24 November, 2010

Soft

The two soft tonal groups, soft and cool and soft and warm, are the most misdiagnosed of all the seasons/tonal groups. Misdiagnosed as people believing they are a light spring rather than a soft and warm, for example, or misdiagnosed as people believing they are a soft, as they feel like their coloring is neutral, and they don't know where else to put themselves.

The dominant characteristic of the soft groups, are the fact that they appear, well, soft. Very low in contrast, with eyes, skin and hair often blending together, and their skin seems almost neutral, both in hue and saturation. You'll find soft groups among all races. However, they tend to be light-medium/medium/medium-dark in their skin color. They are rarely, if ever, really dark, nor are they pale and delicate like the lights. Their hair is often described as mousy, their eyes are soft and sometimes referred to as muddy, and their skin has an opaque, velvet-like look. However, their coloring isn't boring! It is soft and understated, yes, but they are fortunate enough to suit a wide array of colors - as long as the colors aren't too bright. Personally, I like to call the softs chameleons - they seem to be able to pull off a lot of looks.

When choosing an outfit, the softs look their best when the outfit is tonal/low in contrast. That means, no bright, high contrasting outfits such as a fuschia top with a black jacket. No, instead opt for colors that blend with each other. Softs best colors are soft in chroma/clarity/saturation and medium intensity (intensity referring to lightness/darkness). Dusty, softly saturated colors like sage and coal blue looks great, whereas hot pink and royal blue are examples of too bright colors. Very light or very dark colors are also overwhelming, to choose a soft white, buff or stone rather than stark white, and charcoal rather than black.

Keys:
Soft, muted, neutral.

Neutrals include, but aren't limited to:







 





Pewter, stone, charcoal

Light navy, rose brown, taupe



Soft basic palette:































 Soft white, gray green, pewter, stone, coal

Natural beige, taupe, chocolate, rose brown, cocoa
Herb, jade, sage, mint, light viola
Turquoise, sky blue, teal, purple, soft violet
Light navy, sapphire, coal blue, damson, bordeaux
Blush pink, geranium, shell, turquoise green, spruce


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Soft and cool

With the old seasonal analysis system, the soft and cool was often misdiagnosed as a winter, due to not fitting elsewhere. However, the soft and cool is far softer and more muted than any winter (bright and cool, cool and clear, deep and cool). The skin looks quite neutral, but looks better in somewhat cooler colors. Ivory and beige are common skintones, but rose brown and light cocoa aren't unusual either. The eyes are usually soft blue, chocolate brown, hazel, gray green or gray blue. The eye patterns are soft and smudged, echoing their whole coloring. The hair is often described as mousy, devoid of natural highlights; ranging from dark blonde to a medium brown or, when older, a medium gray. Due to this, subtle highlights be very flattering, whereas solid dyes can look flat. The soft and cool will look better in amethyst and soft fuschia than the soft and warm's olive green and light salmon pink.

Some celebrity examples:
Jennifer Aniston (pictured), Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Williams, Viggo Mortensen

 Add-on colors:

















Eau de nil, seafoam green, icy pink, powder pink

Orchid, soft fuchsia, rose, icy violet
Lavender, amethyst, icy gray, bluebell

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Soft and warm

The soft and warm is usually lighter than the soft and cool, and is often misdiagnosed as a light and warm. However, whereas the lights are recognized by their delicate skin and fair features, the soft and warm are far more neutral, more medium in intensity, softer in chroma/clarity and the whole coloring is heavier and dustier. The soft and warm are very neutral, but favors slightly warmer colors. The most common skintone is beige, but it isn't uncommon for them to have a cooler overtone to their skin. Their eye patterns are soft and smudged, and common colors include, but isn't limited to, hazel, soft amber, chocolate brown, soft blue, blue green, grey green or topaz. Like all fall groups (which is soft and warm, warm and muted and deep and warm), a golden ring around the black of the eye is common. The hair color is, as stated earlier, often described as flat or mousy, lacking natural highlights, ranging from a golden blonde to dark blonde to medium brown. The contrast between the features is low, so the best colors are soft, dusty and blended. The soft and warm looks great in rust red and light gold, but doesn't suit the seafoam green and rose which flatters the soft and cool.

Some celebrity examples:
Drew Barrymore (pictured), Gisele Bundchen, Molly Sims, Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen, Kim Raver, David Beckham

Add-on colors:

















  Cream, camel, light gold, golden brown
Light moss, yellow green, olive green, dark salmon pink
Salmon pink, rust red, light peach, peach

7 comments:

  1. Yay! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I have never understood what "season" I am, but now I do! I know I look good in muted colours like olive green and rust, but I've never been able to figure out what to wear besides those colors, lol! I never realised why I look that shoddy in neons (omg, I still remember 2003's neon craze a lil bit too well, lol)!!! Now that I know I'm SOFT AND WARM, I'll pick up something teal next time I'm out shopping, or perhaps even peach :D

    THX AGAIN! I'll keep watching ur blog ;)

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  2. Magix: Oh, you make me blush. Hehe. Thank you for your nice words! I'm glad I could help. :)

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  3. awesome post! Thank you so much. I wear a hijab (muslim veil) and I often struggle to find a colour that's most flattering around my face. Are there certain colours in my colour palette (soft and warm) I should avoid around the face?

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  4. Thank you!

    Every color in your palette should (hopefully) fit you. A nice touch which would really bring out your eye color would be to wear a hijab in your eye color, or the complimentary color (the opposite color on the color wheel. Eg. red being opposite to green).

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  5. I am a bit confused. In the older blog I was clearly "dus og kald" which is soft and cool here? But I can't recognize myself in soft and cool here. If I have medium ahs brown hair(naturally) but dark chocholate brown hair now, clear blue eyes,light skin with pink "undertone" and a bit grey/brown freckles. Am I more likely to be cool and muted?

    Great blog by the way!
    Hanne 21 Norway.(please excuse my english)

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  6. I have no idea about my coloring.

    I seem to have a yellow undertone. My hair appears mousy, but when there is sun or light it is golden/reddish. So I would think I was warm, right?

    But everything that contains strong reds makes me look sick. And anything that contains any kind of yellow makes me look extremely yellow. So, am I cold even though my skin is yellow and my hair actually warm-ish?

    I am highly confused!

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    Replies
    1. May it be that you're a Soft? Even if your general colouring is warm, that doesn't mean that all warm colours suit you. For example, I am warm but my general characteristic is soft, so warm, yet bright colours (think tomato red or pumpkin orange) are too overpowering for me.

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