The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Saturday
SPRING PALETTE
Lisa Armstrong The Telegraph’s head of fashion
Colour analysis has come a long way since I first tried it out in my 20s. Back then it was didactic: since black wasn’t in my spectrum it was absolutely verboten, which was unhelpful if most of your wardrobe happened to be, say, black (which mine, and almost everyone else’s, was at the time).
Jules is far more realistic. One of her mantras is that anything goes below the waist provided you wear the right colours close to your face. She also showed me how to pimp khaki (not in my palette) by mixing it with cream and a specific fawnbeige. I discovered French navy (soft and bluer) is more youthful on me than a dark navy that has lots of black in it. “The aim,” Jules says, “is to make the whites of your eyes look whiter, even out your skin tones and bring out the colour of your hair”.
I have blue eyes and yellowy skin. That much I knew. I didn’t realise my eyes can also look green, depending on whether I match them with green or blue clothes, and that I have peachy undertones, so if I wear foundation it should be peach-based. Red lipsticks and clothes are great for me (knew that) but they need to be warm reds, not cool.
The right shade of orange and yellow are both in my palette – who knew? The people who complimented me when I occasionally wore them, I guess. I didn’t love the spring greens Jules picked out for me. They looked sickly and unsophisticated. I prefer bottle green – but she’s right, the “sickly” spring green made my eyes and skin come alive.
STANDISH SAYS
Lisa’s blue eyes have some yellow in their colouring, which makes them appear green. The eye experiment did not cover “green eyes” specifically, but suggested that green and blue were cool colours. Lisa’s colour theory revealed she has a warm golden undertone and a complexion that can “blush”. She has the spring palette to guide her into the bright, clear shades of coral pink, tangerine, lime green, sunflower yellow and vivid red – with ivory, camel, warm grey and navy being her best neutrals. Her complexion looks wonderfully smooth and glowing in her spring colours, along with vibrant coral lipstick to complete the look.