Sunday's colours

My unexpected trip eastwards had ended up being much less sombre than I had anticipated. Apart from the semi-planned part of the weekend (involving venturing as far east as Southend) I had time in London “at leisure”, as they might describe it in a holiday tour brochure. My friend Alex had kindly put me up on her unexpectedly comfortable sofa at unreasonably short notice and I spent a lovely Friday night catching up with her (and drinking the best de-caf tea in the known universe). There were a few options for Sunday but number one on my list of things to do would be to see friends. So I sent my friend Char a short notice message and incredibly she was free. We made no plans apart from that until Saturday, and then came to the conclusion that, based on the time I was likely to leave Alex's (Alex enjoys a lie in) and the time I had to catch a coach, we would be wise meeting for lunch in a south London location.

That was until this morning when Char texted me to ask if I'd like her to “do my colours”. For about the last 18 months Char has been running an enterprise doing colour (and more recently style) analysis, mostly around south west London. I would generally place myself in the very unstylish and unbothered category (apart from on very special occasions) so this is something that I would never have considered of my own volition. But, I'm generally open to new ideas and this was not only a new idea but seemed like a good idea. Char is after all an award winning colour consultant so I would be in good hands. She's undergone extensive training so hopefully some of her memorable teenage “fashion” statements would not be an indication of what was in store for me. (In fairness I would now class her as the best dressed of all my friends.)

I don't know what being prepared for a colour consultation would involve but I didn't feel it. I was feeling pretty gross from travelling across London in high humidity conditions and had failed even to brush my hair this morning (well all weekend as I had forgotten a brushing implement). But Char, as always, made me feel at ease. This was achieved in no small part by the offering of a beautiful platter of sandwiches – food will usually make me more relaxed. I learnt something that I didn't know about Char before (despite being friends for nearly 20 years) – she doesn't really like crusts. (But she has curly hair so that disproves that theory.)

Char started by explaining to me a bit of the history and theory behind the colour analysis. It's based on Munsell's theory of colour, which will probably be familiar to anyone has started art. This was developed in the 1900s and states that there are three elements to a colour: clarity, depth and tone

The first step in the process is to determine your dominant colour type: soft, clear, deep, light, warm or cool. Char showed me pictures of celebrities typical of these and I correctly guessed that I was a “deep”, although I was also sort of thinking clear, until I saw Colin Firth and decided that I quite resembled him – he's also a deep. Char then worked out the rest of my theme by some fancy work with squares of fabric. It turns out that I'm deep, warm and clear.

Then we moved on to make-up. Most of the time I don't wear make-up (unless it's a special occasion) and when I do I am not particularly confident with it. I tend to stick to what I know and play it very safe with mostly brown colours on my eyes (with the notable exception of my Strictly Come Dancing make-up for relevant occasions) and nothing more than a subtle lip gloss. So I was both nervous and excited about what Char would do. I was keen to find out something new to do with my eyes. I didn't have anything very glamorous planned for the rest of the day (a 5.5 hour coach trip would be anything but) so I wanted something that I could carry off without feeling too conspicuous. Char did an amazing job. Possibly the best make-over I've ever had (admittedly I've not had many). She created a gorgeous look in just the right shade of green with my eyes. Apparently I've got very flickery eye lids which impedes the application of eye-liner, but she did an excellent job and didn't poke me in the eye at all (unlike if I put my own eye-liner on). But the wow factor really came from the lipstick. As I said, I'm usually a lip-gloss only person – I don't even own a lipstick. Char was more than happy for me to go for this option today but if ever there was a time to try lipstick out now was that time. She got out “Sheer Nutmeg” - in the stick it looked horrific. On my lips it looked stunning.

Char then spent some time showing me all my best colours, starting with my neutrals. Apparently I'm one of the few lucky ones who can get away with black – which is useful. I can't imagine trying to shop without being able to put black in my wardrobe. But there were some other rather lovely neutrals in there like chocolate (mmm) and charcoal which I'm going to keep more of an eye out for. Char also had some really useful tips about whites – I'm better off in ivory and soft white. Which might explain why I generally looked so dreadful in my school uniform.

As we went through my colours (with the assistance of a huge array of cotton swatches) I was pleased it included quite a few that I favour at the moment, like true blue which I liked so much even before I'd been analysed that I bought a matching hat, dress and bikini. My colours also included lots of reds which I was very happy about as I really enjoy wearing red. But even more exciting was finding out about some colours that I could try that maybe I've shied away from before like watermelon (the inside colour) and emerald green; and some great combinations like dark navy and clear salmon, and lemon and charcoal. Best of all was finding out my “wow” colours including mustard (yes really, so now I can wear it as well as cook with it), true blue (so I got something right), scarlet (hurrah) and the purple + pumpkin combination (it's going to take some guts to go out with that on).

We finished off with some scarf action. Char showed me how to tie the “twisted necklace” with a red scarf and then gave me a tutorial on the “pretzel” with a purple scarf. I felt amazing and really enjoyed my “after” photo shoot – it was an absolute transformation, but I was still me.

The make-up lasted all the way back to the South West. Matt, my husband, seemed to quite like it but very tactfully he said that I was hard to improve!

I can't wait now to have a root through my wardrobe and get rid of all those things that I haven't worn for ages. I knew there must have been a reason that I didn't wear them and maybe it's because subconsciously I knew that they are the wrong colour for me. The charity shops are in for a treat (as long as it's not deep people hoping to pick things up). But getting rid of clothes means making space for new ones and for the first time in ages I'm actually looking forward to going shopping (usually an activity that comes from necessity rather than pleasure for me), armed with my hand bag colour wallet an adventure in colour awaits me. Maybe you'll even spot me in purple and pumpkin before too long. With some sheer nutmeg lipstick.

http://www.chicbycharlotte.com/