“I wear black to reduce decision-making and to make it standardised”, I heard a friend say.
And I couldn’t agree more, you don’t want to spend too much time on choosing what colour clothes to wear, there are far more important things to do. I can assure you, it’s absolutely fine not to wear bright colours, in fact, they won’t suit everyone anyway.
The trouble is, even if you pick black, beige or grey, there is room for mistakes. Do you sometimes find that your skin looks dull, even though yesterday it looked healthy and radiant?
I’m going to tell you 3 simple tricks you can do yourself in the comfort of your own home which will put you one step closer to becoming more confident when it comes to picking colours to wear.
Everyone has got an undertone – it can be cool, warm or neutral. And you're going to work out yours now!
Trick 1. The paper test:
Take a white A4 sheet of paper, come up to the mirror so you can see yourself in natural light, and put the paper next to your lips. Do your lips look purplish/pinkish? Or peach/beige/brown colour? If they are purple or pink you are a cool undertone, if they are peach, beige or brown - you are warm.
Trick 2. The wrist test:
Stand next to a window in the daylight. Look at the arteries on your wrist. Do they look greenish to you or purplish? (Don’t look at the veins as they always look more purple) If the artery looks greenish – you’ve got a warm undertone, if it looks blueish/purplish – you are a cool undertone.
Trick 3. The jewellery test:
Take one gold piece of jewellery and one silver. Come to the mirror next to natural light. First bring the silver piece of jewellery to your neck, then take it away and bring the gold up to your neck. Alternate like this a few times.
Can you tell which one makes the skin on your neck look better? If the gold makes your skin look healthy – you’ve got a warm undertone, if silver makes your skin pop – you are a cool undertone.
Have you tried all 3? What have you come up with? If you've got a warm undertone - shop warm colours; cool undertone - wear cool colours.
Perhaps your skin undertone is neutral, which means you can get away with wearing both cool and warm colours.
Top image @ Dries Van Noten