Yellow

YELLOW

Good for sharing factual information, promoting conversation, sociability, family harmony

Joy, happiness, intellect, energy, inspiration

When asked to look at being happy or angry and then attributing a colour to it, Yellow was automatically the colour for happy, Red for anger.  The child was about 6 at the time.  A purely instinctive reaction, from the heart.

‘There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun’ – Pablo Picasso

It’s a colour recognised to be good for harmony – is that why we love primroses and daffodils so much in the spring?  Energy and inspiration abounds when the newness of spring approaches and I can feel it as I sit looking out to sea with the sun shining down on the golden sands.  One of my favourite memories is stopping by a field in Tuscany and absorbing the sunshine and warm energy of the sunflower fields.  Sunflowers adorn our walls and a stained glass window adds interest to the view of the neighbours’ wall!

I once heard statistics from car insurance companies that stated yellow cars were less likely to be involved in Road Traffic Incidents.  The implication was that the high visibility was effective in raising attention and thus ensuring people kept a safer distance.  Never having been a lover of yellow and particularly not yellow cars, I did wonder whether this was more to do with the distinct lack of yellow cars on the road, I can’t see any in the car park! The bright and reflective nature of high visibility clothing certainly ensures that many people are kept safer in potentially dangerous environments.

And yet, while every season has a yellow, like orange, it is another colour which is primarily the domain of the warm toned seasons, spring and autumn.  But, unlike orange, each season has a yellow – enjoy yours!  If it’s not a 2* colour, then use it for accents and complementing colour schemes.

Try these combinations for something a bit different:

Spring (warm & clear)	With anything from your palette!
Summer (cool & soft)	Primrose, Coral Red and Hyacinth
Autumn (warm & soft)	Yellow Ochre, Orange and Amber
Winter (cool & clear)	Mole, Stone and Acid Yellow

Returning from the hairdressers where people were admiring the natural blonde highlights that adorn my son’s head when the summer arrives, I recognise that many people want to replicate the blonde hair that adorns so many young heads.  Apparently, it is the change in hormone levels as we get older which causes most of us to lose the blondeness and turn darker.    I recall a very humorous moment when I was in my 20s when someone described me as having dark, curly hair – my program of me says I have blonde, I have the photo to prove it, I was 4!  

I believe everyone is lucky to have their natural colour -  what we need is learn how to choose the clothes, make-up and hair style that will show it off in its best light!  Watch as mousy grey turns to distinguished silver and ‘bleached yellow’ turns a stunning shade of honey beige purely by changing the colours of your clothes and make-up.  It is, however very personal and some are not ready to change - if that’s the case, consider temporary colour to help the transition as mentioned in an earlier blog. 

‘Without my Johnson trademark mop of yellow hair, I think I would be nothing’ – Rachel Johnson

© Tatler

It’s clearly an emotive colour, I’d love to be a fly on the wall as they get into the nitty gritty of what shade of ‘pastel’ this yellow house needs to be repainted! 

And on a practical note, thanks to a school t-shirt, I’ve learnt that yellow needs to be washed with whites to avoid it absorbing all the colours in the wash and turning grey.  

  

Your Yellows range from:	Strong to:	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Daffodil, lemon	Lemon
Summer (cool & soft)	Primrose
Autumn (warm & soft)	Old Gold,	Yellow Ochre
Winter (cool & clear)	Acid Yellow	Ice Lemon

As for lipsticks?  If in doubt, wear your red but if you aren’t wearing any point of red with your yellows, your favourite colour will harmonise well. 

Orange

ORANGE

A prime communication and meditation colour

Joy, enthusiasm, happiness, creativity, attraction, success, stimulation

Orange – a good colour for restaurants where happiness and joy in communication are fundamental to an enjoyable experience of eating out with family, friends and colleagues! Maybe this is why I feel it’s strongly associated with Retro. For communication and stimulation it appears it’s a highly appropriate choice that my colleague made on the flip charts we’ve been working on as we look at the long term future of the business. 

And while Frank Sinatra feels it is the happiest colour, it is a colour (as a Summer) that I struggle with - it’s not in my palette - the closest being Musk Pink, and, as a strong colour, has a strong reaction for me in my environment, to the extent that when I moved to a new house I needed to pull up all the marigolds in the garden and replace them with cyclamen and grape hyacinths!  Not so effective on bug control but easier on my eye!

An earlier blog I wrote connecting the colour of your mug to the flavour of your hot chocolate reported that Orange mugs produce the best tasting hot chocolate.  No mention was made regarding the research sample as to what season each of the tasters was and thus how much unconscious personal preference may have played a part!

And so I sit down with my purple mug (there wasn’t an orange one!) and consider the virtues of Orange every colour has its place and contribution to the rainbow:

‘There is no blue without yellow and without orange’ – Vincent Van Gogh

In its rightful place, it looks stunning and when I passed a colleague last week wearing an orange top, matching lipstick and a Kingfisher Poncho, I was reminded of the joys of wearing colours appropriately (to the wearer) and in complementary harmony with each other.  It was as if the light had been switched on and she was illuminated.  The hair colour, cut, make-up, trousers and boots served to support the strength of the picture frame and she was ‘In Focus’.

‘If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable – each segment distinct’ – Letty Cottin Pogrebin

The thirst-quenching fresh flavour of a fresh orange presse.

The burst of zest when my finger nail first breaks the skin of an orange or tangerine.

The juicy calmness I experience from the ripest, juiciest mango.

The warming mellow as orange merges towards rust with its comforting homeliness in soft furnishings.

Orange, as a bright, can make a fantastic accent colour – Men, if you’re an Autumn or a Spring, try it in a tie; you might be surprised at how appropriately impactful it can be when balanced with your trousers/suit/shirt combinations.  Particularly stunning against a dark brown, chocolate combination.

Ideas for introducing Orange:

Spring (warm & clear)	Aquas, Turquoises and all the neutrals – navy, browns through tan to cream etc
Summer (cool & soft)	Somewhere you can look at and enjoy it!
Autumn (warm & soft)	With Royal Purple, Apricot, Amber, Rust, and with all your Greens, browns and navy
Winter (cool & clear)	Somewhere you can look at and enjoy it!

And if Orange in its purist form is a bit strong, Autumns can soften it by moving to Amber or Rust while Springs can introduce the lighter Tangerine moving into Salmon or the stronger, deeper Terracotta.

Your Orange lipsticks range from:	Strong to:	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Terracotta	Tangerine
Summer (cool & soft)	Musk Pink is the closest but it’s not really there!
Autumn (warm & soft)	Orange, Rust, Amber,
Winter (cool & clear)	Scarlet is the closest, but it’s not really there!

Great Oranges for your Season	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn L308, L621, L648, L653	Spring  L308, L410

You can wear any colour – of course you can, but they don’t all suit you or make you look your best.  If you want to embrace the colour of orange in your life, maybe it’s about knowing it’s there rather than showing it to the world; a piece of orange fabric, orange underwear, a picture of wonderful things that are orange.  

I love pictures, photos and imagery – maybe I’ll try that!  Put it where I can look at it, rather than putting it on me and making other people look at it.   Remember, I make the colour look good (or not) as much as the colour makes me look good (or not)!

Colours for Business

I’ve just returned from our annual conference where it is always a joy to see so many people (mostly, but not exclusively women) in one place looking so amazing; confident; In Focus; happy, comfortable and enjoying how they and their colleagues look; A perfect illustration of what is possible through using House of Colour services – creating empowered, authentic and visible people.

Some of our consultants choose to expand their training to incorporate our House of Colour in Business material, enabling them to deliver bespoke or tailored workshops into the full range of business environments.  From Schools and charities, self-employed, sole traders through to SME’s and Blue chip organisations there is something relevant for everyone who has an area of their life where they want to be taken seriously.  I suspect this applies to most people out of full time education, many still in it and clearly brings homemakers and carers into the remit – don’t we all want to be taken seriously? In a blog last year, I touched on what was possible;  One of the tools to achieve this, is understanding our individual colour rating.

For clarity and to enable you to use your colour analysis effectively, at House of Colour we use the tried and tested system of splitting the colour wheel into four quarters or distinct families called seasons and we refer to them by name; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.  Each season represents a quarter of all the colours in the universe, so to further aid everyone, we identified 36 colours which represent the various points and extremes on the continuum of each season.  Evaluating these 36 colours against your unique skin tone and colouring, enables us to identify more precisely which are your best, most complementary and most flattering colours in the spectrum.   Some colours clearly work best as foundations, others as a big block, some next to your face and others provide amazing accents to punctuate and define your outfit.  This is your ‘colour rating’. 

We know just how powerful this work is if you use it but having Quality as one of our core values keeps us looking at how we can refine and enhance this offering for your benefit.  We discovered that what works best for us in our everyday lives doesn’t always serve us so powerfully in a business environment and vice versa.  Consequently, all Consultants attending our annual conference were introduced to the concept of Business Ratings as used in HOC in Business. 

What a revelation for many.  Mary (HoC Huntingdon and sometimes contributor to this blog - left) wrote a great review of her experience and discoveries in her blog and provided some great images of how the colours were working.  After 13 years, an experienced consultant there's still more to learn! 

Generally, although not exclusively, this is about using your neutrals (see table) – at the heart of our colour wheel - more powerfully. 

Autumn	Spring
·         Oyster ·         Khaki ·         Beige ·         Lizard Grey ·         Coffee ·         Camel ·         Bronze ·         Dark Brown ·         Navy	·         Cream ·         Oatmeal ·         Light Peach ·         Shell Pink ·         Dove Greys ·         Beige ·         Chocolate ·         Bright Navy ·         Oxford Blue
Winter	Summer
·         White ·         Silver ·         Greys ·         Stone ·         Mole ·         Charcoal ·         Black ·         Indigo ·         Navy	·         Winter White ·         Pink Beige ·         Dusty Pink ·         Mushroom ·         Rose Brown ·         Blue Greys ·         French Navy ·         Airforce

 .. And of course, all those shades that live in the gaps on the continuum between these colours!  (If you have any questions about this, please review your colour notebook and get in touch with your consultant, they’ll be happy to explain it to you.)

Business ratings are about using your neutrals to greatest effect; this Wyse Women article refers to neutral as a 'centred place', so next week I will expand on this with another analogy and look at the Power of Neutrals.  In following weeks, look out for entries on individual colours using the rainbow as my route guide!