Beginning with Winter and progressing clockwise, notice the quiet still lines and quiet dark colors of Winter. Next, the energy becomes upright with alive lines and alive clear colors up into the full action of Spring with excited lines and excited clear colors. The energy then steps down into grounded steady Autumn lines and muted colors. Now the energy shifts into relaxed lines and relaxed soft colors, flowing down into the Summer fluid lines and fluid light colors. The cycle returns back to the energy of quiet, still Winter. 

The reason gray is so significant is because it satisfies the basic rule of all color harmony:

It is significant that both complementary and primary colors mix to gray. Any color put next to gray makes gray lean toward that hue — this is why gray eye shadow is the basic eye-shadow color. All shadows and lines are various shades of gray. Features are defined by gray and even blonde hair is a shadowed charcoal gray between strands. Gray is the color that defines the textures of fabrics. In fact, gray is the basic canvas of our world. Artists often begin with a medium gray canvas, adding lights and darks and colors. In dress, everyone can wear charcoal, but make sure it is combined with your basic Homebase colors.

INTERESTING POINT:  Complementary colors mixed together, annihilate each other into gray; however, complementary colors put side by side incite each other to maxim-vividness. Notice Christmas is bright with red and green, orange earth looks brilliant against blue skies, and costumes are more alive and dramatic utilizing complementary colors together. Artists know that if they put touches of complementary color for accent, paintings come alive.  

ANOTHER INTERESTING POINT:  Complementary colors are opposite to each other, yet they require each other to make a perfect whole. The eye will spontaneously generate the complementary color if it is not present.  If you stare at a red square for some time, then close your eyes, you will see a complementary green square "after image." The reason the eye posits the complementary color is that it has to create  gray  to maintain its equilibrium. Gray generates a state of complete equilibrium in the eye — when missing, the eye becomes disquieted. Thus, your body will create gray for balance. Try it for yourself.      

The reason colors have been grouped into four season categories is because of a common vibration — either bright, light muted or dark. In each category, however, there are 3 colors that are the most extreme energy of the group, and only a Classic Homebase person can wear them easily. If a person has Inter-season influences, they must modify and balance extreme colors when worn.

If you are an Inter-season, there are three ways to modify extreme colors you may wish to wear:  Adding jewelry, adjusting makeup colors, or combining color combinations. 

1.  Adding Jewelry  

Cool silver jewelry will balance warm bright Spring or muted Autumn extreme colors.

Warm gold jewelry will balance cool light Summer or dark Winter extreme colors.

2. Adjusting Makeup

               Add cool pink to makeup to balance bright Spring or muted Autumn extremes.
               Add warm coral makeup to balance cool Summer or Winter extreme colors.

3.  Combining Colors  ("Nifty" Inter-season combinations.)  Combine warm and cool
     colors to balance the extreme colors you may want to wear.

It is true that colors can be complemented and drawn forward by The Law of Attraction — you can make a color appear darker, lighter, bluer, grayer, redder etc. However, it this is exaggerated by contrast, or pushed too far, a reverse effect is created. Rather than pulling together and matching, the colors will separate and repel each other, causing contrast rather than similarity. We call this phenomenon the "flip-over" color reaction. 

This flip-over phenomenon is very apparent when working with skintones. It is interesting that charcoal (a light black) will draw dark tones forward in the skin, and you would think that black would bring forward even more dark tones. However, on light skintones, black, at an extreme point, will flip-over creating contrast instead, and actually cause the skintone to appear lighter.  Stark white held up to a fair skin will draw more white forward, but stark white against dark skin will make the skin flip-over and appear darker in extreme contrast to the white. This is experienced after sun-tanning all day and then going out in the evening wearing stark white, which makes the tan very pronounced. 

EXPLANATION: The darkest point of any shadow is at the edge where the light begins. Carefully look at the diagram at the right. Where the white bands cross, the "cross spots" look gray because the light is diffused. Any point away from the crossing of the white lines is surrounded by more black — this causes more contrast, which results in the white looking brighter and whiter, and the black looking darker and blacker.

Understanding this color interaction is very important and can often be used to advantage. The flip-over phenomenon helps clear ruddiness in skintones. Example: If the red being worn matches a red-head's skin tone too closely (bluish pink) the skin appears flushed and the effect is unattractive; however, an extremely bright red will flip-over, creating a contrast which causes the skin to appear lighter.  A bluish-scarlet red will make the skin appear a funny bluish red (and the Law of Attraction is not helping in this case). But, if you put an extreme yellowed-based red near the skin, the skin will flip-over and clear.

If you have light brown hair, and want it to look full colored, wear a little richer shade of brown and your hair will look warmly brown and enhanced. However, if you wear charcoal brown next to your light brown hair, the flip-over phenomenon occurs, and your hair will appear much lighter by comparison. Then, wearing black will create even a greater contrast: your light brown hair will suddenly appear faded and washed out.

Why do we use your hair color as a neutral basic color for your wardrobe?  Because when you repeat your hair color in your dress or accessories, you are not adding an additional color, you are merely repeating yourself which keeps your total look simple and uncluttered. This alignment of colors, frees you to “showcase” other colors more effectively. Whether you wear one, two or three or more colors together makes a great difference in the picture you project. 

ONE COLOR	Wearing One color is a Winter energy. No matter what your "Homebase is, wearing One color always says classic, simple and more formal.  One color allows the eye to take in the whole picture without distraction. Your hair color is automatically your basic color, repeating it makes you appear more regal and poised. If the whole outfit is in the one color, even when working with a bright color, it will appear more classic.
MONOCHROMATIC COLOR	Monochromatic color is a Summer energy, meaning there are three or more shades or tints of one color. Wearing shades or tints of one color, or colors close in harmony, remains simple, but the feeling becomes softened, more dressy, refined, feminine or genteel.  Again, if the monochromatic  scheme is a repeat of the hair color tones, in any season, the statement is moved into a more classic expression.
TWO COLORS	Two colors are an Autumn energy. Two different colors begin to give the feeling of casualness.  Nature puts two colors together all the time.  Varicolored schemes in earthy colors give the feeling of fewer colors because they come from the same warm, medium value colors of autumn. Again, if one of the colors repeat the hair color, the color scheme is simplified, and the picture begins to lean toward classic energy.
THREE COLORS	Three colors are a Spring energy. Wearing more colors always express costume, exaggeration and accent. When three different colors are combined, there is a feeling of  fun and aliveness and evokes action and excitement. This is why costumes and party clothes have more colorful combinations.  BIG HINT: Be sure to repeat the hair color somewhere or the effect will be disconnected and scrambled.

Generally, Summer colors have lighter values, Spring colors are more medium in value, Autumn colors have medium dark values and Winter colors have darker values. Notice that cranberry red in the Summer group is darker in comparison to the other light colors, but remember, when you add blue it makes the color darker, and in order to attain the bluest, coolest red, it is necessary to add the most blue. Also, the Winter yellow is light in comparison to the other dark colors, but it is still bluer than the warmer Autumn and Spring yellows (of course the Summer yellow is lighter and cooler still).

To better determine your contrast range, review the value scale. All colors have light and dark values. The strongest expression of light and dark contrast are the effects of white and black. Between these opposites there is a realm of light and dark grays, forming a continuous scale between them. Generally, the eye can readily discern the following 9 value shades: white, light-medium-light, medium-light, dark-medium-light, medium, light-medium-dark, medium-dark and black.

Off-white has the same degree of contrast as white-to-black and white-to-dark brown. This is helpful to know if you are not a Classic Winter who needs extreme dark and light contrast. If you are an Inter-season, you can still be striking by using these contrasts because they have been modified to not overwhelm your natural contrast.

These colors represent and include every conceivable color of pink pictured or not. 

Colors can be arranged in harmonic sequence much like tones of the musical scale are organized. Using pink as an example, the colors are illustrated in an oval format demonstrating how colors flow in orderly gradations of warm, cool and balanced colors. Beginning on the large outer oval, at the top left are warm bright colors, to the right are the more muted warm colors, then balanced soft colors are on the right end, down to the cooler light colors, left again to cool darker colors and finishing with the clear balanced colors on the left end.

To simplify, the colors have been reduced to 6 colors. 
Keep in mind that these six colors represent all shades, tints and modifications of the color family.  

 The following is a breakdown of how the colors on the ovals have been sorted and arranged in harmonic sequences of warm, cool and balanced colors:

1.      WARM/COOL    Warm yellowed colors are on the top half, cool blued colors are on the bottom.  2.      CLEAR/SOFT   Clearer colors are on the left side; colors which have been softened, dulled, grayed or muted are on the right. 3.      BALANCED    Mixtures of both warm and cool colors (balanced) are on the ends of the ovals; clear balanced colors on the left, and soft balanced colors on the right. 4.      VALUES  All four basic sections have different values (degrees of lightness or darkness). The Bright section is medium in value, Muted colors are medium dark, Light colors are light in value, and Dark colors are dark in value.

5. BRIGHT   This section represents the true colors of Spring. The color qualities are warm, clear and bright. They have more yellow and red in them than the other seasons, causing the colors to appear more ORANGE. 6.  MUTED   This section represents the true colors of Autumn. The color qualities are warm, muddy and neutral. They have more red, yellow and black than the other season, causing them to appear more    BROWN. 7.  LIGHT   This section represents the true colors of Summer. The color qualities are cool, light and soft. They have more blue, red and white than the other seasons, causing them to appear more BLUE. 8.  DARK   This section represents the true colors of Winter. The color qualities are cool, clear and dark. They have more red, blue and black causing them to appear more PURPLE.