AI Guides › Workbench
By Nigel Guy · 6 min read
Most people upload one selfie, ask an AI for their "colour season", and treat the answer as a verdict. It feels like a result because it arrives with a season name, hex codes and confident reasoning. But a single photo carries the room's lighting, your phone's white balance and any filter you forgot was on, and the assistant has no way to separate those from your actual skin.
The rule: treat the first answer as a hypothesis, make the assistant state its confidence and what it could not judge, then test it against a second photo and a real garment before you spend a penny.
| Option | What it does | Cost at time of writing | Best for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat assistant plus your photos (the prompts below) | Estimates undertone, contrast and season, then builds a palette | Free plans can accept image uploads, with usage limits; Claude Pro is $20 a month (about £15 at time of writing, check the £ price at checkout) | A fast first draft and a shopping shortlist | It sees pixels, not you. Lighting and camera processing skew the read |
| Cardboard-and-fabric drape test at home | You hold coloured fabric under your chin in daylight and judge by eye | The price of a few fabric scraps or scarves | Settling a disagreement between two seasons | Takes patience and a second pair of eyes |
| In-person stylist | Drapes you live in controlled light | Varies by stylist; ask for the price before booking | A wardrobe overhaul or a big spend | Quality varies, and different stylists use different systems |
I could not verify a standard price for stylist sessions, so check quotes rather than trusting a figure from a post.
This asks for the analysis, but also for evidence, confidence and the things it cannot judge. Fill in the bracketed items. If you leave them blank, the prompt tells the assistant to ask rather than guess.
You are an experienced personal colour consultant who is honest about the limits of photo-based analysis.
Goal: from the attached photo(s), estimate my personal colour profile and turn it into a palette I can shop from. A good result is specific, shows its reasoning, and clearly separates what is visible in the photo from what is a guess.
My details:
- Lighting in the photo(s): [DAYLIGHT / ARTIFICIAL / UNSURE]
- Natural hair colour: [NATURAL_HAIR_COLOUR]
- Eye colour as I see it: [EYE_COLOUR]
- Colours people have said suit me, or that I feel good in: [COLOURS_I_LIKE]
- Wardrobe base I need to work with: [CURRENT_WARDROBE_BASICS]
- Budget level for any shopping suggestions: [BUDGET]
If a photo looks filtered, heavily shadowed, or lit by tinted light, or if any detail above is missing, tell me first and ask what you need. Do not guess around it.
Work in this order:
1. Lighting check: say what the lighting appears to be and how much it could be distorting colour.
2. Undertone: warm, cool or neutral, with the visible evidence and a confidence level of low, medium or high.
3. Contrast: low, medium or high, comparing skin, hair and eyes.
4. Season: your best match in the 12-season system, plus a runner-up season I should test, with the reason each might be wrong.
5. Palette, as a table with columns for colour name, approximate hex, role and how to wear it: 6 to 8 core colours, 3 neutrals, 2 accents, and 5 colours to avoid near my face, each with a reason.
6. Extras: gold or silver, hair-colour directions, and makeup families (base warmth, blush, lip).
7. A short home test: three drape comparisons I can do with fabric by a window to confirm or overturn your read.
Constraints: keep hex codes labelled as approximate; do not claim certainty you do not have; no medical or skin-condition comments; do not comment on my appearance beyond colour.
Before answering, check that every claim in steps 2 to 4 points to something visible in the photo, and mark any that do not as assumptions.
Run this in the same chat after uploading your second photo. It is where you find out whether the first answer was a read of you or a read of your bedroom.
Here is a second photo taken in [DIFFERENT_LIGHT_OR_PLACE]. Compare it with the first.
1. Say whether your undertone, contrast and season read stay the same, shift, or become less certain, and why.
2. List what changed between the photos that could explain any difference (light colour, camera, clothing, makeup).
3. Give a final answer in one of three forms: confident, a choice between two seasons, or not enough evidence from photos.
4. If it is a choice between two seasons, tell me which three garments or fabric swatches would settle it.
Do not simply agree with your first answer. If the evidence conflicts, say so.