When I Skyped with Cindi to discuss training, I knew we would have a fun time. She has a great personality, is energetic, and makes life fun for those around her.

Cindi’s love of color and desire to learn made training enjoyable. After a life-long quest to find her color home and her passion to help others find theirs, it is my pleasure to introduce Cindi Gibleon…..

“My love affair with color started at a very early age. I recall sitting on the floor of my grandmother’s screen porch playing with an assortment of colorful buttons she kept in a cookie tin. The buttons were all different sizes, textures and colors. They were so pretty, and I found them utterly fascinating in their diversity. When I was 7 years old, for Christmas, my younger sister and I received Barbie dolls. I believe this is when my love for clothes and accessories was conceived. My mother made lots of clothes for my doll and I loved changing her outfits and combining them with little Barbie doll shoes, hats and bags. As a preteen I started to show interest in selecting my own clothing. Both my grandmother and mother were seamstresses and many Saturday afternoons were spent at the fabric store selecting patterns, fabrics and notions to put together my next great outfit for church, school or parties! I don’t remember having store bought clothes until my later years in high school. They were far too expensive at that time.

After high school, I attended the University of Northern Iowa and studied Interior Design. I worked in the home design field for a few years; but after the birth of my two children, it was far easier to mix career and child-rearing working part-time in a fabric store and then later selling ladies clothing in a department store. My introduction with color analysis started like many of you, with the book, “Color Me Beautiful” by Carole Jackson. From that time on I was hooked, frankly obsessed with finding out what my season could possibly be. I tried to find out on my own by studying Jackson’s book, but I could never really pin down my season. My mother was easy to figure out! She had black-brown hair and fair skin and looked spectacular in the high-contrast cool intense colors of the Winter season. My father was definitely a Summer. He had cool dusty brown hair and the softer contrast between skin and hair. He looked wonderful in blues, grays and soft browns. What season was I? My hair was a warmer brown than my father’s, but not as dark as my mother’s. My eyes were and still are blue-green with bits of gold around the pupil. I do not have the high contrast between hair and skin tone. Winter seems highly unlikely. That leaves Summer, Spring and Autumn. There were colors in each of these seasonal palettes that were flattering, but none of them felt like they completely captured me. This quest of finding my true colors led to the purchase of countless books on the subject matter over the years. Eventually I gave up completely in my search and just bought whatever liked.

A few years ago while perusing the internet, I stumbled upon Dressing Your Truth, a style system designed by Carole Tuttle based on one’s energy type. In this system, there are 4 types, each with its own set of colors, textures, lines and shapes. I explored the system, took the energy typing test, and the result was Type 1. I then purchased the Type 1 course and proceeded to dress in a Type 1 style. I joined the Dressing your Truth forum and started sharing thoughts and dressing experiences with other ladies. Many of us did not feel like we could be adequately pigeon-holed in to one of the types. This discussion led to Facebook groups on a number of dressing and color systems. The Sci/ART 12-Tone seasonal system was just one of the color systems mentioned. Nikki Bogardus, student of Kathryn Kalisz was touring the country doing color consults. I booked a session with her in Minneapolis in the summer of 2012. The result was True Spring. I liked many of the colors, but there were a few of the colors that I just could never come to grips with. You could say they set my teeth on edge. Lime green, red-orange, golden browns to name a few. I lived with them for about a year. It was recommended that it could take some time to adjust to some of the colors. I still did not feel the satisfaction of finding my color home. This led me to try other systems. Illuminessence, Beauty Valued, and David Zyla. I also booked a consult with David Kibbe. In each of these systems, I fell somewhere between a Spring and a Summer.

As my kids are adults and on their own, I now have some expendable income, so I thought I would study intensely with someone in the color analysis field who has years and years of experience. My quest led me to Terry Wildfong. Terry has been in the field over 20 years and had studied with Kathryn Kalisz, originator of the 12-Tone color system. She seemed like a great source of information and I really wanted to pick her brain! She has done dozens and dozens of consults and is also a Mary Kay makeup consultant. Her understanding of what colors can do for an individual is really second to none and her desire to keep learning is extraordinary! She is humble and generous and my hours learning from her passed like lightening. I could not get enough! What fun to study with someone who shared my passion for color and what the right colors could do to help someone come to life! During my training I was fortunate enough to drape ladies from each of the 4 seasons! It was so helpful to see the differences of how each lady reacted to the drapes, not only in their coloring, but also in their essence! On the last day, Terry and I draped me. This is a team effort. By now I have become accustomed to seeing what color can do to change the skin tone and texture. During Step 1, the silver Summer drape was decidedly better than each of the other drapes. It had the least impact on my skin tone and was very calming. During Step 2, comparing the True 4 Season Drapes, Summer again was the clear winner, followed by Spring and Winter. There were no Autumn choices at all. Light colors were clearly dominant. The Red Test Drape came next. Cool Neutral heat levels were best. The final draping was between True Summer and Light Summer. Light Summer was the final result. I really believe this is my color space in the 12-Tone system. Logically it makes sense that I would lie in this place. It had the clear, soft colors that my body colors needed to come alive.

The next step of my journey is to help others find their color space, to help illuminate their beauty and bring the joy of color in to their lives! Please look me up at www.yourcolorspace.com.”