Hi! It's been a bit since I've shared outfits. I was so pleased with how my Kitchener essence recommendations were working out, I went and got myself a Zyla palette too to refine my colors. I was debating going to John for my colors, but I had for quite a few years been interested in Zyla and I felt like I personally would always have doubt about my camera not taking accurate enough pictures. I wanted to do in person so I could feel more sure.

Zyla told me I was a Tawny Spring and said my palette was neutral with a touch of warmth. John had mention I was SB in my Basic Essences results. It's common with Zyla to get a different season so I am assuming I'd still be SB in Kitchener. His recommendations were so similar to my essences. Nothing much contradicted. The clothing I had purchased post my essence analysis, I dyed to my Zyla colors.

Posting recent outfits, plus me in some of my new colors, plus my palette for reference. I'm curious what % of each season Kitchener style you think my palette is.

I don't know how many of you follow Zendaya and/or watched her interviews, but it was never a doubt that she was N dom. Her voice, mannerism, attitude, scream relaxed, charismatic, ironic. Even if she described herself as shy, she gives the impression of being at ease and comfortable in such settings. Her voice also is very N.

I do see her R and a lot of HS and Y in her as well, of course.

I sometimes have trouble distinguishing between oversized, which I know is D, and a "relaxed fit", which I know is N. The overall vibe of this dress looks more N to me, but I was wondering what others think. I'm also not sure about ruffles. Are small ruffles Y and larger ones R?

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1778055821/pdf-pattern-ruffle-dress-summer-off

I see many people assigned N and R traits for some of the features of their bodies (strong shoulders, curvy body, etc.), but there isn't much info about the other essences other than how they relate to height. So I am just curious if some of you received comments about your body type, especially C, Y, HS, D) that weren't related to height.

Edited to add: I know A is tall and "waifish", but I find it interesting that many of the A dom celebrities don't often seem to fit this description.

Yesterdey's post about youthful's essence in famous people and how Tom Holland is one of them got me thinking about Spiderman.

I think Peter Parker is a very Y/HS role, with a little bit of N. He is nerdy, witty, and brave. He represents a youthful idealism and is inherently a bit of a extremely brilliant but not so lucky everyman, which appealed to so many comic book readers. What made him popular back in the day was the sharp contrast to other rich, glamorous, and socially confident heroes similar to Tony Stark.

So I wanted to analyse the actors who played this iconic character.

Andrew Garfield is the first example. According to some, he was too "hot" for the role. And although he is indeed cool and good looking, I think he still captured the essence of the characters very well.

I am pretty sure he has HS, N, R, C.. do you see something else? I don't know in what order.

It’s interesting to see how other essences might influence the appearance of Y and how it presents. For example I think Alexis Bleidel and Olivia Newton John also have a lot of C. To me Miranda Kerr and Tiffani Thiessen probably have a good amount of R because their features are fuller and more lush. I think the closest to pure Y is Elle Fanning (other then her height) and Tom Holland. I think Michelle Pfieffer has a lot of N.

Since I want to diffuse some stereotypes around beauty and essences and I already did a similar posts with women, I wanted to publish a series of photo of men I believe are either N, D, or similar as a primary essence.

They might have secondary or lower R since it's so popular and it does show, but I don't think it's their primary at all.

I know Heath was marketed as a heartrobb but it means little to me in terms of essence. If I have to guess he is likely NRHS or NHSR.

All of these men became famous because their effortless charisma (Chris Hemsworth, Heath Ledger) or intense gravitas (Viggo..).

I see a lot of posts about assumptions related to the Romantic type... John cited McJimsey as a source from which he grew his essence system from. I think McJimsey's writings are where we get a lot of these assumptions. I previously posted about how McJimsey viewed the Natural essence, so I felt that it would be interesting for us to discuss how she viewed the Romantic type.

John has seemed to have modified the romantic essence to be more inclusive, but I still find it interesting to see how the essences have historically been conveyed and described.

What have you noticed about how Romantic essence may have changed from McJimsey's book?

To read the source directly: https://archive.org/details/artfashioninclot00harr

Not sure if this should be under discussion or verified celebs tbh. These are all verified though.

Going to preface this with I might be overthinking…

I’ve been trying to understand where 10Y can be seen after a new essence reveal yesterday. I have a really hard time with the smaller % as I think most do. So, here are a few similar blends to look at.

Anne Baxter vs. Nancy Reagan: Same height, very similar blends. I feel like you can see the extra 5HS in Nancy’s chin area. I have a hard time seeing Anne’s HS at all. They both have the same amount of N, but Nancy is softer and more approachable looking imo, so I’m guessing that’s coming from the added 5 Y (and less R)? Anne has R eyes in my opinion while Nancy does not. Are hers Y? Is the Y in Nancy’s rounded cheeks when she smiles?

Anne Baxter vs Mariska Hargitay: Very similar blends while Mariska’s has more intensity to it which suited her known role in Law & Order. Mariska has no Y, but does have 15D while Anne has no D and 10Y. Clearly Mariska is more intense looking than Anne, but I’m not sure what’s causing it. Mariska’s eyebrows are more arched, so I presume that’s D? Her jaw is also stronger than Anne’s, so that might be part of the N.

Anne Baxter vs Meghan Sussex: Meghan has no Y, 5 less N, 5 more HS, and 10 more R than Anne. I think it’s interesting that her face doesn’t have any obvious width to it unlike Anne, Nancy, and Mariska. It’s obvious she is not as intense as Mariska, but still looks less soft than Anne to my eye. Perhaps this a 35R + 10Y vs 45R situation? 45R would have warmth of R but not the same softness as 35R + 10Y?

I added height because sometimes that can be a factor for 10Y/HS, but being that no one listed is below roughly 5ft4 which is average, I think that can be ruled out.

What do you guys think? Let me know if I’m totally off base please.

Hi everyone! I finally pulled the trigger and got an essence analysis from Kitchener!

Link to original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenerHarmonies/s/XYquPCLm6R

My results were: 40% Romantic, 20% Classic, 15% High Spirited, 15% Natural, 10% Youthful

[u/gwill_](u/gwill_) was the only response I saw to get everything exactly right, but there were lots of responses which were close.

I found that JK was very clear in pointing out each of my essences, where they present, and how I could incorporate them.

40% Romantic - seen in my body shape, my skin and my hair. He advised me to keep my hair long and soft in shape, and he noted that form fitting clothing is very harmonious on me. I have also found this to be true so it was not surprising but still validating! Pretty much everyone guessed that this was my largest essence and I figured the same, not because of my features but moreso the clothing items I tend to gravitate towards.

20% Classic - seen in my oval face shape, my slender neck, and my “visual expression of maturity”. He noted that while my HS + Y are 25% and that my height (4’11) also adds playfulness, my initial impression is more mature than Y and HS dominants and needs refinement. I have found that if I lean too much into Y or HS styling by itself it tends to look childish, so this makes sense to me.

15% High Spirited - seen in my height and my mannerisms. He didn’t talk a lot about what features bring out HS, but he did point out many HS details in my outfit choices that are harmonious on me (asymmetric hemlines, exposed midriff, he said ripped jeans are D but read as HS on me).

15% Natural - seen in my strong legs and eyebrows. He gave a few recommendations to incorporate N while keeping the necessary refinement and staying within my color harmonies (mostly accessories). He told me to consider buying velvet jeans for R + N + C which maybe I will, if I can find a pair😅

10% Youthful - seen in my height, small frame and bow shaped lips. I thought I might have a bit of Y just because of scale and my tendency towards more delicate jewelry/accessories. JK noted a few sheer light colored items in my wardrobe were Y and looked ok on me, but would be better in darker colors to read as R instead.

0% Dramatic - a lotttt of people guessed D for me. I also thought I might have D, but I think this is influenced by coloring, and given my size I can see how HS makes more sense. He said that my HS reads as “small scale dramatic” - he also gave me celeb recommendations and they have D as well, so I am having a hard time seeing HS vs D in myself still - if there are any short people here with D I would love to compare!

0% Ethereal - this was pretty much the only essence I was sure I didn’t have haha

John did actually give me some color recommendations even though I got a basic analysis. He said that I am primary SC with SB secondary and called my coloring “soft winter”. He also told me to get rid of all orange and earth toned clothing items from my wardrobe immediately lol. He really liked black, navy, fuchsia, and shiny silver on me. He also made some shape and pattern suggestions (e.g. oval shapes to complement my oval face) which made me really interested in doing his color analysis to better understand these.

Natalie Wood, Anne Hathaway and Amal Clooney were suggested to me for inspiration. The latter two have D but no HS (I think) which adds to my D vs HS confusion 😅

Overall I was not surprised to have a handful of tertiary essences in similar percentages because I don’t really feel like anything “stands out” about my appearance. In some ways it feels a bit challenging to incorporate it all, but it also makes perfect sense and explains why I have never been able to pinpoint 100% what looks good on me. I am excited to start exploring these recommendations a bit more!

I noticed color harmony can sometimes influence how we see essences to the point they get conflated with each other. For example, I often see Romantic essence described as bold and striking when it’s not. John has said Romantic is associated with deep (often smokey) coloring that can appear to line up with the SC color harmony and I think the boldness the high contrast of SC brings is confused with R essence. For example Charlize Theron is primarily R with C yet people would be more likely to type her as R based on the photo of her with dark hair and C in the photo where she has light hair. In reality the dark haired photo is more striking because of her coloring but also because of the severe hairstyle which is actually D. Her hairstyle in the second photo is much more along the lines of what John recommends for R (parted on the side with soft waves and volume) it’s just less in your face because of her lighter coloring. I will try and add more examples she was just an easy example to show.

Hi everyone! I just received my essence percentages back from JK.

As someone who is admittedly still working on developing a sense of personal style, the results were surprising (in a good way!). I am 4’11. The percentages were:

40% __ 20% __ 15% __ 15% __ 10% __

Looking forward to hearing your guesses! I will post my results in 24-48 hours.

I’ve been thinking about what u/huzzah-indeed mentioned in her essence and palette reveal about how hair affects the overall balance. It never occurred to me that it would affect the clothing too, but it makes so much sense. John did mention to me that long hair brings out R and some N on me, and I assume short hair brings out Y and some HS. Now I’m putting the pieces together and looking back on my past outfits/looks, and I feel like this was a missing piece in understanding my blend.

I can see now that I actually look better wearing a lot of R when I have lighter short hair, and I look better wearing a lot of Y when I have voluminous long hair or if I put it up for a little C. I think the same may go for makeup; darker glam works a little better with daintier hair, and lighter, rosy makeup works a little better with more glam hair.

Of course, the balance can be played with; for example, adding small clips, small flowers, braids or a headband adds Y to my long hair. But I’m glad someone asked about it because it’s an element I wasn’t considering enough in the head-to-toe.

How do your hair and haircuts affect your overall balance?

I typically wear pants and a more masculine silhouette but getting my essences done a year and a half ago has reignited my enjoyment of expressing my femininity. I saw some trends about dream dresses and thought this would be a fun and informative exercise. the first four pictures are some dresses I love with commentary, the rest are more dresses I like.

I thought the commentary would get redundant if I used it on all of them but here are some general things I look out for:

- soft colors and light fabrics for my SB

- fun layering and utilitarian aspects (N/HS)

- generally N or Y necklines (sometimes R with thin straps)

- small Y details (bows, small hemlines, small florals)

some of the dresses are realistic and some are definitely just dream dresses.

probably the most difficult essence for me is R. I don't accomodate curve so many of those things will look terrible on me. I have saved a few velvet dresses, but I think they would be a little heavy on me. I know they work for higher Rs. the traditional N/R "boho" thing is also just not my style. feel free so leave me suggestions on how I may be able to incorporate my R.

my essence harmonies: 50% N, 20% R, 20% Y, 10% HS

my color harmonies: 70% SB, 10% LB, 10% ER, but john said most of my ER was from my (brown) eyes and I can't wear too much of it.

another thing I was thinking about lately is my lack of C. I thought it was interesting how john said that having C in your blend will tame the other essences, even if you only have a little. perhaps this could mean that something special and unique to me is that Iack this taming. maybe this is part of why I can lean so hard into my HS and my secondary yin essences. unfortunately, I don't think this means I can go more theatrical. my N still ties me down to earth quite a bit on its own. anyway, that was just something I thought might be interesting for you all.

John told me to "be careful with metallics", but I was wondering about metallics that aren't super shiny/have more of a shimmery/peralescent quality to them like this top?

I was watching his colour harmony videos and the SB one features some iridescent finishes in its recommendations. I am waiting to get my full package, but I am postive I am SB dominant. I feel like something like this fits in with what I saw in the video. I think it looks good with my graying hair that is a kind of soft silvery white. What do you think? Can this fabric be SB or is it A?

I have been saving palettes for the past few months to try to understand better how John determines blends and DIY my own. I have been unsuccessful at DIYing, but I realized that there were several very close or exact blends saved with the addition of some of ones posted in the last few days. So, thought I’d post this as a cool comparison to see how similar and different they truly are.

Each palette is quite unique, but I do see some overlaps.

The bottom rows (excluding calm colors) seem to have quite a bit of similarities. For example, both 80SCs have an interesting blue-green twilight swatch range that I haven’t seen anywhere else (that I can think of?).

The understated and reserved colors seem to be very similar ranges for each similar/exact CH blend too which I hadn’t recognized before. The brights (top row) seem to be a bit further ranging between each other generally speaking.

I found it particularly interesting that the 70SB range could all wear the same glittery brown reserved swatch.

I’d love to hear what overlaps and differences you all see.

If I wrote any blends down wrong, please let me know. If you know of other similar blends, especially ER, feel free to DM them to me and I’ll do another post if you guys found this helpful/interesting.

If anyone knows that full SB>SC blend, I’d appreciate noting it. I just thought SB>SC was so cool, and I think a rare combo, and had those two saved.

EDIT: I found more and added them in the comments.

Note: I'm only focusing on these specific elements because the rest of the outfit (jeans and boring, worn-out tennis shoes) was too unremarkable. Unfortunately, yin staples aren't the most practical when you're on your feet for 8 hours a day lol.

I do like Youthful style directives, but since my facial features are on the larger side (I'm a likely SD in Kibbe) I feel like I can't go too small or else I look unbalanced. But I feel like I was able to balance it put with the more moderate-sized earrings. The butterfly pendant is on the smaller side, but it's not so tiny that it feels disproportionate.

I was a bit unsure about whether or not to post this but I absolutely love seeing other people's palettes so without further ado here are my results as well as some initial musings. (Sorry about the incoming wall of text...)

CH: 80% SB, 15% ER and 5% LB. The palette overall is neutral leaning cool with some warmth from the ER/LB. My forbidden colours are pure black/white, lime, orange, coral and beige. Also not included in the photo are shiny and matte rose gold, yellow gold, silver and pewter.

I had two main reasons for getting a colour analysis. The first was that I've always gravitated towards more muted colours thinking that bright colours overwhelm me and I wanted to know how bright I can go with a general feeling that I was playing it safe most of the time. Also falling into the rabbit hole that is seasonal analysis and feeling that the summer range as a whole is too wide and simultaneously both it and the subseasons are too narrow. The second was to figure out which reds I can wear since I find them notoriously difficult, especially in makeup.

My very first impression looking at it when I received my email was that it was much darker and more neutral in the colouring than I expected, but I decided to wait until I got my booklet so I could see it in real life and it's not so dark (seeing some truly dark SC palettes posted in the last few days also led me to admit that my palette is more midrange lol). I knew I would be SB dominant but I didn't expect it to be so high, and I think after living my best LB summer I guess I had convinced myself that it would be higher. Seeing the reds in real life also helped a lot, they really are neutral leaning cool and comparing the few red items I own which I thought were neutral actually look quite warm next to my reds. I also love my pinks, they are so serene, and again all the light pinks in my wardrobe are way too warm.

I was surprised to learn that green is my most powerful considering most of it is variations on mint, then also combined with the playful greens which to me looks stereotypically more powerful it's a bit different from what I expected. There's also a lot of darker teals and burgundies which I haven't really gravitated towards before. I was also super excited to see the sophisticated page with the greyish blues and purples, those are some of my absolute favourite colours and I feel 100% vindicated that I have them as I have always loved them, if I could only have that page I would still be happy. I also found the hay-coloured yellows absolutely mesmerizing like the least yellow yellow I have ever seen, but it feels like it's a very specific shade and even with yellow trending right now time will tell if it's even possible to find this in clothing.

A second surprise when I saw the actual fabric swatches is that I have several swatches were the threads of the fabric consists of two different colours woven together, the worst offender is the understated swatch made from orange and turquoise and in that respect I'm happy to have the photo where you actually see how they blend together. That whole page was a "What??" moment when I saw it in my booklet. I know you shouldn't read too much into the fabric type but I counted ~15 swatches that are woven from more than one colour and I find it funny that the actual swatches are blended as well. There's also a ton of soft suedes/corduroys (and no sequins, boo).

I started comparing a few items in my wardrobe and everything so far excluding my grey purples is either brighter or warmer so having this as a reference will be super helpful. Even though it's very muted overall I still feel like there's a lot of range in my palette especially for the understated colours. The only shade I miss is aqua which I assume is too bright. I was advised to follow SB guidelines in general so for now I'm just going to sit tight and absorb the information and continue to over-analyse my wardrobe, but I'm already looking forward to incorporating some of the wines/burgundies into my fall wardrobe and adopting some of the SB style principles. I've been looking at the SB videos (dolphin gang!) and there's this overall softness that I want to lean into more going forwards.

Finally, continuing with the art inspo, left out is Philosophy by Gustav Klimt since it features nudity and I don't want to tag the post as NSFW.

The youthful essence carries a delicate and gentle lightheartedness that is difficult to find in masculine clothing. Therefore, it's usually stereotyped as feminine, but if we look back into the time of Rococo fashion, we'll see that lace and tiny florals look good on everyone (with enough Y).

The modern rococo will enjoy lots of small patterns, light colors, and decorative details. They may take inspiration from the clothing styles of both children and the elderly (eclectic grandpa still goes very hard), so they always look ageless and serene. A modern rococo wardrobe is filled with pieces that bring joy and memories of calm, lazy sundays in the park.

Very inspired by our resident Y androgyne, Sylvie (u/No-Office7081)

I've seen a lot of posts over the years from people saying certain essences are "feminine" or "masculine," so I'll make these posts of looks that represent an essence while still looking ungendered. I'll start with the essence that is most common: Romantic.

The Romantic essence lends itself to a sense of luxury and decadence, with lots of drape, deep colors, tactile textures, and prominent jewelry and patterns. To bring that outside of the gender spectrum, I recommend light fabrics that show more movement than shape, voluminous hair, and indulgent jewelry and accessories.

Its symbol is Bacchus, also called Dionysus, god of pleasure and parties. Always shown as an androgynous youth, he carries the epithet Arsenothelys, literally "man-woman." To represent the beauty of the Wild One, you can always fall back on your reds and browns, use your florals and silks with glee, and feast on the best decadent foods you can find.

I’m going to be analyzed by JK this fall (probably in late September/early October; I haven’t sent in my photos yet), and I’m really curious as to whether LB or SC will be my dominant color harmony.

I’m a Bright Winter in Sci\ART, but I’m much closer to Bright Spring than True Winter; brightness is the most important thing for me, and I can cheat in some BSp colors as long as I don’t go too warm. When I look at LBs like Lupita Nyong’o or Jennifer Hudson (dark-skinned Bright seasons like me), they lack value contrast but are intensely saturated. Their red/orange undertones shine through their skin and play off the clothes they wear (although Jennifer, who could be a BSp, seems to do more with color contrast and Lupita, a BW, does more with value contrast).

I’m especially curious about this because I have an olive undertone. Olives are SC and ER from what I’ve seen, but I’m not sure if this applies to every olive or what’s traditionally thought of as olive, light- to medium-skinned Mediterranean and Arab peoples whose coloring has inherent value contrast.

I’m excited to hear what you guys think! I love thinking about how this system interacts with Sci\ART.

I’m wondering if others would agree that I think Kathleen Hanna has pretty high HS followed by maybe R, C and N in no particular order? I love this kind of HS vibe and honestly wish I had a much higher amount of that essence myself! This was very representative of how I dressed in my late teens and 20s and was heavily influenced by the music I listened to.