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.

What colors to wear for engagement and high school senior pictures

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.

Q&A with Katie, owner of House of Colour – Lake Minnetonka

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!

What to wear for your portrait session?

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?

House of Colours Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter

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!

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