Here's a link to my color consults: merriamstyle.com/color_consul... Here's a link to Club: merriamstyle.com/club.php?rv=... The Cool and Radiant Lady: • A Cool and Radiant Lad...
as a cool and delicate but with high contrast level, I finally get why I don't seem to have a lot of choice when it comes to colors ! there are few cool and delicate colors that are contrasting and dark enough to flatter my skin and features ... that's why my whole wardrobe is either burgundy, navy blue, white or black lol:)
I think I'm the same but not sure. I have blonde hair and brown eyes. I definitely look good in white with a tan, Love black and navy blue. I also look good in red and cobalt blue.
I really feel like most people have little choice in colors! It all depends on how you use the items in your outfit. We all know these problems, I guess, it happens to become exhausting from time to time! 😪🙄😂
@@johannaklimke8584 you're so right! but I feel some colors are less used in mainstream fashion as well, like for example delicate but darker shades of pink for instance! that's why I look forward to make my own clothes haha Merriam makes shopping kinda hard once you figure your best lines and colors !! 😂
@@inest2932 I totally agree! I feel like I'm buying every medium, warm and muted item, especially if it's got details (for soft gamine)! There are so little of these and it makes me buy more and more summer dresses while I'm lacking shirts and more formal stuff lmao ^-^'
I'm warm & delicate and high contrast (lightish skin, dark features), and I find that in addition to the dark w&d colors I wear well, light w&d colors are really nice as long as I pair them with a pop of dark near the face, even if it's just dark lipstick. Dark statement necklaces, collars, buttons or details could possibly double your wearable colors.
Thank you for another informative video. I really liked the point you made about getting a picture of yourself in black and white to help determine your contrast level. Also, I see why you like burgundy-it looks great on you!
Great video! I think that contrast is a very complex topic. So many things can influence it. Probably even our bone structure. I'm very pale, with light eyebrows and naturally light hair but my whole life black has looked the best on me. I can't explain why and I couldn't say I like white or most light colors on me.
I love it whenever I see your videos and you explain perfectly something I’ve always felt when dressing up and choosing my clothes. I’m cool and delicate and have always gravitated to muted colors like charcoal, navy blue and plum and never knew exactly why my wardrobe looked so similar! Also with the body geometry, because my best colors are so muted but I’m a mixed type I feel extremely plain when I wear just one color and fun patterns are very tricky. Thank you for all the work you put into you videos they have helped me a lot! 💗
Great topic! Would it also work to try to recreate one's natural contrast level in one's outfit, e.g. high contrast people wearing high contrast combinations/patterns? I find this too works for me, perhaps better than wearing dark colors from head to toe (I'm dark-featured, fair/medium-skinned), which is what I did for years - I often heard I looked depressed and withdrawn, I would be asked why I only wore dark colors and so much black. I've realised adding some light or bright accents lifts the look tremendously! In one of your videos you recommend that dark-featured people wear dark accessories with light outfits, which is an awesome tip
Wow amazing video! Never seen my skin contrast so accurately explained before. I fall into a dynamic contrast level like the lady after Lupita. Thanks for your content I’m really enjoying it.
Hi Merriam! Thank you for this video and making the subject of contrast easy to understand. I’ve watched other “contrast” videos and still felt uncertain. Once again, you are the best!
Really good video! Can You make more of this. I enyoyed it, but it was to short for me. 😁 In this topic, I think make many color analysts mistake. They for example say, that people like Meghan Markle can't wear white, but I agree with You, that it looks lovely. I like Your view on this topic. Sorry for my english. You are better and better with every video!
This explains perfectly why the color seasons never work for me entirely. I have always felt that I can wear lighter colors in the summer when I’m darker and darker colors in the winter when I’m super pale. I can flip flop them but need to be much more careful about my undertones.
Wow, Merriam, thanks for featuring my photo in this video. Although my contrast level is pretty clear now, your comment about my coloring really confused me. After watching a multitude of your videos, I figured out that I am warm and delicate. However, in this video, you said that I am "...most likely cool". I can see how a certain light in a photo (in my case cooler filter) can impair the color assessment.
I'm so glad I found your channel, I've struggled to find my colours for so long! I actually went to a colour consultant years ago and was told I was an autumn (warm radiant). After watching your videos and playing around with colours it turns out I'm actually cool and delicate!! My skin tone is very pale ivory with an even balance of green and pink and I have golden/strawberry blonde hair. I kept getting so confused because whilst I definitely look best in muted and cool colours, the exception seems to be warm olive green- which looks incredible on me and I just can't figure out why. All other warm colours look pretty bad on me. Maybe it's the redness in my hair or the green in my skin that makes it work but it feels like a weird anomaly and I don't understand it.
That's why when it's winter I love to use darker colors and as I get a little more sunshine, I instinctively go in the light colors (walking to work and starting summer in Brazil, there's no escape from one light tan).
Hope you make a video on white shades and which one suits us the most. Black is my go-to color, therefore white feels weird to me. Great video, as always 😄
hey, as always I was happy to see that you uploaded again :) especially about contrasts! hell, that has brought me so much confusion!! I still got a question left though :) I remembered that you said something in another video in the terms of "if your body type recommendations include high contrasts and you are low contrast, you should go with the high ones because your body type is the base". You know, something along these lines. So I'm (I think) a SG with light skin and eyebrows, medium eyes and my hair is in between. :) I was tryna incorporate my contrast into my style as well, but is that possible? I feel like medium colors work pretty well, but not always, and high contrasting tops for example only work with very small patterns (so it looks less contrasting from far off). Can you help me about that?
Hey Merriam, have you ever seen someone's facial bone structure also playing a role in this analysis? My contrast level is very high (pale skin with dark hair/eyebrows/eyes) but sometimes I feel that wearing super dark colors (especially lipsticks) brings out the shadows on my face a little bit more, because of my deep sunken eyes (which gives me chronic dark circles) and the shape of my nose and cheeks, so I tend to gravitate towards medium-dark colors. Does that make sense to you? lol
I have high contrast and I feel like black isn’t my best color. I think softer dark colors like dark brown or burgundy suit me better because they aren’t as harsh.
@@cozybrandi I feel you! I also have a softer complexion and black is too harsh/radiant for me (also too cool). But even when I'm comparing soft and warm colors (which suit me the best), dark brown seems to enhance the shadows on my face more than medium-dark brown. When I'm wearing make up (therefore covering dark circles and discoloration in general) dark colors look very harmonious, but when I have a bare face it seems they make me look more tired. I don't know, it's confusing lol
Of course, if you're warm and delicate you should not wear black, you ideally would wear dark colors in your own warm and delicate palette (warm burgundies, warm browns, rich olive greens). This video refers to the colors within your own color family (let's say warm and delicate--peach is a light warm and delicate color, then terracotta is only a dark peach, and terracotta is medium in value, and warm burgundy is a dark terracotta, and warm burgundy is high in value, they're all warm and delicate, some are light and some dark, so this video answered the question of how light or dark within your own palette is ideal), but the color family always takes precedent. I wouldn't recommend almost any WD to wear black (unless you're like Lucy Liu who's WD and also has literally black hair and at the same time has aSharpened bone structure which allows for those deeper colors that look 'harsh' against her skin to read as harmonious)! But most WD won't have those two features--being either Sharpened or maybe Mixed, and at the same time having literally black hair!
@@merriamstyle I totally see that you're saying! I'm definitely not like Lucy Liu, my natural hair color is more like a 4 or 5. But even within my color family I see this happening. For example, if I wear MAC Antique Velvet lipstick (I've never seen this shade in person so I'm assuming it's a dark warm brown, it's just to illustrate the color value) and MAC Marrakesh lipstick, Antique Velvet will make my dark circles look darker and bring out the shadows on my face in general (so I have to wear more makeup to balance it out), whereas Marrakesh will look very harmonious even when I have a bare face. I have two theories, which are 1) the super dark (even when warm) colors will enhance anything dark that contrasts with my skin, which will mean hair/eyebrows/eyes but also the shadows due to my bone structure, or 2) as colors get super dark they get harsher and cooler because they are closer to black, so at one point it's too much for my WD complexion. They are just guesses based on my understanding on colorimetry, I apologize if there are any misconceptions.
Hi Merriam I've been binge watching all your videos, so fascinating! It would be amazing if you could do a video about choosing the right hair colours. I've had very dark brown hair all my life but now in my 30s the greys are taking over and I cant figure out what shade of lighter hair looks best on me. I'm pretty sure I am a warm and delicate with some olive undertones. I wish I had the guts to just go grey but not quite ready for that just yet :)
Something that would be very fascinating to understand is tattooed colors on skin depending on undertone, not overtone, because ink basically lays under the surface on the skin, which is translucent. Tattoo artist should learn all this theory before actually experimenting on people, just saying.
Interesting! I'm light blond (blue eyes) as an adult and do not tan very much - maybe a slightly less pink undertone is all. I think white still works on me. After watching your videos I understand why the jewel tones I love, even if cool colors like my skin, kind of make me fade out. Cannot pull off deep colors without makeup and even then they don't look good :/ Searching your videos how to dress someone thats sort of uniformly beige. Really appreciate your work.
You look super gorgeous today Merriam! Just had to stop and say that before continuing with the video. I've been considering contrast more lately after finally coming to grips with Type and Colour. It can jar things out of harmony easily. Thanks for this video :)
Hm I didn’t think I’d be interested in this video, but I understand contrast so much better now. In 60’s fashion when they had dark liner and pale eyeshadow, they could pull off very dark, light or bright outfits, whereas in 70s hippy style, there is minimal makeup, more tan, less hair dye, and the medium tone with harmonious colour palettes outfits look great….
My hair is medium ash brown, I am 0 contrast, warm and delicate olive skin plus theatrical romantic body type and for some reason I look so bad in pastel colors...Somehow I look washed out in lighter shades-doesnt matter how radiant or muted they are. Black is of course not for me, but I look so much better wearing darker muted colors-especially around my face. It crestes higher contrast between my clothes and my skin than there is between my sking and my hair (my darkest feature), but it just makes my face come alive...So Im thinking-is it due to my theatrical romantic body type?
@@merriamstyle where you been girl?? 🥰🤗🤓 We need your help, miss your videos so much! Is a shopping video coming soon? When you scroll thru a page and show what is for each type🌹🌹lots of love!
Wow this was cool and educational, Thanks so much dear Merriam! ❤️ I just have a little question though: Does contrast level take precedence over skintone? Or are both equally important? I ask because contrast tends to get shoved aside when talking about skintone. By the way, you're looking GOOOOD! Very radiant and your hair is goalssss😍
I have natural black hair, high chroma warm skin, high contrast and I have a good understand of what worked with black hair. Now that I've changed my hair to a lighter brown colour, not sure what will or won't work for me. Which is why I'm here looking to learn about contrast.
Please could you do more on medium value contrast with clear and soft colouring. I can't wear very light colours, all dark outfits, muted or very bright colours but medium value slightly soft clear colours look good ( aqua, coral, leaf green).
Love your videos Merriam. I really would like to do the color consult to take the guesswork out of what looks best on me. The thing is I spent too much time in the sun and I'm a lot darker than how I usually am. Should I wait to book the color consult?
Figuring out my contrast has been quite confusing because I am light with dark blonde hair, very light eyebrows (I tint them to be closer to my hair but they’re still light), and very dark blue eyes that look black in photos. I believe I am cool and delicate and prefer myself in deeper colors like dark greens, cool burgundy, and dusty blue. Interestingly my skin (without makeup) looks much better in black than I do in optic white, especially now that I don’t have any lighter blonde highlights
Hi Merriam, I was wondering if the colours you wear (I'm high contrast, cool and bright with high chroma) can be applied to your hair too. I'd love to dye my hair a fuchsia pink but that's a big commitment to regret later.
If I don't do something to color them, my eye brows can disappear on my face because they're the same color as my skin. But I think I look terrible in nude colors. I think I look best in rich colors. My hair is basically strawberry blonde, possibly a bit darker with age but lighter with sun. I love classic black & white top.
Hi Merriam! I am warm and delicate with high contrast and pale skin. But I am also a soft type (I think- you are going to type me in september), and I seem to look best in very light colours (basically only light to very light peach or off-white/cream). When I wear dark brown it does looks best on me in lightweight fabrics. Do you think it is best to wear colours to mach your bone structure, or your contrast-levels? Love the video btw! (and I do understand now why medium colours don't work for me).
My eyebrows are almost black. My hair roots is a resolutely mid level on the line between dark blonde/brown. They are a good two to three levels off each other
the contrast can come from how dark the color is. For example, warm burgundy. But also I find that cerulean blue, as well as warm purple and teal are beautiful on high contrast warm and delicate. those colors can open up more options.
@@merriamstyle thanks for this comment. This applies to me. I am dynamic contrast warm and delicate (African ethnicity, black hair) and I have been wondering why a certain light/ medium purple looks so good on me. I also find that I look best in forest green, navy, black and ivory tops. Could you please do a video for high / dynamic contrast warm and delicate?
I'm warm and delicate with low or medium contrast, but I am also a redhead (somewhere between copper and strawberry blonde). My problem with wearing some of my good colours (dusty gold/yellow or burnt orange) at the same contrast level as my hair is that they ARE the same colour as my hair. When my long hair is down, my whole upper body blends into one colour. Not a flattering look! Any advice or insight at how to remedy this would be appreciated.
As much as I agree with u what u said in the video I think the colors that suit you best also depend on your Kibbe body type for ex Flamboyant Gamines , Gamines ,Dramatics and Flamboyant Narurals generally look better with contrasting clothes and they'd look washed out with pastel colors that would suit better the softer types like Romatics As a FG and with very light skin and hair I look better when I add contrast to my look compared to the times I wear light clothes and I look washed out and just like a ghost So I think your body type also plays a role
Also, what I don't get is why Merriam makes contrast about light versus dark? Contrast is about light-and-dark (high contrast) versus "grey" or soft colors (low contrast). Someone with high contrast can wear black just as well as white because it's about contrast and both gives them contrast.
About the first question of phoebe, I don't remember in which video but merriam also said once that if your body type works very well with contrasts like any gamine does and your coloring doesn't do so because of a low contrast, then you should rather go with the recommendations for your body type, because it kinda makes up the foundation (or something in these terms). So I guess that explains your observations, right? I've got a similar problem, by the way, I'm a soft gamine with medium to low contrast. :) I personally feel like it's best when I do have high contrasts in my outfit but not too close to my face if possible ^-^
Yes I completely agree with the fact that body type influences how much contrast you can wear! I'm (probably) FG too and I'm very light as well and just like you I prefer darker colors on me. Especially black, which is even weirder cause I'm warm toned (white doesn't work on me at all). Another thing: I have this feeling that wearing colors that are opposite to your undertone also seems to work as contrast somehow. Maybe not in every case but I think I have observed that before.
I also feel like "temperature" contrasts probably are a thing. Like, I'm low to medium contrast (light skin), warm and delicate and SG but look good in navy and burgundy as long as I don't have contrast in my outfit near to my face. It seems like with such colors the contrast against my skin looks better than having light/dark contrasts within clothes and accessories
@@orangeorblue132 wow, that makes so much sense! I'm warm and delicate and now I see why I look good in navy, burgundy and some purples, because of my high contrast level!
I need your help actually I am a theatrical romantic but my seasonal colour is dark autumn but my body type style and my seasonal colour style is totally different so what should I have to do ....???
That were many information :) Just to make sure I got it: I have pale skin, very light eyes, medium blonde hair and am cool and delicate. Considering that I should wear light blues, greys and light pinks / lilacs right? I have to admit that I really like petrol and rich blues, will that throw me off?
I have natural dark hair but my natural brows are thin, wispy and light, which really affects my contrast level. Without makeup, there is barely any contrast between eyes, brows, skin, lips, and teeth (all pretty light). Only my dark hair creates contrast. Would it make sense for me to either darken my brows or lighten my hair? I think chestnut brown hair would look nice on me, but I don’t really like the dark brow look on me.
Hi, this is random but I took the Kibbe test and my body type came out as Soft Classic, however, my face shape is like an upside down egg. Could I be an ethereal?
Thank you Merriam for my full report. I loved how detail and well written it was. I am glad to find that I am warm and delicate and should still with light neutrals or bright colors like peach because of essence. I just didn’t get one question answered in my report which was what kibbe body type am I? I know the body geometry analysis said I am mostly round with some mixed ? Does that mean I am between a romantic and gamine ? Does that make me a theatrical romantic or soft gamine ?
Hi Saba, thank you for your kind words. I still have you on my list to receive your complimentary email, you just haven't received it yet, but you will since this is included in the consult!
Merriam Style thank you for replying . I am just so excited . This report was my present to myself for my birthday this week. I love your soft classic style report with light color palette for warm and delicate.
I am warm and delicate with high contrast. My skin is quite pale, but somehow I feel like white is one of my best colours? There is some contrast between the whites of my eyes and my skin but it's very minimal compared to the contrast my hair and eyes have with my skin.
Hello I've been watching you the past two years. Have you addressed silver hair? I am a warm and delicate. My gray is very neutral looking in color. I wear the peach. I definitely need Rich colors that are muted and I've been told I was every season. Like you have declared, I'm neutral, slightly warm. absolutely yellows are not my fav to wear. Oranges and terracotta's. Can't say so much about the sage green, Ugg. Need contrast and richness. Did I miss the video?
Hello, I wonder if you can help me find out my colors, I have been analysed twice already and they are both oposites, and now I cant say if I Am cool or warm, bright or soft... would you help me?
I'm the cool and radiant lady. My natural hair color is a mix of light brown, medium brown and a bit remaining blonde. Without any dye, theres some grey, too. So would i still be bright, cool and light or something else??
Hi! I am very pale with dark red hair, brown eyes, darker eybrows. So it makes the contrast high. But i have received many compliments wearing both black and white.. how can that make sense? 😅
oh yes you could, I give an example in my video called a cool and radiant lady if you're interested. you could wear something dark anywhere above the neck including slightly darker eye make up (not so much that it looks harsh, but a little), a hair accessory, sunglasses, or a hat, or perhaps earrings could work too, and then you'll 'artificially' increase your contrast levels and you can wear darker colors then and still look 'harmonious'. :)
She must have been wearing some pretty dark eye make up. This is a sneaky way for low contrast and light to wear dark colors (you could do a dark headband, black sunglasses, or dark eye make up to tie in some of those darker colors you're wearing). I talk about this in my video called A Cool and Radiant Lady.
@@merriamstyle thanks. I think it was on one of ur videos comparing bright and muted coloring it was her vs kim kardashian. I dont remember her wearing any dark makeup or accesories
Is there a series similar to this one that addresses ladies with silver or grey hair? Or should they align their deepest color with their deepest feature and their contrast level with the difference between their deepest and lightest features?
If you have light or gray hair and dark eyes, I can see primarily light-medium looks being great, with some darker accessories in small doses to tie in your darker eyes. We're really only repeating the patterns we see in ourselves in our clothes. If you're mostly light (skin and hair) with a little dark (eyes), then do that with your outfits.
honestly I can't wait to have gray hair because when it's all gray, I can wear light gray, and I'll have that ethereal look as cool and delicate. And I won't be wearing any dark colors I don't care if my eyes are dark! I don't think it's super important because it's always about how everything comes together, not individual features. Especially with eyes, if your eyes stand out as being 'different' that's more of an interesting look or feature (who doesn't want their eyes to stand out?), but if your hair doesn't match with the value range of your outfit, then that tends to read as disharmony rather than uniqueness.
@MarriamStyle Unfortunately, your consult link doesn't load. can you please contact me and help me with a total consult for everything? I am totally lost in colors and everything else. when I put my skin underneath a soft white lamp my veins look green and my skin looks like a reddish yellowish tan and same thing out in the sun. not pale or totally fair. yellow isn't that great of a color for me but neither does brown or navy blue/military camo colors and they make me look dull/bland. yellow makes me look too yellow and browns make me look dull and brown. navy blue makes me look dull, bluish grey. could i be a kind of olive skin tone that's semi warm?? I have amber-colored eyes and reddish brown hair
Because if you have a dark skin colour (+ dark hair) that gives a high contrast with the teeth and eyes, but if you have a light skin colour (+ light hair) there's less contrast with colour of teeth and eyes.
