Color Analysis Confusion

When Color Analysis creates more confusion than clarity

Color Analysis Confusion

Every so often, I get emails like this one —thoughtful, detailed, and written with lots of passion and frustration.

A woman recently wrote a very long email to me, saying she was originally draped as one season and then again by a different analyst who gave her the exact opposite season.

Here is what she wrote me (edited down for size, no identifying information):

 “I’m lost with my colour season after being draped as a Soft Summer years ago and recently having had a personal colour analysis that typed me as mostly Clear Spring!! How can I be Soft then Clear, Cool then Warm?!? 

After all the reading and examples of colours and models in your system, I am HOPING I might be a Sunlit Soft Summer. Bordering on Spring, it’s the only way I can think that someone might analyse me as clear and warm when to me and it seems everyone else who knows anything about colour (including painters and makeup-artists), I don’t appear as these things.

I’m curious if you could confirm it for me with only a very quick look? I’m aware that it’s your business to do full analyses!!  Having paid about $250 (AUD) for my initial 12 seasons colour consultation and then just a few months ago $650 (AUD) for the personal consultation, I’m feeling a bit duped by the whole experience. I want to be able to trust my own eye, rather than keep getting more and more colour analysis sessions done by others who may either agree or disagree on my colours lol. It could just propel me even further into confusion!

I am not a newbie in colour. I’m training as an image consultant and fashion designer, I used to be a model very briefly so am familiar with makeup artists and colours people choose to put me in.

I have also been on this learning colour analysis journey for 15 years now lol. So I would HOPE my eye is not untrained!  

What has confused me is that one of the greatest colour experts in the world just typed me as mostly Spring.

Like, WHAT?? So now I am second-guessing everything…”.

The emails were much longer with much more detail, but you get the gist of her situation. Needless to say, she was feeling overwhelmed and unsure of everything she thought she knew.

Unfortunately, I’ve heard variations of this story many times before. I have been told "...maybe color analysis isn't for me," or "...I don't think there is a season that I fit into or maybe I'm just too difficult". One person said "Color Analysis is a scam.".

I understand the frustration. In this woman's case, how can someone be both Soft Summer and Clear Spring? One is cool and muted, the other is warm and bright. It’s not just a subtle shift. It’s a major jump across the color wheel!

FYI: I've been contacted by clients who were told they were a Clear Spring when in fact, in my professional opinion, is actually a Soft Summer or Autumn. I can't count how many times this has happened!

And when someone is told something that contradicts not only a previous analysis but also their own instincts, it can feel beyond frustration.

It feels defeating. It feels like there is no validity to color analysis at all.

Possible Reasons for Color Analysis Confusion. 

I’ve heard some variation of this story, honestly, hundreds of times.

Color analysis confusion is a serious issue in our industry. That’s a hard thing to say about a field I work in and love. But it's the reality—different analysts, different systems, different trainings - can lead to different conclusions.

I have spoken about it often, and will continue to do so until analysts start to be more consistent. 

Sometimes analysts rely too heavily on limited options.  Four seasons are not enough. They are a start. A vitally important stepping stone at the beginning of one’s journey. But it is only a start.

Sometimes personal bias creeps in. This is something a good consultant will try to be conscious of and work to avoid.

And sometimes it’s just the nature of working with human beings, who are all a mix of subtleties and surprises. Some people are super easy to determine; others are unbelievably challenging.

I am not entirely sure, but I think the ‘guru’ who analyzed this client as a Spring, uses some form of the 4 seasons – using percentages such as 60% Spring, 25% Autumn, 10% Summer, and 5% Winter. I’m not sure how one can be a mix of all 4 seasons? 

In my ColorBreeze Tree diagram below, someone will be located somewhere on the tree. They very well may be blending into another similar season, but they are not all over the place.  

This Is Why I Created the ColorBreeze™ System

ColorBreeze Tree

I developed the ColorBreeze™ system, in part, to specifically address these hard-to-analyze people, like those who seem to straddle seasons.  I saw the need for more nuance and flexibility, and most importantly, accuracy.

This client, after years of trying to fit herself into various seasonal boxes, wondered if she might be what I call a Sunlit Soft Summer.  This seaosn is a refined type within the Soft Summer category that shows a hint of warmth —enough to throw off a traditional Soft Summer analysis, but not enough to place her squarely into Spring or Autumn.

She graciously allowed me to share her color journey with my readers, and in exchange, I offered to do a full analysis using my ColorBreeze system (remaining anonymous as promised).

The Result of Her Analysis

  She was indeed a Sunlit Soft Summer—just as she suspected.

She had some definite goldness in her hair and a bit of a spark of gold in her eyes. But her skin was very cool, and she needed softness more than almost anything.

“Hi Lora!

You wouldn’t BELIEVE how ecstatic I am to hear I’m a Sunlit Soft Summer!!!! 

Honestly, nothing else made sense. But I was second-guessing myself after the personal colour analysis I had telling me I was dominantly clear and warm. It went against everything I had observed and everything everyone else had ascertained. And more than all of that, it meant colours I truly hated. warm and bright!!

More than being ecstatic to hear that all my favourite colours are actually my best colours… I am super happy to finally FIND MYSELF in a colour system.

I studied the 12 seasons, 16 seasons, and 6 dominant traits systems, and none was quite right. the six dominant traits were close (Soft-Cool-Light), but really in terms of importance it needed to be Soft-Light-Cool. the system always puts undertone second, but lightness is more important for me than coolness. almost like coolness needs to be an afterthought, I’m so close to neutral.and if I lean warmer in something, but go soft and light as priorities, it still works.

My point being, I LOVE your system!!

Do you train people how to develop an eye for colour-typing people? I’d love to train with you and become a colour consultant in your system!!"

Her response made my day, and it was a great reminder of why I created this expanded system in the first place :)

My Hope for Color Analysis

Color analysis, when it is correct, can be empowering. It helps people shop better, feel more confident, look healthier, and be more vibrant.

But when it’s wrong and inconsistent, it does the opposite. It leads people to doubt their judgment, second-guess their style, and, definitely, waste money.

That’s why I’m so committed to improving this industry. Not just with the ColorBreeze system itself, but with my upcoming training program.

I want to help others—especially professionals like this woman, who is training as an image consultant—feel equipped to make clear, consistent, and accurate analyses for their clients.

No more bouncing around seasons. No more relying on vague impressions or gut feelings or using outdated systems.  Just solid theory, tested practice, and tools that account for the complexity of real people.

Subscribe to my free newsletter to be informed when my training is finally launched. 

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