Personal colour analysis is making a comeback — and it's getting more inclusive

If you've spent any time looking at beauty trends on TikTok in the last year, you'll likely have come across personal colour analysis, a system that promises to help people look their best by determining what makeup and clothing colours best complement their hair and skin tones.

First popular in the 1970s and '80s, personal colour analysis has been enjoying a comeback, partly thanks to apps like TikTok, with people trying to type themselves into season-inspired categories like True Spring, Deep Autumn or Cool Summer. In real life, certified image consultants have reported that their client lists have ballooned. 

But as some people rave about how colour analysis has changed their lives for the better, others — especially darker-skinned and racialized people — feel these traditional colour analysis methods just don't work for them. So now some are taking it upon themselves to adapt what they believe has not always been a very inclusive system.

When Micah Lumsden was a fashion design student in San José, Costa Rica, her instructors told her that she was a "Winter," meaning deep, cool colours would look best against her dark skin.

"I'm just like, that was odd because [those colours] didn't work [for me]," said Lumsden, who is now a personal stylist and image consultant based in San José. 

"They didn't even drape me," she added, referring to the method of placing different shades of fabric near someone's face to help determine their skin's undertone.

"The instructor typed me as a Winter because all Black people were either a Winter or a Dark Autumn, like, there was no in between," Lumsden said.

Experimenting with colour

So Lumsden started experimenting with colours on her own, learning about colour theory from friends who were graphic designers and artists, and would apply different shades of paint directly onto her skin.

In the end, she determined she was actually a Spring, meaning that she looked best in warm, clear and bright colours — the opposite of what her instructor had advised. 

"Now everything makes sense," she said.

But she realized that in all the books and guides she had seen on personal colour analysis, examples of Springs were always blonde, white women.

So she decided to start her own blog and YouTube channel called Cocoa Styling, where she gives fashion and beauty advice aimed at Black women. Many of her videos focus on colour analysis, categorizing Black celebrities within all four seasonal colour palettes.

"I just decided to post it on YouTube because I have been waiting to come across something like that [for years]," she said.

History of colour analysis

Carol Brailey, an image consultant and colour analysis expert based in Stratford, Ont., says she sees issues in the fact that Lumsden was not even draped when she was told she was a Winter.

"You cannot look at somebody and say what their colour analysis results are without doing colour comparisons," she said. 

Brailey says that colour analysis, when done properly, is indeed designed to account for all skin tones. Her TikTok account, which features her working with clients, has more than 150,000 followers. 

She says colour analysis first originated in the 20th century with a Swiss painter and professor named Johannes Itten.

"[Itten] noticed when his students were painting portraits that their portrait subjects appeared more vibrant when they were painted in colours that harmonize with their natural skin, hair and eyes," Brailey told CBC Radio's Cost of Living.

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Around the same time, she says, American artist Robert Dorr recognized there were cool and warm complexion types across people with a range of complexions, and he would test subjects by comparing their skin tones against magenta (a cool colour) and orange (a warm colour).

Brailey says Itten then started to categorize colours into four seasons. Many colour analysis systems are still based on this today, though the number of categories has expanded to 12 or 16, depending on what system someone is using.

"For instance, cool and icy colours were put in the winter season, warm forest, woodsy colours were put in the autumn season," Brailey said.

In the 1970s and '80s, colour analysis exploded in popularity with books like Bernice Kentner's Color Me a Season and Carole Jackson's Color Me Beautiful. 

Brailey says that by wearing the right colours for them, people's face, skin and eyes will appear brighter, more lifted and more vibrant — and that those checks can be done on anyone. "I call it a facelift without the surgery."

She says the fact that some people don't feel included by traditional colour analysis is "a sign that colour analysis content creators historically haven't done a good job in making sure their materials produced were representative."

She says she recognizes there's a lack of diversity in the images about colour analysis and adds that there is a lot of misinformation on the internet about the topic in general. She says that through her own online presence, she tries to put out content that is "representative of all humankind."

Brailey suggests that anyone who is reading about colour analysis or looking to have their own colours done by a professional should do their research by reviewing bios and making sure the people they are turning to have accredited training and up-to-date education.

"Training and experience is important." 

Diversifying the system

Lumsden says she sees a growing interest in adapting the traditional methods of colour analysis, especially within Black and Asian communities.

"It's like we're building our own thing that's growing," she said.

On the Reddit forum r/coloranalysis, some commenters note that traditional methods are Eurocentric and based mostly on white skin tones. There are many posts from non-white people sharing stories of being assigned the wrong seasons (usually Winter or Autumn) as well as advice on how to figure out your best colours when the standard tests don't work.

Colour analysis has also recently exploded in popularity in Korea, although as Yan Jin notes, the system they use was also adapted to be more inclusive to Asian skin tones. 

The Toronto-based makeup artist and image consultant began training in colour analysis several years ago and studied at schools in both Montreal and Korea. 

Jin says the Korean system was born out of the Japanese system of colour analysis, which itself was adapted from the systems developed in the West. She says she is the only colour analysis expert she knows of in Canada who is using Korean methods.

The Korean system is a modernized version of its predecessors, Jin says, and is "more accurate [for] people with more pigments on their skin."

The results are more specific, and Jin says she can provide more detailed analysis for her clients, who have a wide range of skin tones, from pale to very dark.

"Everyone's so different," Jin said, "from all different areas in the world. So that's the interesting thing in Canada."