Color Therapy and Wardrobe Planning at the Spa
Finding your true colors
New personalized analysis helps women find their most flattering shades — and shop with confidence Lancaster New Era
She had no idea she looked so fetching in green — or so washed-out in black.
After her personal color analysis at Physicians’ Day Spa, Rodd, of West Lampeter Township, pushed black to the back of her closet and tried on some green turtlenecks.
“I should not wear black, which I wear all the time, because I travel,” says Rodd, 60, who works for a medical-device company.
“I can wear any shade of the rainbow in green. … I never would have picked that out on my own.”
Michelle C. Phillips, a licensed esthetician at the spa, 2110 Harrisburg Pike, identifies women’s best colors, simplifying the quest for flattering clothing, makeup and accessories.
Color, Phillips says, affects a woman’s mood and how others see her. The right colors enhance beauty, while the wrong ones highlight flaws.
“If you don’t know what your (best) colors are, you’re not going to be doing yourself any favors,” Phillips says.
The right colors can trim 10 years off a woman’s age, bringing out her eyes and even making her teeth look whiter, Phillips says. Related Topics
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But wearing the wrong hues calls attention to wrinkles, age spots, blemishes and dark under-eye circles.
Gail Trendler, public relations director for Family Eye Group, which includes the spa, found an even greater motivation to stick with her best colors.
“When I have the right colors on,” she says, “people often ask me if I lost weight.”
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Phillips studied a newer personal color analysis approach based on the Munsell Color System, a favorite of artists.
Older color-analysis systems might categorize women as “warm” (spring, summer) or “cool” (fall or winter).
The approach Phillips uses accounts for an often-overlooked category: neutral, which she says more appropriately describes most women.
“Two-thirds of people who got color-analyzed (in the past) weren’t happy or didn’t feel comfortable in those colors,” she says.
The new system has 12 categories, promising more precise, individualized results, she says.
Using a full-spectrum light and brown, gold, silver and black scarves, Phillips first determines a client’s “season.” A woman who looks best in gold, for example, would be a spring.
Then, using more scarves in different colors, Phillips narrows the season to a subcategory, such as true, dark, light, soft or bright.
Body components like hemoglobin, keratin and melanin combine to create a woman’s unique personal coloring, Phillips says. Best colors do not change with age.
East Hempfield Township resident Carole Campbell, who has light blonde hair, hazel eyes and a medium skin tone, learned that she looks best in bright jewel tones, like turquoise and true red.
“I love earth tones, but I’m a true winter,” says Campbell, 67. “We look like old potatoes in earth tones.
” … I think (color analysis) can really get people on the right track to looking their very best.”
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Phillips, who also offers makeup lessons, skin care and eyebrow design, added personal color analysis to her services in September.
Analyses can take place at private consultations or group parties. The parties, where Phillips identifies five to seven women’s best colors, are held at the spa or clients’ homes.
For an additional fee, Phillips offers a pocket-sized personalized color palette for shopping trips.
Deb Patton, of Manheim Township, is ridding her wardrobe of unflattering colors — and raking in compliments for wearing the right ones.
Patton, 51, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed soft summer, won’t go shopping without her color palette of raspberry, plum and dark green.
“(They were colors) that I just wouldn’t have thought of,” she says. “I love red, which isn’t even in the palette, so I had to give that up.”
Rodd, a true spring with fair skin, reddish-blonde hair and green eyes, now takes a more flattering approach to wearing black by layering colorful scarves close to her face.
It turns out she looks great in brown.
Luckily for her, it’s the new black.
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FOR DETAILS
Physicians’ Day Spa licensed esthetician Michelle C. Phillips offers color-analysis parties at the spa, 2110 Harrisburg Pike, or in clients’ homes.
Parties, which last about 90 minutes, can accommodate five to seven women. Cost is $20 per person.
Private color consultations are also available.
For details, call 581-0896.
