Nicole Allen | House of Color Champaign, Il

As a small business owner, I love seeing other small businesses thrive. Especially when those businesses are owned by women and serve other women. Nicole's goal is for you to feel the best version of yourself.

A few years ago my best friend had told me about getting your colors done. I hadn’t thought a whole lot about it until my friend Holly had hers done by Nicole Allen in Champaign, Il. Once I followed her on IG, I became more intrigued with the idea of getting my colors done.

Nicole Allen | House of Color

Nicole started her business after having her own colors done while post partum in an effort to bring herself back to a more confident version of herself. A passion was born and she now serves clients in Champaign, Il.

Finding your confidence through color

When asked, she can’t decide which service she loves providing more: color or style analysis. She knows she loves helping women find confidence and style while making their lives easier by giving them a foundation to work with when deciding what to wear. When you leave, she wants you to understand the impact of the right colors on your mood, energy, and confidence.

The appointment itself was SO cool. Nicole starts with a lesson on color before going into your individual analysis. You quickly discover colors that look better on you than others and that reveals what season and sub-season you are. My sister and I are both an autumn which means we have a lot of tan/brown tones and greens in our palette (as well as a bunch of other colors). We have different sub-seasons though which means some of our best colors are different.

Color Analysis Champaign Il

Our favorite takeaways

Kate has been thriving in her career. As she moves up the proverbial ladder, how she presents herself has changed. One of the things we talked about is how she now needs to command the attention of colleagues and employees more, most via zoom. The best way to do this is with lip color! It makes sense- people will pay attention more!

For me, as I try to divest little by little in my home, I LOVED going through my closet and eliminating items that I rarely wore that aren’t my colors. It felt as if I had permission to let go of clothes that didn’t serve me anymore and donate them.

Before you leave

When you wear the colors that flatter you the most, your skin glows, which means you need less makeup. Thus, your morning routine is simplified! Sweet, right? Before you leave, Nicole does the 90 second makeup routine to add to the simplifying process.  She also sends you off with a color fan of your season so when you go shopping, the colors that flatter you most are always at your fingertips.

Will I still wear colors outside my pallet? Yes. But not as much (hello black workout wardrobe). Every time it matters though, I love wearing my colors and coordinating them more than I ever used to. Would I have looked at lime green or orange before? No. But I love accessorizing with them!

Nicole Allen | House of Color Champaign, Il Nicole Allen at House of Color Champaign Comparison of her wrong blue versus what her right blue does for her skin House of Colors: Right colors for skin tone versus wrong colors Color Analysis Champaign Il

Kate and I enjoyed our color analysis so much that we booked our style analysis before leaving the color appointment. The style analysis deep dives into your personality and how to synthesize your essence with your clothing.

The style analysis

To no ones surprise, my sister and I were similar, but still different in our style archetype. She’s a natural dramatic while I’m a dramatic natural- which makes SO MUCH sense if you know us personally.

So real talk: I’ve gained a bunch of weight this year. Clothing has been a struggle. I’m finding that most of my wardrobe isn’t necessarily doing me any favors. While I realize NO ONE else sees what I see, I learned so much on how to dress for my shape as a whole. Not just the softer parts that I'm trying to get used to.

Our favorite part

We loved that this almost stranger could validate our favorite parts of our personality, style, and energy. Going forward shopping will be more intentional and fun while reducing decision fatigue. Nicole has an uncanny ability to see her clients in their current season and concisely guide them to bringing their best versions of themselves through what they wear.

From how you want to be perceived to wardrobe management to creating points of interest, she covers all the details of what goes into your personal style. By the end, you have a gorgeous magazine full of style analysis results and guidance.

Nicole Allen Champain Il Style Lesson Body Measurements to determine best clothing lengths and style Style Lesson with Nicole Allen Style Analysis magazine to take notes Style Analysis magazine to take notes with House of Color Champaign Nicole Allen Champain Il Style Lesson with House of Color Body Measurements to determine best clothing lengths and style at House of Color Body analysis with Nicole Allen Body, neck and face analysis with Nicole Allen Nicole Allen with House of Color Champaign, Il