Alexa....sounds to me like you need to take a good look at the colors that most flatter your skin, hair and eyes. It would be very unlikely that olive green and mauve purples would be flattering to the same person.
I recognized very early on that a blue eyed blond with rosy skin should be wearing blues, reds with no yellow, certain purples....but never orange, nor olive nor any sort of yellowish green.
It used to be the rage to "get your colors done"...but there's no need if you pay attention to what looks good on you.
Linda C

I'm in my black and denim mode these days. I call it "mutton dressed as lamb." I may get a tattoo and buy a Harley!

I understand what you're saying Linda.

If my hair, eyes and skin tone/makeup stayed the same color all the time, it very well may be unlikely that both those colors would look good.

However, I am currently a bottle blonde and it is pretty easy to change the underlying tint of a blonde from warm to cool (or vice versa) by going from a "gold" blonde to an "ash" blonde even if you stay at the same level of "light".

Likewise with skin tone - depending on whether I "tan" or not really does change the tint (not just darkness) if my skin. The spray tans really give me a different "tone" then real sun or my "neutral" color.

And eyes? I've worn contacts for 20+ years. My "normal" eye color is a very light coke bottle green. It is amazing what tinted blue or tinted green contacts can do.

Voila! Someone who can change the closet color palatte from olive to mauve in one afternoon of beauty!

Alexa

Interesting question, I stick mostly with black and tans-
love black, hate bright primary colors, never wear orange.
Like you said depends on what shade my hair is at the time.

You don't really change your skin tone unless you are using such a heavy stage make up that it looks phony baloney.
As for hair color....some warm or cool blonds just don't look good good with a different hair tone....and you can fool Mother nature some of the time with tinted contacts....but not all the time.
I don't know you....we have never met, but I have only seen a few pictures of a cute blond....but she wasn't wearing olive.
My basic coloring never changes much...I am always a blue eyed blond with warm skin tones....when tan I tan to the reddish tones...never yellow or tan.
My hair can be ash of golden and all in between ( auburn is awful...ask me how I know!)...but it's the same color pallette that's the good one for me.
Sit infront of a mirror....no make up....and hold different swatches or color up to your face.....you will see....certain are just much much better. Why waste time wearing stuff that doesn't make you look as good as you can look? Save the orange for the dog!
Linda c

I agree with Linda. Some colors just work better with my natural hair color, eye color, and skin tone. I do color my hair, but I color it the same auburn color I've always had. (I never liked hair that was colored far away from its natural color, as it nearly always looks fake.)

A friend dragged me to a Color Me Beautiful class maybe 20 years ago. At the time, I was wearing clothes for a "summer" - soft pinks, blues, gray, etc. But everyone in the class told me that my best colors were pumpkin orange, brick red, olive, eggplant, etc. I didn't see it, but I decided to try it.

Since then, I have worn the clothes that look best on me. My closet is filled with warm greens, brownish-reds, orange, deep purple, teal, etc. I'm not fanatic about it, but I know these colors make me look my best.

I do go through phases, within the same set of colors. Currently, I'm in a periwinkle/teal phase, last year, it was all about green.

I buy neutrals in brown, tan, olive - all "my" colors - and black. I only wear black on the bottom, though, as it overwhelms my pale skin. The neutrals coordinate with anything I pick from "my" colors, so I don't buy new neutrals every time I fall in love with a new color. I don't have the money.

I find this is an easy way to dress, and great for travel. Everything coordinates with everything else.

Yes.

I never particularly cared for green. Now I love it. I redid my apartment in various shades of green. I wear green a lot lately. Never kelly or bright green, but, olives, sage, leaf, etc.

Please don't tell me that I'm going to like mauve/purple next. I HAAAATE that family of color -- on me, on anyone else, in my home --- anywhere except in nature.

:D

at 15, it had to be purple. any purple. orchid, lavander, periwinkle, or poryphantine.

at 17, it had to be black, or navy blue- in the age of acid washed jeans, I was dying them dark!

at 22, I discovered that 'tie-dye' is a neutral, and proceeded to see just how many colors I could pile me at once- favorite combos were a mustard turtleneck under a turquoise sweater, and rust and royal purple...

at 25, the backlask hit, and everything went neutral- sand, khaki, sage, moss, beige...

at 30, I met my husband, and damn if he didn't like me best in red- like really red, not burgundy or merlot or dusty anything- Ferrarri red.

part of it, I think, is that the fashion industry only releases a limited number of colors in any given year- the 'lime' or 'carribean' greens that are so trendy at the moment are hot not partly because dye technology is finally ALLOWING any color imanginable to be mass-produced in any fiber.

currently, I'm collecting those light and bright greens, because I know that blue will be the new pink in another year or two, and they'll go back to deeper greens as 'new neutrals'.... haven't any of you ever tried to buy a copy of a favorite sweater- only to find that fashion has marched right past you, and not only can you not find the style- you can't even find a coordinating t-shirt?

quite a few of us, by the way, have skin that changes rather drastically from summer to winter, and most of us can influence the undertones in our skin by the undertones in our hair color- it makes a BIG difference whether my hair's its natural silver, the ash brown god gave me, the auburn I spent my 20's in...

or the stained glass blue that my age and silver allows me to adopt for weeks at a time.

as to the hijacker who insists that all color decisions must be based on an analysis of what is suitable...there's a whole bunch of really neat old biddies in Red Hats who aren't going to invite you to lunch.

Of course - but I do wear both olive and deep mauves/purples, and yes, they all look really good on me (which is groovy).

Currently I'm in a blue phase...but I seem to "cycle" through the colors depending on what time of year it is. I'll go from dark olives and purples in late fall to blues and mauves in winter, to yellow, orange and lime green in summer, and then back to my standby creams, browns and pinks in fall. And yes, all those colors *do* look good with my skin tone...it has a lot to do with just picking the right shade of a certain color, rather than the color itself. :-)

I seem to gravitate towards certain colors at various times, too. I've had my "aubergine" phase; my burgundy phase; my brown phase; my green phase; and right now I'm in my "anything that keeps me warm!" phase. I kind of on the fence with the whole "colors" thing: I know what looks good on me and luckily prefer those colors anyhow. The only one I have a tough time with is yellow; it doesn't matter what shade it is, it just looks horrible on me--which is why I think I love it so much! But in the interest of NOT looking like death-warmed-over, I do stay away from it. I think you should wear what makes you feel good!

I'm on a purple/olive binge too!

The army-greenkind of olive-drab makes me look like I have hepatitis,
but I like a deeper olive (maybe a drop or two of black in the color?).

If you ever watch Trading Spaces - the designer Laurie is an expert at wearing colors that look wonderful on her. She's a creamy-white-skinned redhead.

I have to remember to buy attractive colors when I shop. I used to be Miss Black, with some greys. Now I like whatever looks good and maybe makes me look younger. I've discovered pinks. But today I'm in a black stretch teeshirt, stretch blue jeans and a big purple watch. (Stretch is comfortable). I AM wearing a fire-red-orange bra. Mutton dressed as lamb? Barnmom - I'm becoming an expert at that!