Color Series: Part One

Live Colorfully

Colors can evoke strong emotions, convey a range of moods, mark the seasons, and express your individuality. What colors you choose to wear says a lot about who are and how you feel. I believe that jewelry should be colorful; that's the most basic concept that defines Snowflake Designs.

Choosing which colors to wear can be tricky. You may like a certain color, but it may not necessarily look good on you. One way to know if a color is right for you is to listen to feedback. If you consistently receive compliments when wearing a certain color, it is likely a color that suits you well.

There are lots of experts with opinions about this topic. While researching the subject, I came across tons of online articles, most trying to group people into those old seasonal stereotypes: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The problem is, like many people, I just don't fit neatly into any of the traditional categories. Professional color analysis is also available, but this can be expensive.

I've compiled some loose guidelines that helped me to determine which colors best suit me. Here are some of my findings:

• One thing that many experts agree on is that most people's skin tone is either warm (yellow undertones) or cool (blue undertones). If your skin's tone doesn't seem to align with your hair or eyes-- like if you have warm skin with cool eyes or cool skin with warm hair-- just remember that your skin tone is most important.
• Wearing the right color should make your skin seem more clear, more healthy. The wrong color can make you look sickly.
• When choosing whether to pair two colors together, consider using a color wheel as a guideline.
• When wearing multiple colors, let one color dominate while the other colors play supporting roles. One expert recommends that 75 to 90 percent of your outfit should be in the dominant color.
• Use neutral colors to draw the whole look together.

While you may not fit into traditional "season" based color categories, these do have some merit and can be helpful. For instance, I have warm coloring in my hair and skin, but steely blue -cool- eyes. For the most part, I stick to warm color types, but look for warm versions of blues and greens, which complement my eyes better than typical warm colors like red and yellow.

I'll share more of my findings about choosing colors in an upcoming post.