What about this earth, fire, ice, air?

[cooki801]

Oh yeah, and as for my eyes if you happen to see the new Clarisonic ad in the magazines there is a picture of someone's eyes that are remarkably like mine are but mine have slightly less brown and a bit more teal-ish blue on the rim of the colored part.

[cooki801]

Another picture that I think shows my eyes much clearer and a better idea of my hair color. The wind kept blowing so it's not great. Brown (warm or cool?) jacket and green (what I would probably call a bright olive or dark peridot)

and a white background. This time in the shade.

[laurspag]

cooki801, dark browns can sometimes just look black like in a picture. I have that problem when I try to photograph it as well. I'd love to see the picture without the jacket, just in case! The shirt you are wearing is perfect for me, an earth. :D

 

I think Anita may be able to figure this out better than me.

[tizzylizz]

Anita and MJC...thank you so much for the photo taking tips...I will try again in the next few days.

 

and now I am looking at clothing in a whole different way.

 

Me too! I really find this quite interesting!

[MicheMommy]

This is fascinating to learn about! I was looking at the blog posted and I'm pretty positive I'm "warm" but can't figure out if I'm Fire or Earth. I'm leaning toward Fire. But the color swatches for fire are missing (at least they wouldn't load for me). Anyone have another link to them or have the graphic saved somewhere? I would love to see the colors to help me figure out what I am. I'm thinking about taking a few pictures to help figure it out, but I want to be sure that I know that the colors I wear for the pictures fall into the right categories.

[snowbirds2]

The page worked for me - try again with the link:

 

http://fireiceearthandair.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/fire/

 

I do have the colour palette saved but not sure how to upload it here!

[MicheMommy]

Thank you! I was on a different page where the palette wouldn't show up, but that page is even better because it combines everything in one.

 

After being able to see the color swatches, I'm really thinking I'm a fire, but I'm still going to take some pictures just to be sure. But the colors in the fire swatches are usually the colors I'm wearing when people say things like "That shirt looks good on you" or "You look really good in that color."

[MicheMommy]

Okay, so I took a bunch of pictures, but I was using the timer on my camera, so they're not all very focused on me since it was originally focusing on the blank wall when I pressed the button. And then the collage software I used softened them up even more. But...what do you all think? Earth or Fire? Or neither? I'm not sure I can even tell a difference really.

 

I'm wearing:

3 different colored blues - aqua, bright teal, and a muted blue

2 different pinks - coral and dusty rose, though they look very similar in the photos, they're not really

Black and brown

White and cream

 

(PS - my hair is about half wet/half dry since I did these just after showering and I hadn't dried my hair)

[MicheMommy]

Oh wow - that pictured turned out horrible once I uploaded it. Let me see about getting better pics up.

[MicheMommy]

Here they all are individually. I don't have a way to group them that doesn't lower the quality so much that they're terrible. Sorry for the picture overload!

[fischymom]

I am an earth. My hair is colored in this picture, but it is not far off from the natural color. It's just a bit redder here.

 

In this picture, I am actually wearing an ivory and gold dress, which was a decent choice. However, see how my hair washes me out?

 

I happen to love this picture, but the tones are off.

 

You look amazing in the top pic!! The hair color and the scarf really made you pop. I have never looked that much into what season or part of nature I am, so to see the difference really is amazing. Accourding to the websites I should be Ice. I am going to have to do more digging and see what I can find out about this.

[Anita Latte]

MicheMommy...this is not picture overload. This is exactly the kind of thing that you need to do. It isn't the analysis of any ONE picture that helps to determine your element...it is comparing the effect of different colors on your skin (more than anything else) that determines which family of colors is creating the desired effect...that is healthy, even skin, etc.

 

These pictures are telling a story but they would tell a better story if we could see JUST your face and shoulders. The close up of your face so that we could REALLY see what is happening with your skin and also what happens to your eyes...and your shoulders so that we can tell what color you are wearing.

 

Based on this offering of photos...I would lean toward FIRE for you. I think you are warm, the cream and the brown are better than the black and white...I don't think this is influenced TOO much by the warm background...but it's hard to say. Your skin really starts to glow in the coral and the first two blue shirts. And this is why I would but on FIRE. The real test would be to wear a distinctive EARTH color (rust, army green, mustard, or something that you KNOW is a warm muted color) and retake the coral and the first two blues with your face and shoulders being the focus. When we see those side by side, then YOU will also be able to see the difference.

[MicheMommy]

Thanks Anita - I'll see what I can do about taking some more pictures. I'll try holding the camera at arm's length to get a closer, more in focus shot. The funny thing is, now that I think about it, I'm not sure I have many of the warm muted colors in my closet - which is maybe another indication that I'm more FIRE than earth.

 

I'm so supposed to be doing dishes and changing diapers right now instead of this. :P

[Anita Latte]

MicheMommy...yes...the fact that you don't have many warm muted clothing could be an indication. After I found out I was EARTH, I was a bit amazed at how most of my favorite clothes were at least muted, if not warm.

 

LOL about the dishes and diapers.

[gsc500]

Very interesting topic!!!

 

I'm a lazy bum. Too lazy to change into a bunch of outfits much less take pictures of myself. But I love seeing everyone else's pictures! And I spent quite a bit of time on my butt reading the blogs linked here. Lol.

 

"Generally," would you say typical Asian women are ICES? I was looking at ALL the examples on the blog website and it "seemed" that all the Asians were ICE except for this one girl that looked more Hawaiian or Eurasian with sun kissed skin and hair.

 

I think based on what I read and what I think looks good on me, I'm probably an ICE along with a large percentage of the Asian population. Haha. No wonder all the Asians I know and grew up with only wore black. :eek:

 

I am guilty as charged but as I got older steared away from as much black because of the stereotype. I actually moved to more browns instead.

 

After I read the blog I chose a black top to take my passport renewal picture in and I think it came out pretty good. :D

 

Obviously, not Asians look alike or have the same skin tones, but given i'm a pale Chinese girl, I mean woman, with dark brown hair and eyes (some people say I look more Korean than Chinese though), would you say my chances of being an ICE a higher probability?

 

Thanks!

[tizzylizz]

Oh, I have been pretty busy the last several days so I haven't had a chance yet to do pictures of my self and I don't see it happening at least until maybe this weekend...BUT, enjoyed looking thru some of the recent links posted!

 

Michemom...I think the brown/cream look better on you too...I'm so glad Anita thought the same thing! I'm all new to this and am having a hard time seeing what colors look better. Now, the blue colors You wore...I'm still having a hard time with, but, the more I study this maybe I'll get it soon.

 

I find myself 'studying' people and trying to decide if they are wearing the right colors (muted vs. clear).

[MicheMommy]

Eventually I'll get some better pictures taken and up with some EARTH/FIRE comparisons. It's been a crazy couple of days just from busy-ness and then the washer had to go and die on me. :P

[MJC]

"Generally," would you say typical Asian women are ICES? I was looking at ALL the examples on the blog website and it "seemed" that all the Asians were ICE except for this one girl that looked more Hawaiian or Eurasian with sun kissed skin and hair.

 

Obviously, not Asians look alike or have the same skin tones, but given i'm a pale Chinese girl, I mean woman, with dark brown hair and eyes (some people say I look more Korean than Chinese though), would you say my chances of being an ICE a higher probability?

 

Thanks!

 

I'm glad you asked this question, I've been curious about it as well. As I work on colors for myself, I find that I'm paying more attention to what other people are wearing too. I have many Asian students so I'm going to pay more attention to who's wearing what, and what looks good on them. We have a lot of hip kids from Seoul and they like black, just like us New Yorkers. Does that mean that they are ALL ice, though?

 

It is my understanding that in some cultures, color can carry symbolic significance and that may override what one individual might choose to wear simply because it is a flattering color (like red for weddings, or white for funerals, or pink and blue being respectively feminine and masculine).

 

If you are ICE I'm jealous, because you have the easiest time shopping, and you get to wear all that classic black & white.

[Bonnie Voyager]

Just wanted to throw this out there to the gals who are trying to figure out their palette...Don't forget about the "other" cool color palette....SUMMER (or "Air" if you are using Curt's system). Just because black and white are ruled out and you look better in the brown/creams, does not necessarily mean you are warm toned. I was convinced that I was a Spring/Fire too, because black is awful for me and brown/cream is "better". And I loved the colors of the Spring/Fire palette and tended to stick with those colors in my wardrobe....but thanks to Curt, I was eventually diagnosed as a Summer/Air!!! Turns out I had the colors correct, but I was wearing the warm versions instead of the cool versions. It was a minor correction that had a major impact for me! :D But anyway, good luck to you all in your color journey! It really does make shopping simple when you know your colors!

[snowbirds2]

I'm a (light) summer/air too and have had a hard time wrestling myself away from those "popping" Spring/Fire colours which I love! (Well I did succumb to a few!) I always complain how hard it is to find clothes in the "Air" palette which was my excuse for going warmer! At least this season there seems to be some raspberry out there. In my next life I want to be an Ice and have a wardrobe of LBD's!!

 

Love the discussions here - found the original (?) colours thread yesterday ("What season are you?" started by laurspag 2009!) and spent way too much time reading through some of it! I have my fabric swatches from years ago but am thinking of getting Curts colour cards as well as he has some other shades not in my original little booklet.

 

Did a wardrobe purge last week. Threw out the black "funeral" jacket I'd been holding on to because it was "appropriate" even though it made me look as if I was next in line! Got to get bold and prune out some more clothes and get back on track. I was being lured in by marketing (and getting a bit desperate to find something!) even though I knew they weren't my colours. Now I know to plan ahead so I never have to go through that that grab and go last minute "special occasion" purchase. Back to the "be prepared" motto!

[Bonnie Voyager]

I'm a (light) summer/air too and have had a hard time wrestling myself away from those "popping" Spring/Fire colours which I love! (Well I did succumb to a few!) I always complain how hard it is to find clothes in the "Air" palette which was my excuse for going warmer! At least this season there seems to be some raspberry out there. In my next life I want to be an Ice and have a wardrobe of LBD's!!

 

Love the discussions here - found the original (?) colours thread yesterday ("What season are you?" started by laurspag 2009!) and spent way too much time reading through some of it! I have my fabric swatches from years ago but am thinking of getting Curts colour cards as well as he has some other shades not in my original little booklet.

 

Did a wardrobe purge last week. Threw out the black "funeral" jacket I'd been holding on to because it was "appropriate" even though it made me look as if I was next in line! Got to get bold and prune out some more clothes and get back on track. I was being lured in by marketing (and getting a bit desperate to find something!) even though I knew they weren't my colours. Now I know to plan ahead so I never have to go through that that grab and go last minute "special occasion" purchase. Back to the "be prepared" motto!

 

I did my wardrobe purge over a year ago but only recently found my replacement for the "LBD"!!!! :D It is a beautiful smokey-gray sequined cocktail dress! I feel great in it! It is now my "go to" dressy dress.

 

When I first found out I was a Summer/Air, I thought I was limited to nothing but boring pinks and powder-blues, but quite the contrary, I can wear pretty much ANY color out there as long as I select the cool-muted version. I even found a stunning RED bathing suit in my Summer tone! :)

[gsc500]

I'm glad you asked this question, I've been curious about it as well. As I work on colors for myself, I find that I'm paying more attention to what other people are wearing too. I have many Asian students so I'm going to pay more attention to who's wearing what, and what looks good on them. We have a lot of hip kids from Seoul and they like black, just like us New Yorkers. Does that mean that they are ALL ice, though?

 

It is my understanding that in some cultures, color can carry symbolic significance and that may override what one individual might choose to wear simply because it is a flattering color (like red for weddings, or white for funerals, or pink and blue being respectively feminine and masculine).

 

If you are ICE I'm jealous, because you have the easiest time shopping, and you get to wear all that classic black & white.

 

Lol. I guess since I am also a New Yorker my propensity for black is even GREATER. ;)

 

I was lazy about "trying on clothes" so I spent an evening tripping down memory lane looking at old pictures of myself and what colors I looked good and bad in.

 

Well, what do you know? In 70% of my pictures, I was in BLACK and 98% of the pictures where I thought I looked GREAT, I was in black.

 

That can be because black is slimming too! Haha!

 

The other colors that I thought looked better on me were red and a dark purple color.

[Anita Latte]

I am beginning to wonder if I am a Fire not Earth?

I read the explanation over again and I don't have the dark green eyes but lighter green. I wish I knew the names of the celebs on the website so that I could Google them and see other pictures LOL I am so un-hip! LOL

I would love to get a personal consultation but it isn't in the budget at this time.

Anyone, can you give me a few more details on what differentiates Fire from Earth? It seems they are the same excepts for lighter eyes and general coloring?

 

Cooki...there is actually only ONE major detail that differentiates FIRE from EARTH. It has to do with the way that light/color interacts with your skin.

 

Mom (FIRE) and I (EARTH) have very similar coloring. I grew up hearing over and over again..."I stole her blonde hair"...Mom used to have the most beautiful blonde hair...but I TOOK it from her...and NOW...

 

MY SON STOLE MY BLONDE HAIR!!

 

And my hair is about as dark as Mom's was when I was 11-years old...

 

When I was younger, I held my hair over Mom's hair and the two colors blended together seamlessly...you couldn't tell whose hair was whose...Mom has decided to really go RED with her hair these days...so our hair looks totally different from each other now...but when Mom's hair is natural...our hair still blends.

 

We both have similar green-ish eyes...

 

The main difference between us is...for what of a better description...the THICKNESS of our skin...you could say that EARTH has thick skin and FIRE has thin skin. You can see what I mean in the following photograph...compare our faces...my skin tone looks like a CLOUDY, overcast day compared to Mom's CLEAR, sunshine skin:

 

 

This photo illustrates the fact that EARTH people have more opaque skin...I was calling it "thicker"...but really, it is just that light/color doesn't penetrate through the natural coloring/quality of the skin...if EARTH wears a clear, bright color, it absolutely overwhelms their natural coloring...if EARTH wears a muted color, their natural skin tone shines through...you can see this effect in the following two photos. The left is a clear, bright coral, which totally overwhelms my natural coloring...and the right is a muted orange, which lets my natural coloring shine through. [edited to add: If you look closely, you can see the culprit that STOLE my blonde in the left photo...his hair is totally blending into the color of the fence...]

 

 

FIRE people have more translucent skin...I was calling it "thinner"...but really, it is just that light/color DOES penetrate and provides some much needed coloring...if the color is too muted, then the skin does get the added boost of color that it really needs...and it can look gray. Mom goes gray more than any other FIRE we have seen...you can see this effect in the following two photos. The left is a muted, EARTH green print and the right is a clear, FIRE green. The photos were literally taken within minutes of each other...you can see how GRAY Mom's looks in EARTH:

 

 

So, Cooki...there isn't any other hard and fast way to define FIRE v. EARTH...there are always exceptions to the "rules"...and so you have to experiment with taking the photographs to see how your skin reacts to color...to see if you have "thick" or "thin" skin.

[cooki801]

I noticed on your two comparison photos that the background didn't look the same in both pictures. I assume that the camera is adjusting for color?

I wonder if you have a setting that could allow you to turn off the color adjustment feature?

I can see definite differences in the way your skin looks in the different colors but just wonder about the camera settings...so complicated.

In comparing you and your mother's coloring her skin is the kind I often think of as been red-head's or strawberry blonde skin coloring. I am thinking more and more that I might just be fire after all! LOL

thanks for all the examples and helping me out with this.:D

[Anita Latte]

Yes...the backgrounds are different in the photos because the camera is making adjustments because the camera lens CAN see that the subject matter isn't harmonious.

 

Most point and shoot cameras will make these adjustments...my camera does not have a manual setting...I don't know about my Dad's camera. My photos are self portraits taken with my camera in Texas. Mom's photos were taken by my Dad with his camera in Arizona. There are several examples on Curt's blog where his camera does the exact same thing. Actually, these adjustments are very helpful for those of us that can't otherwise see the effects of color because the adjustments help to highlight the idea that the face and shirt that are focus of the photo aren't harmonious.

 

My pleasure to offer these examples.