£150 is a considered amount of money for an afternoon. It is a fair question to ask whether colour analysis is worth it before you book, and I would rather answer it properly than wave at a before-and-after. The honest version is this: the value is not a new personality, and it is not a wardrobe you have to replace. It is a decision you stop having to make from scratch every time you shop.
What the £150 actually is
A colour analysis at the Ilkley studio is two hours. That covers full draping in natural daylight, your season and an explanation of it, makeup and jewellery guidance, a personal digital colour guide on your phone, and the understanding that you can ask me afterwards when a dress in a shop has you unsure.
If you want body shape in the same visit, Colour + Body Shape is three hours and £225. It includes everything in the colour analysis, plus which styles and silhouettes flatter you. Some people want both on the day. Some want colour first and a wardrobe edit later, once they can see their own clothes against the palette. The two together are £300.
None of that requires you to throw anything away in the room. The consultation ends with a guide you keep. The edit, if you book one, is a separate three hours in your own wardrobe.
Where people notice the difference
The site has a line I stand by, because I hear the same thing in the studio: most clients say the saving comes from what they stop buying. A palette on your phone means fewer mistakes, and a wardrobe in which more pieces work together.
That shows up in ordinary ways. The navy jumper that always felt slightly sad next to your face, which you kept because navy is supposed to be safe. The camel coat that looked expensive on the hanger and tired once it was on. The black you defaulted to because choosing felt risky. Colour analysis does not ban those things. It tells you which of them is doing you a favour and which is making you look as though you slept badly.
The other shift is smaller and, to my mind, more important. The right colours near your face do half of makeup's job: brighter eyes, fresher skin, less effort in the morning. Plenty of women book because they are stuck in a rut of black, grey and navy, or because the wardrobe is full of clothes with the tags still on. Some book at a milestone — a new decade, a new job, post-baby, post-divorce — when they want a fresh start that is not a new personality. Some book with a friend, or because someone gave them a gift voucher instead of another candle.
I cannot tell you that you will save a precise sum. I will not invent one. I can tell you what the afternoon is designed to stop: buying a colour that looked lovely in the shop and never quite worked once it was next to you.
What it will not do
It will not hand you a smaller life. The point of the palette is more colour you can wear with confidence, not a list of forbidden shades and a lecture. I am not interested in rules for their own sake.
It will not be right if what you wanted was a video call. Draping needs daylight and a mirror between us, so consultations are in person. A quiz can point and an app can guess. Neither replaces watching a drape change your face. There is a separate note on colour analysis versus a palette app.
It will not stay useful if you treat the season as a fancy name and then never look at the guide again. The digital palette is there for changing rooms and online baskets. That is the bit that earns its keep on a wet Saturday in Leeds, not the moment of the reveal on its own.
And it will not replace knowing your clothes. Colour tells you which shades. It does not, by itself, edit a packed wardrobe or shop a wedding outfit. That is what the at-home edit and personal shopping are for. Personal shopping starts at £350 and runs in Leeds, York or Harrogate. If you have already had your colours done, I shop to the palette instead of working it out on the rails.
A useful way to think about the price
Two hours is £150. Put next to a coat you wear twice, it is not a mysterious number. Put next to a lipstick you replace because the last three were nearly right, it starts to look specific. I am not going to pretend every client does that sum in the car home. Some simply wanted an afternoon that felt like a treat and left with a season. Both are allowed.
What I will say is who tends to feel it was worth it. Women who are tired of buying mistakes. Women who want to wear less makeup without looking washed out. Women who own plenty and still feel they have nothing to wear — which is often a colour problem before it is a quantity problem. If your wardrobe is already a joy and you shop easily, you may not need me. The door is still open. It is just an honest answer.
If you have had your colours done years ago, a revisit is often worth it for a different reason. Colouring itself does not change, but hair dye, grey and a tan change how shades behave. A fresh analysis often shows a shift in what to reach for, and the updated guide alone is the point of coming back.
How to decide without talking yourself out of it
If you want a low-stakes first step, take the free quiz. Eight questions, no email, an indication rather than a verdict. Then read what colour season you might be. Sitting between two seasons at home is normal. That is the moment draping does something an article cannot.
If you would like to give the afternoon to someone else, a voucher for colour analysis, a wardrobe edit, or the two together is valid for 12 months and arrives by email on the day you choose, with your message inside. Birthdays, Christmas and Mother's Day are the obvious ones. "Just because" is also popular.
If you are ready, book the consultation. Choose a Tuesday to Saturday, pay securely by card, and you are confirmed. The studio is in Ilkley. There is parking nearby, and the station is on the Leeds and Bradford lines. Come with little or no makeup, so we can see you clearly. Bring a friend if you want company. Bring the question you have been turning over in a shop mirror. That is what the two hours are for.
If you are not ready, message me. I reply personally, usually within a day. Worth it, for you, depends on whether choosing colour still feels like a guess. If it does, the afternoon is built to end that guess.