Colour analysis for men: why it works better than you think

He came in mildly sceptical. A professional in his forties, well-dressed by any ordinary measure, good suits, neutral shirts, nothing obviously wrong. He arrived, as most men do, with the quiet assumption that this was probably not really for him.

Two hours later he was looking at photographs of himself in his palette with the expression of someone who had just resolved a puzzle that had been bothering them for years. Some photographs he had always responded well to; others had consistently left him feeling that something was slightly off, his complexion paler, his features less defined, the image not quite reflecting how he felt on the day. He had attributed it to lighting, or angles, or simply the unpredictability of the camera. It was none of those things. It was colour, as it had always been.

That quiet moment of recognition is what colour analysis offers men. It delivers it, if anything, more compellingly than it does for women.

“Without makeup to compensate, the colour of your clothing is doing all the work of framing your face. Getting that right changes everything.
”

— Martina

Why men are the ideal candidate for colour analysis

Colour analysis has long carried a reputation as a women's service. That reputation is largely a marketing accident, the result of an industry that for decades led with makeup guidance and seasonal dressing advice aimed at a female audience. The underlying science has nothing to do with gender.

Your skin has an undertone. Your features have a contrast level. Your eyes carry a depth and clarity that interacts with the colours around them. Those characteristics hold true whether you are a woman in full makeup or a man who has never once considered colour in relation to himself. Armocromia, the Italian colour analysis approach developed by Rossella Migliaccio, reads your natural colouring. Natural colouring does not discriminate.

What differs for men is the degree of consequence. A woman wearing the wrong colour can, if she chooses, compensate with foundation, blush or contouring. Most men cannot, nor do they wish to. That means the shirt you are wearing right now is doing the entire work of framing your complexion. If it is the wrong tone for your undertone and contrast level, it will make you appear tired, flat, older than you are. There is nothing to be done about it in the moment.

Wear the right colour and the opposite holds. Your complexion looks healthier. The shadows beneath your eyes diminish. Your features appear naturally defined. You look well-rested even when you are not. You look intentional, and intention, in how a man presents himself, reads directly as confidence.

What intentional actually looks like

Intentional is not the same as effortful. The men who leave my colour analysis sessions in Lincoln do not suddenly devote more time to getting dressed. They devote less, because they know precisely what works.

Before the session, a wardrobe of broadly similar neutral pieces, chosen because they seemed safe. After it, the same wardrobe, but now understood. Which neutrals are genuinely serving the complexion. Which are quietly working against it. The navy that sharpens the eyes. The grey that adds years to the face. The white that lifts the skin. The cream that dulls it.

Once that knowledge is in place, it cannot be undone. Getting dressed becomes, for the first time, genuinely simple.

The professional case

If you work in a client-facing role, lead a team, appear regularly in professional photography, or maintain a LinkedIn profile that is expected to do any meaningful work, colour matters in ways that are specific and measurable.

Your profile photograph is the first thing most professional contacts encounter before meeting you in person. It communicates competence, warmth and presence, or it quietly undermines all three, before a single word has been exchanged. The colour of your shirt or jacket in that image is not a peripheral detail. It is either working in your favour or it is not.

I combine colour analysis with personal branding photography for precisely this reason. Sessions in Lincoln that pair Armocromia with a professional portrait shoot consistently produce results that clients describe as the finest photographs they have ever had taken. Not through lighting tricks or extensive retouching, but because the colours in the image are correct for the person in it. That, technically, is all it requires.

What happens in a session

For men who have not previously encountered colour analysis, the process is considerably more straightforward than it might sound. We begin with a conversation about your lifestyle, your wardrobe and what you are hoping to take away. From there we move into the draping analysis: professional fabrics in curated colours placed near the face, assessed in natural light, photographed at key moments so the difference between colours is visible to you in real time.

Using Armocromia, I identify your seasonal family, one of four, each with three sub-palettes, and your absolute season within it. By the close of the session you have a physical swatch card, a written analysis and a practical shopping guide. Where a portrait session has been added, you also leave with photographs of yourself that, for most men, prove quietly revelatory.

The session takes two hours. Most men leave wishing they had done it considerably sooner.

Book a men's colour analysis in Lincoln or Lincolnshire

If you are based in Lincoln or Lincolnshire and have been quietly curious about colour analysis, or if someone in your life has raised the idea and you have been uncertain, I would genuinely encourage you to book a consultation. Scepticism is entirely welcome. It rarely survives the first draping.

Sessions are available in Lincoln as a standalone colour consultation or combined with portrait and personal branding photography. Remote consultations are also available. Get in touch and we can find the right format for you.

Martina

Why I love to support Small Businesses

The importance of shopping small and local 

Recently I picked up my new mountain bike, a gift to myself and from my husband that I have been dreaming about for many months now. After trying many models and shops, looking online and abroad, I decided to buy it from my very local shop, Pro Cyclery. Of course I was interested in a specific bike but one important factor was to be advised by a female sales person, of similar size to me, who bikes and owns the bike I was looking at. The other is the sense of community that I felt stepping inside the shop.  As a small business myself, I love to support others like me.

Small Business’ are very important because they provide employment and opportunities to their communities. They help stimulate growth locally and keep wealth in the area, by giving money back to the community. This sequence also encourages the development of other small business. I love to support other small business like myself in the Las Vegas community. There are not many independent businesses left, and they can be at risk of being sold and swallowed up by large corporation. A corporation can have good consumer service but how could it ever be the same as going to a local shop and knowing personally who is serving you? This is exactly what I felt entering my local bike shop. That sense of community, of people passionate about biking and keen to share their experience with others. Spending my dollars in a small business, locally owned, made me feel good about the actual spending, thinking that my dollars will go directly to support the families of the people working there and those of the products I bought. I can picture how this contributes to a prosperous community, as well as increasing local character and diversity in a global, sometime homogenized world. Small businesses are also often based on their own interests and have at heart the needs of their customers. This gives a broader range of product choices and much more personalized service. Like Pro Cyclery, all the Las Vegas Photographers provide an amazing array of different product to all their potential clients. In my business I too love to be able to connect to my clients personally and give a customised service, being able to advise them, based on shared experience of being a small business owner and now a mother. 

I am really looking forward to getting on my Mountain Bike now! Naturally I do not have much spare time anymore, so the need to get outside and take some real exercise is important to me. Only a few hours on a cycle trail is invigorating and energizing. I feel better knowing this ‘non-polluting’ activity makes me healthier and happier, as well as helping the local economy. 

Remember, shop small and small local when you can!

Mountain Biking in Red Rock

Happy New Year from Martina Zando Photography!

Happy New Year from Martina Zando Photography!

2019 has been a year of big changes in my personal life. The arrival of my first baby has been challenging and all immersive. I have also been a single mother for half of the year, while my husband was - and still is - working abroad. I have gained a completely new appreciation to the daily challenges of being a parent and working, (or trying to) at the same time! Time is that much more valuable now and everything must be evaluated in respect of childcare times and organization. As my baby is growing, he will become less dependent on me. My family is also reuniting soon and so I will be starting to work more regularly again. Being away from my business and my craft for a couple of months has made me realise how much I love what I do, and how valuable it is for me to have a part of myself that is not just mother, not just wife but is also a business owner and an artist. My self- esteem is tightly connected to work and independence so the challenge for the coming year will be to find a good balance between being a new parent and a working parent. 

I would like to thank each one of you for giving me the opportunity to work and capture your images of portraits, events, business branding and boudoir. Seriously, what would I be without my wonderful clients!? I would also like to thank the community around me for supporting and helping me. It truly takes a village to raise a business (and a baby!). 

Best wishes for a wonderful 2020 

Martina

Martina Zando Photography