Pretty in Pink
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The color pink has, and always will, hold a special place in our hearts. It is, quite clearly, a foundation of the Flourish brand and a big part of the branding for our brick-and-mortar, Found. One thing we really love about pink is that it’s an extremely earthy color. It is found in a wide variety of flowers and animals, fruits and gemstones, and in beautiful sunsets. Even the names of many pink colors relate to where and how they exist in the wild, like coral, raspberry, and azalea pink.
For the past 100 years or so, Western society has deemed that pink is “for girls” and is associated with femininity and romance. It is really unfortunate that the forces at large have gone so far as to gender colors, as it is incredibly limiting and is an incredible disservice to those who do not identify as female. What is the point? Pink is literally for everyone, no ifs or buts about it.
Classifying colors
As you may already know, colors can be categorized in a few different ways: hue (temperature, aka warm vs cool), value (light vs dark), and chroma (muted vs bright). All colors fall somewhere on the spectrum for all three categorizations. The same is true for pinks, just as it was true for the neutrals we examined in our last color theory post. If you haven’t checked it out, we recommend going back and reviewing that post as well! It provides a good basis for where we are headed with pink colors – and beyond.
A brief overview of the seasons
The four main seasons in color analysis theory are Spring (warm & bright), Summer (cool & muted), Autumn (warm & muted), and Winter (cool & bright). Check out our Pinterest page for visual examples of each season’s colors! It is worth noting that each of these seasons has at least three sub-seasons, to further refine what colors resonate with you the best. We will examine these sub-seasons in great detail in an upcoming post, so stay tuned!
As we stated in our Neutrals post, when you opt into wearing the colors in your palette that love you back, you will have a vibrant, clear, and harmonious appearance, while wearing the colors that don’t love you back can cause you to look sick, washed out, and bland. That being said, let’s take a deep dive into pinks for each season and what their qualities are!
Spring Pink Palette: Warm, Splashy, Bright
Here you’ll see a collection of some of our favorite pinks for Springs! These pinks are light, clear, and warm. When we say light, we don’t mean light pink specifically, what we mean is that the colors have a light quality to them. They don’t feel heavy or severe at all. Clear refers to the chroma of these pinks; for the most part, they are bright rather than muted, or toned down. Coral is a color that toes the line between pink and red, with some of the brighter corals falling into the red palette. We included red coral here, to show the full spectrum of corals that Spring has to choose from.
As with the neutrals, there is some crossover between some Spring and Autumn pinks since they are both warm seasons. You’ll see this the most among the coral colors. Salmon is also part of the Autumn pinks, as it has the shared warmth between both seasons, and toes the line between clear and muted.
Shop our Spring pink obsessions!
Summer Pink Palette: Cool, Light, Ethereal
Summers have A LOT of pinks to choose from in their palette. So much so, we wanted to show you our favorites that are not only what we think of as “classic pink” but purple-pink as well. Summers have pinks that vary from light and delicate, to deep and juicy. The pinks in this palette embody that muted quality that reflects the overall color vibes for this season, with a few exceptions. Lollipop and pink ice are shared between Summers and Winters, but these brighter pinks may not work for all Summer sub-seasons. It will really depend on where you fall on the spectrum during your color analysis service.
Summer pinks remind us of the floral blooms we see during the actual summer season – clover, rose, and orchid to name a few. If you are a Summer and have trouble identifying your pinks while shopping, think about the flowers you see at a floral shop or around town. They’re nature’s helpful guide!
Shop our Summer pink obsessions!
Autumn Pink Palette: Warm, Earthy, Vibrant
The Autumn palette is warm, deep, and muted. Autumn pinks have a depth to them that really draws you in and makes you feel warm and cozy. They’re similar in warmth to Spring pinks, which you can see by the shared range of corals in both palettes. The Autumn pinks, though, dive quite a bit deeper, as you can see with musk rose. This is because Autumn colors have deeper values (the light to dark quality) and softer chroma (the soft to bright quality).
The pinks shown here all have varying amounts of yellow in their undertones. This is what makes them so warm! The more yellow a color has, the warmer it gets. You can see especially with shell pink, it is so warm and muted that it could potentially qualify as a beige neutral tone!
Shop our Autumn pink obsessions!
Winter Pink Palette: Cool, Brilliant, Intense
The pinks that are included in the Winter palette have brightness and clarity that have been turned up 10x. These pinks look striking, rather than the thicker, muted quality of the Summer pinks. Hot pink is a really great example of how bright and clear Winter colors can be!
Aside from pink ice, the majority of the pinks in this palette are going to be a bit darker while still maintaining the cool intensity that makes Winter colors so wonderful. What is it that makes this palette so cool, you might ask? It is because they have blue undertones, as opposed to the yellow undertones you see in the Autumn and Spring palettes. Summer colors also contain those lovely, blue undertones.
Shop our Winter pink obsessions!
Want to know more?
As you can see, each season has its own unique spin on pinks, and it really does make a huge difference when you wear the colors that love you back. With the right pinks, you look cohesive, in harmony, and alive (literally)! If you don’t know what your season is and are brimming with curiosity, reach out to us! Even if you are not located in Pittsburgh or Austin, we got you. We now offer Virtual Color Analysis! We can start the process of not only uncovering the color palette that jives with your vibe, but we can also go on to talk about style archetypes and really hone in on what makes you, YOU.
