The “Colours To Avoid” series continues. We have looked at the worst colours for Light Spring and Warm/True Autumn. Let’s have a look at Bright/Clear Winter today!

Bright/Clear Winter is bright in chroma, medium to medium dark in value and medium cool in hue. What are the colours that make a Bright/Clear Winter look sick, sweaty, invisible, lacking energy and incompetent? What colours give a Bright/Clear Winter an unhealthy yellow skin tone, dim her eyes, melt the contour of her lips, show the third chin and make the face look swollen and puffy? (The negative effects of disharmonious colours on the face have been summarised here.)

The worst colours for Bright/Clear Winter can be found in the colour palettes of Soft Autumn (the killer of Bright/Clear Winter beauty!), Soft Summer and Warm/True Autumn. Deep/Dark Autumn, Light Summer, Light Spring and Warm/True Spring are quite problematic as well.

Bright/Clear Winter Colour Properties aka The Colour Dimensions of Bright/Clear Winter

What colours are in disharmony with Bright/Clear Winter?

Hue: Colours on the warm end of the spectrum should be avoided at all times. Absolutely cool colours are not the worst for Bright/Clear Winter, however, they are slightly too cool for her (absolutely cool colours make her face a bit greyed, slightly older and slightly strict). Bright/Clear Winter is overall cool with a drop of warmth.

Value: The ideal value effect on Bright/Clear Winter is medium to medium-dark in value. Too light overall effect as well as too dark overall effect is less flattering. Having said that, Bright/Clear Winter colours span from white to black. Overall, Bright/Clear Winter is lighter than Deep/Dark Winter and Autumn yet much deeper than Light Spring and Summer.

Chroma: Colours that aren’t bright in chroma should be avoided. Muted, soft, dusty and greyed colours do a lot of disservice to a Bright/Clear Winter. Muted are often colours with unusual names: dusty pink or mauve (muted colours) vs. true red (bright colour).

The colour fan on the left as well as the three drapes in the background represent Bright/Clear Winter colours. The paper is pure white print paper. The colour rectangles on the right represent colours that are not in harmony with the Bright/Clear Winter colours, i.e. the rectangles have vastly different colour dimensions (hue, value and chroma) compared to the colour dimensions of Bright/Clear Winter colours.

I have prepared the pictures for this article right after I had a Bright/Clear Winter client as my memory of what her worst colours did to her face was fresh. On one of the photos there are loads of colours, particularly warm and/or muted colours: browns, beiges, khakis, dusty pastels and different shades of orange. The more streamlined photo shows a selection of 12 worst colours. Let’s look at them in greater detail.

Light Moss: muted, warm and light, i.e. the opposite of what Bright/Clear Winter represents
Lt. Periwinkle Blue: too light and too muted for Bright/Clear Winter (BW)
Muted Pink: very muted; BW is bright, i.e. on the opposite end of the chroma spectrum
Med Golden Brown: very warm colour, BW is on the cool end of the hue spectrum
Pumpkin: warm colour, ideal for Warm/True or Deep/Dark Autumn, but not BW (BW should stay away from orange in general)
Muted Violet: very muted colour, it turns BW’s face grey, washed our and insignificant
Mustard: warm colour, ideal for Warm/True Autumn
Terracotta: warm, muted and deep colour
Gold: warm, muted and deep colour
(If there is gold that BW could pull off, it is bright clear polished cool(er) gold: think of snow that sparkles in the pre-spring sunlight. There is a bit of warmth in it but overall it is cool. The “Gold” colour in the picture is rich and warm and almost warm yellow orange. It would look great on a Warm/True Autumn. The effect this colour has on a BW face is deadly: the chin swells, the second chin appears, the skin looks sickly yellowed and the eyes are lost deeply in the skull with the white around the eyes turning beige. Every BW should own a top in this colour if she needs a sick leave from the doctor:-).)
Deep Tomato Red: warm, muted and dark
Muted Apricot: too warm and muted for BW
Dark Mahogany: muted, warm and dark; looks too dark and heavy on BW, lacks brightness, drains the energy from BW's face

Can you see that some of the BEST colours for one Colour Type are the absolute WORST for another Colour Type? What looks exciting, harmonious and exquisite on a Soft or Warm/True Autumn drains the energy from a Bright/Clear Winter and vice versa.

Life is too short to wear other Colour Type’s best colours. Let’s make sure you wear YOUR best colours! Book Your Personal Colour Analysis appointment today.

“The best colour in the whole world is the one that looks good on you.”

— Coco Chanel

Note: Computer and smart-phone monitors and cameras distort colours. Every monitor shows colours differently. If you see the colours in person, they might differ from the way they appears on your computer screen. On computer screens colours tend to appear cooler. Using a blue-light screen protector or a night-shift might make the colours appear warmer.

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Bright/Clear Winter Colours To Avoid