“Amanda, you look GREAT.  I’m not sure what it is but you’re glowing.”

My response has turned into a classic “...thanks and it has pockets!” type of reaction.  In this case it is “Thank you so much, I’m wearing my colors.  I’m a Summer.”

I laughed out loud at myself when I figured out that I was doing this.  The blank stares and nice, bewildered smiles that I got back made me think, gosh I need to change that and allow more people to know that investing in themselves, could truly change their life, like it did mine.

My friend, Katie and I had talked about getting our colors done for a while, but there wasn’t any consultants close, so we kept putting it off.  Katie reached out in December or January to tell me she found a consultant 3 hours away.  I replied, “LET’S DO THIS!”.  So we booked a fun girls day.

Excited, nervous, and speculating what season we would be in the days approaching our appointment was fun.  I went in thinking I would be a Winter or Summer, but desperately hoping my eye was wrong and that I could live in the beautiful colors of Autumn.  I kid you not, probably over half of my wardrobe at the time fell into the Autumn color palette.  We chatted the whole trip down about how in the world we could live without black (more to come on that later).

We got there and Katie made me go first…not my favorite thing.  I was nervous and felt a little weird staring at myself (I don’t like being the center of attention and allllll eyes were on me and analyzing me) especially with the really sweet bonnet I got to wear because my hair is not even close to all natural.  

Morgan was amazing.  She explained everything and how the process would work and then the drapes came out..DUH DUH DUUUUHHHHHH.  First, I would find out if I my natural undertones were cool (blue) or warm (yellow).  It became obvious very early in this process that cool was me and warm was definitely not (goodbye olive wardrobe).  Next, we compare the two “cool” seasons - Summer and Winter.  I knew it!!  What we found, however, was surprising.  Over and over the drapes proved that I was in fact a solid Summer.  The words that describe a Summer are “soft”, “blue”, “dusty”, and “rose”.  You guys, my bedroom is navy, blush and white…I was clearly drawn to those colors in my life, but didn’t always pick them out when shopping for my clothing.  Morgan then went on to find my “wow” colors in my palette.  These colors are the best of the best in my quarter of the colors in the world.  It was insane to watch the process unfold in front of me.  She dolled me up with makeup, in my color obviously, then we placed those “wow” colors on.  

Hello, my name is Amanda.  I’m a SUMMER.

Katie was up next.  It was even more fun for me to be on the other side of it all.  Watching the colors change her face was amazing.  My sweet friend is an Autumn!! Was I a little salty about this?  Yes.  Was I also a little excited that our seasons were basically opposite and now could shop the others closet for the correct season?  Also yes.  She also confirmed that black is in fact, not her best color (or mine).  She, however, can ROCK some olive green, mustard and even a bright orange that I don’t think I had ever seen her wear.

To say that knowing what colors are the best on me was life-changing seems silly, but it truly was.  It is so freeing to have the knowledge to walk into my closet or a store and know what will look great on me.  It allows me to buy more quality pieces because I’m spending less on trying to figure out why that shirt doesn’t look great, why I always reach for it and end up putting it back on the hanger after trying it on.  It also brought me a whole lot of confidence.  Confidence, which had slipped away from me postpartum 2 years ago.  

In the days, yes DAYS, to come I wiped my closet of almost anything that wasn’t in my season.  Yes, I kept a few things that were not, because there are ways of making that stuff work.  Away went my olives, rust, and black and in came some beautiful blues, turquoise, purples and pinks.  Red.  Also red.  I had never purchased anything in red, turns out that is the color that I have recently gotten the most comments while wearing.  

I have slowly gained more confidence and it has truly brought me so much joy.  I want to share that with you.  With your family and friends.  I want to make access to rural Kansas an easier possibility…so here I am.  

I’m officially Amanda Cather.  Summer. 

HOC Consultant.

stay tuned for part 2: style analysis