TikTok’s ‘Color Analysis Queen’ Helps Dallas Women Find Their Personal Palettes

If you’ve been on TikTok at all within the last year, you’ve likely come across a few videos about the recent color analysis revival. They all typically follow the same format: a bare-faced client sits in front of a mirror, draped in multicolored cloths, as another person standing behind the chair comments on how great – or awful – certain hues look on their client. By the end of the clip, the client leaves with their palette diagnosis, usually falling into one of the four definitive season categories: spring, summer, autumn or winter.

Over the past few years, color analysis and field-related TikTok influencers have become increasingly popular across the globe, namely in countries like Japan and South Korea. Luckily, North Texans need not travel far for a personal palette consultation; a member of color analysis royalty lives right here in their backyard.

With more than 179,000 followers and tens of millions of views, “Color Analysis Queen” Tatum Schwerin has become more than worthy of her title. The Dallas personal stylist has been taking over TikTok FYPs (“for your page,” a way that TikTok recommends content) for over a year by helping dozens of women find their personal color palettes.

“I love helping women see how beautiful they are,” Schwerin says. “There’s times when women come in here and they can’t even look at themselves in the mirror. And I just really like to point out their features, and show them that it doesn’t matter what color palette you are, they’re all equally beautiful.”

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The founder of Curated & Clothed, a local styling and personal shopping company, Schwerin has helped Dallas women dress to their personal shape and style for years. She had known about color analysis for quite some time, but she had “zero interest” in the craft because it looked too limiting and constrictive. After she learned more about color analysis and theory, she found it can help a person expand the number of colors they feel they’re able to pull off, and she began offering in-person and online sessions of her own around the same time color analysis started getting popular online.

The “new” color analysis trend isn’t new at all; it’s another renewal of a decades-old fashion cycle. Historically, personal color analysis has gone through peaks and waves as early as the 1940s and as recently as the 1980s. The process involves examining a person’s features (eye color, skin tone, etc.) to develop their own personal palette, which is then used to best match what colors and tones of clothing and jewelry best accentuate their look.

“When an artist makes a painting, they use their color palette, and it’s the same thing with a color palette to a person,” Schwerin says. “It’s basically the original artist’s palette of spring, summer, autumn and winter. From your personal palette and whether you have warm or cool tones, you can really find your power colors, which are what you feel and look the best in.”

Schwerin looks into several different aspects of a client’s features to reach the right palette. An in-person session – which costs about $500 and takes around an hour – allows Schwerin to look into her client’s eye pattern, natural hair color (which is determined either in-person or through a client’s childhood photo of dye-free hair) and skin undertone to find their seasonal color palette and most flattering metal tone for jewelry. Despite working hundreds of color analysis sessions, Schwerin says she is still constantly surprised at how much a certain shade can change someone’s appearance.

“Learning more about it [color analysis] made me a believer, and I also see it happen for people who come in skeptical and then leave as sold believers,” Schwerin says. “You can see it on their faces, that part where people are like, ‘Whoa I see it.’ People are amazed, and so am I, and it’s wonderful when you can watch in real time how confident it makes them feel.”

Why Color Analysis Is Big Again

Schwerin has two main theories about why color analysis has seen so much interest as of late. One is the evident power of social media, which shows time and again how online virality influences what trends people follow and when. The other is based on the fact that consumers are becoming more aware of mindful purchases, especially in terms of quality clothing and accessories. By knowing what best suits certain features, people are better able to narrow down what they should be adding to and discarding from their closet.

But finding your personal palette doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch, Schwerin says. She advises using personal color analysis to slowly incorporate new, expansive colors into your closet, rather than discarding the entirety of your old wardrobe.

“When you start shopping after you have your palette, just slowly start incorporating those colors,” Schwerin says. “Most people start with the neutrals from their palette and build up from there. It’s something you tiptoe into; you don’t have to run in full force.”

While a color palette may help you find new possibilities with colors and tones, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to break all of your old fashion habits that don’t align with your newfound palette.

“I mean, I still wear black,” Schwerin says. “I’m never going to give up black or just a clean white or classic pieces I’ve had forever that I love. But I know what pieces to invest in, and I’ve created a lot more ebb and flow in my closet by building my wardrobe slowly off of my palette.”

Schwerin believes it’s best to be analyzed by a certified color analyst to avoid personal bias when sifting through colors, and she now offers color analysis training of her own.  But she still has some advice for folks attempting to do it themselves at home. She says an easy place to start is by finding which metals suit you best, as that can tell you if you’re a warm or cool tone. If it’s silver, you’re cool; if it’s gold, you’re warm; and if it’s an even split, you’re likely neutral.

From there, it should be a bit easier to find your home season and use your natural colors to determine what shades look best. Your best bet to find this without a personal analyst is by using an online AI tool, although Schwerin warns that many of them are still not that great. More than anything, Schwerin stresses one biggest piece of advice: Don’t look at your veins.

“That is such a myth, I don’t know where that came from,” Schwerin says. “I guess it started somewhere with an online filter or guide, but there is no one in color analysis that will ever look at your veins or care about your veins.”

At the end of the day, Schwerin believes there are still no true rules in fashion. A color palette can help you feel more confident in your ability as a smart shopper and self-stylist, but personal style is just about wearing what you like and feel best in.

“When you look in the mirror and you’re wearing something that makes you feel good, that’s what you should be wearing,” Schwerin says. “Fashion isn’t about limiting yourself. It’s about doing and expanding into what makes you feel beautiful.”