The Colourist

Lipstick is a little bit of colour chemistry! 💄

Ever noticed how a lipstick can look different once it’s been on your lips for a few minutes?

This orange went on very light and bright but after 5–10 minutes it settled into a beautiful, deeper warm tangerine.

And just like choosing your clothing colours, choosing makeup comes back to understanding your colour properties.

For my Rich palette, that means warm undertone, medium-to-deep value and medium-to-bright intensity.

The finished colour ticks those boxes beautifully. 🤎

A little reminder to give your lipstick a few minutes on your lips before deciding whether it’s the one! And don’t judge a lipstick based on the colour in the tube 💋

You’ve got your colours… now what? 🎨

This is where the fun really starts.

Your palette isn’t just a collection of colours that suit you. It’s a tool for discovering combinations you might never have thought to put together.

I pulled this little colour recipe straight from mine, then went into my wardrobe to bring it to life.

If you’ve had your colours done with me, pull out your palette, head into your wardrobe and get a little playful.

And please send me photos. You know I LOVE seeing you put your colours into action. 🤎🎨

Inverted triangles, this one’s for you. 🙋‍♀️

When a very good friend bought me this top, I thought three things:

Perfect colour ✔️
Perfect contrast ✔️
Oh my god… that’s a square neckline. 😂

As an inverted triangle, it’s not necessarily a neckline I’d naturally reach for.

But perhaps that’s exactly why I need a friend who loves pushing me ever so slightly out of my familiar fashion bubble 🤎

Because knowing your body shape isn’t about collecting a list of things you can and can’t wear.

It’s about understanding what different shapes (and colours) do on your body, and then knowing how to play with the rest of the outfit to create the balance you want.

So rather than ruling out a top I genuinely love, I’m using a few simple styling tricks to make it work for me, and I’m talking you through exactly what I’ve done in this Reel.

Because style guidelines should give you more options, not fewer.

And thank you to my friend who occasionally makes sure I practise what I preach 😂🤎

P.S. and I lied, the very first thing I thought was awww thank you for thinking of me!

The undertone testing phase of your colour analysis is everything! Help me decide for my beautiful client here…

Warm or cool?

I’ll give you a hint with this one: the intensity of one of these drapes may be a little distracting.

Remember, we’re not deciding whether the colour is perfect overall. We’re isolating undertone and watching how each drape interacts with the skin.

Look for the drape that creates greater evenness through the complexion, supports the skin’s natural colouring and allows the contours of the face to appear more clearly defined. The less harmonious undertone may exaggerate unevenness, flatten the complexion or make shadows and discolouration more noticeable.

Which undertone is creating the more balanced response?

Your colour palette is only part of the picture.

During a Personal Colour Analysis, we find the palette whose colour properties most closely align with your own. But there’s another piece I look at too: your value contrast.

Value contrast is simply the difference between your lightest and darkest features.

For me, my lighter skin against my deeper hair and eyes gives me a medium-high value contrast.

And this top is such a good example of why that matters.

Take the colour away and it becomes much easier to see. The difference between the light and dark areas within the print echoes the contrast that naturally exists between my own features.

So yes, the chocolate, caramel and ivory sit beautifully within my palette, but it’s also the contrast between those colours that makes this print work so well for me.

That’s the sweet spot.

When the colour properties AND the level of contrast both reflect you, everything starts to feel harmonious. And suddenly I can throw on a top with messy hair, a little mascara… and still feel fabulous 🤎

Harmony isn’t just in the colours. It’s in the contrast between them too.

Getting dressed with my own colour recipe in mind 🤎🤍🧡

Chocolate, caramel and ivory are all signature colours for me, but it’s not just the individual colours I’m thinking about.

My natural value contrast sits around medium to high, so when I wear something light through my portrait area, I like to bring some depth back into the outfit.

Here, the deep chocolate belt, shoes and accessories do exactly that. They anchor the lighter ivory and caramel tones and bring the overall value contrast back to a level that feels harmonious with me.

It’s one of those little details that can make an outfit suddenly feel more balanced, even when you can’t quite put your finger on why.

And while we’re talking about that belt… stay tuned for my ridiculously simple fix for the annoying flappy belt end.😂

All you need is a tiny silicone hair tie. Game changer.

You were almost evenly split on this one… 👀

When I shared her undertone testing, warm only just edged ahead in the poll.

And I can see why.

She doesn’t have the obviously golden, glowing skin we often associate with a warm undertone. Her colouring is naturally softer, and softness can very easily be mistaken for coolness.

In traditional seasonal language, softness is often strongly associated with Summer, which is why this particular colouring can so easily be assumed to be cool.

But softness and undertone are two different colour properties.

When we actually compared the warm and cool drapes side by side, the difference jumped out. Warmth was dominant.

It’s such a good reminder that you don’t need to look warm to have a warm undertone. Surface colouring can give us clues, but ultimately, I want to see what the colours actually do to you.

Ready to stop guessing? Book your Personal Colour Analysis with me via the link in bio ✨

Colourist mode today ✨

A neutral base to minimise colour interference for my colour analysis clients, with attention to contrast, proportion and my signature colours.

Then the details that make it feel polished and me: layers, belt, jewellery and lipstick.

Details matter.

60 seconds. Styled. Sorted. Out the door. ✨

Okay, disclaimer… I was already showered, hair washed and had decided pretty quickly what I wanted to wear 😂 So no, I did not miraculously get ready from scratch in 60 seconds.

But once the base of the outfit was there, pulling it together really was this simple.

A top that works with my shape and adds a little softness, my go-to everyday accessories, flat sandals and sunnies. Done.

I’m thinking of sharing more of these quick, real-life styling moments. Would you find them helpful?

Because elevated casual still needs to work for actual life. 🤎

Warm or cool… what do you see? ✨

One of the things I’m watching for during undertone testing is clarity.

With one temperature, you might notice the colour before you notice the person.

With the other, the complexion starts to look clearer.
The eyes come forward.
The features feel more defined.

Nothing about the person has changed. Only the colour sitting underneath them.

And sometimes that tiny shift is all we need to see.

I’d love to know what you’re seeing.