Color and Its Influence (2)

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Purples and violets are also associated with a higher part of the brain, encouraging intuition and feelings of being more connected psychically. It is often worn for psychic protection. Purples and violets are connected with many of your higher senses i.e., sensitivity, spirituality, compassion and higher ideals. Like blue, these colors stimulate creativity and inspiration. Purples and violets have a purifying, antiseptic effect, and are physically cooling.

White is the color of pureness, protection and peace. It has a cleansing effect on the emotions and the spirit. It can create space to think, but too much white is too cooling and isolating.

Black is associated with the feminine nature of things, both comforting and protecting. It gives an air of mystery to the wearer. Over-wearing of black can be too reserved and inhibiting. Mix with other colors! Gold, like yellow, is energizing, mentally stimulating and is associated with power and abundance. It is associated with higher principles, wisdom and understanding.

Brown is a stabilizing color, helping you feel connected to the earth. It helps with being more nurturing and supportive. Too much brown though can decrease your feelings of self worth. Mix with other colors!

Color and Clothing: Influencing Others

While adding that red scarf to your black business suit may be just the thing to bolster your confidence for the big presentation, you may not make the best impression if red isn't a color that suits you. Just as important as what benefits a particular color gives to you as the wearer is how you look to those who see you in that color.

We've discussed color types before, and even those of you who aren't familiar with the modern system of color typing - using Silver and Gold - will likely remember the older system of "Seasonal" types. Determining what "season" a person was proved in many cases to be very difficult and people were often incorrectly identified as one or another type.

The Gold and Silver method is much simpler and has shown to be more accurately performed. The process is simple. Take a piece of gold jewelry and a piece of silver jewelry, preferably of the same type (necklaces, earrings, etc.) and place both against your skin (or put them on as appropriate). Whichever of the two metals "stands out" most is your type.

Here are a few quick color guidelines for the different metal types:

Gold types look best in warm colors like reds, oranges and yellows and are usually better suited to bold and vibrant, or deep and rich colors.

Silver types look better in cooler colors like blues, greens and purples and are generally better suited to muted and soft, or pale and icy colors.

In order to make use of the benefits associated with the colors listed above, you should make sure that you choose a color that gives the benefit you want, but that also flatters you. While the color types are specific in the colors that best suit them, you do need to be aware that most every color has a warm and cool shade or tone available to it. For example: "fire engine red" would be an ideal color choice for a gold color type, "Chinese red" actually contains a lot of blue undertones and would be a good choice for a silver color type. Most of these crossover shades occur within the red-to-blue end of the spectrum as red and blue are the warmest and coolest colors, respectively.

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