Sometimes a wardrobe gets out of control, and before you know it, you’ve got a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. One way to improve your chaotic wardrobe is by understanding the best color palette for you. Your own personal color palette is suited to your skin tones. Follow along as we unfold the mystery of the wardrobe color palette.
What Is a Color Palette?
Before we delve into how to create your color palette, let’s define what it means. A color palette is a mix of colors that go well together. If your wardrobe consists of everything from neon green to olive drab, you haven’t settled on a palette. But that’s okay. After you finish reading, you’ll know exactly how to do it.
Your Skin Tone
When you have no makeup on, and you look at your natural skin, you see your skin tone. You can’t do anything to change your skin tone since the amount of melanin your body naturally produces determines it. There are four main skin tones: light, fair, medium, and dark.
What if you aren’t sure what your skin tone is? Rather than guessing, you can try the following ways to help you understand your skin tone.
- Ask your friends what they think. Friends love to share their opinions, and maybe they already have about your skin tone. In this case, their unsolicited advice may be helpful. Sometimes others can see more clearly what we can’t, especially when it comes to our own appearance.
- If you look at your jawline when your face is clean and makeup-free, it will tell you if you are light, fair, medium, or a deep skin tone. Because of where it’s located, the jawline receives protection from skin color changes, so it’s the best place on your face to check.
Skin Undertones
While your skin tone is the shade you see on the surface of your skin, the undertone is a hue underneath that is either cool, warm, or neutral. Once you determine your surface skin tone, you can take it a step further and understand your skin undertone.
There are five methods you can try to find your undertone: the sun test, the vein test, a jewelry test, a paper test, or a color test.
The Sun Test
When hanging out at the beach, are you armed and ready with sunscreen for fear of burning, or do you just relax and enjoy the deep copper tan that is about to occur? If you’re the burning type who comes home looking like a lobster, you have a cool undertone. However, if you’re a shimmering tan goddess, you’re likely to have a warm undertone. Still, always protect yourself in the sun. Even warm tones eventually get burned if not protected. If you’re somewhere in between, your skin undertone is neutral.
The Vein Test
We don’t all have the same color veins. Some people have veins that look blue or purple, and others have veins that look green. Check yours out, and if you see a blue or purple hue, you have a cool undertone. If you see green, you have a warm undertone. If it’s hard to tell or there seems to be a mix, you are neutral.
The Jewelry Test
This test is a simple one. If you look best in silver jewelry, you have a cool undertone. If you dazzle in gold, then you have a warm undertone. If you look fantastic in both, you are probably neutral. And you have an excuse for a large jewelry collection.
The Paper Test
Under good lighting, hold a blank white piece of paper up to your clean face. You’ll notice a yellowish reflection on your skin if you have a warm undertone and a pinkish color if you are cool.
The Color Test
You may have hundreds of clothing items, but the reality is only some flatter your skin. For the color test, hold different colors of clothing up to your skin and pay attention to which ones really look good on you. Cool undertones will feel best with blues. Warm undertones look great in yellows, and neutrals can’t decide because every color looks great on them.
Creating Your Wardrobe
After you determine your skin tone and undertone, it’s time to create the best wardrobe color palette for you, which should consist of bottoms, tops, items to layer (sweaters, jackets), and of course anything else you enjoy.
There are no hard and fast rules as to what you can have in your closet. Many people aren’t concerned with the best palette for their skin tone. However, if you like the idea of wearing the colors that are most flattering to your skin type, then go for it. To make it easier, use the following steps as you design the perfect wardrobe.
A Base Color
Choose one base color for everything else to flow from. Use your skin tone and undertone to help determine what shade the base color should be. For example, a warm tone might choose yellow as their base, and a cool might choose blue.
Secondary Neutrals
Next, you need some secondary pieces that all pair well with the base. Choose two to three secondary neutral colors. Neutrals are white, beige, gray, or black.
Fun Prints and Patterns
Last, add some fun prints and patterns to your wardrobe. Patterns come in many forms, such as animal prints, paisley, plaids, and stripes.
Donate the Rest
Donating is often the hardest part. Still, give it a try. When you’ve done the work of choosing the best color palette for your wardrobe, it’s a waste of time to hang on to clothing that doesn’t suit you. It will likely gather dust in your closet for years, taking up space. You’ll soon enjoy looking at a closet full of items that all coordinate well together.
At Tees2urdoor, we strive to offer a variety of colors and choices in our selection so you can always find what you need for your wardrobe. The best part is with our clothing and accessories, you can add that splash of fun to your wardrobe. We are especially proud of our lines that cater to those who serve. Items like our nurse tee shirts come in every sleeve length and color, so you can add them to your perfectly coordinated wardrobe. Check us out online or give us a call with all your fun clothing needs.
