Getting out of ‘the Black’ and finding more confidence with colour!

Do you always go for the same colour when you buy something new? 🙋‍♀️

Or maybe you’ve found yourself in the changing cubicle in your favourite store having no idea if you can carry something off? You know it isn’t right, but you just can’t quite put your finger on why?

Wouldn’t it be great to have an expert eye with you to tell you whether something suits you knowing that it’s an honest opinion?

How would you like that; every, single, time?

As I write this, I’m feeling a little smug, because I now have that superpower!

Meeting ‘Style By Louise’

When I first met Louise Newton, I was super impressed by her appearance – I even remember my first words to her; “Wow, you look so glam!” and so she should; because Louise is a Personal Stylist!  I quickly got giddy with excitement talking shoes, handbags and makeup with her and how amazing her Instagram grid must be!

As we were both launching new businesses, we often saw each other at networking meetings.  I also had the opportunity to hear Louise present at a couple of workshops talking about the power of wearing the right colour and style and being your best self. The overriding thing about Louise is her passion for helping others feel great about themselves.  Louise bubbles with enthusiasm when she sees colours working for you and the realisation that comes from women who quickly discover that they can pull off an array of beautiful colours and don’t have to resort to their faithful BLACK!

So, imagine my excitement when Louise kindly agreed to do a colour and make-up consultation for me.  My friends will back me up when I say that whenever we went shopping on weekends away, I would always pick up things that were either grey or navy – those are always my ‘go-to’ colours. Now I might find that other options suit me, or perhaps I’ve been getting it wrong this whole time!

Colour Day!

As I arrived at ‘Style by Louise’, Louise greeted me at the door and led me up to her beautiful studio full of makeup, books, colour and positive images of women and style. Before the actual colour consultation started, there was time to settle in with a cuppa, some biscuits and a chat.

Over our tea and biscuits, we chatted through what I felt my style was, what colours I go for when shopping, my thoughts on wearing colour, how I would like to dress in the future and pretty much life in general.  It’s a great way for Louise to get to know her customers a little better and work out what they’re looking to achieve from the session.

Louise explained that sometimes clients can be in a little bit of an overwhelm when they first arrive.  Perhaps they are a new mum that has lost her body confidence following such a dramatic life-changing event.  Or maybe they’ve come out of a difficult period in their life such as divorce, bereavement or having an ‘empty nest’. Sometimes it can be as a treat for a milestone birthday or maybe it’s simply for a little self-care and self-discovery.  For whatever reason, there can be points in our lives where something happens and we lose ourselves a little.  I can certainly relate to that!

What Louise loves the most is being able to ignite that sparkle back – that little nudge in the right direction.  It’s amazing the confidence boost it has given to the women Louise has seen.

“One lady looked unrecognisable when she came back to see me a couple weeks after her consultation.  The lady had taken on board the advice, taken her colours shopping and was able to look for the colours, tones and styles that suited her. She looked and felt fantastic and was amazed by all the compliments she was receiving from friends and family”.

Stripping down!

So, with my white gown in place around my neck, I plonked myself down in front of the mirror.  As part of your colour consultation, Louise also includes a full make-up application, matching colours perfectly specific to my colouring – so we were going to have to start with a nice clean face. Louise started with a balancing cream cleanser which smelt just gorgeous thanks to the Lemongrass and Bergamot.  A balancing toner facial spritzer in Rose followed this, which smelt just like Turkish Delight (I was starting to get hungry!). This was finished off with an anti-ageing day cream (anti-ageing – always a winner!) which sunk into my skin beautifully followed by a primer which prepped my face perfectly for make-up.

All of the skincare products used are by Colour Me Beautiful and are organic, vegan, cruelty-free, comes in recyclable packaging and finally… it’s affordable. Most, but not all of the cosmetics are vegan, however, they are all mineral-based, paraben and lead-free and also cruelty-free as well as 90% made in the UK.

While Louise trained with Colour Me Beautiful, she is not obliged to use them in her business, but rather chooses to use them for their quality and price, plus they all smell gorgeous!

Now for the science bit…

Colour Me Beautiful now use a system identifying six dominants (Deep, Light, Warm, Cool, Soft and Clear) rather than the four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) they previously used.  This is based on the Colour Wheel system devised by Albert Munsell in 1903.  As well as people suiting different shads of colour, there is also the depth and clarity of colour to consider.

 Colouring up!

To establish my colouring (dominant, secondary and tertiary) Louise took into consideration my hair colour, skin tone and eye colour and also placed drapes around my neck to show me the effect each had on my complexion.  Some were complete no-no’s, making me look tired and drained, whilst others suited me perfectly making me look radiant and (dare I say) younger!  Yay!  I’m definitely not a ‘Cool’ or ‘Deep’ but I’m certainly a ‘Clear’… and I can wear Lemon!  A colour I have never worn because I thought it did nothing for me! Wrong!  It lit up my face and made my eyes sparkle!  Who knew colour could do that!

There were also colours that did nothing for me, and I’m sure I have a few tops in my wardrobe that will be ditched by the end of the week!

I learnt that strong colours work on me much better than pastels, and I also do better with contrasting colours rather than tone on tone!  This was a revelation for me and will push me out of my comfort zone a little.  I mean, I wouldn’t dream of wearing mustard with green, but maybe I should?

Face made up!

Time to finish off my make-up!  I have to confess; I love wearing make-up, and I’m a sucker for a new product!  First Louise used concealer (every woman’s best friend) which was a yellow colour to counteract the dark circles under my eyes, and it worked a treat!

 

In the past, I have gone for concealers that matched my skin colour, but this clever yellow wand worked like magic!

Foundation was next. For the past few years I have been using a well-known mineral powder for coverage, but being at the end of the pot, I was open to the idea of going back to liquid foundation.  The ‘Morning Light’ that Louise used fitted the bill perfectly.  Matching my complexion exactly, it was light but with good coverage, so perfect for using for daytime and evening.

With some ‘Peach’ and ‘Heather’ on my eyes and a ‘Salmon’ blush on my cheeks, we were then ready to take a look at each of my colours individually.  Louise set out all 42 colours, and one by one placed them under my chin so we could see how this affected my colouring and the way it changed my complexion. I was so relieved to see that my faithful staples, Navy, Light Grey, Charcoal and Black were among the colour scheme, along with a host of beautiful blues, corals, reds and greens and surprisingly, mustard and lemon!  We also looked at which colour jewellery would suit me best, and while gold was dominant, I can rock silver as well!  Phew!

The other brilliant thing is that as part of the package, you get to take away a nifty wallet with all 42 colours in, so you can take it shopping with you and never be in any doubt again whether a colour you’ve picked will suit you.  I guarantee it will help you to be more adventurous with your future purchases!

So why should you consider having a colour consultation?

As I said in the intro (and well done btw if you’ve got this far!) knowing what suits you, both style-wise and colour wise is not only like a superpower, but it will also save you time and money! Think about all those clothes you’ve bought on a whim that still have the ticket on and are hiding in your wardrobe.  Maybe you bought it because it was a bargain – but it’s not a bargain if it doesn’t get worn!

With this newfound colour knowledge, you will start to shop smarter and be more selective in the colours you choose. If you want to treat yourself to a new coat and you want to go for a bit of colour rather than the usual black/navy, then it makes sense to pick a colour that is going to brighten your face rather than flush you out.

It’s the same with make-up. As we get older, we tend to go for quality products, so it makes sense to know that the colours we choose will enhance our features, not drain them.

Most importantly, the best reason to go and have a colour consultation is knowing that you are doing something for yourself. How often do you get to do that? Take some time out and do something for you for a change? You’ll be so glad that you started this journey to a new and improved version on your beautiful self!

You can check out all the services Louise offers including Style Consultation, Wardrobe Edit, Personal Shopping Experience and Make-Up Consultation right here…https://www.stylebylouise.com/ and as a gift to my readers, if you quote TOMD10 you will get 10% off any of the services you book with Louise, valid until the end of June 2019.

Until next time, love & hugs

PS – I said I was a sucker for make-up didn’t I?  I walked out with concealer, foundation and a new lippy to boot…and I’ll definitely be back for more!

PPS – For complete transparency, no money was exchanged for Louise’s service or mine for the writing of this blog.