My unexpected trip eastwards had ended
up being much less sombre than I had anticipated. Apart from the
semi-planned part of the weekend (involving venturing as far east as
Southend) I had time in London “at leisure”, as they might
describe it in a holiday tour brochure. My friend Alex had kindly put
me up on her unexpectedly comfortable sofa at unreasonably short
notice and I spent a lovely Friday night catching up with her (and
drinking the best de-caf tea in the known universe). There were a few
options for Sunday but number one on my list of things to do would be
to see friends. So I sent my friend Char a short notice message and
incredibly she was free. We made no plans apart from that until
Saturday, and then came to the conclusion that, based on the time I
was likely to leave Alex's (Alex enjoys a lie in) and the time I had
to catch a coach, we would be wise meeting for lunch in a south
London location.
That was until this morning when Char
texted me to ask if I'd like her to “do my colours”. For about
the last 18 months Char has been running an enterprise doing colour
(and more recently style) analysis, mostly around south west London.
I would generally place myself in the very unstylish and unbothered
category (apart from on very special occasions) so this is something
that I would never have considered of my own volition. But, I'm
generally open to new ideas and this was not only a new idea but
seemed like a good idea. Char is after all an award winning colour
consultant so I would be in good hands. She's undergone extensive
training so hopefully some of her memorable teenage “fashion”
statements would not be an indication of what was in store for me.
(In fairness I would now class her as the best dressed of all my
friends.)
I don't know what being prepared for a
colour consultation would involve but I didn't feel it. I was feeling
pretty gross from travelling across London in high humidity
conditions and had failed even to brush my hair this morning (well
all weekend as I had forgotten a brushing implement). But Char, as
always, made me feel at ease. This was achieved in no small part by
the offering of a beautiful platter of sandwiches – food will
usually make me more relaxed. I learnt something that I didn't know
about Char before (despite being friends for nearly 20 years) – she
doesn't really like crusts. (But she has curly hair so that disproves
that theory.)
Char started by explaining to me a bit
of the history and theory behind the colour analysis. It's based on
Munsell's theory of colour, which will probably be familiar to anyone
has started art. This was developed in the 1900s and states that
there are three elements to a colour: clarity, depth and tone
The first step in the process is to
determine your dominant colour type: soft, clear, deep, light, warm
or cool. Char showed me pictures of celebrities typical of these and
I correctly guessed that I was a “deep”, although I was also sort
of thinking clear, until I saw Colin Firth and decided that I quite
resembled him – he's also a deep. Char then worked out the rest of
my theme by some fancy work with squares of fabric. It turns out that
I'm deep, warm and clear.
Then we moved on to make-up. Most of
the time I don't wear make-up (unless it's a special occasion) and
when I do I am not particularly confident with it. I tend to stick to
what I know and play it very safe with mostly brown colours on my
eyes (with the notable exception of my Strictly Come Dancing make-up
for relevant occasions) and nothing more than a subtle lip gloss. So
I was both nervous and excited about what Char would do. I was keen
to find out something new to do with my eyes. I didn't have anything
very glamorous planned for the rest of the day (a 5.5 hour coach trip
would be anything but) so I wanted something that I could carry off
without feeling too conspicuous. Char did an amazing job. Possibly
the best make-over I've ever had (admittedly I've not had many). She
created a gorgeous look in just the right shade of green with my
eyes. Apparently I've got very flickery eye lids which impedes the
application of eye-liner, but she did an excellent job and didn't
poke me in the eye at all (unlike if I put my own eye-liner on). But
the wow factor really came from the lipstick. As I said, I'm usually
a lip-gloss only person – I don't even own a lipstick. Char was
more than happy for me to go for this option today but if ever there
was a time to try lipstick out now was that time. She got out “Sheer
Nutmeg” - in the stick it looked horrific. On my lips it looked
stunning.
Char then spent some time showing me
all my best colours, starting with my neutrals. Apparently I'm one of
the few lucky ones who can get away with black – which is useful. I
can't imagine trying to shop without being able to put black in my
wardrobe. But there were some other rather lovely neutrals in there
like chocolate (mmm) and charcoal which I'm going to keep more of an
eye out for. Char also had some really useful tips about whites –
I'm better off in ivory and soft white. Which might explain why I
generally looked so dreadful in my school uniform.
As we went through my colours (with the
assistance of a huge array of cotton swatches) I was pleased it
included quite a few that I favour at the moment, like true blue
which I liked so much even before I'd been analysed that I bought a
matching hat, dress and bikini. My colours also included lots of reds
which I was very happy about as I really enjoy wearing red. But even
more exciting was finding out about some colours that I could try
that maybe I've shied away from before like watermelon (the inside
colour) and emerald green; and some great combinations like dark navy
and clear salmon, and lemon and charcoal. Best of all was finding out
my “wow” colours including mustard (yes really, so now I can wear
it as well as cook with it), true blue (so I got something right),
scarlet (hurrah) and the purple + pumpkin combination (it's going to
take some guts to go out with that on).
We finished off with some scarf action.
Char showed me how to tie the “twisted necklace” with a red scarf
and then gave me a tutorial on the “pretzel” with a purple scarf.
I felt amazing and really enjoyed my “after” photo shoot – it
was an absolute transformation, but I was still me.
The make-up lasted all the way back to
the South West. Matt, my husband, seemed to quite like it but very
tactfully he said that I was hard to improve!
I can't wait now to have a root through
my wardrobe and get rid of all those things that I haven't worn for
ages. I knew there must have been a reason that I didn't wear them
and maybe it's because subconsciously I knew that they are the wrong
colour for me. The charity shops are in for a treat (as long as it's
not deep people hoping to pick things up). But getting rid of clothes
means making space for new ones and for the first time in ages I'm
actually looking forward to going shopping (usually an activity that
comes from necessity rather than pleasure for me), armed with my hand
bag colour wallet an adventure in colour awaits me. Maybe you'll even
spot me in purple and pumpkin before too long. With some sheer nutmeg
lipstick.
http://www.chicbycharlotte.com/