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I Went to See Zyla!

A couple of weeks ago, I did something I’ve been waiting to do for nine years: I went to see David Zyla. Why Zyla? It’s the one system where I felt like I had a hard time DIYing. And I knew that even if I didn’t end up using the palette or recommendations I received, it would still be an interesting experience and a chance to see myself through the eyes of someone whose expertise I respected.

One of the reasons I’d put it off for so long is that my personal rule with analyses is that I need to be able to go and not have it be such a huge investment–financial or emotional–that I can’t leave the room and leave the analysis there if I feel like it’s something that wouldn’t work for me. And with the unconventional path my life has taken, it took a while for the financial part of that to be true.

So mostly, I went out of curiosity. I had so many friends in the color and style community who had gone, and I wanted to have the experience. I was happily surprised that not only did I love my palette and my recommendations, and I felt like everything David was saying resonated with me, but I feel revitalized in my love for fashion and style in a way that hasn’t been the case for a long time, maybe since high school nearly 20 years ago.

Seeing David is a lovely experience. The initial consult consists of about an hour of him putting your palette together, and another hour of going over it and style recommendations and, of course, the reveal of your Archetype. While you’re talking to him, your palette starts to take shape in front of your eyes. I was a little nervous when he started because some of the colors he settled on early, like my Tranquil and First Base, are a little cooler than I’m used to. But as the whole palette came together, my fears settled and I saw that it was going in the direction that I thought it would in terms of Archetype. And once my Metals went down, I knew it for sure.

Zyla palette

So I’m a Tawny Spring. In hindsight, it seems obvious, and I did come to this conclusion myself at one point, but I think I got distracted by the path of Type Four and went in another direction for a while.

But sitting across from him, even though I had felt for most of these nine years that there wasn’t an easy fit for me in Zyla so whatever I got would have to be very customized for me, veering away from the archetype’s usual recommendations, Tawny Spring just seemed so obvious and such a natural fit. Everything he said confirmed what I had figured out for myself in my explorations.

I am also very happy with my palette. It contains things that I really wanted, like a golden brown. But it also contains things I haven’t really worn since I started with color analysis, like my lilac Tranquil, blue without green for my Dramatic, and the dark blue-gray of my First Base, bringing me out of my comfort zone. I think he’s said that usually, about half would be what you thought, and the other half will be a surprise. My Essence, Romantic, Energy, and all my Bases were about what I expected. My Dramatic and Tranquil were big surprises for me. I expected something more in the turquoise/teal range for both, which are common in Tawny palettes (I’ll see if I get any at my eventual Extension!).

What I’m most excited about with my palette is the wide range it gives me. I have versions of peach, red, green, purple, blue, navy, brown, and tan–basically the entire rainbow. Having such a wide range of colors to choose from makes my palette more usable for me. I’ve seen some palettes where there is more similarity between colors, and while I think this can work beautifully for other people and their Archetypes, having a lot of different colors is something that is important to me. I want variety. I wasn’t sure if I was going to use my palette is lieu of other palettes, like Autumn or T3, but currently, I feel like I want to explore what a wardrobe consisting entirely of this palette would look like.

I’ll get into my recommendations in my next post, as I feel like this post is already very long, but mostly, I want to convey how happy I am that I went. It has truly revitalized my love for style, and I also feel like what I got works really well with Soft Gamine and gives me direction there as well. I’m also oddly glad that I waited so long because I feel like I got so much more out of it with all of the work I’ve done on my own. Please let me know if you have any questions about my experience or seeing Zyla in general in the comments.

Workbook Announcement

I’ve come to realization that the workbook I had available on this site, which was last updated over three years ago, does not represent my current ideas. For this reason, I have decided to stop selling it until the next edition is ready. I have created a Google form for those interested to fill out, so I can email them when it’s available. I will be offering a discount for people who purchased the first one that will basically amount to you paying just for the new sections. It will include more information/focus on personalizing your style. I hope that this is something that I will be able to make a reality very soon! Thank you for your patience.

Shopping Joy

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I think one of the biggest differences since really settling into 4/3 is that I enjoy shopping again. Since I started looking at color and style systems, it’s felt like a bit of a slog, because I wasn’t going for what I loved; I was settling for what I thought was allowed. Black, white, bold, and neon are truly what I’m drawn to, and now they’re mine.

I go back to school in three weeks, and even though I’m now in my thirties, I still feel like I need new shoes and a new bag when a new school year starts. Neither of these items has arrived yet, but I’m very excited about my purchases, so I thought I’d share them.

The first are these Nike sneakers. I really love them for 4/3 because they’re bold and substantial, and the hue-on-hue has the stillness T4 needs. I have been wearing a lot of black-on-black lately, so my idea would be to wear all-black clothing with fuschia lipstick and earrings, once the DYT store brings back jewelry in September. (I have had a really hard time sourcing T4 jewelry on my own, unfortunately.)

Next, I found this tote from Rebecca Minkoff on Nordstrom Rack. It’s already sold out everywhere, even though I just ordered it last week and it should get here tomorrow, so I can’t link it. 🙁

Large Nylon Tote

Rebecca Minkoff Large East West Nylon Tote

As I wrote in blog post, I feel like myself now. I didn’t for the majority of this color and style journey. Spring and Autumn colors don’t express me. The bold hues of T4 are what feels right to me.

What have you bought for the upcoming season?

Note for People Who Have Ordered Services

There are a bunch of people who paid for services but never responded to emails I’ve sent. So if you were supposed to get a Subscription for August, or paid for something else and didn’t receive a response, please check the email associated with your PayPal account! I definitely want to deliver what you paid for. 🙂 If there are any issues, please email me at hello@stylesyntax.com.