Being a woman

   I work with color analysis. My blog is a color analysis blog, and I write about chromatic categories, about seasons, I introduce women in their best colors, and talk about their coloring, but that's not all.    We each belong to a certain season, and somehow we reflect its characteristics, its dominant traits. Just like princesses, daughters of a Queen, every woman has in her chromatic DNA certain “manners” of the Queen Mother, the season we belong to. Summer refinement, Autumn’s sensuality, Spring’s sparkling impertinence or maybe the Winter’s majesty. These are ways of being and strong personality traits that belong to our most inner self and which become visible at their full potential only when we wear OUR COLORS, when we know and fully accept our palette, with everything that these colors involve at an emotional and communicative level… But tonight I won’t write about color analysis or seasons. 
 I will write about a person, a woman, but not about her season or her analysis, no. I don’t even know it. I look and re look at her photos, I smile, I admire them and I for a short moment I feel the bite of something that I immediately chase away, a bite of envy, no no, it must have been an illusion… Se is a virtual friend of mine, I knew her online, we met on a color analysis site, both of us desperately painfully trying to find our season, as if it was the quest of a part of ourselves, almost a definition of us, an arduous question who’s answer we wanted but feared at the same time: “What is my season? Who am I Then I finally got my answer. But I stubbornly longly searched for it, unceasingly and without resignation. I HAD TO KNOW IT. I didn’t accept it right away I tried hardly to be another season, the one I would have loved to be, or I least I thought I would wanted to be, I denied it for a year and a half, but in the end I finally accepted and learned to love my season. My friend hasn’t found it, not yet. 
Let me introduce you to Eleonora: 

 A stunning smile, a refined yet so intense face. A beauty without a doubt. But oh so chameleonic. She seems to look good in everything, she seem to be able to be the season she wants to when she wants to. I truly believe that, deep inside, she wouldn’t like to be forced to know her chromatic home. Eleonora is a lady who deeply loves her freedom, the possibility to be whatever she wants, to impersonate and express emotions through colors but without the constriction of an awareness…for her the awareness of a season would quickly become a suffocating prison. Because Eli encloses in her soul a multitude of emotions, so many nuances of being a woman, nuances that make her chameleonic, intriguing… she could be any season She could seem a Dark Winter: 

 The obscurity of the deep December evenings it's all there, in her eyes, which in black and with a dark red lipstick, shine with an aggressive intensity. Then, while you think she couldn’t be another season but a DW, who reflects all the dark intense femininity of this winter type, Eli, already tired of all this sobriety, dresses in a dazzling smile and bright colors and there she is, ready to bestow a hint of Spring’s luminosity to everyone:

 She passed from the royal purple and pitch black to the springish light sparkling look, with no effort…with the lightness of a ethereal morning breeze, playful and carefree. But, just like a breeze she won’t stay long in this role….Eli is just as beautiful as she is mutable, as if she were scared to commit to herself, to be forced to stay in a “cage” made of few colors, too little for her emotional richness, for her dramatic inner conflicts. That is why I am not surprised when, just a moment after I see her, smiling and looking almost vulnerable in a Summer’s purplish pink. 

 She is able to seduce Summer too. Who, for her sake, abandons any reserves and shyness, and it seems to surrender to all the naturalness of such a feminine smile. And it is instant love. Love made of cerulean blue, of the green of the summer lakes, of the cool refined pink shade of the aqua rose. But it is only an affair. I already know that this is only a game for her, the pleasure of the hunt. And thinking of this, I feel a little sorry for the imminent bitter burning pain Summer will feel…after all, it embraced her in spite of its diffidence. Summer will cry tears of teeming rain, it will thunder its desperation and disappointment… then, in the end, it will smile with sky blue serenity to HER memory… SHE who has passed by for a short moment, left the indelible trace of her passion, her smile… As for her, she will hardly recall this game of hers … she is not doing it on purpose. The game, the hunt, the emotion of a discovery, abandoned a minute after just to pass to a new search, the quest of something, that certain “something” that could make her feel the excitement or give her comfort…. Because if she doesn’t have these, she becomes restless. And she consumes all her anxiety with automatic gestures and with whirls of smoke and thoughts. 

 And maybe…for a moment she resigns to the rest, to stability…just maybe… 

 Maybe..maybe her shadows and lights are ice crystals and naked branches that sting the lead­blue of a wintery sky. Maybe, it wasn’t a chromatic category she was searching, and this thought haunts her sometimes, it compels her to take an introspective look, and puts shadows on her face. 

 But this is only for a brief instant. Because she knows she is not searching for her season, she doesn’t look for a place into a category. After all, she already knows her season, or at least she has a hint of it. The fact is she wants to be everything, she wants to be free to shine with all the facets, she wants to reflect ideas, thoughts and expressions of femininity every single day in a different way, with a different dimension. Knowing for sure her season… would be an emotional prison for her.

 And so the procession of the seasons goes on. To her, seasons are mirrors in which she reflects her emotions and through them she can shout to the whole world who she is that moment. A True Winter, smiling yet so distant and cautious, so royal in it’s brilliant pure ice white that it is only possible to admire from a distance, but she will never allow you to get near her. 

 A Dark Autumn, full of passionate personality, a volcanic character, serious and intense. 

 She will use the innocence of Light Summer’s pink with a disarming nonchalance, if she will ever feel fragile and in need for tenderness:

 She will get on the Bright Winter’s catwalk and she will borrow the vanity of Fuchsia, if one day she wants to act like a diva: 

  But, no matter what season she chooses to embrace, no matter the palette she will love, Eleonora will always shine …. for she is a WOMAN, and she loves what she is. Passionately living her emotions, loving and embracing her femininity, accepting the instability of the moods, the vulnerability, the aggressiveness, the contradictions, the paradox of so many facets and being able to express them with COLORS, without fearing them and never allowing them to influence her too much.

 She is Eleonora. Just someone figured out what the joy of being a woman is. Always be grateful for the extraordinary gift of being WOMEN. 

 Pia

Violet scent

  I am so tired of these doubts… of not being able to make up my mind. I have looked at her photos again and again in the past few hours, and no sooner do I think I have it figured out than I see something that lets me know I haven't. … I slump back in my chair, but I cannot relax -- I am too close to my verdict. I hunt it; I get very close, close enough almost to close my hand around it -- and then it slips away. Winter would make sense:

She looks GOOD in black, same thing in fuchsia. Why then, are my eyes filled with doubts, why am I still searching for that special something, that “je ne sais quoi,” why can’t I see it? Winter would be the most credible answer, but…

I can't stop at black and fuschia, no sir. When I received her photos, I promised myself that I would not allowed her looks or my first impressions to influence or affect my analysis, and I have told myself I would try every possibility.

So I take a look at her eye, so full of Autumn’s flaming colors:

And suddenly my mind runs towards landscapes painted with forest green , warmed by rust red, enlightened by warm mustard yellow, all colors that should make those eyes shine with ambery light:

No, the magic doesn’t happen. Her eyes don’t shine. Quite the opposite! This autumnal color steals the light from her eyes and profoundly despises her complexion. The idea of the Autumn season retreats with a whoosh of rust colored leaves and a mocking smile…

So no warm colors for her? I want to try one more, maybe she only needs a higher chroma, more luminosity:

No way. Spring colors do not hate her as much as autumn’s do, but they do nothing for her.
In spite of the amber and the forest green in her iris, this woman doesn’t wear warm colors, well, so no Spring or Autumn for her.
What if she tried Winter colors? There are so many women with a cold undertone but with amber eyes:

Well, I can see that her face is immediately “cleaner” than in the photos where she wears warm colors, and it seems to me that black and white are not bad for her. Not at all. And if we take into consideration the fact that she wears no make up, I think she wears black and white quite well.
But then why doesn't black ignite her eyes and skin, and make her shine with icy light? That light, the translucency that the princesses of Her Majesty always have, if dressed in black or white? It may be the lighting of the photos, after all these are homemade photos, and who knows, maybe with a little winter colored make up, she will at last have that luminosity...

Well, she is so beautiful, a work of art! But the fuchsia of the lips is taking away from her face, is separated from the rest, and the blush on the cheeks is too loud.
The right colors shouldn’t be loud, they should be just like a sweet music -- no that’s not it, rather like a caress ... I often compare them to a perfume that acts like a second skin, delights our senses, becomes part of ourselves and emphasizes our presence in space without being loud or too noticeable. The fragrance itself is not important. What others perceive is the way the fragrance blends with our chemistry and how it matches our personality, just like it happens with our colors. We can balance and be complimented by a perfume that harmonizes with our personality, to our way to present ourselves to the others and with our “chemistry,” and it works the exact same way with colors; we will beautifully balance and wear the colors that will harmonize with our natural coloring.
These colors I have just seen on the woman are too showy for her. She is beautiful -- she would be beautiful in any colors, but those colors aren’t hers.
I take into consideration, for a brief moment, the idea of the Summer:

No, it doesn’t work. Those colors lack of depth.

I try again with black, maybe in a different light?

 She looks ok in black, but it isn’t a power color for her, it doesn’t make her eyes shine, black isn’t her “perfume,” it doesn’t completely harmonize with her. … Despite the dark hair and eyes, the fair skin, it is clear that she is not a Winter. The idea fades away from my mind like ice melting in the snow. ..
Now what? Summer colors are lacking of depth on her, she has a cool temperature, black and white are not bad on her, fuchsia looks ok…then how come I am still here wondering about her season?? Why do I have the feeling that all the colors clash with her coloring, somehow they squeak on her? Just like a loud perfume, a fragrance that leaves a heavy trail, one that doesn’t suit her.I take a look outside, I admire the sky then I let my eyes wander….the blue of the sky…suddenly a thought makes me throb. It is a thought that shyly stood aside, until now. Or maybe it was just me that didn’t want to notice it. 

A very fragile thought, like the fragrance of a summery sky, it smells like…. Could it be??

There they are, HER COLORS!! Her deep velvety colors, veiled by a gray layer of haze, the Soft Summer colors. No more ok colors, no sir, but only fabulous, those colors that give her that soft aura, that smooth mellow light, an exclusive for the Soft seasons. These are colors that enfold her with subtle elegance and exalt her natural beauty, just like a cloud of perfume enfolds with delight and grace ....for Valentina this would be… violet perfume.

Pure class. Nothing loud, heavy, no intense or bright colors. If colors were perfumes that would enfold us to emphasize and emanate from us, then, for this Soft Summer they couldn’t be any heavy perfumes, no bubbling sparkling springish perfumes or spiced warm autumn-scented perfumes. Not even the opulent perfumes of Winter. No. For her there would only be the soft, elegantly rich and feminine perfume of violets. 

No flim flams, no forcing, no made-up looks. Just pure honest femininity. A velvety coloring so rich that it almost tricked me, yet so soft that it cannot bear brightness; she needs smooth, rich, veiled colors. I would have never thought about Soft Summer….still…I close this article with the words of the Valentina (fantasy name): 

finally I can explain to me why in my life I have always found a billion colors that suit me, but that never really convince me to 100 %..... . I love my SS colors that are so cool but oh so refined 

My special thanks to Valentina and the consent to use her photos

Thank you all for reading this

Pia

And the 12 seasons became 16

Where were we? Right, no more compromises. No more women on the verge, hanging between two seasons. How come? Well, after so much work and study, it became clear that the system needed to be refined. It was all about
finding a "portion of chorma" for the "difficult" seasons in Munsell's chromatic circle.
For which seasons? Which were the difficult ones? Soft Summer for starters. The most misdiagnosed season. A season with a very mediumness, a chameleontic coloring. There was the regular, classic Soft Summer, blonde or light brown haired, which in the right colors (smooth and dusty) looked stunning, who had that smoky soft look to her:

And then there were those who seemed Dark Winterish, yet they were Soft Summer, the velvety ones. Winter's colors were too much on them:

winterish colors too harsh on Katie

soft, rich colors-just perfect on her

The Soft Summers in the above pics are very velvety. What does velvety mean? It means that they have more depth in their coloring than a regular Soft Summer. So in order to make the Soft Summer's palette work for their depth range, the colors needed some more grey. So grey was added to the palette. The chroma is still low but these women are

deeper, and also more intense. And so, there it is: the first one among the new seasons. DEEP SOFT SUMMER. With a color palette of its own.

The DEEP SOFT SUMMER, though, is not the stereotype of the medium dark haired girl, with a winterish looks. No sir.

The Soft Summer Deep is the summer that can handle more color and a little more intense than the regular Soft Summer.

An example?

There:

There you go. Kristen Bell. At a first glance she is very similar to a regular Soft Summer. Soft coloring, low natural contrasts.

Still, Kristen can handle colors in her make up that can be very unflattering for Ellen Pompeo, a regular Soft Summer:

 

While Kristen doesn't look bad at all with eyeliner and the red lip, and her facial features are still very in focus, Ellen is so off with that make up. The only thing visible on her face are the two black circles, the black eyeliner. Harsh lines interrupting a soft flowing natural coloring.  That's because Ellen's contrast is very very low. She doesn't have sudden contrasts in her coloring, no sudden passages between hair, skin and eyes. Therefore the black eyeliner disrupts her natural smoothness and instead of enhancing her eyes, it disturbs, it dominates her face.
Kristen instead, is doing fine with that eyeliner, her face is still the main attraction. How come? It happens because Kristen has a more intense coloring, she has more depth even though you wouldn't notice this at a first glance.
How can it be possible then to tell apart a Soft Summer Classic from a Deep Soft Summer if both of them are blonde?
Simply. With a color analysis. Color analysis is about seeing the person in different colors and seeing how she reacts to these colors. No matter the hair color.
Another Deep Soft Summer, bellow:

There used to be the Soft Autumn women. The classic ones:

Low natural contrast, misty soft neutral warm coloring and those amazing soft warm hazy eyes. Women who would be highly penalized by harsh colors, black lines, heavy smoky make up or loud lips:

Or...maybe not....

WOW! How come Hayden Panettiere is looking so amazing with that make up, in spite of her being a Soft Autumn like Mischa or Mary Kate? The answer is simple: she is more intense and she is obviously deeper than the other Soft
Autumns, even if she may seem to have identical coloring to Mischa or Mary Kate. She only seems to be identical to them, as far as coloring is concerned.

REGULAR SOFT AUTUMN

SOFT AUTUMN DEEP

Well, I 'd say the difference is quite obvious. And so, the second new season came to life: DEEP SOFT AUTUMN.
Oh, I almost forgot. There was another type of Soft Autumn. Those who seemed so deep and intense that they were confused with a Deep Autumn. Except that ..those colors were too harsh and heavy on them:

In the DA colors, Hilary looks older and harsh.

In HER colors, she looks amazing- SOFT AUTUMN DEEP 

DA MAKE UP AND COLORS - DEFINITELY TOO MUCH

PURE PERFECTION - DEEP SOFT AUTUMN

And so, these women too found their HOME SEASON in the newborn DEEP SOFT AUTUMN. Because, no matter if blonde or brunettes, we must remember that the chroma and the intensity of a person can be determined only after an
accurate color analysis, after we observe the skin reacting to color.

 Then, there were the Light Springs, who were often mistaken for Soft Autumns, or maybe they were Soft Autumns mistaken for Light Springs?? Who knows? A tragedy. Big confusion. Light Spring's colors were almost good on them. If only they hadn't been so...bright. But then again Soft Autumn's colors were too heavy, TOO DUSTY.

Now these women were really floating among seasons. They had to borrow the light value colors from the Light Spring but they had to combine them with the low chroma from the Soft Autumn.

Solution? Take the light ethereal VALUE from Light Spring and mix it with a touch of Soft Autumn's dustiness. A new season sees the light. The women floating in limbo between Light Spring and Soft Autumn now have THEIR OWN

season: SOFT LIGHT SPRING.

An example? Rebecca Romjin:

Light value, neutral/warm coloring and from the pic above she seems to be soft so the verdict would be Soft Autumn.

That dusty blue dress isn't doing her any good; on the contrary, it is making her face dusty too. If she were a Soft Autumn, that dusty blue should emphasize her features and give that soft hazy light to her eyes, just like it does to Giselle, bellow:

So, after seeing what that dusty blue does to her, the logical conclusion would be Light Spring. After all Light + Neutral/Warm + High Chroma = Light Spring, isn't it?

Not bad, I must say. Better than Soft Autumn, but she isn't amazing. The coat is perfect, and is a Light Spring color.
The lip is a little bit off. A Light Spring, with a high chroma, would do much better with that clear light red lipstick. Like this:

Comparing:

 

Comparing:

 

It is obvious that Taylor is way more harmonious in those colors. The same light red lipstick is a bit too bright on Rebecca, it almost looks like lipstick is applied on a white and black photo. 
So, if Soft Autumn palette is too dusty on her and Light Spring colors are a tad too bright, Rebecca needs a mix: the light value of the Light spring and just a drop of the low chroma of Soft Autumn. But only a drop, just enough to make Light Spring's colors less bright, less sparkling. A new palette came to the light: Soft Light Spring.

Perfection.
Lastly, there were the women who thought that they already had their season, they were convinced to be Deep Soft Summers (ex Velvety Soft Summers)

If only those colors, weren't so veiled, so soft...too soft for them.

 

See? While Katie Holmes has a beautifull glow to her in that rich, full soft color, Ginnifer... well she just doesn't have the WOW FACTOR, she is kind of washed out.
The logical conclusion was that they might be Dark Winters, they must be Dark Winters, if the Deep Soft colors were not enough for them...it was clear they were DW:

Really? No. This type of women weren't Dark Winters, the colors were too harsh on them, black didn't penalize them, not too much anyway, but it didn't love them either, not the way black loves a REAL DARK WINTER.

And so these women realized that they had no real season... they weren't real Deep Soft Summers nor Dark Winters.
Solution? Take a large dose of Dark Winter's intensity and another one of its cold and heavy depth, then combine it with just a light touch of Soft Summer's grey, and there you go, a new color palette was ready: SOFT DEEP WINTER. 

So this is how the 12 seasons became 16. Four new seasons were born. But not for a whim or just for the love of change. Nope. They came to life as an answer to a real need. They were created in order to improve the circle of the
seasons, in order to give a color fan and a place in the chromatic circle to the persons with a "complex" coloring, those who weren't able to find their place in the 12 system.
Actually, the seasons are 4, just like the meteorological seasons. Only that instead of having 3 sub types, now every season has four sub types. A new sub type has been added to each one of the 4 main seasons. The color fans that were lacking are now available, the system is now complete. PERFECT I'd dare to say.
If you want to comment, please feel free to do so, and I hope you enjoyed the foretaste of the NEW 16 SEASONS SYSTEM.
Thank you!
Pia
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