Lately, there has been more and more buzz around the term “color analysis.” Basic in nature, color analysis is exactly what it sounds like, an analysis of colors. While a simple concept, not everyone has the eye or training to perform a color analysis.
Audrey Rockett-Collins, local business owner of Flourish Styling Co., is one of the experts who has the education and expertise for image consulting. A female business owner since 2012, Audrey has truly flourished as she has expanded her work from her image consulting business to a full-service destination for styling.
What’s a Color Analysis?
Let’s dive a little deeper into the concept of color analysis. You may have heard someone describe the colors they look best in as their “palette.” Someone’s color palette is what is determined during a color analysis.
The way these palettes are defined is by season — winter, spring, summer, and autumn. You know when people say they are a winter? This is what they are talking about.
However, what some people don’t know is each of the seasons has sub-groups that hone in on the specific shades of each color. When you think about blues, there are endless shades – navy, sky, teal, turquoise, etc. not just blue.
During the Color Analysis service that Flourish Styling Co. offers, you will not only learn which season you are in, but also the sub-group your palette best fits into. This helps when looking at your very best colors!
We were lucky enough to visit Found by Flourish, the brick-and-mortar location for Flourish Styling Co. located in Verona, to give some of these services a try.
Color + Style Intensive
While it sounds like a simple process, the exercise of going through a person’s color analysis takes a few hours. At Flourish Styling Co. the Color Analysis is combined with another service, Style Archetyping, which we’ll explain soon!
Together, these two processes form the Color + Style Intensive. To complete both of these services, it will take around 2 hours and 30 minutes, during which, Audrey or her staff will go through the ins and outs with you.
Color Analysis
First, they will start laying individual fabric swatches across your neckline to see how your features interact with the color. Things that Audrey looks for during this time are how light is reflected onto different parts of your face structure, how each color brings out undertones in your cheeks and temples, how your eyes brighten or dull with each shade, and so much more. It honestly blew our minds how many different pieces were being considered while Audrey was at work. She’s a star!
Although Audrey and her team are experts, that doesn’t mean you can’t chat with them while they do the analysis! The Color + Style Intensive is designed to be an interactive process where you discuss what colors you typically find yourself wearing, what colors you think you look best in, and what others think you look best in, really gets the conversation going!
During our analysis, we even started laughing as we started to see some of the recurring patterns of certain colors that didn’t complement us best. Feel free to be open about what you’re thinking!
Our final result was a “cool summer.” This means our colors resonated best with the summer palette, and the shades that worked best were from the cool family.
Find Your “Wow” Colors
After going through each color and each shade, you will be shown your wow colors. These are the ones that truly made you pop. After laying out all of these wow colors, Audrey’s team will put together a swatch booklet for you to take home for SHOPPING!
This way, whenever you go to buy clothes for the new season or an event, you have your wow colors handy. You will also receive an online version of your wow colors and your full palette’s color profile.
One extra touch that we loved was after the fabric colors had been separated into the wow colors, palette colors, and non-palette colors, Audrey walked us through makeup shades. Everyday makeup is so important when thinking about what compliments you.
We chatted blush, eyeliner, lipstick, eye shadow, etc. and went through some of the best shades for each. All of the makeup suggestions are also included in a virtual follow-up.
Style Archetyping
Now that the colors have been assessed, the second part of the Color + Style Intensive is of course…the style! There are several types of styles archetypes based on your everyday preferences and personality.
This was totally new to us! We found out that style archetyping is important because it allows us to formulate predictable values, design elements, and even textile preferences to create a wardrobe that reflects YOU.
Some examples of style archetypes are dramatic, natural, cosmopolitan, romantic, and gamine. Each of these archetypes coincides with certain traits and ideals.
To decide your combination of style archetypes, Audrey will take you through a questionnaire about your everyday life, things that are important to you, weekend plans, special events, and more to get to know more about who you are as a person.
After the assessment, our results showed the natural and romantic style archetypes. This means that comfort is a must for us, matching the natural archetype, but also having an elevated and feminine look that aligns with the romantic style.
Look Your Best With Flourish
Take all of that, put it together, and you get the perfect recipe for dressing and feeling your best. Taking risks with fashion is hard for a lot of people to do. That’s why with the help of people like Audrey and the Flourish team, we can all own our best look.
As a follow-up after the process has been completed, the Flourish Styling Co. team will provide you with the full color palette of your sub-group as mentioned above, makeup brand/shade recommendations, and even a virtual capsule of linked items recommended in your palette and style archetype (plus how they can be styled together). All of this at the tips of your fingers, say less.
There is so much more than just this service that is offered by Flourish Styling Co. and Found by Flourish. To learn more about Audrey and her team at Flourish, check out their website and other offerings.
This is one of those things that people say will change your everyday life, and we mean it. Check out Flourish today!
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.