THE ART OF COLOR *game changing*

this video could change your life okay look if you took a little glance a little gander at a week for me let's take a bird's-eye look at my aesthetic throughout the week I've talked about consistency before and I didn't always see a lot of that in my looks but it wasn't always because I wasn't trying there were days where I was trying to look really good I'd put a lot of effort in and it wouldn't look as good as the last time I tried to look really good or I'd buy something and I'd be pretty pleased with it but then I go and spend more money on something else and I wasn't really happy and it was very frustrating because I was shopping at cool stores I was following trends and spending money but it left me with a lot of clothes I didn't know how to pair or like they didn't flatter me and so every decision every purchase became this serious gamble I don't know if the money I spend is gonna make me look good this time or if it's just gonna be another waste I felt very out of control and I didn't like that and because it felt so out of control for me I basically gave up on fashion and I dove into something that I could control I shadow welcome to my world of eyeshadow this is basically where I was a super obsessed with eyeshadow and I was living my life on my eyelids in fact I was spending most of my free time learning new eyeshadow methods like cutting my crease or blowing out neons or finding the newest palette and testing the formula I was basically obsessed with eyeshadow and the whole time all it was really about was being able to control the outcome and since I was so frustrated with fashion I'd basically given up and I was wearing stretchy pants maybe a little trendy sneaker action athleisure where most of the time and my hair was never a priority so the only thing the only way I was expressing my desire to look good was on my eyelids I could have really benefited from a video like this I'm back baby I'm Alexander if it's the first time you're seeing me the first time you're seeing womanly this is a series where I help you with building self-confidence through practical application in fashion and in beauty and this episode is the art of color okay so let's go a little bit back I did eventually realize that I didn't really like wearing my makeup like this and I wanted to be able to look good from head to toe not just one area of my face and my biggest finding until now has been that color theory is the largest underlying factor in looking your best or your worst color can make you look really bad and I don't think I was the only one who wasn't selecting color for any rhyme or reason but color can also make you look really good so today I'm going to share with you four of my theories on color and these are all in the name of elevating your natural beauty and helping you have confidence to make choices when it comes to clothing if you like this video please give it a thumbs up and if you don't like it give it a thumbs down I like to know either way I'm very excited let's get right into the video and PS some of this might surprise you theory number one inspo theory now there's something nobody talks about why should people say this they say lady makes a difference but what difference does it make this is actually something really critical and I've learned about this not because I don't know I'll just tell you why I know about this because I work with this kind of lighting and I've understood something about celebrity culture and media since I've started working with continuous lighting continuous lighting is like any LED that continues to shine on the subject before I knew that this was a really important thing to understand and be able to dissect I would just be on my phone or like on the computer and I would see an image of a celebrity with a certain hair color certain outfit or something but I feel like the stakes are really high with hair color and this actually happened when I was younger so we're gonna talk about hair color for a minute I would decide that this was gonna be the thing to change my life and I was like I need this hair color yesterday so I'd go out and get a box tire try to go to salon or whatever in this particular case I tried to do this myself this hair color is what I wanted so I went out and bought an exact match for what was in the image but when I washed my hair out and I saw what color I had it was so much different than what was in the photo it was like brassy and in sunlight it looked completely different than this so I have ever since realized that we're not always accurate when it comes to approaching and taking inspiration in color we should be able to understand how to dissect what's happening in an image and we should be able to be accurate about our color inspiration and choices so let me show you a little theory remember in math class you remember when we used to like do those things it was like formulas and then like on one side we wouldn't know what the answer was and then we'd have to like figure it out on the other we're doing that so we don't know what the hair color is but we do know that we can see there's flash lighting and warm light in the photo so basically what that means is that there's added brightness and there's added yellow tones to this image I can see a yellow light behind Cassie in the photo that's why I know so since I can detect those things I can do the inverse action to reverse those effects basically I can remove the brightness from the image and then I can cool the image down to remove the influence of that yellow light behind her that's gonna show me once I take those actions what the true hair color is and I was very surprised once I did this and I found what the actual hair color is and that's because we so often just take images when it comes to hair color to the salon but this is the actual hair color okay I didn't want to distort the image on the screen so I'll show you that this is what it is and we'll take these actions to just bring it back to what we saw in the image so I'm gonna on top of this hair color bring the highlights to a yellow tone to mimic the yellow light now flash has an undeniable effect of lifting the black and the shadows of an image and it basically lightens it but lowers the contrast as well so that's what we did here and you can see the original is now brought to the warmed up state to the LED effect and it looks exact to what Cassie has so this example is just really to open your eyes to the fact that what we see in an image isn't exactly what is real and that isn't necessarily something we have to judge right it's just something we need to consider so when it comes to inspo take it with a grain of salt and doubt the images you're shown and then take a little bit of time and see what influences could be affecting the image so when I was making this video actually when I was researching for this video I came across a lot of information that wasn't grounded understand what I mean when I say grounded because I'm talking about things that yes could be you could say like rose looks good on all of skin or denim should be sleek and dark like I just don't understand why and I always want the why so that I can understand that it's actually the accurate and correct choice so I've turned this into a little bit of a math and the next three theories I'm going to share with you are not necessarily the only ways to find color that suits you but these are excellent starting points and there are really fantastic tools to have a wardrobe that beautifies you there are a few underlying principles underneath these theories even though they are very different one of them being that the most beautiful tones in the face come to the forefront in your best colors but in your worst colors dark circles facial hair active breakouts those are the things that come to the forefront so in your worst colors it is less ideal if we're obsessing over color right we're figuring out what colors look good on us well we need to realize that the eye actually sees two different elements color and shade so we need to take both into account okay as we get started I just want to tell you that we're going to be using red as an example but this lesson is gonna translate for any color I could never get the difference between color and shade I don't know why this is one of those things I couldn't figure out in school when they're like black white and gray are shades and color is color I'm like if I can see it it's a color but I have learned something very very important I could have looked a lot better had I known this when I was younger in my personal opinion one of the key factors in being successful with color theory is being able to observe so we need to be able to observe what's really happening in an accurate way theory number two shade theory let's take a little bit of paint this is this is the way I'm gonna explain this because this was really revolutionary for me I'm gonna take some of this true red color this is gonna be my base let's add a lot of black to this and see how the shade changes I'm gonna add a little bit on the end here I'm adding no black but just a little bit of white and then a lot of weight and I want to so you have this scarlet color is continuous through all of these shades we've got Bordeaux burgundy poppy and petal we're not looking at five different colors here we're looking at one color with five shade variations although I've never seen it recommended to have a shade attached to what is ideal for you I have seen one area of the beauty industry where we do understand that shade is important not only do we want a color match when it comes to our foundation like the same amount of green or gold but we also want a shade match the same amount of light and dark well I actually believe that this is applicable to clothing as well this is the buddy system okay so follow me here for a second because I can't unsee this now that I've thought of this we all have a skin color right we all have a color to our skin but we also all have a shade so this is going to tell us something critical about what we can do to effortlessly look our best when selecting color no longer are we just looking at the color but we're looking for a shade match to our skin and this is how you enhance your an actual skin and you bring out the best of your own features I'm gonna show you something really cool okay let's say we've got a golden very fair skin tone this person wants to wear red now instead of just wearing red we're gonna use something a bit more mathematical we're gonna add the same amount of light that's present in the skin to that red color to get an ideal shade match this is a great example of when this is just effortless and stunning we've got our first why I didn't know before why this looks so great and why this one didn't look as great but now I know that she's not wearing a shade match in the second dress and it's just less effortless less flattering let's turn our attention to another skin tone this is a beautiful deep medium shade with a lot of warmth and this person also wants to wear red but if we were to do what we did in the first example to this one it would just not look ideal we're not gonna add a lot of white to make this a lighter pink this is just going to look dusty or like ashy and not ideal so looking at this red it's almost perfect but I'm gonna add a little bit of depth like just a pinch and now this is an ideal shade match this is the buddy system in action and I look at this dress that rihanna is wearing and it looks incredible I think what's most fascinating about this is now I don't just look at the image and go I don't know it was just a great day a great dress because a red dress isn't to readdress this red dress looks less ideal but it's for a reason this one is cool toned and Rihanna is very warm and the red color actually has a little bit of white added to it so it's not a shade match the way it should be essentially we're seeing two light and you look ill two dark and that's not so bad but look at how the shade matches just right and you see I always knew something was off because I would like put on a shirt especially with no makeup when I was wearing no makeup and my worst shade match like something that was much lighter than my skin I would always know something was off and I would either just wear it and feel like crap or I would be like I don't know my skin's just really bad because it brings out like I said those undertones that you don't want coming to the forefront but when you're in your shade match you look your best you feel your best you feel confident these theories all have the same thread that they're going to enhance your natural beauty so we're looking at who you actually are to pick things that elevate who you are and so after I realize this I went into my closet I was like oh I literally have so many things that are the wrong shade match for me and I realized that's why they don't look good that's why I don't wear them and it was very hard to realize that a lot of my wardrobe was made up of this but I threw all of them into a bag and have donated them to people who I think will suit them much better and this is something that I won't repeat right so I did this once and now I know how to shop and that does mean that I'm at the mercy of the dyes companies he's right because that means that some clothing pieces are gonna come out from a company and I'm not gonna be able to buy them because they won't suit me but that's okay because those are the items that don't make us feel good in the wardrobe so as we completely remove that practice of buying those shades that aren't suitable for us although this isn't the only way to find color that works for us it's going to put us on a track that's gonna make us feel a lot more confident theory number three the undertone game now let's take a look at something I've taken the continuous lighting off my skin so you can see that I have some gold and some warm tones in my skin and I'm wearing a very cool tone dress but this dress is very warm toned not only are we getting a really nice shade for me but we also have the right undertone and this not only looks better but it looks more elevated and expand you see you will always become the carrier for the wrong clothing choice if you're wearing something that's not suitable for you it still looks good but you take the hit so when you're looking at skin undertones and your own clothing choices you want your clothing to match your undertone you want it to be the exact same undertone that you naturally possess because when you have that you get cohesion and that's kind of the underlying math of when something looks effortless you don't want cool skin with warm clothes you want warm skin with warm clothes and vice versa in how to dress better I showed you guys how the same color the same shade could have a different undertone as the exact same color and shade item so these two tops have the exact same color but one is cool and one is warm so keep your eyes out while you're shopping and this is really gonna help you when you have a few options in the same style you'll know better which one to choose because I used to just kind of grab which one I thought was trendy but now you're gonna be able to make choices that are extremely suitable for your skin and your natural beauty think back to theory number two when we were talking about shade there is an exception or something that feels like an exception because even for a warm tone person dark gray is a perfect option because we know dark gray is not a color it's a shade it makes it mathematically suitable for everybody warm or cool and dark grey has an irreplaceable quality about it I love having this in my wardrobe it's a bit severe and sexy so for the warm tone people who might have thought this was cool give it a go it's really cool to have in your wardrobe I want to show you something about undertones or just an example I have this book I love this book so much this is like a book of Rihanna's outfits and everything in her life I for me of course it's all about the outfits I absolutely appreciate that this woman has warned so many stunning variations of clothing so many visually inspired looks and that allows me to learn a lot from them I took a look at this picture and I was like huh this looks a little bit different than everything else and I really don't like it I don't like something about the color of what she's wearing and I realized after this study with undertones it's because the makeup is cool toned the dress and the headpiece they're both very cool and Rihanna one of the warmest celebrities I can think of now flip to this picture where she's also wearing a completely white outfit why does this one look so much better because it's warm toned white and there's another element here we're gonna get into in the next theory that is shocking and this really reveals why the complexion looks so beautiful thumbs up if you're enjoying the video so far now we're gonna get to the key the complexion key theory number four complexions in this theory there are only two types of complexion soft and clear in order to figure out which one you are we have to look at the skin and the hair let's imagine the skin is very light and the hair is very light this is a soft complexion the same would go for medium skin and medium hair or dark skin and dark hair anytime there was a direct correlation between the skin and the hair this means you have a soft complexion because there is a soft relation between the two shades so these are three great examples of different skin shades that are all soft complexions whereas if you're clear you're the exact opposite you've got light skin and dark hair that's a clear complexion or you've got dark skin and light hair anytime there's a big difference between the skin and the hair you've got a clear complexion think of it like there's a clear difference now because for me this is a really big piece of information because this does define people in two different categories regardless of skin color regardless of warmth or cool tones anything like that this is strictly focusing on the laws of contrast and we're really going to be using this to dictate what comes next not only can we look at complexions this way but we can start to train the eye by looking at everything as though it's soft and clear and check out what happens when you looked at a soft image like this this is a lot of muted tones so let's add a muted red it blends right in beautifully but if I add a clear red to this image just notice how the background kind of fades away and it looks muddy now still analyzing an image and checking if it's clear or soft let's look at this one because it's definitely clear so if I had a clear red to it it looks beautiful it goes right with it and it looks amazing but if I add a soft color now that soft color doesn't look so soft it just looks muddy and off so now when we start looking at clothing we can start viewing it this way which is really exciting I love this little miniskirt this is like a score it with shorts underneath it and it's clear very true red anytime you can identify the word true it's a clear color so this red well it's not very different from the next skirt is a much better choice for somebody with a clear complexion and this one is a better choice for a soft complexion when all of your wardrobe purchases in your shopping habits line up with this theory you're gonna notice that all of your clothing makes you look beautiful and bright and you'll avoid ever looking muddy or having your discoloration come to the forefront and notice with this theory it's not just dresses or tops or certain items of clothing all of these things can fall into one or the other in terms of categories and so start looking at everyday items like jeans as soft or clear and this is going to have your whole wardrobe line up and become really elevated so when I discovered this I was actually really surprised because the colors that were clear and true were always the ones I avoided and I was like really this looks good but as soon as I started putting these colors on I realized that they were doing exactly what I thought pastels were doing for me so I actually ended up getting the brightness I always craved from my clothing I always want my clothing to make my face my complexion my skin look really good and that's exactly what your true alignment with your complexion is gonna do because I'm a clear complexion only clear colors are actually going to look good on me so I can't show you what these soft colors the way that I could with my clear ones zoe saldana is a great example of a soft celebrity complexion and she looks beautiful in soft colors but in bold she looks a bit off and this is really amazing and powerful because if you were to only dress with your complexion in mind you would always look great even with no makeup one interesting thing about complexion theory is we're looking at soft colors right but we're not looking at light colors exclusively dark colors could be muted like this dark green jumpsuit that's got a muted kind of grayish quality especially in comparison to this clear toned jewel dress they're equally dark but when is clear and one is soft now a lot of people have probably detected this complexion theory without actually knowing what's happening but we all know what it's like to change our hair color and often these hair color changes can change the complexion so you see on the right Rihanna is a saw and on the left Rihanna is clear with her dark hair and this is going to change what looks good on you in the wardrobe so there's a lot to consider when you do want to change your hair color I really like using this method when it comes to editing down my closet because I know the things I'll be left with when I follow this theory will really have me feel good advertisement this video is sponsored by audible all is a leading provider of spoken word entertainment and audiobooks that you can listen to anytime you can listen offline anywhere so if you are commuting or if you're staying home and taking care of some cleaning or your skin this is a perfect time to listen to something that's stimulating and perhaps helpful rather than wrestle with my attention span to read a book I have really enjoyed listening to meditations and audiobooks and just sitting well I absorb the information without having to do only one thing there is a special offer in the description below start listening by texting womanly to 500 500 or visit audible.com slash womanly bonus okay now that we've talked about lighting we've talked about shades color undertones everything I want to tell you the secret to really looking your best in clothing now we're taking a little break from color because this is not about color this is all about silhouette and the body now coming back to inspiration a lot of the time we see a celebrity in something we're like oh my god I love this but the truth is if she could tell you a little secret it would be I have absolutely everything tailored to fit my body and this is really a key that most women don't understand about celebrity culture and what would actually benefit all of us let's look at this pretty bronzed silky dress that Kylie Jenner's wearing normally I would have looked at this and been like I just want the dress check out this area here normally a dress would go from the largest portion of you all the way downwards the real beauty of this dress is not the dress itself it's the fact that it's been tailored most items are not cut with a bias most items aren't actually tailored to fit the body like this and if you have any body type pretty much any body type pear Apple hourglass straight up and down any body type can benefit from tailoring and having the clothing streamline against the body this is exactly how you prevent yourself from looking boxy so take a look at some of these examples now I don't like to tailor everything in my closet well I would love to do that but I do this with my essentials so I'm gonna show you how I got this skirt this is like secondhand skirt I didn't pay as much as I should have for it and it was such a fine but it's in the wrong size I've got it purchased for the largest portion of my hip but the rest of it is much too small so I'm gonna pay a little bit of money it never cost too much to have it streamline against my body and have me perceive my body so much different than when I first put it on and that's the key that perception of the body is now going from a place where you're like I don't know I'm just not really built in a way that this looks good on me to seeing yourself in perfectly streamlined clothing that locks just alongside your body and that helps you really see yourself for what you are underneath your clothing now we're not doing this with special occasion we're we're doing this with denim with your favorite tops and this is gonna get you out of that like stretchy fabric land because part of the allure with stretchy fabric is not just that it's cheap but it is so curved hugging that it gives you the illusion that it's well fitted but stretchy fabric is really not a woman's best friend what is your best friend or thick fabrics that are gonna hold you in and shape you but what happens when you put them on like this beautiful pair of velvet shorts that I love so much but they make me look so strange because they have not been altered the way that they need to be all that's happening here is there's a little bit too much room in the waist but the pockets are jetting out and it's making my body appear completely different than it is and this alteration really makes a huge difference alterations are so worth it every time I do these I'm wearing the item that I've altered way more than the things that I don't have and it's just because they build your confidence when you put them on you just feel like they're made for you because they kind of are and even though it's a cheap thing to do it really takes your wardrobe from beginner to amazing all of this content today was designed to be paired with my first episode of womanly which was called how to dress better click on that video linked in the description below I hope you guys really enjoyed learning about color theory today and I hope that you find ways to integrate this into your wardrobe that bring you confidence and make you feel good because you're making decisions based in theory not just because of a trend or how you feel that day all of these things are designed to be integrated over time so come back to this video again and again as you shop and find yourself elevating in new ways all the time I hope you guys really enjoyed I love you so much this is the art of color look we're done I love you guys