What to Look For

What you want to achieve is:

  • clear skin
  • brighter-seeming eyes (the color is enhanced, the whites seem whiter)
  • fewer issues with things like under-eye circles and redness
  • skin that is neither too yellow, too pink, nor too gray
  • defined features
  • enough shadowing/reflection under the chin to differentiate between the face and the neck, but not so much that it is overwhelming.

    Be on the lookout for darkening in the lower half of the face in a dark color and the “fuzzy beard” you can see in the draping photo of me in white. You also don’t want to look greasy or just plain washed out. Christine and Tina have more information about what exactly to look for on their blogs. I would also suggest looking at draping photos taken by analysts to help you understand what to look for. Most have Facebook pages or websites with a portfolio of their clients.

    THE BAD

    Light Orange: You can see why I realized that Light Spring was my worst season so quickly. This is a fan-matched color, and not only does it look super bright on me, but it turns me incredibly red. Friends have kindly suggested that it makes me look like I’m on meth. Whenever someone questions the value of figuring out your season, I show them this picture.

    Pure Winter White: Again, this is way too bright. Just having it near my face makes me tired, and my eyes get instantly puffy from having to compete with the white. You can also see that it makes me look like I have Santa’s five o’clock shadow.

    Bright Spring shirt/fan: Bright Spring is smidgen better than the other too, but it also exhausts me to have it on. My eye and hair color look okay, but the bottom half of my face is too illuminated, there is yellowing around my eyes, my eye whites are grayish yellow, my undereye circles are prominent…

    These pictures are all in Dark Autumn in different lighting. The first two have no makeup except lipstick.

    Despite the yellow being a lighter color, no weird colors come to my face like they do in the orange. In the green, you can see that my eye whites are white. I do see some discoloration around my mouth, but again, I’m not a draped DA. You can see my eye color though, in all of its dimensions. It doesn’t look too blue or too green or too gray. In the last photo, I think you can really see how proper colors can enhance your natural highlights. In the wrong colors, my hair color can look a bit dull and dark. Here, it looks rich.

    Even I do end up draping as a different season, you can see the improvement. Nothing terrible is going on. We can achieve that much at home, at least.

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