Courtenay St. John was trained in the Sci/Art Method of Personal Color Analysis by Christine Scaman at 12Blueprints.com.

PCA discovers your skin’s undertone so that:                     1)  You can synchronize your clothing and make-up   

              to showcase your true brilliance.

        2)  You will be able to easily discard clothing that

              fragments your appearance and takes attention

              away from the underlyingharmony of your

              inherent natural coloring.

3) You will align your outer appearance with the

     make-up and clothing to create a memorable,

     enlivened, very personal beauty – a look that is

     not based on fads, but will endure because  

     your appearance will be fascinating.

The color palettes by themselves cannot tell the whole story; it is the their integration with the underlying tones in your own skin, hair and eyes that will create fascination for the viewer. The excitement, magnetism and interest are created by the completed, coherent wholeness that your appearance will radiate.

BIO

In the 1980s when Color Me Beautiful first appeared on the scene, I lived in a community where many of us embraced Personal Color Analysis. Not only was I eager to be “analyzed”, I had my 6-yr old daughter analyzed as well. I was typed a Summer, largely because of my light brown hair, blue-green eyes and pink cheeks.  My daughter’s consultation particularly interested me because, although she was, of course, adorable, her skin looked green and she had shadows under her eyes. She had no symptoms of allergy or illness and had tons of energy, though! She was an “Autumn with Summer influence”. This meant that khaki and dusty yellows were good for her - she did look wonderful in those colors. It was not surprising that she had looked so sickly before – little girl’s clothing in the 1980s was pink, lavender and blue.

Fast forward to 2010.  As “une dame d’une certaine age,” (French for don’t ask how old she is!) I was increasingly avoiding the face that looked back at me from store windows.  The colors of my palette just didn’t look good – and I personally liked them!  But I found that my face looked harsh and drawn. Cranberry and steels blues did not enliven my skin.  Should I let my hair go gray? Something in my appearance was jarring and I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. I despaired that I was going to be a tired-looking older woman.

I searched on the web for Color Analysis and found my way to the SCI/Art system. Instantly, I was fascinated. There were not only 4 seasons in this system, but 12. Perhaps the problem was that I was a Summer blend.  I headed to Barnes and Noble to research other books on the 12-tone system to see if I could figure it out on my own.  The colors I tried did not seem to make much of a difference.

Fortunately, I was able to locate a SCI/Art trained analyst (Kerry Stich) who had a studio 5 hours away. I booked an appointment and headed out 6 weeks later to discover a new physical identity! (Wearing my favorite fleece – a soft summer blend)

The consultation proceeded rapidly, Kerry knew what to look for, and had no doubts that she was finding “It!” She announced that I was a Light Spring and showed me a Light Spring swatch book. I owned NONE of those colors! I could not even imagine what it would be like to wear them – surely I would be a laughing stock of a mature woman, dressed as a jellybean.

My worst nightmare did not come to pass. As I started switching out my closet for my new Light Spring Colors, the compliments were rolling in. When I passed a store window, I no longer grimaced with disapproval. Other women around me took note, and wanted their own color transformations. I accompanied them and quickly became interested in becoming an analyst myself.  At the time, no one in the US was offering SCI/Art training.

In 2013, while visiting the 12Blueprints website, I saw that Christine Scamen would be offering a 12Blueprints Analyst Training Course based upon the SCI/Art system. I seized the opportunity, hoping to gradually ease into business over 5 years, as I developed more expertise in Personal Color Analysis and retired from my full-time job. Christine’s training course was thorough and demanding. The visual scrutiny necessary to observe each nuance in skin tone that responded to shifts in the calibrated drapes required an attention to details that I would normally not have been aware of.

Responding to the information conveyed to the analyst and client in the draping sequence requires focus, discrimination and analysis – traits that have been part of me my whole life. In the past, my pursuits have been logical, scientific, psychological or mathematical. My hunger for the artistic has been an avocation until now. As a Personal Color Analyst,  seeing the visual transformation that occurs for each client is thrilling.

My studio is located in Williamstown, MA. This year, a second studio opens in Norwalk, CT and travel dates are planned for Charleston, SC, Traverse City, MI and Fairfield, IA.