Finding my personal style- Colours

One of my goals for this year is to de-clutter and refine my personal style and, in turn, my wardrobe. I really hate wasted space and it feels like i hardly wear all of my clothes and i just want to chuck a huge portion of it. Not only that but my approach to fashion and beauty is very much part of my creativity. I dont wear it to just hide flaws or enhance bits i like. I wear what i wear to express myself. I like the characters and theatrics and inspiration that comes from it all. So i feel its really important to have a good look at the messages im giving across with my style and tweak it to ensure im being true to my inner self and that im representing myself in the best possible light. Its a journey of self discovery. Its not 'who am i'. Its 'WHAT am i' that im trying to explore.

A few years ago i came across Colour Me Beautiful which is a styling process that takes a look at your overall colouring (hair, skin, eyes) and defines a palette around that, which your wardrobe should majoratively feature. Choosing the right colours for yourself enhances your complexion, makes your eyes brighter and generally suits you better then colours that don't.

If you're like me and cant afford the style consultation offered by Colour Me Beautiful, you can DIY a consultation and hold coloured articles up to your face and see which look best. I decided to do things the lazy way and simply found a photo of myself, made sure it was white balanced so all the colours were true to life, and then compared myself to colours digitally in PSP. Every time i found one that suited me i added it to my palette in a separate image with the dropper tool. This is what i created:

I tried to find a tone in every colour that i could more or less wear including pastles, brights and darks. For example, true black doesnt suit me and neither does grey, but a slightly charcoal black (warm toned) works a lot better. Lemon and greeny yellows do not suit me. Sunflower and olive yellows and greens do. A few blues suit me, as do a few purple colours but they all have to be on the warm scale. The most flattering colours are salmons, pinks, raspberry's, sages and teals. Its not that these colours make me look 1000 times better then normal, its just that the colours that dont suit me make me look flat and grey. Unflattering colours are most blues, cool pinks, purples and aqua greens.

Happy with this i printed the palette out so i can pop a copy in my bag as a reminder for when i go shopping.