Wearing the right colours can transform your appearance, enabling you to look and feel younger and healthier. Colour counsellor Jules Standish explains how to find out the right hue for you
Wearing the right colours can transform your appearance, enabling you to look and feel younger and healthier. Colour counsellor Jules Standish explains how to find out the right hue for you
Throughout your life, from birth to old age, you will be surrounded by many colours to choose from, but how do you really know which enhance your personality and are in harmony with your individual colouring? What shades will give you the therapeutic benefits physically and emotionally that will make you look and feel younger and healthier ?
It was Hippocrates who first established the four ‘humours’ or ‘temperaments’, and how they affect our skintones. Many great psychologists, including Jung and Steiner, have since written about the temperaments and their impact on our personalities .
By asking some simple personality questions you can find out what your temperament is. You can determine whether you are a ‘sunny sanguine’, a ‘patient phlegmatic’, a ‘dynamic choleric’ or an ‘introverted melancholic’.
The personality questionnaire below is taken from the Colourflair system, a holistic method of colour analysis, which involves examining your personality, the colour of your eyes and the effects of colour draping on your skin. However, for the purposes of this article, we will just focus on the personality test. The results will help you to identify your temperament and the colours associated with it.
Read each set of questions and give yourself one point for each ‘yes’ answer, zero for ‘no’ and a half for ‘sometimes’.
Add up the scores and make a note of which set gave you the highest score. Then turn to the results sdection to find out your temperament and the colours that suit you best!
True colours
Discovering your true colours can be powerful as they have the ability to affect you on many levels. Why do some people really shine wearing bright colours and others look simply overpowered by them? Ever had one of those days where people tell you how well you look? That’s probably because you are wearing one of your true colours.
Set one
Do people tend to confide in you but rarely seem to listen to your problems?
Do you speak so softly you are often asked to repeat yourself?
Are you often tempted to be dishonest about your true feelings to avoid an argument?
In large groups of friends do you find yourself watching and listening rather than actively joining in?
Is it a bit of an effort for you to wear make-up on a daily basis?
Do you find it difficult to muster the energy to get involved in a new project?
Set two
Do you prefer to be out and about rather than spending a great deal of time at home?
Do you find yourself doing a lot of talking when you are in company?
Do you prefer to spread yourself around a number of friends rather than just one specific person?
Do you blush easily or have a tendency to red cheeks or broken veins?
Do you get carried away with enthusiasm and take on more things than you can finish?
Is your general attitude to life optimistic?
Set three
Do you tend to speak your mind in most situations and straighten out wrong ideas?
Do you find other people irritating, especially when they disagree with your opinions?
Do you frequently find yourself in charge of committees – or organising other people in order to get things done?
Do you find you finish jobs quickly and need to move onto something else rapidly?
Is your energy level high, to the point that you can’t really relax?
Do you tend to get dramatic about situations?
Set four
Have you often been told that people find you aloof and difficult to approach?
Do you worry a great deal about what other people think of you?
Do you prefer to wait for others to seek you out, rather than being the one to make the first approach?
Do you usually check your hair and clothing before opening the door to a visitor?
Do you tend to opt for your own company at the slightest excuse?
Do you prefer work that does not involve you directly with other people?
Results
If you scored highest in set 1 – you are Phlegmatic
The phlegmatic temperament is usually associated with the summer season. A key factor with this good natured personality is a lack of inner energy and you may find yourself having to work harder than others to achieve the same amount of work. You find it difficult to do a less than perfect job, whatever you are doing. In group situations you are often happy to be the observer, letting all the activity flow over you whilst observing and analysing what is going on around you. You can be diplomatic and good at repairing others’ relationships. Your ability to listen well is greatly valued by friends, who often turn to you in times of trouble. You dislike conflict and will avoid it if possible, even if this means telling a white lie.
Phlegmatics have great stickability. Having taken up a task, you can persevere with surprising patience until it is completed, not becoming bored as many others would. You often enjoy hobbies which require a high level of manual skill and patience, like playing an instrument or crafts. Providing you are doing work which suits you (jobs which require care and accuracy rather than speed) you will be a valued employee and a good team member, not feeling the need to stand out from the crowd.
You can be careful with money, going to great lengths to avoid waste and finding it difficult to spend money on yourself, though usually being generous to those you love. Once people get to know you, your innate gentleness and sweetness of temper make you a dearly loved friend.
Key colours: cool pastels of blue, pink, purple, green, off white
Neutrals: Navy blue, light grey, pale brown
Accessories: cool blues and greys, not black
Make-up: cool blues, purples, pinks and silver
If you scored highest in set 2 – you are Sanguine
The sanguine temperament is usually associated with the spring season. Your highest score is in the naturally outgoing and sociable sanguine temperament. This indicates a flexible person who tends to enjoy life and people and is optimistic that things will work out right in the end. Your energy level can be quite variable, depending on how interested you are in what you are doing. For this reason you enjoy change and new challenges asthe energy comes in to deal with them.
This temperament usually has a strong constitution, with a tendency to make a speedier ecovery from illness than most. Although you are not immune from ill health (especially as you are inclined to push yourself and ignore how you are feeling) your body does seem to be on your side. This probably explains why sanguine people often look much younger then their years, and retain a youthful attitude into old age.
Along with looking young and having a youthful attitude, there is usually a natural curiosity and a desire to learn about the new. Taking courses to extend knowledge and qualifications are typical occupations. It is not unusual for your many friendships to cover a wide variety of age groups as your empathy and lack of rigidity enables you to get on well with people who differ from yourself.
Your communication skills and naturally outgoing temperament make you good in jobs which require people skills, eg teaching or selling. There is generally a love of colour and often a better than usual ability to Key colours: bright greens and red, coral,turquoise, yellow, cream
Neutrals: camel, navy blue, grey or stone
Accessories: warm tan, camel, grey, not black
Make-up: warm peach, apricot, green, lavender
If you scored highest in set 3 – you are Choleric
The choleric temperament is usually associated with the autumn season. This powerful personality with a strongly outgoing tendency is often a high achiever. Partly this comes from a surfeit of energy, which causes others to accuse you of being a workaholic. You are usually well organised in your home and work life, and if circumstances bring you into committees you will usually end up taking charge in order to get things done. However, you can be impatient with others as you do not really understand why they are so different from you.
You are very straightforward and people always know where they are with you. You hate injustice and you make a very good and loyal friend.
When you decide to do something, difficulties will bring out your stubborn side, ensuring you stick at it, even if with hindsight you might have been wise to give up sooner.
Anyone with your amount of energy will always want to be on the move, making things happen. This can mean that you have quite a dramatic lifestyle, moving house or even country quite frequently, possibly also changing relationships more often than is usual.
A disadvantage of having driving energy is that you find it hard to relax. Health problems relating to wear and tear on the body are quite common, but as you are so self motivated, only you can find a way to deal with this problem. Learning to meditate, possibly with the help of CDs or MP3s, may be a solution, or taking up a hobby which can be done sitting down.
Key colours: muted burnt orange, olive green, browns, mustard
Neutrals: Warm browns, caramel, dark blue, dark grey
Accessories: brown shades, gold, cream not black
Make up: bronze and gold tones, orange, red, browns
If you scored highest in set 4 – you are Melancholic
The melancholic temperament is usually associated with the winter season. This is a complex temperament which can make life seem very hard. You are a natural perfectionist and so are always striving to bring things up to your standard. You have strong feelings and can be very disappointed when others do not reach the same standard whether in work or friendship.
Because of past disappointments and a natural inclination, you do not make friends easily, preferring to wait for people to come to you and prove themselves. However, you can be a loyal and reliable friend once that has been achieved, and are even prepared to make sacrifices for them. It is this trait of waiting for others to make the first move which can be seen as aloofness.
In company you may be quite selfconscious, feeling that people are looking at you, and on a bad day that they are being critical. This is rarely the case, but it is how you feel. You very much want people to think well of you and this may be why you are usually impeccably presented.
You are inwardly aware that you are a special person, often with many talents, but you still tend towards low self-esteem and may need lots of encouragement.
Works of art can often trigger your deepest feelings: paintings, music, theatre and poetry. You may be intensely artistic. However your perfectionist aspect means you set very high standards. This quest for perfection can severely limit any feelings of satisfaction as you often feel you could have done better.
Key colours: cool black, white, fuchsia pink, electric blue, maroon
Neutrals: black and white, navy blue, dark grey, dark brown
Accessories: black, white and silver
Make-up: cool, strong pinks, blues and grey, and bright red/pink lips
More info
With permission from Pat Scott Vincent at Colourflair Studios Limited.
Article by
Jules Standish
Jules Standish is the author of How not to wear black by Jules Standish (£7.99, O Books).
Discover more
Article by
Jules Standish
Jules Standish is the author of How not to wear black by Jules Standish (£7.99, O Books).
Discover more
By Jules Standish
