Your Color Style
Your Color Style
6 Levels of Intensity and Contrast
We talk about contrast and intensity. This is really an extension on the topic of bright or soft chroma. If you’re confused on whether you’re soft or bright… or if you feel like you’re right in the middle… learning your intensity may be a huge aha moment for you.
What I’ve discovered as I’ve developed the Your Color Style system is that there’s a little trick to wearing your color palette. I am Bright & Warm. I wear colors from the same color palette as another person that is Bright & Warm. BUT we wear our colors very differently. Why? Because, even though I wear the bright color palette best, some of the super bright colors are too intense for me.
This is where many people get hung up. They follow my course, determine they are bright but the colors feel too bright, even though they know they are definitely not “soft”.
The course mentioned in this episode can be found at YourColorStyle.com/course
The Bright & Soft color guides mentioned in this episode can be found at YourColorStyle.com/bright-soft
Please visit Your Color Style to discover more info and products on learning your best colors. And please email support@yourcolorstyle.comwith any comments or questions you may have.
Welcome to the your color style podcast where we believe the more you know about color, the more you'll know what colors flatter you best. I'm your host Jen[inaudible]. Last week we talked about the upcoming trending colors for the spring and summer season, so if you missed it, you might want to go back and listen to it. It's a lot of fun. It can definitely help you understand what colors you're going to see in the stores this season and how to shop for them for you. This week we're going to continue our series on the your color style methodology. The first two episodes we're all about bright versus soft. Knowing if you're soft or bright can really help you understand the types of colors that are in harmony with you. So if you haven't listened to those two episodes yet, you may want to go back and listen to them first before listening to this one. Okay, so today we're going to talk about contrast and intensity. This is
Speaker 2:really an extension on the topic of bright or soft chroma. So if you're confused on whether you're soft or bright or if you feel like you're right in the middle, learning your intensity may be a huge aha moment for you. I say it all the time. The level of chroma of a color is the most important characteristic when considering if a color is going to flatter you. Too bright of a color on someone that has a lot of soft tones will overpower them and too soft or muted of a color on someone that has a lot of brightness, will likely drain them, won't do much for them, but there's a lot of in between here and that's where understanding, intensity and contrast can really help. What I've discovered as I've developed the your color style system is that there's a little trick to wearing your color palette. I am bright and warm. I wear colors from the same color palette as another person that is bright and warm, but we wear our colors very differently. Why is that? Well, it's because even though I wear the bright color palette best, some of the super bright colors are too intense for me and they may be perfect for someone else. And this is where many people get hung up. They, you know, they follow my course, I take my quiz, they determine that they are bright, but the colors feel too bright even though they know they're definitely not soft intensity in your color style beans, the level of pigment of feature has, and when I say feature, I mean your eyes, your hair, your skin has in combination with its depth and brightness. It also has a lot to do with your level of contrast. You should know though, the intensity is not define your undertones. It's simply helps you understand the types of colors you'll wear best and how to wear them. But it won't necessarily tell you if you have warm or cool undertones. We'll cover that undertones and future episodes. Okay, and in this series, but for now we're going to talk about intensity in your color style. There are six levels of intensity. I'm going to go through each one and describe them. And I think that this rule really help you to figure out what types of colors will flatter you best. So if you're not too sure yet, if your brighter soft, you feel like you're in between, this is going to be a huge help. So there are six, we're going to start the top with level six. And so if you fall into the levels four, five or six, you are likely bright, meaning that you wear colors from the bright color wheel best. So let's start with level six. This is someone who was bright with extremes. Your eyes have a high intensity, they may be a sparkly, bright blue, or very deep, almost black. Okay? Like one of the one or the other. Very, very extreme. Your hair is likely deep and shiny. You may fall into this high level intensity with bright white or silver hair, but not gray. Okay? Bray, bright white. But your eyes or your skin must be deep because of those extremes. So let me say that again. You can fall into this category of level six if you have bright white hair. But if so, do you need the opposite somewhere? So either your eyes are super, super dark, almost black, or you have very, very deep skin creating that high contrast again. Okay? Um, if you have silver or white hair with bright light eyes, then you're not level six because you're now lower and contrast and you're likely more in level four and we'll get there. Okay? So we're talking about those high contrast individuals as a bride level six, you have a high contrast between your skin, eyes and hair. You may have very fair skin with very deep hair, bright light, eyes with deep hair or very deep skin with bright whites of the eyes. Okay? So if that feels like you, if you flick your level six, then you are a person of extremes. You're going to look best in a bright color with a high contrast pattern or color pairing. So white and black, for example, high contrast. Your best neutrals, geometric shapes and high contrast patterns will look absolutely amazing on you if you want to look and feel your best, where those bright and bold colors. Okay, bright and bold lipstick, high contrast. Close against your skin. So what I mean by that is if, if, if you have very dark skin, you'll, you'll look great in a bright white or icy pastel. Uh, if you have very fair skin, dark colors against your skin are going to look so you want it cause you want that high contrast and it's absolutely key to keep your colors in harmony with your natural coloring and tone. Okay, so that's level six. Level five. This is someone who is bright with some depth, so your eyes have a high intensity, they may be as sparkly, bright or a very deep, dark Brown, almost black. Your hair has brightness and it may be deepen, shiny. It may also be a bright red or deep Auburn or a medium Brown. The biggest difference here, and if it sounds similar to level six is because it is, but the biggest difference here is that level five has more of a medium contrast between your skin, eyes and hair, and you don't have those extremes like you do in level six. Okay? Level six, your hair is very likely going to be almost black. It really, really, really dark where someone who's five, your your hair could be a deep Auburn, a cop, bright, coppery, red, a lot of pigment in your hair, medium, Brown, but not necessarily super, super black. Okay? So if this feels like you are, then you are person that has obvious brightness, but the extremes may be too harsh on you. You can wear brights just like level six, but you'll wear more than medium darks instead of like a black, okay? Like a medium. Charcoal gray, for example, will look better on you than a then extreme black. All right? Bright lipstick for special occasions, medium contrast clothes against your skin. All will look great on you. So that's level five and level four. I'm an FYI, I'm a level four. So have you seen photos of me that will help you? Or someone who's bright and light? Your eyes may be bright and sparkly or light and bright. Your hair has brightness. Um, it will also be light. You're going to have a lower contrast between your hair, skin, and eyes because you have light, hair, light eyes and light skin. But you have an obvious brightness about you, okay? Um, your eyes could be a blue green, that could be a bright blue. They have some kind of brightness to it and your hair does as well. You could even pick a strawberry blonde to fit into this category. Uh, you have some color in your hair. All right? So that feels like you then, um, then you're probably light. And that means that you can wear the brights, but you'll look better in the lighter colors. So you can wear a bright color for sure, but you might want to save it more for special occasions and may feel a little bit too bright a lot of the times and the lighter colors are going to be far more flattery on you. You want to stick to low to medium contrast clothes, bright lipstick, really more for a special occasion every day you might want to go lighter, okay? And even though you are light, you, you might want to avoid super light pastels. I know that seems counterintuitive sometimes when you have such low contrast, you need a little bit of contrast in your clothing and colors. And the super light pastels might kind of just wash you out a little bit. So that is a level four
Speaker 3:[inaudible].
Speaker 1:All right, so you're going to want to see some photo examples of each level of intensity to help you understand where you might fit. So check out my set of two eBooks. They are the bright color guide and the soft color guide. They're sold together as a set and they break down each level of intensity with lots of photo examples and guidelines on colors that will look best. Plus I show you the colors that flatter you best, the for that level of intensity and recommended color combinations. So it's really, really helpful. I think that'll really um, explain a lot more than just listening. So check those out by visiting your color style.com/bright-soft right soft with a dash in the middle. Okay, so that's your color style.com/bright-stopped and you can get that set up to color guides and it will really help you compliment this podcast.
Speaker 3:[inaudible]
Speaker 2:all right, so level three, you are soft with some depth. Your hair is typically dark. Your eyes may be medium to dark or dark Brown, a soft Hazel, soft Hazel. A is could be a mix of Browns, golds and blues, or maybe even graze greens and blues. So you can be cool or warm Hazel, but definitely it's like a soft Hazel. Your hair is likely dark. You may be a soft level three with blonde hair, but your eyes must be darker. You need to have some depth about you, okay? You may also fall into this higher level of tensity with salt and pepper hair, but your eyes need to be a little bit darker as well. All right? Because everyone, because this is a a level where you're soft, but you definitely have some, some, some depth to you, some darkness to you because if you have salt and pepper hair or blond hair with lighter eyes, the near likely a level two which is less contrast about you, okay? As a soft level three, you have a medium contrast between your skin, eyes and hair. So if this feels like you, then you have some depth to you, you're going to look best. And the brightest colors of the soft colors. Okay? So there's the bright color wheel, and then there's the soft color wheel. You're going to choose colors from the soft color wheel. Those are colors that are more soft and muted, slightly grade, and you will look best and the brightest of that color palette. So if you're looking at, uh, one of my color fans, for example, see I'm that color fan is the brightest of that collection. And those are the colors are gonna look the best on you. You're gonna want to wear medium contrast patterns or color pairings, extreme lights and darks, including white and black. Old probably not suit you because you are a little soft. You need a little bit softer tone. So charcoal, grays and navies are going to be your best neutrals and soft shapes and medium contrasts. Okay? Are gonna look the best. Soft, natural lipstick, medium contrast clothes against your skin. So for example, lighter colors against darker or tan skin and darker colors against lighter skin. Alright, so keeping that medium contrast is key here for you to stay in harmony with your natural coloring and tone. So that's level three. Level two, uh, the best way I can describe it as soft and neutral. Your eyes are soft. They may be a soft light Hazel or a soft blue gray. You may feel that your eyes are a little bit of a bright blue, but when you compare that to a bright level five, they're not that bright and the colors that have bright level five for bright level four can wear are going to feel way too bright on you. So you, you look much better in those soft, more muted colors. Your hair is likely soft and ashy. It may be an ashy Brown or dirty blonde or a mix of Browns and grays, something like that. Something that's going to soften you. The greatest difference between a level two and a level three is the depth. Level three has darker hair, whereas level two is a little bit more flat and contrast. Okay, lower and contrast. So this feels like you. Then you have a mix of warm and cool colors. You're going to look best in the medium light colors at that soft color palette with a low to medium contrast pattern or color pairing, extreme lights and extreme darks like white and black are definitely not going to suit you. You want to kind of stay in that middle range of uh, graze. Nade gray and Navy are are great neutrals for you and you want simple patterns and solids that's really going to compliment you best. Okay? Soft natural lipstick, low contrast clothes against your skin. And that's level two. And then the last one is level one. This is someone who is extremely light, a soft and light or soft and gray. Your eyes are light, your hair is soft and light, and you have a low contrast between your eyes, skin, and hair. You are likely dominantly gray. People who fall into this category typically have gone almost a hundred percent gray and they're very, very fair and light. If you have white hair and blue eyes and light skin, you've likely fall into this category. Okay? And so you're probably light in gray to fit into this category. So, believe it or not, even though level three, level two were for softer individuals, a soft colors, you actually need the brighter colors because you're already light and gray. Those soft colors are going to gray you further. You don't have any, um, pigment really in you and you need something to help lift you up and light you up. So we're actually going to break the rule here and we're going to brighten you up. And we're the bright colors because if you wear the softer, greater color grade colors, they're gonna gray you further and actually, uh, give you an undesired aging effect, which obviously we don't want. So we want those brighter colors, but you're going to keep them light. Okay? So bright and light colors are going to be the best for you. Um, you can try the level, see bright colors, they might feel too strong for you. And if that's the case, just going to lighten that up a little bit. And so that is the level one intensity. So we've gone through six, five, four and three, two, one. And uh, that I hope that that actually kind of helps you think about your natural coloring tone and a different way so you can figure out what colors are really going to look best on you. If you really want to learn what colors look best and to create your signature color palette, buy the course, discover your color style, visit your color style.com/course and you'll get immediate access to this online course is going to really help you identify those GoTo colors for you, the colors that really light you up, that make you look and feel amazing. It's, it's like a professional education without the hefty price. So if you really want to learn what colors look best on you and to create your signature color palette, go to your collar[inaudible] dot com slash course all right, so next week on the your color style podcast, we're going to continue the series on the your color style methodology. Next week we're going to talk about undertones. This is where everybody gets all kinds of confused between more than cool and neutral undertones. And we're going to dive in starting in the next episode. If you have a question for me that you'd like me to answer on a future episode, please post a comment. Go to the blog, your color style.com/podcast on any of those episodes, post a comment, and then I can answer that in a future episode. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast by the bright and soft color guides at your color style.com/bright-soft. Thank you so much for listening to the your color style podcast, where we believe the more you know about color, the more you'll know what colors flattering
Speaker 3:[inaudible].