I've Had Four Color Analyses. The Odd One Out Was Right.

I'm a makeup artist of more than twenty years, so what I'm about to admit doesn't come easily.

I was wrong.

Four color analyses. Three came back Autumn. One came back Cool Summer. And I know exactly what you're thinking, because I thought it too — the odd one out must be the mistake. That's the story I told myself for months.

Then I got curious.

It started with a book I borrowed and never gave back

About thirty years ago, a co-worker lent me her copy of Color Me Beautiful. I never returned it. I've told that whole story [here], and I stand by my choices.

If you're too young to remember, that book was a genuine phenomenon — Carole Jackson published it in 1980 and it was already in its thirty-first printing by 1983. Half the women in America were suddenly announcing their season at dinner parties.

I combed through it. I didn't have swatches back then, but going by my eye color, my skin tone, and my hair color, I had a strong hunch. Autumn.

Thirty years later, color theory came roaring back

And you know as well as I do that it's back in a big way.

My Instagram feed is full of analysts arguing over Kate Middleton, assessing the latest starlet, digitally re-dressing a celebrity in a color she didn't choose. It's both fascinating and a little exhausting. This isn't a small niche anymore either — personal color analysis is now something like a five billion dollar global industry, in-person sessions run anywhere from $150 to $600, and the hashtag has racked up billions of views.

And I'm a makeup artist. I love this stuff.

So I booked a professional

She was lovely, and at the time I agreed with her wholeheartedly. True Autumn.

Not long after, I met a new friend who was also a color analyst and did pop-ups in stores. I popped in. She draped me quickly but thoroughly — natural light, no makeup, hair covered. Autumn again.

But I could see the wheels turning. She's a little more flexible in how she thinks about this, and she told me not to take it too literally. Color outside the lines a bit. If you feel good in something, wear it, whether or not it sits neatly inside your palette.

So now I'm confident. Three analyses, counting my own. I am an Autumn. I said so on Instagram, in a terra cotta pantsuit. See the post here.

Then a stranger on the internet told me I was a Cool Summer

I was still following analysts online, and I was particularly drawn to one woman. I loved listening to her talk. She worked entirely online — you send your photos in with very specific instructions. Natural light. Hair pulled back. No makeup. White shirt.

I was intrigued, and honestly I just love this stuff, so I paid the fee and sent my photos off. About three weeks later the result landed in my inbox.

Cool Summer.

You know what I did. I closed the email.

I left it sitting there for months. This woman doesn't know what she's doing. She's wrong. And that was that.

What made me open it again

I'm not entirely sure what pulled me back. Part of it was that I'd been feeling a bit drab — compensating with more makeup and still not feeling vibrant. Just blah. Nothing dramatic. We all have stretches like that.

But I'd also started noticing that certain blues made me look really good. And those blues were nowhere near my Autumn palette.

So I pulled the email back up. There was a link to pay a little more and see the actual working — the virtual draping she'd used to get there. I paid it.

When it came back, she'd gone shade by shade explaining why each one wasn't it. Why that orange pulled the color out of my lips. Why that warm brown softened my jawline instead of defining it. And I sat there thinking — maybe I can wear cool colors.

So I tested it on myself

I have every color imaginable in my studio, so this part wasn't hard. I went fully cool with my makeup and pulled whatever leaned cool out of my closet.

And people started saying things.

"Wow, you look great in that color." "What lipstick is that?"

That's the part I can't argue with. Nobody comments on your outfit because your undertone is theoretically correct. They comment because something looks right.

One thing I want to be clear about

I genuinely believe every one of those analysts did a good job. I'm not throwing anyone under the bus here — I agreed with them, enthusiastically, at the time.

I don't think anyone got it wrong so much as I'm a hard read. And that turns out to be its own enormous subject, which is exactly where I'm going next.

Did I purge every warm thing I own? No. I set a few pieces aside for now, and I'm slowly building up cooler tops. I'll keep borrowing from other seasons whenever something feels right, because that's the advice that's held up best out of all four analyses.

Coming next

In part two I want to get into why I think some people are so much harder to type than others — and why, after twenty years of matching foundation, I've come to believe the face alone doesn't tell you the whole story. [part 2]

In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you. Have you been typed? Did it stick? Did you quietly disagree and keep wearing the color anyway?

Reply here and tell me.

xx, Leanne — Beauty Mix Studio ✨