A surprise colour and Winston Churchill's underpants

Last Friday I was lucky enough to go and have my colours done by a super fun and lovely lady called Hazel. 

I met Hazel at a talk I gave the previous week - and it turned out we had lots in common!! (including always having lots of ideas and not always really knowing what to do with them! ;-)

Hazel - the 'colour' lady

At the start of this project, you might remember, I tried to work out my colours by using the internet and managed to discover I was a 'clear winter' (you can read about that here) - but having a real live person trained in colour analyse to actually show me these colours against my skin and to discover other colours I could wear was invaluable (and good fun!)

Teal - no thanks!

Hazel confirmed that I am indeed a 'clear winter' and going through the process of putting the different colours next to my skin I could actually see the difference. 

Certain colours - those which I would describe as 'muddy' (with a yellow undertone e.g certain oranges and khaki greens etc.) would make my skin look sallow and my eyes dull, where as the bright 'crisp' colours (with blue undertones like turquoise, red, bright yellow etc.) really brightened my skin making it look clearer and made my eyes stand out more. 

Once I could actually see the difference it was quite obvious!!  

Turquoise - Yes please!

Not quite sure if you can see the difference in these photos?? Hope it conveys the different tones of some of the colours I tried?

I think one of the best and most surprising colours I discovered that I can wear was Taupe (note: Not beige!!) 

That's a colour I would has passed by and never really considered wearing - but seeing it against my skin I could see that it's actually a really smart base colour that can be dressed up with any of the other bright crisp colours that Hazel showed me.

I also discovered that a bright yellow also works and again - seeing it against my skin could see the difference. 

Eugh - khaki's not for me

I really enjoyed spending time with Hazel (who is a very inspiring lady) and it was fun discovering some new colours. 


I think it's really worth doing and it's certainly something that's going to help me as I continue with this project. 

But what has all this to do with Winston Churchill's undergarments I hear you cry??

But glorious dark green is..

Well, it turns out that Hazel's mother-in-law, Rene, worked as a seamstress during the war and was working in a clothes factory where they made and repaired uniforms.  As part of her work she was once asked to repair Winston Churchill's underpants!!

The Bath Chronicle wrote an article about Rene in which she said: 

"During the war the motto was 'make do or mend', and even Winston Churchill adopted that. 

He used to send his underpants to the factory where I worked, and one of us girls working there had to mend them for him."

You can read the full article here (I thought Rene sounded really inspiring especially when Hazel told me that for her 95 birthday she had a cocktail party!!)

Taupe - my new friend!

If you live in the Bath area and would like to have your colours done with Hazel you can contact her on 07786 077352 or email woodwardhazel@gmail.com

And you can read about how Hazel's business got started here

Thank you Hazel! ;-) x

If you don't fancy going and having your colours done - why not have a go yourself?