Do you really know what colour suits you?

Iam64 hee-hee camel it is then [although they have dreadful teeth and spit don't they?]I know just what you mean about those expensive camel coats, I always wanted one too. About 2 years ago I tried one on....... OMG I looked like my Grandma, and not only that, but the colour was hideous near my face, even a scarf wouldn't have redeemed it. Do try one on yourself and see if you like it, but I bet you won't.

I shall do that roses, as there are sales to have a snoop around. I realise there is no hope for me, because despite agreeing with your description of camels, I do rather admire them. Love watching their superior facial expressions, and their peculiar gate.

Just don't open that peculiar gate and let them out into the road Iam64 or there may be consequences!

Ok roses, enough already, I just spluttered over my toast reading your last comment. I'll lock up the camels, never call any item of clothing I buy Beige again and get ready to walk the dogs again. Every off lead walk currently results in both dogs needing a shower, mud magnets and the north west countryside seems to be slowly morphing into mud fields.

Having had a mum with little fashion sense I did not have a clue about what to wear until I went with four friends to a "colour consultant."

It really was very good. She hung a white cover over your shoulders and then held the various colour ranges up to your face. This gave a very clear idea how different ranges of colours looked with regard to your individual skin tones. After a couple of us had done we could all see how it was working for the others. The right colour for you, really makes a difference.

I go best with reds on the blue side of the spectrum and not Orangey reds. Bright whites instead of creamy whites. Don't come anywhere near me with yellow, orange, limey greens or browns.

The colours were rated for you by your friends and the consultant, with ideas on what proportions of particular colours you should wear.

All four of in the session had different "colour seasons" as they put it. We all got our monies worth from that.

I will refrain from advertising on here which company it was but we all felt our consultant was very good. Pm me if you want more info.

The trouble with holding a garment up to your face and looking in a mirror in a shop is that the lighting is a far cry from daylight so the colour will not show up properly, and neither will your face's reaction to it.

For the most part I'm better with a mixture of colours than with large swathes of one, and the colours that do suit me now are a softer version of what suited me thirty years ago.

I still think Carol Whatshername's 'seasonal' approach in Colour Me Beautiful is the best guide. As roses mentions in the OP, your skin tone is what's important when choosing what will suit you. The inside of your wrist should tell you if you have a pinkish or a yellowish underlying skin tone. Works for me anyhow.

PS Fashion is irrelevant in my view. If you wear clothes that suit you, you'll look good, and probably better than a lot of people who are guided only by what's currently fashionable but which, by definition, won't suit everyone.

Can't do the 'inside of wrist test Bags too veiny so mine has a bluey/greeny tint!
My colour palette is the same as yours Nellie altho I can wear very dark browns. I'm a 'winter' person, despite the fact that I am a sun worshipper and dislike dull grey winter days

I know what doesn't suit me....Pink makes me look as though I've just been dug up!

thatbags you are right about needing to be near daylight rather than shop lighting [which drains you anyway] but the best you can do sometimes is the nearest mirror test. I have been known to ask shop assistants to let me look at a colour by the door [don't want the alarms going off!]Also a good idea to have a patterned top as you say, which gives a 'softer ' effect than all one colour.Generally speaking, yes, paler shades of the colours that suited you years ago, will suit you now.If you love purple [but it doesn't love you back] buy a skirt or trousers in that colour, it's only the top colour that matters, near your face.

I had my colours done a couple of years ago. I am an autumn and look good in browns reds oranges coral turquoise dark green gold and pistachio. Some grey.Cream rather than white navy rather than black which I knew I looked awful in anyway and now only wear for funerals. I did wear pale blue and some pink before but was told they were bad colours for me. I had mine done in London by a firm called Red Leopard. It was a birthday treat organised by my daughters. They also advised you on makeup especially what lipstick shades to wear. I don,t always wear makeup on days I don,t have to go to work but rarely leave the house without a dash of lipstick. I have had many more compliments since I,ve worn the right colours as opposed to before so think there must be something in it. My eldest daughter also had hers done, we are similar but she is a bright autumn and can wear slightly different shades to me. It was great fun and very interesting to do.

I just wear colours I feel good and relaxed in; pale turquoise, purple, dark blue, grey and quite a lot of black. I used to wear a lot of white and dark red in my relative youth, but now they make me appear deceased . Obviously over the years as skin tone and hair colour change, so do the colours which suit. I don't feel I need to be told what colour to wear, but just go with how I feel. If it's wrong, then too bad!

I thought I did but now that all exposed parts are verging on the colour of well-seasoned wood – just walking about not lying sunbathing – I'm not so sure. Absentdaughter is my personal advisor and shopper – she'll sort me out.

wow absent you obviously don't live in this damp island [ Britain]! My exposed bits are more the colour of well seasoned fungi [that grows on an old log in the damp wood,] and seen to their best advantage in the dark with a light behind them.