Your favorite shades say something about your personality
What’s your favorite color? For most people, the answer is blue. Researchers have found that about 40 percent of those surveyed like blue best, followed (at a distant second) by purple.
It makes sense: the colors of sea and sky dominate our landscape, and surround us in every waking moment. Blue symbolizes tranquility, and our most familiar representations of heaven are blue and white. Other beautiful blues include blueberries, hydrangeas, robins’ eggs, Delft pottery, and (my all-time favorite) Paul Newman’s eyes.
Blue is said to be a cool, almost chilly color, but it also symbolizes great depth of feeling. Brides traditionally carry something blue, and all lovers aspire to find the one that’s “true blue.” According to the wonderful book “Colors for Your Every Mood” by Leatrice Eiseman – a staple of my coffee table – people who favor blue are trusting, even-tempered and reliable.
My favorite color is orange. Not a typical choice, I know, but the color of sunsets, marigolds and monarch butterflies pulses with power and energy: think Lucille Ball’s henna-orange hair, or Van Gogh’s sunflowers, which are more orange than yellow. Roman brides of old wore orange veils and shoes to ensure their marriages would be long and fruitful, and orange blossoms are historic symbols of love. Did you know orange was Frank Sinatra’s favorite? He always wore a vivid orange pocket square with his tuxedo. And orange does wonders for the complexion. An orange scarf, hat or pullover will add warmth and radiance to your skin, whether you’re dark or fair, old or young.
Here’s what some other color preferences mean about you and your personality.
- Green has some unfortunate associations. It’s the color of slimy things (frogs, fish, snakes); and base emotions (jealousy and envy). Martians are green, and so is moldy cheese. But the prevailing color of spring also signifies freshness and fertility, and people who prefer green are said to have peaceful natures. Expect a green person to be friendly, relaxed, sociable and honest – but never cruelly so.
- Yellow, the color of sunshine and daisies, usually denotes happiness and cheer. But there also are sophisticated shades. Gold is associated with riches and royalty, and is the color of heaven in Japanese culture. In his treatise “Theory of Colors,” the philosopher Wolfgang von Goethe said people “feel an inclination to laugh when they look through a yellow glass.” The yellow brick road led Dorothy to Oz and the fulfillment of her heart’s desire. People who love yellow are good-natured and bright, and love their freedom.
- Red is the color of fire, vitality, and ardent emotions, and those who wear it always stand out in a crowd. The benefits of this flamboyance are evident elsewhere in nature. The male cardinal’s scarlet plumage attracts the female. Hummingbirds are attracted to red flowers.
Interestingly, women see more shades of red than men do. Researchers at Arizona State University have determined that a woman’s genetic makeup makes it far easier for her to perceive the red-orange color spectrum in all its subtleties; while guys see only red – the Campbell’s tomato soup variety – women can detect the differences among claret and cranberry, persimmon and paprika, magenta and ruby and burgundy. Red people are zesty, impulsive and extroverted, and confident in their appeal.
- People have strong opinions, pro and con, about pink. But it’s is not just bubblegum and cotton candy – it’s also hot and shocking. The flappers of the Roaring 20s, who first used pink rouge on their cheeks, also rouged their knees, which was truly scandalous behavior at the time. Pink is also a preferred color for lingerie.
Pink’s calming properties also have been well documented. A Washington State doctor, Alexander Schauss, was the first to report that pink walls have a soothing effect on prisoners (as a result, it’s also known as “drunk tank pink”). And some sports teams even have pink walls in the visiting team’s locker room, in order to lull them into losing. While pink is still the ultimate girly color, it’s become permissible and even fashionable for men, and like orange, it flatters the skin. Hotelier Madame Ritz supposedly decreed that every lampshade in the Ritz Hotel be lined in pink, because it made everyone look great. If you’re a pink person, you’re gentle and innocent, idealistic and romantic.
- The Pantone paint people say purple combines “the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple … It satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.”
What comes to mind when you think of purple? I think of my grandmother’s homemade grape juice, and Purple People-Eaters, and Purple Hearts, and one disastrous old jalopy I once drove that was an unenviable shade of eggplant. While purple can be morose and overpowering, its more delicate shades are lovely: lavender, orchid, amethyst and lilac. Eiseman says purple people are artistic, enigmatic, and unconventional.
As the world turns from the dull gray-brown of winter to the vibrant hues of spring, it reminds me of a coloring book that’s gradually being filled in with green and pink, purple and blue, red and yellow, and a thousand other wonderful variations of the Crayola box. It’s a marvelous sight to behold.
A Fun Exercise for the Kids
Every once in a while Crayola comes up with new colors for its big 84-crayon box, and also retires some old ones. Come up with a list of 10 or so new shades, and nominate them. We once did this with our kids, and though I can’t recall all the ideas, we came up with a few I still like: All-that-Glitters Gold, Bumblebee Yellow, Silly Putty Pink, and naturally, a shade of blue called Paul Newman’s Eyes.
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