It's My Season Again!

Today's is the first full day of fall, and I am giddy!  I did a couple of nail art looks to celebrate.  Skip ahead to them, if you'd like.  This first bit goes on for a while.

Fall isn't just my favorite season for everything from cosmetics to weather to food to clothing to...well...everything.  It's also when I was born, though I was due in late summer.  My mom and I have joked for years that I was waiting for better weather.  As if all of that wasn't enough, it's also my "color season".  Color seasons are so old fashioned that some of you might not know what they are.  The idea seems to have started in the '60s.  Essentially, it's a quick and easy way to find the most flattering colors for your personal coloring.

At its most basic, you identify two things about yourself.  Is your skin warm or cool?  Is your hair light or dark?  The hair's pretty obvious, but I know some people struggle to figure out if they're warm or cool.  Cool is pink-based, where warm is yellow.  If you're still unsure, you can try cutting a hole in a piece of unlined white paper and holding it over your arm or face in natural light.  The tone should be more obvious this way.

General simple breakdown of the seasons- 

• Spring - warm skin, light hair - brights
• Summer - cool skin, light hair - pastels
• Autumn - warm skin, dark hair - earth tones
• Winter - cool skin, dark hair - saturated colors

I've always felt like spring and summer are kinda backwards.  Just seems wrong to me, but that's how it is.

Most of the world's population is either autumn or winter, since more people have dark hair than light.  Drastically lightening or darkening your hair can change your season, another reason that it's good to know the basics of the concept.  They're not hard rules, but a good place to start.  Nothing says you can't stray outside of your season.  I expanded my horizons this year and found out that I like some of spring's brights, and I've always loved winter's colors almost as much as my own.

So what can you do with this info once you have it?  Kinda everything.  I choose fall colors first without really even thinking about it.  My clothes, bedroom, makeup, etc all take strong cues from the concept.  I'll wear almost any polish color occasionally (even pink), but the ones that look best on me are generally autumnal...so on to the polish!


I've meant to do a glitter gradient for aaaages.  Lucy of Lucy's Stash does the best I've ever seen and I used her tutorial when I finally did my own.

Revlon Spice It Up and OPI A Woman's Prague-ative

Nowhere near as good as hers, but I like how it turned out.  Burgundy and copper are ideal fall colors, and my skin glows when I wear them.  Nothing corpse-y or lobster-esque to my fingers when I stick with my season.  That's why it's such a good thing to know!

Revlon Spice It Up and OPI A Woman's Prague-ative, mattified

Mattifying this gradient made it look so fiery!  I need to do more of these, because I really like this one.

Revlon Spice It Up and OPI A Woman's Prague-ative, mattified

I really need to wear A Woman's Prague-ative on its own sometime.  I got Spice It Up at Big Lots last week, in one of the two packs they usually have.  I rarely wear finds like this so soon, but it was calling to me.

Revlon Spice It Up

Spice It Up is exactly as deep, rich, and gorgeous as it looked under the gradient.  So perfect for the season!  It's a bit changeable too, looking much deeper in the shade than it does in fuller sun.

Revlon Spice It Up

Nichole does cling film/saran wrap nail art once in a while, and it's another technique I'd been meaning to try for a while.

China Glaze Goldie, But Goodie and Charmed, I'm Sure

I love the effect!  It's so simple too.  You just apply a contrasting polish (in this case it was Charmed, I'm Sure) over a fully dry polish, then quickly dab with crumpled saran wrap and apply top coat.  The saran pulls up some of the wet polish, revealing the color underneath.  It's that easy!


In the sun, the foil base sparkles through the purple marbling.

China Glaze Goldie, But Goodie and Charmed, I'm Sure

In the shade, the purple dominates.

China Glaze Goldie, But Goodie and Charmed, I'm Sure

This combo also does huge favors to my fingers, cutting a lot of the red splotchiness (from Raynaud's) that some colors highlight.

Since Nichole inspired this, I figured I'd borrow one of her poses for one more photo.

For more autumnal inspiration, check out our fall tag.  Cosmetic companies seem to use this concept pretty often, so fall collections will often feature mostly fall colors.


Do you know your color season?  If you do, do you go for those colors instinctively?