Life in Colour - 4: Style Chat: From Shopping Tips to Hair Colour Changes Ashley answers your questions

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

In Episode 4 of Life in Colour, I’m answering your top colour and wardrobe questions! Ever wondered what to do when your perfect colours are nowhere to be found in stores? Or how to confidently use your colour palette while shopping? I’m breaking it all down, including whether a hair colour change can shift your season and tips for getting back into workwear with ease. Tune in for practical, no-fuss advice to help you feel great in your wardrobe. Want to learn more about seasonal colour analysis? Get my free Finding Your Colours Guide @ https://www.lovingcolour.au/findyourcolours Or want to know your perfect colour palette now? Purchase a Virtual Colour Analysis with me to find out exactly which colours light you up! Go to https://www.lovingcolour.au/colouranalysis Follow along on Instagram: https://instagram.com/lovingcolour__

Welcome to Life in Color, the podcast where we dive into the real, raw and wonderfully colorful aspects of life. I'm your host, Ashley, and I'm here to explore the ins and outs of seasonal color analysis, navigating motherhood, thriving in your 40s and beyond, and embracing health and wellness with a healthy dose of humor. Join me as we uncover the secrets behind finding your perfect palette, share stories of the joys and challenges of being a mum, and from practical tips to heartfelt conversations, Life in Color is your space to laugh, learn and live life unapologetically in all of its

colorful hues. So grab your favorite drink, settle in and let's add some color to this adventure that we call life. Welcome to Life in Color. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Life in Color. I am so grateful for you to be joining me again today on our fourth episode. I've had so much great feedback on the podcast so far, so thank you so so much. This week's episode is going to be a little bit different.

This week we are diving into questions that you've actually submitted to me, whether that's by email or whether you've left me a comment on one of my posts or sent me a DM. I think actually having episodes where I answer your questions directly could be a really helpful for the people that have submitted them and I can give a lot more detail. But also it just means that if you have a particular problem or style and fashion isn't your thing and you're not quite sure where to start or you know your colour part and you have a question, this is where you can get the answer. So without further ado, we're going to get into our questions. But if you have a question for me, then contact me Ashley at lovingcolor.

And color is spelt with a you. Likewise, if you'd like to come over to Instagram, it is Loving Color, double underscore, and again, color is spelled with a you. So first things first. The first question that we have was left on a post on Instagram and it was from the lovely Mel. Mel asked, what do you do when you know your colours, but there are limited items in those shade in stores. Oh, Mel, I hear your problem and I totally understand it because I do hear this quite a bit from a number of my clients and also the women in my membership. We talk about this a lot. So depending on where you are in the world, it also can depend on how much variety you have access to. For example, if you live in the US and you're listening to this or you live in the UK,

you have much bigger populations than what we do here in Australia and, for example, New Zealand. Based on that, you obviously have a number of, for example, a number of stores that you can choose from. But also, I find that the stores in those particular countries, they actually produce more colours within a range of pants or within a top or dresses, for example, because they have have the population behind it to go, you know what, we'll actually test this color. We're just going to do a really small run because obviously every time you do another color, it's quite costly. Whereas I find that here in Australia, because we're such a small population, that doesn't

necessarily happen. And each year when you have the, say, spring and summer, for example, spring and summer 25 runway collections that happen in London and New York Fashion Week, and likewise the same for autumn and winter, and they happen about, what, six months before those seasons actually hit, you have colours projected for those seasons. And obviously, you know, you have the typical in autumn, winter, you get those typical kind of autumn, earthy colours coming into summer. You might get more of the pastels. But what happens, for example, like Mel has said when you know your colours, and for example, you are a bright, and you want to wear those colours all year round,

but it's really quite hard to find them or likewise you might be one of those earthy colours and then you can't find them when you come into spring and summer. So I get that it can be really, really tricky and really challenging. So here are my recommendations and I know that I have a lovely member in my colour collective membership called Lisa and she actually responded to Mel on this post to say one of the best places to shop is op shops. and the reason to do that is because not only can you find some obviously amazing vintage vines, you can actually find there's so many places that actually they still have their tags on

because people have donated it because they haven't worn it. I wonder why they didn't wear it. That's a whole other thing. Maybe it wasn't their colour. But for whatever reason, you can find some amazing things in op shops. And I find in op shops, obviously you have a real variety of colours because they are not limited to what society has actually said is going to. going to be in stores. So op-shopping is a fantastic option. Now, I would research online,

Mel, where your nearest and best op-shops are. Obviously, I know that if you're based in Australia and you have things like the Salvation Army have it, there are a number of different places that you can go in order to find particular items. However, I also know like I'm on the northern beaches in Sydney. And I know that in Mossman, they have then more high-end secondhand clothing places in their high street as well. And I also know that there's places online that you can look at. I will find out some of the names for you and I'm going to put them in the show notes on my website. So I will link that for you. But op shopping is an absolutely fantastic place to start. another thing to do would be to shop outside your local shopping mall.

So for example, at mine, because I'm based in Australia, I have your usuals. I have your decuba and seed and witchery and what else do I have? I have a cook eye. I have a Suzanne's. I have a sports girl. So not saying there's anything wrong with that. However, if they're the only places that you go to shop, you are going to be limited. So I would recommend to shop outside of your shopping centres.

So go to the more local shopping centres, look to see if there are any boutiques. I know there's actually quite a few gift shops that even have small ranges of clothing in them. I actually know there is a lovely lady who I know a friend of mine down in Tasmania. She has a lovely store called Verde. And I know that they have beautiful gift wares, but they also have some really beautiful clothing in there too. And you're not going to find that everywhere. So when you shop at a little boutique or say you go to Berry or Bower for the weekend, there are some amazing little boutiques and places there that will stock things that are completely different to what you're going to find in your local shopping center.

So that 100% is another idea that I would suggest to you. I would then also shop online. Now I know that this can be quite controversial and people find it really daunting. But by shopping online, you are opening up being able to shop overseas. like for example, you can buy something from the US, you can buy something from the UK, and vice versa. Someone from the UK can buy something from Australia. It really, really does open up the possibilities of where you're able to source your clothing from, but also the colours that are going to be available to you.

So look online. What I would say is always look at the returns, exchanges and returns, before you shop at a new shop. And you know me, I say this quite a bit anyway. but make sure that you do that because, for example, Marks and Spencers are next. They're quite big companies. You can, in Australia, you can send those back really, really easily. If you buy from the US and say you buy from Madewell or J-Crew, I don't know how as easy that

it is, even though I have shopped with them, but I didn't send anything back. Likewise, there's another beautiful store called Cézanne. Now, they do really, really lovely colour. and they have the most beautiful shirts. Oh gosh, they were a collection ago. They were absolutely stunning. And they have so many different colours. Just bear in mind, obviously, if you're in Australia,

the Northern Hemisphere is obviously going into winter and vice versa. However, the majority of stores now have a sales tab. So if you go into that sale tab, you're going to find things from their previous spring summer season at Bowden, for example, in the UK. They've still got stuff there from their spring summer that hasn't solved. And therefore, you can get it at a discounted rate and you can wear it here in Australia in spring and summer. So there are so many different things that you can do.

Just don't be limited to shopping just at your local shopping centre because that's where you're going to find that it's just, it's too restrictive, basically. But yes, open to experimenting online is a real thing. A lot of stores do put up measurements. I used to run an e-commerce store. So I can honestly hand on heart say, I had absolutely no problem if people messaged in, said, you know what, I'm really not sure what size to get if they should have measurements. But if they don't, just email in and say, look, I'm really sure not what size to get. Can you recommend it for me? And if they've got excellent customer service,

then they should email you back and tell you which one to get. The next thing I would recommend, Mel, is be really, really specific in how you search online. So when I say that, for example, if you're looking for a, blazer, rather than just putting in blazer or women's blazer, be really specific. Are you looking for a cropped blazer or jacket? Are you looking for a single-breasted or double-breasted? What colour are you looking for? Are you looking for a teal?

Are you looking for a caramel? Are you looking for a black? Obviously, you're going to get shopping suggestions come up for you. but when you do that, they're generally going to more often than not. If you type in a blazer, they're going to give you sort of the more generic kind of colors, I guess more neutral colors. So if you're looking, for example, for a teal blazer and you're cool-toned, I would even put that in, cool, cool-toned teal blazer or cool-colored teal blazer

or women's teal blazer, women's single-breasted blazer. there are so many different things that you can do, go through all of the shopping suggestions, and then do look through the recommendations that come down the bottom as well, like underneath the shopping recommendations, because obviously shopping recommendations, some of them are sponsored, so just take that into consideration. Be really, really specific when you're searching online, I promise you, it's going to make it so much easier to get the results out. because if you literally just put in women's blazer or women's colored blazer, it's not going to bring up what you want.

So if you're looking for a pink one, for example, or a pink dress, hot pink dress, fuchsia dress, magenta dress, light pink dress, baby pink dress. There are so many different things you can do in order to really help Google understand what you are actually looking for. So that's what I would recommend to do with searching online. the last thing that I would recommend is to dye your clothes. So you can either dye clothes that you already have that you're not wearing because they're not in the right color season. Obviously it depends on the color that they are. For example, I have a mustard colored dress and I am going to dye it like a navy.

Now, I know that there are some of my members going to be, Lisa and Jill, you're going to be really proud of me with this because I have remembered that they have told me it depends on your fabric of the kind of dye that you need and how well it's going to dye. So just to have a look, obviously, at the bottles, whether you're looking at like a synthetic man-made fibre, whether it's a natural fibre, how long the dying time is, whether it's a machine washable dye, whether it is a dye that you can do in a bucket instead. I have a number of my clients actually do this.

So, A, they're actually being sustainable and reusing clothes that they already have, but also they're getting the exact colours that they're after. The other thing that you can do, if you're working. if you're wanting, say, a bright green top, you can actually just buy a white top and then dye it to the green that you're after. Obviously, if you're wanting it to be mint green, then obviously you get a mint green one, but you also wouldn't leave it in the dye as long. So there's, you know, a little bit of trial and error when it comes to something like this. I haven't quite got there yet. I am planning on it.

So I will be posting that whole experience on Instagram. So make sure you come over and follow me so that you can see whether it turns out or not. but I really think it's worth giving it a go, especially if it's something that's either just going to end up in landfill or you're going to potentially move it on, but you actually love it. It's just literally the colour. I have a cream dress. It is a cook eye dress. I absolutely love it. The colour does not absolutely love me. I take on a yellow tone when I wear it and I'm planning on dying that one navy too. So watch this space. Come over onto Instagram and see how I go when I do that. So Mel, I hope that has helped you. If you have any questions, then obviously just send me a DM and we can chat a little bit further. But otherwise, I hope that's a really good starting point. I know how frustrating it can be when you're trying to find a specific colour, but I promise keep looking. And when you see something, obviously, and you love it, then I would grab it, even if it's in an opposite season. Because you can just put it away and wait until the weather either warms up or cools down. So the next question that I had was, how do you use your colour palette

when you go shopping. So this lovely lady is actually referring to the colour palettes that I give to my clients. So when a client has a virtual colour analysis or an in-person colour analysis with me, they get their colour palettes, a digital colour palette to have on their phone. And they get 30 colours in their primary palette and they get 90 colours in their sister palettes. Now, I actually recommend for all of my clients that they actually just have their primary palette, and then their main sister palette on their phone because otherwise having, you know, having 120 colours on your phone can be a little bit overwhelming. It's not that you can't dip in and borrow from them.

You 100% can. But it would then be like, where do I start? So I'm going to take a soft autumn for an example. And if you are a soft autumn, you would have the soft autumn palette on your phone. And you would also have the sister palette of soft summer because the main characteristic but both of these seasons need is a softness and a more muted, delicate colour. So they've had more grey mixed into them to make them more muted. Really beautiful pallets, by the way.

So how do you shop with that? The tips that I would give you are, or if you, for example, you haven't had one with me and you have found a colour palette online, how do you then use that? So my biggest piece of advice that I always give, it is not about matching the fabric 100% to the swatch on your phone because you're going to be waiting a very, very long time. It is very rare to get a hundred percent match. But what I say to my clients of, are you in the vicinity of that particular colour? So for example, for someone who's a soft autumn, their greens are like a really soft olive, a really soft like apple green.

If they came up with like a deep forest green and held it up, they would see that no, nowhere is that forest green within their particular colour part. They are way off. But if they bring up an olive green and they're like, oh, I'm not quite sure. Is it in there? They need to sort of ask themselves, is it like a really deep, dark olive? Has it got a lot of yellow in it? So then it's like a real warm toned olive. Or is it just a really nice soft like olive kind of colour?

and based on that they can then determine if it's within their colour palette and then I say to them just see if it's in the realm, if it's in the vicinity of these colours, if it's way, way out, then you know it's not for you. Obviously they can check their sister palettes as well to see if it's a colour that they would like to borrow from their sister palette. But if you're just working with your primary palette, it is not about matching them completely. Now, because they are on your phone, if you have them on your phone, then I would always say to turn up the brightness on your phone.

I know it's such a small thing to say, but I know how easy it is. And also a lot of people, you know, you go into battery save or for whatever reason, your screen might not be fully up on brightness. Put the brightness up because then that will show you the colour properly. And then go through and when you're shopping, you'll be like, oh, I'm looking for that really dusky rose pink that sits within a soft autumn. I've seen this color. Oh, actually, you know what?

It looks a little bit more cool-toned. Okay, I'm going to go into my soft summer. Oh, there it is sitting in there. So that's how you use your color palettes when you're out. Now, you can also use them to create outfits. For example, if you're wanting to put a lavender and a blue together, or you're wanting to actually create an outfit where you've got multiple colors coming in or you've decided to choose a print and then you're like, okay,

when you're choosing a print, I always say go for the majority of colors that sit within your colour palette. If you're always going to get ones outside, it's very, very rare to get a print that sits 100% within your colour palette. But I would always say go for a print that is a, you know, within the realm of that you've got at least 50% or the base colour is actually within your colour palette. So that's how I would suggest to use your colour palettes when you are out shopping. Likewise, you can do that when you're shopping online because

obviously it's on your phone and you can compare and contrast. There's actually an Instagram reel on my page and a lovely client actually sent me a video of how she was using her colour palette and how she was using it to shop online. So if you're interested, hop on over and go and have a look at that one. But I hope that helps because I know that it can be a little bit daunting when you are trying to figure out how to use your colour palette, but that's where you start, start with your primary colour palette. You can dip into your then, like for example, you're a soft autumn. You can then dip into your soft summer.

But that's where I would start. Moving on to the next question, does my colour palette change if I change my hair colour? This is a really common question. So thank you so much for sending it in. Actually, I think this was Mel. She had two parts. So Mel, thank you for sending this in as well. The short answer to this is no.

it shouldn't change your colour palette in terms of your season. So if, for example, you are an autumn and you then go grey, a lot of women start to think, oh, well, because my hair is going grey and that really cool-toned grey is coming through, I must be cool-toned. No, it's literally that your greyes are coming through and grey, as we know, is a cool-toned colour. Some people obviously go white rather than a grey, there are so many varying shades of grey that there can be as well. So no, your season will always stay the same. I would say like 98% it would stay the same. There's only a little couple of caveats to that. The first one is, is that you can move around your sub-seasons a little bit. Now, I'm going to take my best friend as an example for this. So she used to be blonde.

Actually, she's had so many different hair colours and they all look amazing on her. She is warm, toned. She is a deep autumn. And up until about, I can't remember, it must have been a year or so, maybe a bit longer. She had blonde in her hair. Sometimes she was really light blonde. And so the colors of soft autumn really, really suited her. And now this is before we actually did color analysis. And they really, really suited her. Then she decided to go more of a brunette kind of color. And again, a big change, look really, really lovely. We then did her colors and discovered that she was actually a deep autumn, which is why the deeper colour suited her. And then she actually added a warmer, readier, richer kind of brown into her hair,

which just brought everything together. It looked, looks, I should say, phenomenal. She looks so beautiful. It's not that the blonde didn't suit her. It's just that she is a deep autumn. And therefore that is her sweet spot. So being in the deep autumn colour palette, Having hair that is rich on her suits her so much better.

The blonde probably, in hindsight, washed her out a little bit. She could still wear their soft autumn colours and still they're within a sister palette. So don't forget that she didn't change from being in autumn. It's more that by moving into deep autumn, which is 100% her colour palette, she just, she has that depth and richness in her eyes, in her hair, with the colours that she now wears. everything just harmonizes beautifully together. She dips into her sister palette of deep winter,

because that's a sister palette to deep autumn. I know it's complicated, and I will do my, probably my next episode is going to be going through all of the technicalities on that, because I know it's complicated, but she looks amazing in black. Not all deep autumns do, but she does. She looks phenomenal in black,

and it's because of the contrast between her eyes, her hair, her skin tone, and then the deep, rich colours that she's wearing. So you can change your hair colour, your season won't change. Even if you changed your hair colour, say she changed her hair colour to something like mine. Mine has a very light, cool-toned blonde. It would do nothing for her. It wouldn't suit her at all.

However, her season wouldn't change because she's a deep autumn. She's warm-toned. That doesn't change just because she's changed her hair colour. So in relation to your hair colours, just really briefly, if you're a blonde, then cool, and you're cool-toned, then cool-toned hair blonde is going to suit you more. Like, say it's got a little bit more ash in it, or it's just that Scandinavian kind of blonde. Whereas somebody who's warm-toned and they're a blonde, it's that more honey kind of blonde. It's golden.

It's just, it's sun-kissed. It's really, really beautiful. I cannot wear that kind of blonde. And any time my hair goes that kind of, or used to start to go that, I hated it. And it was because it just clashed with me and did absolutely nothing for me. So even if you change your hair colour into something that's the complete opposite, your season will not change. Likewise, if you're a brunette and you're cool-toned,

those really cool browns are going to suit you really, really well. Whereas if you're warm-toned and a brunette, then you're going to find the richer browns, the real chestnuts, the really rich kind of chocolates, even with a hint of red in there, that's what's going to suit you a little bit better. So I hope that helps a little bit to do with that. Likewise, if you have any questions on this, just send me a DM or send me a message.

Hair colour can be really, really tricky. But I did actually have a client message me. Actually, the other day, I need to check in with her because she was having her hair done today. And she thought she was cool-toned, and so she's got really cool hair, and she's actually moving it a little bit to be a little bit more warm because she's actually warm tones.

So I cannot wait to see. Hair color does come into it. We talk about makeup. We talk about clothes. But hair color 100% comes into it. So it can just be a very slight alteration of what your hairdresser does and obviously have a chat with them about it, about either making it ever so slightly warmer, ever so slightly cooler

or even just a little bit more in more neutral. So yeah, I hope that's helpful. But if you have any questions on hair color, then just let me know Mel or anybody else and I'm always happy to help. Now, on to the very last question. This one's not to do with colour. This is a style question. So the question from Laura was, I'm going back to work and I have no idea what I should

be wearing. I haven't been in the workforce for 15 years and I don't know where to start. Oh, Laura, there are so many women like you. And I so understand it. So I'm not sure if you work from home or if you've got a mix of office and home. So I'm going to do both. I'm going to imagine that sometimes you're in the office and sometimes that you can work from home. So first things first, go through your wardrobe and see what you used to wear or what you feel could potentially work.

So I would always recommend that if somebody's going back to work, you want a really nice pair of tailor pants, whether that be, obviously, depending on your colours. But I'm going to take colours for this particular question. I'm just going to take them out for a second. You just want to have a really good pair of tailor pants. So whether that's black, navy, grey, chocolate, khaki, caramel, tan. You want a nice pair of tailor pants because then you can put so many blouses, shirts, tops, tanks with it.

I think having a tailored pair of pants is essential. and it doesn't have to be, obviously, I don't know your budget. It doesn't have to be expensive. You can get some really lovely tailor pants at Target. You can also get some great ones like off Marks and Spencers. They have a fantastic range and they have really good returns. So you can go to the Marks and Spencers AU site for that. In terms of, I would say, to have a shirt.

Now, I've talked before about linen shirts, depending on how smart, how casual your office is, A lovely linen shirt could work for you, especially if you're working from home. A linen shirt with a pair of jeans could work or a denim skirt could work really, really nicely if you're working from home. But you could get a really nice shirt to go with those pants. You'd like to have probably a blazer because you can wear that with jeans or you can wear that with a pair of tailored pants or a skirt. I would also say to have a really great dress. So there are some dresses by a brand called cachette.

Now, obviously, again, they have quite warm-based colors and deep and rich kind of colors. So this is just an example. It's not based on color palette. They're a really fantastic dress because they give a little bit of coverage on the arms. They're quite high. It's like it's not a scoop. It's higher than a scoop. Neckline.

So you don't have to worry depending on what you're doing if you're bending over or, you know, that someone will be able to look down your top. They have two lengths. They have like a long one, a maxi, and then they have an above the knee. But they're both really lovely lengths, and they just skim over your body. So you could wear some shapewear underneath if you're more self-conscious. But that's a really lovely, easy dress to wear because you know what? You can put a belt with that.

You could then put a blazer over the top of it. You could put a denim jacket over the top of it. You could put a trench coat over the top of it. There are so many different things. you could wear a pair of ballet shoes with it, you could wear some sandals, you could wear a pair of full high heels with it. So finding a really versatile, easy dress, it's going to be comfortable and not crush and crease when you sit down. I think there's nothing worse when you sit down, and then everything's completely crushed. Obviously, linen pants have more of a tendency to do

that. That's where I would start. I really think having just a basis to your wardrobe and then just some tops. So a lot of rib tops out that you can then that are tight and then you can tuck into a skirt. So those pont kind of skirts, you know, they're really nice, which are more of your pencil kind of skirt, depending obviously on your body shape. But then you can get some really nice A-line skirts as well. And get it in a color that when you're first starting out, I would go probably for one of your neutrals because then you can wear so many different color tops with it. And then you can put either a tank kind of top with it, if it's more casual. You can put a shirt with it. You could put a blouse with it. There are so many different things that you can do. In addition to that,

I would also recommend that you have nice cardigan or, because officers can get really cold. So having a really nice cardigan that you can just pop over the top when you're sitting at the desk if you don't feel like wearing your jacket is a really great option to have for layering. And then likewise, depending most officers do let jeans at some point during the week or whether you're working from home a really nice pair of jeans because and I find that depending on again on your color season but if you go for sort of a darker wash and I'm not talking like the midnight dark washes that are out there they can look a bit smarter than the lighter washes so if you're wanting to look a bit smarter in jeans then I would go for a darker wash like a mid to a darker wash

And then you can dress those up like a gene. You can dress that up with a strappy heel. You can put on a nude heel. You can put a wedge on with it. Use your accessories to change these outfits. So say you've got your pants, a skirt, a dress, a blazer, and then you've got a variety of tops. Use earrings, bangles, scarves, bags, shoes, belts.

All of these things can change up those outfits. You can even put a shirt on top of a tank top. so then it becomes something a little bit different again. So there are so many different ways that you can change up the same items. Again, makeup, different kind of lipstick. You wear a nude lipstick with, say, a white shirt and a pair of jeans or you put a bright red lipstick on. It's a completely different look, completely different effect.

And it's literally just by changing the color of your lipstick. So that's where I would start. Don't buy too many things at once until you have refound your style of how you want to look and work when you're working because it is about rediscovering that style. When you've been out of the workforce for so long, I think there's even a transition to when you have small kids to them when you become a mum of teens that you're not suddenly at the park all the time and therefore you can wear different things. You can wear those white jeans or those white pants because you don't have to worry

about grubby little fingers with jam coming up over you. There are so many different things to take into account. So start with that kind of basic wardrobe. and then work your way up from there. You can also put like a Paschamina over the top if you don't want to use a cardigan and pick a color in that because then it will be like a contrast

to the neutrals that you have. So Laura, that would be my recommendation for if you're going back to work and you've got no idea what to wear. Don't feel that you have to follow trends. You know me. I am not about that. Find items that you really like and then just work from there.

And bit by bit, you'll start to build up that work wardrobe again and find what really suits you and what you enjoy wearing, what you feel comfortable wearing in. You may find, I know clients who have got the same dressing in quite a few different colours because it's really easy for them to wear. And they just love it and they just change it up with accessories and maybe a different colour jacket on it. So I hope that's helpful. Thank you so much everybody for joining me this week on this episode of Life in Color. I have absolutely loved chatting to you. If you have any questions for me and you'd like me to answer them in the next Ask Ashley,

then please feel free to email me at Ashley at LovingColor and that's Color with you. So Ashley at LovingColor.com or hop on to my Instagram, come over there and follow me at Loving Color Double underscore. Otherwise, take care. Have a great week and I will catch you next Tuesday. Take care. Bye.