Does your colour palette change with age? An expert weighs in

Colour analysis is enjoying a revival, but much of the conversation is often concerned with teenagers finding their “seasons” or new parents rediscovering their style.

But does the process work differently later in life? Does age change the result and is there such a thing as the “right” time to do it?

According to colour analyst Michelle Marks at House of Colour, age is largely irrelevant.

“It doesn’t matter what age you do it,” she says, “you just get better at putting colours together and knowing what suits you.”

More importantly, the palette itself does not change.

“Your colour palette will never change with age. You may wear different colours from your palette as your skin becomes thinner, but you’ll always have the same palette.

“It will compliment your hair no matter what – whether you turn grey or white – you’ll have the same season as when you were 20.”

Colour analysis does not suggest toning down with age, and often, it can mean being more bold with your choices.

How colour analysis works

Marks begins every session in the same place.

“So the first thing we work out is are you warm? Are you cool,” she says, “then we go between these two [seasons – winter and summer are cool, autumn and spring are warm].”

From there, contrast determines the season.

“So winter is bright and sharp and very high contrast, and the edges are really crisp and distinct, and then summer is much more soft, tonal and blended. So you could be cool and sharp, or you could be cool and soft, and so on.”

Warm seasons, she explains, contain yellow undertones – even in colours many people think of as cool.

“Autumn and spring are what we call warm. These colours have got a wash of yellow mixed into them. So even blue, greens and greys, they’ve got more yellow mixed into them.”

The process is far more visual than theoretical and a colour that you may have thought worked at the beginning of the session could go into your no-go pile by the end. Fabrics are held beneath the face: a warm green against a cool green, optic white beside cream. The changes can be subtle, but can make all the difference.

Marks knows how confronting it can be to see colours you wear all the time be relegated to the no-go pile. She remembers her own session clearly.

After being dubbed a winter, she says: “I wanted to be anything but a winter and I was very upset. But I could see it makes sense.”

She says determining what colours work is determined by how prominent your jaw line looks against a shade and whether your under-eye bags stand out or not.

“We’ll compare a warm green and a cool green. I should be wearing cools, if you look at my jaw line here,” she gestures to her face.

“So these are the sort of things I look at. Are you more defined and more in focus and sharper? Do certain colours wash you out? Do colours bring out blue undertones?”

It is difficult to argue with your own reflection.

Does timing matter?

Many people assume colour analysis is best done at a particular life stage – after a big change, or once hair starts to grey. Others wonder if it depends on the time of year.

Marks says neither matters.

“It makes no difference. You’ll age in [the same palette]. So this is the joy of it, because you just actually get better and better at putting colours together and knowing what suits you and the best colours within your season.”

Someone in their sixties does not need a different season from their twenties. They may simply gravitate towards different parts of it – softer versions when their hair is darker, more intense shades when they grow older.

The difference between striking and harmonious

Marks often sees clients who believe something “works” because it looks dramatic.

“I do think when people dye their hair a funny colour it can look striking, but it doesn’t necessarily compliment them. I think that can happen with jewellery as well. Sometimes things can look to stand out, but it doesn’t mean it’s harmonious.”

That distinction between striking and complimentary becomes more important with age, when you may perhaps be less interested in looking at trends and more interested in looking well-rested and like yourself. Colour analysis does not remove personality, just reduces friction.

Even neutrals are not neutral on every face.

“So the cool toned is a much sharper optic white, then you’ve got a softer cream, and then you’ve got an oyster, which is this rich, warmer neutral. They’re very subtle differences, but when you wear the wrong one it makes a massive difference.”

A different way to think about age

Once a season is established, colours are grouped by impact: those that can be worn head to toe, those that work well with support and those best used in smaller doses.

Rather than asking whether a shade is “too much”, the question becomes whether it belongs to your palette, and the answer can often be surprising.

In a culture that dictates wearing beige with age, colour analysis can turn these ageist rules on their head and show that you can in fact wear every colour, at every age with the right undertone.

And as Marks’s client list suggests, there is no expiry date on finding out what suits you.

“I’ve done my children. I’ve done my grandma.” Timing, it turns out, is optional.