RIP Polyvore

Hello dear reader,

It is a time-consuming labor of love creating content and visuals three days a week for a blog. Just over a week ago it was made even harder by the buy-out and closure of Polyvore, a platform used by bloggers galore, and tens of thousands of other creative people around the world to make our imaginations visible to others.

It was a fabulous and free platform that the new company (a “luxury retailer”) closed with no notice. I went to work on some visuals for a blog post I was writing, and the site was gone. That evening, I received an email from said “luxury retailer” explaining that Polyvore was no more, but I would be able to download my creations after sending them my information.

So, my apologies to you dear reader. As I scramble (read: flail like a gasping fish on the dock) to learn new ways to create visuals for my article (I am in need of a Matrix style download!), I feel like I am cheating you of the information you come here to find.

I am (again) sharing a post from last year that answers a question I have been hearing frequently as we (in the Northern Hemisphere) head into warmer weather, and people are adding color back into their wardrobes. “How does having a color palette help with a wardrobe?”

Can’t I Just Wear the Colors I Like?

Sure! You are welcome to wear whatever colors you love, but wearing colors that suit you and your personal coloring make you look healthier and happier. Sometimes we are instinctively drawn to our best colors, and other times we are drawn by our associations with certain colors. Have you ever had someone ask you if you were feeling well, when you felt just fine? It is likely you had on a color that was not one of your best. If you are wearing a color that is good for you, people will not notice the color, but just how great you look. They may even suspect you have a secret, are in love, or have won the lottery! Some colors we wear well, and others wear us.

What Good is a Personal Color Analysis?

Having a Personal Color Analysis and a palette, gives you your own personalized crayon box of colors. The Absolute Color System has 18 different palettes, with colors custom selected to play well together. Your combination of genes makes you unique, so from your personal palette are chosen signature colors. These are the colors that enhance your skin, eyes, lips, and hair. After a Personal Color Analysis, you will know what colors suit you best, how to choose combinations that flatter your shape and your coloring, and how to use the psychology of color to your advantage.

How Can Knowing My Colors Help Me Make Good Shopping Choices?

When the clothes in your wardrobe all come from the same palette, they play nicely with each other. That means that you will have more options for mixing and matching, and fewer wardrobe orphans–those pieces that you struggle to make work with the other things in your closet. Colors have different properties of lightness and darkness, brightness and smokiness, and warmth and coolness. When you mix warm and smoky with cool and bright, the result is less than harmonious, and often downright jarring! Buying items with the same color DNA creates a related and versatile wardrobe. Using a palette when shopping saves you money, because what you buy will go with what you already have, saving you money by preventing closet mistakes. Using your palette to skip past colors that aren’t good for you saves you time browsing and in the dressing room, and I don’t know anyone who wishes they had less time! A small investment in having a Personal Color Analysis pays huge dividends in saved money and time in very short order.

How about you? Does your wardrobe look like a rainbow? Or do you keep a tighter color palette? Has your decision been a conscious one? Or did it just happen? Let’s start a conversation in the comments below… I love to hear your thoughts!

Stylishly yours,

Many thanks to Catherine at Not Dressed as Lamb for the Link-Up!