Be You Personal Color Analysis

I am Anne Bierwirth, and I started Be You Personal Color Analysis over five years ago after experiencing for myself the profound and far-reaching benefits of having a personal color analysis performed by a Sci-ART-trained professional. I was trained by Christine Scaman of 12 Blueprints and certified in the Sci-ART method. I provide personal color analysis to women and men in my studio, located in the historic district of Albany, Oregon, USA. My wish is to bring to everyone the confidence, energy, and joy that come from knowing their own intrinsic colors and complementing them beautifully with what they wear.

My Wardrobe Color Story

I used to be resigned to having the kind of face people forget: medium-toned skin and hair, with no distinctive features—except maybe my soft blue-green eyes on a good day. I must have been a bit of a wallflower, because people occasionally forgot having met me before. My story of finding my true colors originates out of this milk-toast past and brings me to a color-rich present.

I was told in my mid-twenties that I am a Summer. This happened when I was invited by a friend to a group color analysis event led by a representative of a company selling cosmetics. When it was my turn, my hair was covered by a scarf, and various color drapes were held up against my face. I was declared a Summer and given a plastic-covered booklet of fabric swatches in my colors.

I never doubted that I was a Summer. I clearly look better in cool colors than warm, so Autumn and Spring were out.  I fade out in the icy light tints and deep jewel tones that cool Winter women look stunning in, too. Then, after many years of wearing Summer colors, I was feeling that I was in a color rut. I was constantly gravitating to soft or charcoal greys, denim blues, and cool teals that I knew bought out the best in my eyes. I lacked the confidence to select other colors, though. When I tried on certain greens, I could see they did good things for my eyes, but they didn’t always do great things for my skin color. I also wanted to wear red, but I felt that the reds I was landing on were too strong against my skin, or so warm they made my hair look dull.

To find answers I first turned to the Internet (of course!). I had trouble finding experts that performed color analysis—especially near my town of 50,000 people. As one who relies on self help through books (to address anything from relationship challenges to interior design dilemmas), it made sense for me to head to my local library, then.

In my community library I browsed past the well-worn Color Me Beautiful book and checked out a newer tome by a sharply dressed color analyst to the stars. I could see that his book would provide me with current thinking about our true colors in a format where I’d be able to see photographed examples and read riveting case studies. This author would render me the guidance I sought for figuring out my colors in a new system that multiplied the four seasons of old times and came up with twelve. Within those twelve seasons was the distinction I knew I needed to fine-tune my wardrobe’s colors.

At home, I eagerly stood at the bathroom mirror in natural daylight and followed the author’s steps for finding my colors. I wasn’t sure what color to answer as my vein hue, because my wrist veins were reading blue-green and purple, both. I was fascinated, though, to finally see (after decades in front of mirrors) that my eyes contained some yellow, and that the outer edge of my blue-green iris is navy blue.

With some uncertainty I concluded that I was a Soft Summer. My eyes are a soft blending of colors, and I do wear well the cool mid tones of Summer. The author’s description of a Soft Summer woman seemed to describe my personality and personal style quite well, too. Problem solved!

Armed with new-found confidence I excitedly drove up the freeway to my nearest Macy’s and tried on everything I could find in what seemed to be Soft Summer. I wasn’t concerned with style, fit, or quality at this stage; I just wanted to experiment in my new color range. I liked what sage green did to my eyes and bought a camisole in that color. An on-sale deep, cool teal blouse also went in my shopping bag for its effect on my eyes. I tried on a dusty rose shirt and could imagine it with the greys in my closet, so that went home with me, too.

A few weeks went by and I was admiring my new purchases in my neatly organized Marie-Kondo-inspired drawers, but I wasn’t excited about wearing them. The colors were very pretty and soft, but I wasn’t drawn to them when planning outfits, and I didn’t get that strong feeling of being comfortable in my own skin, as the author had promised. Maybe this was not something I could solve through self help after all, I concluded.

Back at my computer I looked up the analyst I had found when my earlier research took me to the very informative pages of 12Blueprints.com. Christine Scaman, the host of that site and author of numerous vlogs and blogs about color analysis--and what to do with its results--provides a list of analysts trained by her, located across the globe. The good news was that I wouldn’t have to fly to Canada or Germany for an in-person analysis; there was an analyst about 80 miles away, in the nearest big city to me.

Jennifer Ballard welcomed me into her calm studio, located in her quaint historic home in Portland, Oregon. She carefully performed the methodical steps to see what colors were good for me and which seasons to eliminate. The Sci-ART system she and other 12Blueprints-trained analysts use instilled much confidence for me; furthermore, I could truly see in the mirror many of the effects Jennifer was seeing on my well-lit face.

We were finally down to just two of the twelve seasons: Soft Summer and Light Summer. “How different could two Summers be?” you might ask. As Jennifer flipped back and forth between the drapes of the two seasons it became clear to even my untrained eye: I am definitely a Light Summer, not a Soft Summer. My face lit up with the Light Summer, but it was dragged down just a bit by the Soft Summer. For me, it was “Hello!” with Light Summer, and (yawn) “Oh. Hi” with the Soft Summer.

I gratefully paid Jennifer. Her expertise was worth every penny to me. My quick stop at the big-city shopping mall afterward rewarded me not only with a dress (to attend a wedding in) in exact colors from the palette Jennifer had given me, but also with an on-sale top and clearance-priced blazer that were speaking my language. Some brave forays into other fresh colors in my new-found range of possibilities rewarded me with very unexpectedly positive results. If the dress had been my style, I would have bought a delicious deep coral-pink number I never would have even glanced at before.

Newer items have since moved into my dresser drawers and closet and replaced the lovely sage green, soft blue-grey, and dusty rose shirts that have moved on in the universe—I hope to a Soft Summer woman. Every time I wear one of the new, on-point Light Summer items in my colors I feel vibrant. I get that feeling you get when you first step out of the shower: fresh, invigorated, and ready to take on the world--this from just one beautiful top or jacket. I know that this inside change comes through to my outward appearance. I am confident that I now look vivacious, not forgettable.

A colleague slipped into the conference-table chair next to me as a meeting was beginning recently and whispered: “What are you doing to look so young?” “Wearing the right colors!” I replied.