The Colour Properties of Black Every colour has three properties. Value, undertone and intensity. Every colour palette also has these three properties as well. The colours that harmonise with your own colouring are the ones in your colour palette (if you’re not sure of your palette you can find out with my 7 Steps to…
I’m off to Manila in the Philippines tomorrow for the Association of Image Consultants International South East Asia conference. I’m speaking at the conference on blogging, so have to have something that is suitable to stand up in front of a critical audience. There will be a gala dinner, other conference events and then I’m…
Contrast – both colour contrast and value contrast can be quite tricky concepts to grasp. Once you see it you can’t go back, but learning to see what is and isn’t working and understanding why can sometimes take a little time. I’ve explained how to figure out your contrast levels in this post – with…
A Guide to Mastering Value Contrast Have you ever been drawn to a stunning pattern, only to find that it somehow overwhelms your look, rather than enhancing it? What I’ve learned over the past 20 years working with clients doing personal colour analysis and finding the best ways of putting each individual client’s colours together,…
Reader Question: My biggest issue right now is finding age-appropriate clothes that I LOVE. I’m 55 and (based on your quiz) I’m a Classic style and I do like to always have a “put together” look, but that is getting hard to do. I don’t want to look like my 27-year-old daughter, but I also…
I have spent part of today packing my bags for the AICI conference in Orlando Florida which starts Thursday this week. I’m on the plane to LA first thing in the morning and looking forward to leaving some very wintery weather in Melbourne for some lovely spring weather in the USA! My method in packing…
A commonly asked question is what to wear to a funeral or memorial service? It used to be that black was the only appropriate funeral attire. These days funerals are not as formal as they once were, and colours other than black are usually appropriate. Unless there has been a request for bright colours as…
What makeup do you regularly apply and use? For some women the answer is none! For others, it spans the gamut of available makeup products. I was asked to share my makeup essentials. I wear makeup every day, a foundation (either a liquid or a mineral powder, depending on how “made up” I want to…
What makeup do you regularly apply and use? For some women the answer is none! For others, it spans the gamut of available makeup products. I was asked to share my makeup essentials. I wear makeup every day, a foundation (either a liquid or a mineral powder, depending on how “made up” I want to…
This week in the style video bundle you get more than 65 minutes of colour and style tips based on the questions I get asked by you, my readers! Totally bingeworthy! If you want to watch the videos live – head over to my Facebook page and join me there to get notified when I’m…
Reader Question from the Lovely La Belette Rouge who recently lost almost her entire shoe wardrobe : What shoes do I need when you are rebuilding a shoe wardrobe? I am thinking of starting with black riding boots, animal print flats, plain black pumps and a loafer. I have ballet flats(5 pairs), black high oxfords,…
Could you talk a bit about the use of neutrals with signature colors – specifically neutrals other than black? I’m a pale strawberry blond with green-flecked blue eyes, and greenish-blue and pink are both wonderful colors on me. But what neutrals should I pair with these? I adore black and wear it all the time.…
How do you make a choice about the very best neutrals for you? You can choose black because that is freely available in every clothing store around the world. That’s the easy way …. but it’s definitely not necessarily the best way for you, nor will it potentially be your most flattering choice. In fact,…
Today I was talking on the phone to someone in Queensland (a hotter part of Australia) about a new and exciting product just on the market (I’ll share that with you soon), and she said she’d send me one, did I want white or black? Then she said, I assume black for you, not because…
I love being inspired by my blog readers styles. I met the author, Lisa of this blog post in Chicago a couple of years ago at an Evolve Your Style lunch and think that her style is inspirational for many who want to become more creative in how they put together their outfits. I asked…
What is a neutral? Basically, we define most neutrals as colours that are ‘off the colour wheel‘ – as in we don’t give them a name of the rainbow colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet) so we’re talking grey, brown, white, black, tan, camel etc. These are bascially the non-colours. They are created by…
Metscan mentioned that she wanted to know what I packed and wore at the AICI conference in Sydney over the weekend. I spent 4 days in Sydney, the weather wasn’t great, though the forecast for Monday was sunny and mid 20s (that’s something like 80F). So I’ve done a quick Polyvore on the floor of…
Night, that time after dusk, when the sun has gone down, colours fade as the cones in our eyes, which are the colour receptors, can’t distinguish colour well in low light. Only the rods in our eyes work well at night and they can distinguish blue, but not other colours. So at nighttime, you can…
Reader Question: “How to choose neutrals other than black, even though it doesn’t suit my personality and I find it harsh I tend to go there all the time. I find it hard to find greys that go together as there are so many different shades. What are some of the smart solutions for combining…
We’ve all heard them—those so-called “fashion rules” that claim to dictate what we should and shouldn’t wear. “Don’t mix black and navy.” “Only wear certain colours at certain ages.” “Avoid horizontal stripes if you’re not a size 8.” But as fashion continues to evolve, so too should our approach to these outdated style limitations. After…
I do have another question. The first time I ever saw your blog was in a post about visually framing your outfits–matching your shoes to your hair. This was another epiphany! I am a very visual person, and this makes so much sense to me. I have blond hair. Does this mean I should never…
