navy blue.

Black Hair, Warm Skin

Colors looking best on this woman include soft pink, emerald-green, peach, royal blue, brown, royal purple, off-white and brown.

Brown Hair and Warm Skin

Those in this category should opt for chocolate, soft pink, maroon, Kelly green, black, white and royal blue.

Redheads

Lavender looks quite lovely next to scarlet hair and a cool skin tone. Other redhead-flattering colors include turquoise, pastel pink, white and pale blue.

Redhead with Warm Skin

This woman should wear emerald green, peach, brown, pink, royal purple and royal blue.

Older Women

Women sporting gray or white hair may find they look very good in rich, bright hues whereas they didn’t look as well in those shades when younger and darker haired. Wearing black and white is a stunning contrast to white hair or opt for rich purple, lavender, teal or red. Jewel tones, including ruby, sapphire, magenta, fuchsia, royal blue, violet and purple are going to look great against white or gray hair. Avoid ivory but wear pure white.