The Hidden Magic: How Light and Color Transform Your Look, Part 1

Light is an essential element that plays a significant role in how we perceive color and the appearance of our skin.

I’m so excited to be back with you all!!! I had to do some serious soul-searching when I was considering it because I felt like maybe nobody wanted to hear this sort of thing anymore. The principles of light, color, line, style, fabric choices, our health, our self-respect, and the way we carry ourselves are timeless, though! The most important thing, also, is as I was deciding to lock in on the themes of holistically looking better, I began to get more and more excited. Plus, I LOVE LIGHT AND COLOR, and how powerful they are in helping us look just a little better, feel just a little brighter…

In a not-too-distant-future article, I will whisk you away to the technical color analysis studio for an up-close, step-by-step breakdown of an actual color analysis session so you can see for yourself what precisely makes these sessions so eye-opening and life-changing for people. However, to get the most out of that content, I want to share what 16,000 in-person technical color analysis sessions and much studying have revealed about what makes our skin glow and what can stop that glow faster than you can say “color swatch!”

First, think of some healthy young children in your life. Grandbabies, your own kids, nieces or nephews, neighbor kids… think of their skin. If they’re healthy, they usually have rosy, glowy, supple skin. You know, that skin we spend the rest of our lives trying to replicate?

“Healthy Babies”, courtesy of DALL-E and Tatyana Wilson

1. Light Penetration

When light hits your skin, it doesn't just stop at the surface. Instead, it penetrates through the outer layers. This is possible because, on a molecular level, there is space between our skin molecules, allowing light to pass through.

We are all broken, that’s how the light gets in.

— Ernest Hemingway

2. Interaction with Molecules

As light penetrates the skin, it interacts with various molecules such as melanin (the pigment that gives skin its color), collagen, and blood vessels. Here’s how these interactions work:

• Melanin: Melanin absorbs certain wavelengths of light. The amount and type of melanin in your skin determine your skin tone and how light is absorbed. More melanin means more light is absorbed, affecting the skin's color. Interestingly, more melanin did not mean a more warm/yellow skin undertone. The proportion of cool to warm undertones in our 16,000 in-person sessions was about 20/80 warm to cool respectively irrespective of complexion or race.

• Collagen: Ah, that thing we keep trying to shove into our skincare/diet/smoothies/supplements! Collagen fibers scatter light, improving the skin’s overall appearance. Healthy collagen levels help reflect light more evenly, making the skin look smooth and youthful.

• Blood Vessels: Hemoglobin in blood vessels also absorbs light, especially in the red and blue wavelengths. This interaction gives the skin a natural, healthy flush.

3. Reflection and Refraction

• Reflection: Some of the light that hits the skin is reflected back. This is what gives the skin its visible appearance. The quality and quantity of light reflected can make the skin look more radiant or dull.

• Refraction: As light passes through different layers of the skin, it bends (refracts). This bending is influenced by the density and arrangement of skin molecules. Refraction can enhance the glow and luminosity of the skin.

4. Scattering

Light scattering occurs when light hits tiny particles within the skin and spreads out in different directions. This scattering helps to create an even skin tone and can hide minor imperfections by diffusing light across the surface.

5. Color Perception

The combined effects of absorption, reflection, refraction, and scattering determine the color we perceive. For example, if your skin reflects more red wavelengths, it will appear rosier.

6. Importance of Undertones

The interaction of light with your skin's undertones (cool or warm) also plays a crucial role. Cool undertones (with more blue or pink) reflect light differently from how warm undertones (with more yellow or gold) do, which is why understanding your undertone is essential for choosing the right colors in clothing and makeup (more about that in Part 2).

Practical Application

• Skin Care: Using exfoliants (link to my favorite budget-friendly, gentle exfoliant on Amazon) and products that promote collagen can enhance how light interacts with your skin, making it look more luminous and healthy.

• Makeup: Choosing the right foundation and colors that complement your undertones can enhance the natural interaction of light with your skin, making you look more vibrant.

• Clothing: Wearing colors that complement your skin’s natural undertones can enhance your overall appearance by optimizing how light interacts with your skin.

So you see, light interacts with the molecules of your facial skin through absorption, reflection, refraction, and scattering. These interactions are influenced by the molecular composition and arrangement of your skin, determining how your skin looks and how colors appear on you. Understanding these principles can help you make better choices in skincare, makeup, and fashion.

This information lays some groundwork on the way light interacts with our own skin coloration and especially with what we call the undertone. No factor (eyes, hair, freckles, personality, taste in makeup and clothing, color philosophies, psychology, etc.) can trump undertone.

As you saw in those healthy babies above and what you probably see in the little kids in your life, when our skin is young, it’s easy for us to glow. Next week, I will illustrate a few principles of how we unwittingly age ourselves simply by the colors we choose to wear next to our faces.

Be sure to turn on your notifications if you have the Substack app or simply be looking for my emails in your inbox on Tuesdays to continue to explore the fundamental importance of how the colors we wear next to our faces affect how our facial skin appears. I’m talking about serious anti-aging principles here. For those of you who have been with The Image Architect for years, this is all just a review, but we need you too since Substack is a whole new world. Be sure to add your comments and chats. Let’s start a color-wearing revolution!

Another big thank you to paid supporters and founding members! I appreciate you. As we work to establish this Substack community, features such as chat and commenting are going to remain free to all until we have enough people who want a more private place to discuss things. Later, I might need to change some things to provide a space that will be behind a paywall for privacy reasons to protect everyone. I’m still trying to strategize all of this and also how to get more and more of the former content (i.e. PDFs or older articles) to everyone who wants to know more about the work of The Image Architect. Also, I’m working on being able to provide foundation again.

If you haven’t become a paid subscriber yet, please consider doing so, as you will truly be helping to re-launch this fun mission of bringing inspiration and education to make wardrobe choices that reveal a more healthy, vibrant, and youthful look. You know, to make the world a better place and everything!