'The instructor typed me as a Winter because all Black people were either a Winter or a Dark Autumn, like, there was no in between,' Lumsden said. 'They didn't even drape me,' she added, referring to the method of placing different shades of fabric near someone's face to help determine their skin's undertone. Micah Lumsden is a personal stylist and runs a blog and YouTube channel called Cocoa Styling. 'I'm just like, that was odd because didn't work ,' said Lumsden, who is now a personal stylist and image consultant based in San José.

When Micah Lumsden was a fashion design student in San José, Costa Rica, her instructors told her that she was a 'Winter,' meaning deep, cool colours would look best against her dark skin. So now some are taking it upon themselves to adapt what they believe has not always been a very inclusive system. In real life, certified image consultants have reported that their client lists have ballooned.īut as some people rave about how colour analysis has changed their lives for the better, others - especially darker-skinned and racialized people - feel these traditional colour analysis methods just don't work for them. If you've spent any time looking at beauty trends on TikTok in the last year, you'll likely have come across personal colour analysis, a system that promises to help people look their best by determining what makeup and clothing colours best complement their hair and skin tones.įirst popular in the 1970s and '80s, personal colour analysis has been enjoying a comeback, partly thanks to apps like TikTok, with people trying to type themselves into season-inspired categories like True Spring, Deep Autumn or Cool Summer.

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