Do I Have to Fit Into One Colour Season? Why I Find Your Perfect Colours First

If you've been researching colour analysis in Perth, chances are you've come across the four traditional colour seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

You may even have done an online quiz asking "What colour season am I?" and found yourself wondering whether you really fit the result.

Perhaps you're supposed to be an Autumn, but there are some cooler colours that look beautiful on you. Maybe you've been told you're a Summer, yet several colours from another palette seem to make your eyes come alive.

This is exactly why, at Colours By Sue, I don't believe colour analysis should simply be about putting you into a seasonal box.

I want to find your perfect colours first.

Your season is useful information, and I will tell you which season — and where appropriate, which sub-season — most closely represents your colouring. But your individual results are much more important to me than making you fit perfectly into a predefined palette.

What is seasonal colour analysis?

Traditional seasonal colour analysis groups colouring into four main families: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. These can then be divided into sub-seasons to provide more specific palettes.

Very broadly, the seasons consider characteristics such as whether your colouring appears warmer or cooler, lighter or deeper, brighter or softer.

It's a helpful system and gives us a language for understanding colour.

But people aren't colour charts.

Two women who both sit within the same season can still look their absolute best in different colours.

That's why during my Perth colour analysis sessions, I don't want to decide your season first and then simply tell you which colours you're supposed to wear.

I prefer to see what the colours actually do on you.

Your perfect colours are personal to you

This is one of the things I love most about Personal Colour Analysis.

Sometimes the results surprise us.

You might arrive convinced that you can't wear green, only to discover a particular sage, teal or bottle green looks fabulous.

You may have worn black for years because you thought it suited everyone, then discover another neutral makes your complexion look fresher.

Or perhaps you've always avoided pink, but when we find the right pink, everything changes.

It's not simply about the name of the colour.

There can be warm and cool versions, bright and muted versions, light and deep versions of what we casually call the same colour.

That's why saying "blue suits me" or "I can't wear red" doesn't tell the whole story.

The real question is:

Which blue? Which red? Which green? Which neutral?

That's what I want to discover.

How I do Personal Colour Analysis at Colours By Sue

When you come to my Currambine studio for a Personal Colour Analysis in Perth, I use more than 80 coloured drapes to compare different colours against your natural colouring.

Rather than relying on a computer-generated palette or simply looking at your hair and eye colour, I want to physically see what happens as different colours are placed close to your face.

We look at the overall effect.

Does the colour brighten you?

Does your complexion appear clearer and fresher?

Do your eyes become more noticeable?

Does the colour work harmoniously with you, or does the colour seem to wear you?

As we move through the drapes, your individual palette begins to reveal itself.

And this is where colour analysis becomes really interesting.

You may not fit neatly into one box

Some people fit a seasonal palette beautifully.

Others sit much closer to the border between seasons or share characteristics with another palette.

To me, that isn't a problem.

In fact, it's one of the reasons I believe an individual colour consultation is so valuable.

If ten colours look absolutely beautiful on you, I'm not going to dismiss one simply because a chart says it traditionally belongs somewhere else.

If the colour works beautifully on you, I want you to know about it.

Your seasonal result helps us understand the overall direction of your colouring, but I believe your best individual colours should always take priority.

After all, you're going to be wearing the clothes — not the colour chart.

Warm, cool or somewhere in between?

Another misconception is that everybody is completely warm or completely cool.

Some people have a very obvious direction. Others are much more neutral and can successfully wear colours from both sides, particularly when the depth, softness or brightness of the colour is right for them.

This is another reason I prefer testing plenty of actual colours rather than making assumptions.

During your colour consultation in Perth, I'm looking at the whole picture — your skin, eyes, hair, contrast and, most importantly, how your complexion responds to each drape.

Sometimes the difference between two similar colours is remarkable.

Your best colours should make shopping easier

Knowing your season can be interesting.

Knowing your actual perfect colours is practical.

When you're standing in a clothing store, you don't want to be wondering, "Was that technically a Soft Summer blue or a True Summer blue?"

You want to be able to recognise:

Yes — that's one of my colours.

That's why my clients leave with selected personal colour samples they can take shopping.

They become a practical reference when choosing tops, dresses, jackets, scarves and other pieces that sit close to the face.

Instead of buying something because the colour looks beautiful on the hanger, you can start asking:

Does this colour look beautiful on me?

That small change can make shopping so much easier. If this sounds familiar, you might also enjoy my blog on why you keep buying clothes you never wear.

Colour analysis isn't about restricting you

I never want a client to leave my studio feeling that she has been given a long list of rules.

Colour should be enjoyable.

Personal Colour Analysis isn't about telling you that you're never allowed to wear a particular colour again. It's about showing you the colours that give you the greatest advantage.

And if you love a colour that isn't wonderful close to your face, you can still use it.

Wear it in trousers, a skirt, shoes, a handbag or another accessory away from your face, and combine it with one of your more flattering colours above the waist.

Once you understand your colours, you have choices rather than rules.

What do you receive from a Colours By Sue colour analysis?

My aim is for you to leave knowing far more than simply "I'm an Autumn" or "I'm a Summer."

You'll discover the individual colours that suit you beautifully, colours that aren't doing you any favours, colour combinations you can wear together, your closest seasonal direction and makeup colours that complement your natural colouring.

You'll also receive your personalised colour guide and selected colour samples to use when you're shopping.

It's information you can actually use.

Looking for a colour consultant in Perth?

If you've been Googling "Perth colour analysis," "colour analysis Perth," "personal colour analysis Perth," "colour consultant Perth," "personal colour consultant Perth," "what colours suit me?" or "what colour season am I?", you may already have realised there are different approaches to colour analysis.

My approach at Colours By Sue is very personal.

I don't want to start with a label and make you fit it.

I start with you.

We find the colours that make you look your best, identify the seasonal family that most closely reflects those results, and give you practical colour guidance you can use in your wardrobe, makeup and shopping.

Because ultimately, knowing that you're a Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter can be helpful.

But knowing your own perfect colours is even better.

Colours By Sue offers Personal Colour Analysis in Perth from my Currambine studio, with mobile colour analysis also available across the Perth metro area.

If you're ready to stop guessing and discover the colours that truly suit you, I'd love to help you find them — you can book your colour analysis session here.