You have a professional photo session coming up in a few months. You’re stressed out because you’re not sure what colors to wear for your engagement or senior pictures. What colors will make you look your best? Has this ever been you? It sure as hell has been me!
That is, until I met Katie. Katie is a House of Colour consultant. What’s a House of Colour consultant? They are image consultants, based in the US, who help their clients discover their best colors and styles.
Colors are divided into different seasons and everyone falls into one of those four categories: Fall, Spring, Summer, and Winter. Once you know your season, you can build a wardrobe full of clothes that make you look and feel amazing. And when you do that, you can confidently know what colors you should wear for your engagement pictures.
So, before your next photography session, whether it’s engagement, family, or senior photos, you’ll want to connect with Katie and find out what your best colors are.
Lauren : Can you give a brief description of what a color analysis is and what it looks like?
Katie: Color Consultation is a personalized service that takes around 1-1.5 hours per person. During the Color Analysis, you will see yourself transform when draped in your “right” colors. You’ll also see the opposite effect when draped in your “wrong” colors. You’ll discover which colors will make you look and feel your absolute best. After your analysis, we’ll apply what we call “90-second natural make-up” (mineral powder, blush, lipstick) in your colors to show you just how much of an impact even the colors of our cosmetics have on your overall appearance.
Lauren: Why is knowing your color season/colors important?
Katie: I never knew this was a “thing” until I met someone who had had their colors done. They just always looked so put together and it truly looked effortless. When you know your season/colors, you can confidently get dressed in the morning, put the correct makeup on, get rid of things that don’t serve you, shop with less time and energy and have a wardrobe that you love and most importantly feel great in.
Lauren: How can you apply your color knowledge to your wedding? Engagement session? Senior photos?
Katie: When I got married I took my knowledge of being a Winter and my husband’s Spring colors and blended them in all things – from the greens in our floral bouquet to the burgundy lipstick I wore, to my white dress and the bright navy suit Jeff wore. I also knew that style mattered too – which is why I had all my bridesmaids pick out their own navy dress in their style and their correct shade of navy. When you know your colors, you don’t second guess!
Lauren: Can you explain the importance of knowing your best makeup colors?
Katie: This matters! We’ve all worn makeup that isn’t right for us. Makeup shouldn’t look like you have makeup on but rather it should enhance your natural coloring. Color consultants can help you figure out how to do that once we know what your season is. We carry an entire makeup line through House of Colour so it makes recreating what we do in the studio easy to do at home.
Lauren: A lot of women love going to makeup stores. How can they use their seasonal color knowledge to find their best shades of lipstick and eye shadows at a makeup store like Sephora or MAC?
Katie: For each season we have unique “points of red” – WINTER: hot pink, cool red, burgundy | SUMMER: rose pink, plum pink, cool red, burgundy | SPRING: coral, warm pink, warm red | AUTUMN: coral, warm red, rust.
As far as eye shadows, once you know if you’re COOL (summer/winter) or WARM (spring/autumn), you’ll know how to pick out makeup anywhere!
I did my color consultation about a year ago and I was skeptical at first. But when Katie put my Spring colors next to my face…I did look better. My skin looked healthier and my eyes popped.
And while it takes time to understand which colors are in my season when I’m out shopping, I can honestly say that I feel better when I’m wearing my correct colors and I know exactly what to wear when I need to step in front of the camera. Yes, I had to give up my favorite shades of green but I’ve found my best green and y’all know I’m gonna rock those. And how’s this for poetic? My correct green is Irish Green. Is that fate or what?
If you want to find out your color season, I strongly suggest you contact Katie and book your very own House of Colour consultation. Email her at Katie.tenney@houseofcolour.com and don’t forget to tell her I sent you!
How do we even start to say thank you for all the work and effort you put into our wedding day?
- Josie and Scott
Lauren played such a meaningful role in our wedding, capturing the day in photos that we'll look back on for the rest of our lives. She kept Scott and me calm and sane - Lauren is a miracle worker! She put in 100% effort and gave us her very best, and that means so much to me. Seeing our photographs makes me so excited and so happy that Lauren was with us on this journey.
Lauren made the process so easy and made us feel so comfortable!
- Amy and Luke
We just wanted to say thank you again so much for your amazing work. You were seriously incredible to work with and we loved the locations you suggested for both our engagement shoot and the spots in Stillwater. We were very worried about getting professional photos done since we had never done it before, but you made the process so easy and made us feel so comfortable. Thank you!
Working with Lauren was easy breezy and FUN! She gave us our most treasured photos ever!
- GRACE AND NICK
There was a chunk of time in our wedding planning when we thought we'd go without a professional photographer to save on cost (terrible idea!) but once we met with Lauren, we knew we'd be in good hands. She checked in often and asked questions that got us thinking about other parts of the wedding that we probably would've missed. Lauren captured exactly who we are as a couple!
Lauren's enthusiasm and passion make the photo-taking process so fun – she made me feel like a star!
- Alisa AND Adam
Lauren and her team are so much fun to work with! She made us feel so comfortable on the day of our wedding, providing both silly and helpful cues to help us relax and be ourselves in our photos. Lauren’s background in dance is super helpful in recognizing simple posture changes that make a big difference, too. Oh, and the photos we got are just stunning!
Lauren was pivotal in making our wedding day perfect!
- Emma AND Erik
My husband and I looked FOR MONTHS to find the perfect photographer and after meeting Lauren we knew was the best fit for us. She made our day so much fun and easy. She found little opportunities to make the perfect photo all with a calm ease that comes from someone who has an artistic eye along with experience in understanding the flow of a wedding.
Not only is Lauren an amazing human being, but she is an awesome photographer!
- Haley AND Erick
I've been in several weddings and have worked with a multitude of photographers and I never felt as confident as I did with Lauren. I love how professional she is. She helped with the timeline way in advance and we stuck to that timeline the day of. She was also able to professionally and firmly keep unruly family members settled and focused and navigated family drama beautifully!
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