House of Colour analysis, explained

House of Colour is one of the better-known names in seasonal colour analysis, and it comes up often enough that it is worth explaining what the model is. This is an explainer rather than a review — nobody here has sat a session, so you will not find a score, and there are no affiliate links on this page.

The model

It operates as a franchise: individually trained stylists run their own territories under the brand, working from their own studios or homes rather than from company-owned locations. The training and the method are common; the individual stylist is not.

That is the single most useful thing to know before booking, and it cuts both ways. The method you get should be consistent, because it is taught centrally. The experience — the room, the daylight, the stylist's eye and how long they spend — varies by person, because it is a different business each time. Reviews of "House of Colour" in aggregate tell you less than reviews of the specific stylist you are booking.

What the session involves

The method is standard seasonal draping: daylight, no makeup, hair covered, fabric drapes held against the face in pairs while you watch what happens to your skin. Sessions typically resolve to a season and send you away with a physical swatch wallet. Colour analysis is usually offered alongside style-and-line and makeup services as separate appointments.

Ask your stylist directly about session length, what is included, and whether the swatch wallet is part of the price. Those details are set locally, which is exactly why no honest page can quote them for you — treat any site that states a single confident figure with suspicion, this one included if it did.

Which season system it uses

House of Colour works in the four-season families with sub-seasons beneath them, which maps closely onto the twelve-season system this site uses. A result from one translates to the other in most cases; where the two systems disagree it is usually on the boundary between neighbouring seasons, which is the same place a self-assessment gets uncertain and, for what it is worth, the same place trained analysts disagree with each other.

Questions worth asking before you book

• How long is the colour session, and is the swatch wallet included?
• Is the analysis done by draping in daylight?
• How many seasons do you resolve to?
• Is there any obligation to buy makeup afterwards?
• Can I see examples of your own work rather than brand marketing?

The alternatives

Independent analysts, other training systems, and remote analysis from photographs all exist — how to find and vet an analyst covers what to look for, and what a professional session involves describes the method in detail so you can tell a thorough one from a quick one.

And if you want to know your season before deciding whether to spend anything at all, the three-question quiz here is free, resolves to the same twelve seasons, and is honest about when your answers sit between two of them. It is not a substitute for an hour of draping, and it does not claim to be.