Choosing Neutrals for Your Colouring, Part 2: Warm Tones

[@ChristineScaman]

Hi everyone 🙂 Warm neutrals...are they more challenging to choose than cool neutrals? They are for me! My perspective in our videos is, "You and me in a store or looking at a web page." These are my solutions and I hope that the practical approaches in this video are helpful for you as well, or you'll share how you navigate these decisions!

[@poppetcrabappletoadflax414]

I struggle so much finding neutrals technically in a warm spring palette…I’ve kind of given up…most of my neutrals are compromise contenders. 😂 thanks for this practical take. Very useful.

[@schatzip]

Honestly Christine, what helped me the most were the luxury swatches I bought from you. They de-mystified everything. Also, for me personally, shopping in person is very important as often, especially with sweaters and as a bright spring, texture and yarn type does not translate well online. In my experience, fabric type is just as important as color. I found a knitted blazer/cardigan at a shop that I would never have purchased online. But in person I could see the yarn was not matte, the color the correct black and the shiny gold buttons were the icing on top. The warm taupe/oatmeal color in the packet of fabrics helped me to find the most perfect winter coat.. finally! It has been a helpful learning tool. I noticed some stores like JCrew and Ann Taylor have been using terms like "warm" and proper color names.. probably because they realized how many people were actually searching for "their colors" since color analysis became popular again.

[@ChristineScaman]

Demystified is a perfect word for it. Colour can seem so abstract and theoretical, which is a normal part of understanding systems, but we also 'get it' better than we realize from the world around us, a system come to life. The Neutrals Sets, with the fabrics, were a turning point for me to understand my neutrals (and everyone else's). Many people find the coloured fabrics 'close the circle' of understanding their Season, where everything falls into place. Fabric does have a big influence in how light behaves, although it's also a place to be open-minded in these days of unusual and surprising colour/textile combinations. Sounds as though you're finding your way to your answers! I very much hope you're right that retail is offering more and better choices, I appreciate that the search can be exhausting or take far too much time for educated consumers.

[@SilSolo]

For me as autumn it bugs me that dark brown is not as common as black. It does explain why some autumn colors are too bright for me when they’re in a glossy fabric like a silk or patent leather. It makes sense that spring and autumn have a lot of overlap

[@ChristineScaman]

I agree about dark brown, it can be so elegant and has more personality than black. We almost don't see black anymore, or maybe we never did, useful to give an impression of better quality or styling. I appreciate the other side of this for the manufacturers, they might be left with more unsold inventory with brown than black. True about the overlap in colour dimensions, and interesting how in actual people, Autumn and Spring react to colour so differently.

[@RadTradCat]

Even though I am a true winter with zero warmth, I find the exercises, your analogies, and descriptions to be very helpful in training my eye. Thank you so much!

[@ChristineScaman]

Many thanks :) I completely agree that looking at all Seasons gives us distance from our own colours and more objectivity. A large part of this game is pattern recognition. With 3 colour dimensions divided over 12 Seasons, there will be repetition and degrees of the same idea applied in many places, and in time, patterns appear. As you say, the ideas are easier to grasp when our eye sees them in many contexts and combinations.

[@cinnamonswords2427]

My eyes glanced over my subscription feed and the moment they saw a new Christine Scaman upload, I clicked immediately. I’m one of those people who is always within their head but color is one way I am able to tether myself to the present, sensory reality. So I’m always happy to see new content from you. What I noticed is that though Bright Spring is the most intense, it seems to have the least intense neutrals of the warm seasons. Interesting. How common are Warm seasons in your experience? I’ve heard people say that Cool seasons comprise the majority of human beings. I can’t wait to see what you upload next time, Christine! 😊 And by the way, the triple dose of blue you've got going with your top, the glasses frames, and your iris color is striking. You look like someone from the future.

[@ChristineScaman]

Yes, I also find that BSp seems different. Our discussion about brightness and the brain finding balance from part 1 comes up, where the brighter the colours, the less pigmented the neutrals. BSP's warmer neutrals look like Spring but the cooler side (combined with the wide value range) has a distinct influence of Winter. To your question about how common is warm colouring, the answer may depend on a few things. I'd guess warm colouring is as common as cool, although neutral warmth (as in Neutral Seasons) are by far more common than the True warm and cool. It's hard to know the real answer, since I think more cool-toned people visit colour analysts in general. Warmer colouring may have other things on their mind or their calendar, or find less value or meaning in appearance. I've also thought that trends and availability may favour warms more. For example, blonde hair dye and warm tones in makeup are popular in media and with consumers. Cool-toned people figure out at some point that those colours don't work in their favour, and less so after 35 or 40, look for solutions, and find colour analysis.

[@cinnamonswords2427]

@@ChristineScaman Interesting that some Warm season people might not seek color analysis. Would you say that maybe Warm season people aren’t as noticeably affected by cool colors the way Cool season people are affected by warm colors? Or do you think each are visually affected the same by their temperature-opposite colors?

[@ChristineScaman]

Wonderful questions, thank you :) Everyone is affected by wearing too-warm or too-cool colours for their colouring, but most don't know how to recognize it, and why would they? It's not the kind of knowledge we learn just by living. We may see more easily in others, not defined as, "That colour is too cool for you.", but rather a sensation that the person is tired, fragile, unhealthy, or similar impressions. When we start out at anything, we follow the crowd, often the first and easiest choice presented to us. In a colour analysis session, once the effects of warm and cool colour are explained, clients see it right away. It's a question of knowing what to look for, the difficulty of seeing ourselves, and possibly the challenge of changing embedded beliefs despite having new information. We're also influenced by the preferences of culture or media images, where repeated exposure has a 'normalizing' effect in our perception.

[@EmL-kg5gn]

This was so helpful!!! Spring neutrals (especially bright spring) are so hard for me to identify. I’d been settling for autumn neutrals but now I have a better idea of what to look for. I agree that it would be very hard to come up with these colours on your own! I’d never have thought of those unusual greys

[@ChristineScaman]

Thank you, I'm always happy to know the videos are helpful for you :) You may be quite OK with your Autumn neutrals, they can have a place in BSp, possibly TA most, for the yellow-green effect without too much red as DA may have. If you can drop the item into the images in the video, they may cooperate enough to work in combinations.

[@EmL-kg5gn]

@ Thank you that’s great advice! I found out the hard way that soft autumn was definitely not the best option for me

[@EmL-kg5gn]

@@ChristineScaman Thanks to you I replaced some clothes that no longer fit with new ones in a bright spring grey! At least I’m pretty sure they are. It inspired me to rewatch this 😊

[@Caroline-kf5oo]

Brilliant. I got so much out of this,I had to watch it three times! As someone who has always struggled between spring and autumn, this provided so many answers to questions I had (but didn't know how to ask). The steak analogy made perfect sense! Thank you

[@ChristineScaman]

Many thanks, I so appreciate hearing that the video provided you with answers. And that the steak analogy was useful!

[@susan5431]

Your choices are so classy. Loved the browns, especially🤩

[@ChristineScaman]

Thank you so much 😀 Brown often surprises me as well in how elegant it can look. Also a colour that lends itself less to exaggeration so style and silhouette become important.

[@CharlotteBaldur]

Thank you for yet another very informative video. I've been especially looking forward to this one for the warm seasons. And, as a BSP, I am really excited that you added those extra panels and expanded on neutrals for us! It's so difficult to find neutrals that seem just right in real life so in the future, I'll try to recall your descriptors whenever I go shopping and consider buying neutral items!

[@ChristineScaman]

I hope the video is helpful in your shopping :) About the pictures in the video for BSp, I had a thought that you could take screenshots of the still images once they're on the website and have them in your phone for comparisons when shopping. No need for exact matches, rather a sense that you could drop a new item into the group and it would cooperate. I also forgot to mention that BSp has a light silver-gold blend that looks like the silvery puffer jacket in Panel 3 about Gray.

[@monicawall778]

Yes! As a BSP, I was sticking to cream as my neutral, but that is not always the most practical color.

[@tomjones2157]

I look for spring colors to jump off the page. Most online retailers oversaturate and overbrighten (and warm up as well) shades because it sells better. They believe people usually browse with the screen turned down to maximize battery life so they adjust with the photos to compensate. What I receive in the mail is always darker, cooler and more muted than the photo, often to ridiculous levels. I've given up online shopping for bright and warm spring shades because of this. Light spring seems easier to spot for me.

[@ChristineScaman]

That's interesting, I hadn't considered how the images are adjusted beyond the effect of photographic lighting. I'm sure you're right because my eye is drawn to the brighter images in a gallery of thumbnails. What I receive is sometimes excellent and often, softer. Consistency in online images and the actual colour seems to be improving, at least for some brands, because I'm with you, it can be ridiculous. I imagine once a few brands level up, there's pressure for all of them to follow.

[@colorcreatecamera]

This video was so helpful!! I'm a True Spring and so struggle with neutrals.

[@ChristineScaman]

I'm so glad to hear it, thank you! Spring neutrals can be less straightforward to understand, and where I live, harder to find. I hope you have some new guidelines to work with and find many wonderful choices :)

[@emilywilson7835]

I'm excited for every new video!

[@ChristineScaman]

Happy to hear that, thank you!

[@LiaAndrews]

I had to watch this video twice and I might have to watch a third time. 😅 It is an excellent brain exercise to get the essence of warm neutrals. The absolutes of Winter make it so much easier to navigate. There is a deceptive ease of the warm colors that give the illusion of being interchangeable or universal. It takes that comparison to get that clear distinction between yellow warmth and golden warmth. The difference in energy also emerges: fun and optimism vs groundedness amd practicality. Thank you Christine! I always get excited when I see you have a new video.

[@ChristineScaman]

You've described it beautifully. Winter has a Yes/No position that's easier to recognize. The warm groups are less, well, black and white, and the difference seems vague. They look like one another. It took me time to isolate their differences in practical terms, the steps to actually tell them apart, since the colour properties alone didn't give me enough confidence in my choices. I'm happy that you appreciate the information in the videos, I'm learning as much as everyone else :)

[@kimberleyb4002]

I’ve really been looking forward to this. I so struggle with the neutrals, especially as an ageing spring and thank you for talking about how difficult it is to find and they need to search through autumn colours for them especially in Canada.

[@ChristineScaman]

I hope that you found some new ways of thinking and deciding about neutrals. As the video mentioned, keep lighter side, enough pigment for Sp, and not too much red for the Sp palette version of the colour in mind. When you can go into the same stores and think different thoughts than before, items will appear. Sounds as though you're already there!

[@jjjjk1241]

This video was so helpful! That makes even more sense now about how to put the color palette on top of an item to see if the item works. I love your meat analogy! I think I tend to compare most colors to chocolate. ❤ I’ve been enjoying getting my wardrobe ready for colder weather. I decluttered a bunch of stuff that I now know doesn’t work for me, and I’ve actually been enjoying shopping for a change!😊 knowing what works for you sure takes the chore out of shopping!

[@ChristineScaman]

So glad you enjoyed the video, I appreciate hearing that it was helpful for you. I love hearing that you're enjoying shopping now that it's back under your control! It can be a quest with a prize rather than, as you say, a chore, often without the prize :)

[@monicawall778]

Your “good enough “ options are so helpful! As a BSP who has to wear black as part of my work uniform, I now know that if I choose shiny black over textured black it will suit me so much better. Christine, would you consider doing an entire video on good enough choices for those of us who have to wear not-the-best colors for work or other occasions?

[@alicesmith3901]

Haven’t finished the video yet but I’m a bright spring as well and tend to look better in very pigmented black, like black velvet, as opposed to a washed out black t-shirt!

[@ChristineScaman]

For sure, faded anything is not the way to go with BSp. Actually, velvet can be gorgeous, richly coloured, and always looks luxurious.

[@ChristineScaman]

Just a slight sheen on the black so light can reflect and move across it does help. Thank you for the video suggestion :) It's a big topic, we could have a video for each Season and colour family, or over-generalize to the point that we don't move forward. Many people have similar requests and if you had specific questions that apply to your Season, like greens for True Winter, and where you're feeling most challenged, I'd be happy to work them into a video. These are the questions that help all of us!

[@monicawall778]

@@ChristineScamanHope this question isn’t too unrelated but if I have to wear a clothing color unrelated to my season for my job, for example a cool color when I’m warm, how do I do my makeup? Do I wear warm makeup to go with my complexion, cool makeup to go with my uniform or split the difference and wear a neutral makeup palette?

[@ChristineScaman]

Oh, very good question. The answer may be a matter of opinion and mine would be to wear the makeup colours that suits you. Uniforms are understood as separate from the individual, that's the point of them, I suppose, and in that way they can make sense (or are not expected to). But makeup colour that doesn't suit the person is not understood and doesn't make sense or shows the person in a more altered way than the uniform alone, because the person's colouring hasn't changed. The situation may be similar to changing one's makeup colour to go with a new hair colour, but if neither work with the person, the mismatch is compounded. Others can separate the uniform's style and colours from us, but there is no way of separating makeup colour, given its placement. This is just my opinion. One of the best answers may be to consider how you'd answer a friend who has the same clothing requirement and lives in the same culture and social environment as you do. Thank you for asking. No colour question is unrelated :)

[@Mimi-ni3il]

warm red works great for me as a light spring!! i can find that at Banana Republic and j crew in their cashmere

[@ChristineScaman]

You have a perceptive eye :) LSp has a warm red and it's so interesting. Soft-ish, since LSp is the softer Spring, and Autumn might cross your mind but the red is a touch too bright to belong with salsa reds.

[@Mimi-ni3il]

your channel is fantastic. As a light spring i was told to avoid gray. Is there really any gray shade for a light spring?? But a warm taupe seems to work with me. My blonde hair has gotten darker over the years i i prefer to tint my eyebrows so they are a bit of a darker taupe which gives me more contrast then i had when i was a teen.

[@ChristineScaman]

I'm happy to know you find information that's useful here, thank you :) I'd agree that LSp has several grays, cooler and warmer. Light taupe may be a good description, although I think of taupe as having pink tones, which LSp gray doesn't significantly, but if you've found a version that works for you, that's perfect.

[@RK-qs5dy]

I think for those bright springs who are not leaning towards warm spring using these slightly warmed grays or slightly steely grays as neutrals maybe be the answer and the piece of puzzle that was missing. From my observations (and also personal experience, I have a lot of bright colours leaning more BSp than BW) those slightly steely grays look fabulous with bright BSp colours. They (especially when fabric is slightly shiny and mimics liquid steel) bring out spring brightness without adding excessive warmth and without shifting colour combinations towards warm spring appearance like cream/camel could do. It feels almost paradoxical because steely grays look so wintery on their own (I also found "slate gray" as BW neutral in one of interpretatios) and you expect them to clash with warm colours ... but they cooperate beautifully once placed together. They bring out crispness and brightness in one another, like both icyness and sunshine are combined. Icy sunshine? I don't know how to describe. Also I like the darkness/lightness level of these combinations. When off-black + bright colours combo may look too harsh/heavy these medium darkness grays shift balance in the right direction without being wildly different from off-black. As for less steely grays - I found colours named "light grey marl" and "grey marl" in retail are usually close enough to neutral grays that work with BSp colours. Thank you for another wonderful video, Christine! It is greatly appreciated 🙏 P.s.: I will probably watch video several times. I have so many thoughts and observations to process.

[@ChristineScaman]

Icy sunshine is good! Speaking my language there :) I agree with all that you've said, about the cool neutrals and colours looking fabulous, crisp, and energized together. And how shifting back a step in darkness can be a great improvement. Looking forward to hearing more of your thought process!

[@tomjones2157]

@RK-qs5dy (light) gray marl, reflective warm silver, and dark charcoal work well for me and have enough brightness or contrast. Mid greys don't work for me as they look too soft/low contrast against any of my spring colors and my skin. Steel and slate greys are the worst of all as they are mid toned, don't contrast enough with either color or depth, and in addition have a blue undertone that looks too heavy, sludgy and dull on me.

[@Katieshirleen1649]

It is so affirming that BSp neutrals are tough, because I basically own no neutrals as they are so hard to find in the wild!! And autumn were some of my very worst colors, so I’d love any tips on wearing neutrals if they are closer to autumn. Are any of these BSP still available in retail? I didn’t see them on Pinterest

[@ChristineScaman]

In so many Seasons, once I could recognize the neutrals, they seemed to appear more often, at least in some items, like outerwear and pants for BSp. Many Bright Winter light grays could serve well, ideally from the light or warm side their neutrals, or the grays from True Spring, helped along by whether your natural colouring looks more W or Sp. Light beige, like the bag in the second BSp image, may be Autumn but the colour is light and more yellow green than orange-red, which helps it work as a backdrop for the colours that are still to be added for a Spring outfit. URStyle, where the video images are made, and Pinterest are actually unrelated. The product galleries used to select the items for the videos are separate, but you can still find shopping information and links to the retail store by following the links for the images in the Description box below the video.

[@poppetcrabappletoadflax414]

Would you say true spring is the least ‘intense’ of the 3 springs? I heard another colour analyst say this (it seems the world of colour analysis is extremely subjective, granted) but it surprised me. I would have thought light spring would have the least intensity (I assume they mean saturation of colour) as it verges on light summer, a softer season. Thanks

[@ChristineScaman]

Intense may be a word that means different things to different people, like deep. I don't have a solid definition, but like you, I think of it as brightness and I'd agree that Light Spring is the softest of the Springs. Colour analysis is like any industry, I imagine, the less system thinking applied to the inputs, the more subjective the outputs. Neither of the True warm groups, True Spring and True Autumn, are at maximum brightness, they're moderate, like the value sliders in the image in the video with the brackets. TA's range is at the lower end of the brightness range, TSp's range at the higher end. Now that I've typed that, it's interesting, and true also that brightness for the Cools behaves like their value ranges. Winter is at the extreme high and low for colours and neutrals, and Summer is in the middle ranges. Thank you for your question, you've given me something to think about!

[@poppetcrabappletoadflax414]

Thanks! I enjoy your musings ❤

[@Mimi-ni3il]

what Lululemon calls “bone” is not a great neutral white for a spring. it took me a while to figure this out

[@ChristineScaman]

I'm not familiar with the colour but perhaps it's more of an Autumn white, or Light Summer and not bright and warm enough.