I would argue that the brain’s ability to perceive colors surpasses its ability to perceive the taste of food. Don’t attack me all at once: hear me out.

Yes, food is essential; we need it to survive. However, answer this: what is your favorite color? Why is it your favorite? How does it make you feel? Does it change with the seasons? Does it change as you get older? Why do you believe that is?

Personally, the appeal of a favorite color is peculiar. The varying shades in the collective spectrum are what paint the world we see every day. This painting of complex colors can alter various aspects of one's mood, our most predominant and conscious emotion. For instance, the sun came out after a rainy and rather a grim morning. The stresses of a poor train commute to work have gone, and everyone seems happier to be outside. The rainbow that is bound to appear after a while is enough to brighten up the chilly spring weather. 

Colors are communication tools holding a meaning within every culture. Their arbitrary nature reflects personalities and can influence emotions while also ensuing physiological changes. The complexities surrounding colors were neatly placed into a color wheel by Issac Newton in 1666; he called it a color theory. 

Color theory is a set of adaptable guidelines used by designers and artists of every profession to communicate to an audience. Messages can be created by utilizing the endless color combinations found within a modern color wheel in conjunction with knowledge of our optical ability, psychology, and culture. While colors have existed so long as the light and our ability to perceive them, Newton clarified a working theory about why this marvel of the human condition exists. Before his discovery in the 17th century, it was commonly believed that an array of colors could be formulated by mixing “light” and “dark.” People believed that more colors could be produced by mixing red, the lightest color, and blue, the darkest color. This is where his famous prism experiment was born. By angling a transparent glass prism in the direction of a source of light, the light source can be refracted, revealing the variety of colors that constitutes white light. He took note of the most striking color he could see and placed it in an octave schema, creating the color wheel. The wheel allowed for a better view of the three primary colors. These colors were noted with Newton’s naked eye, and he transcribed the first ROY G BIV, a mnemonic to remember the order of the rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. His research ultimately concluded that combining primary colors creates all secondary colors. The color combinations in differing ratios produced distinct "hues" of unique colors from the conventional ROY G BIV bases, resulting in the first color wheel, which is most likely the wheel we are most familiar with. 

Later on, scientist and artist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe proposed his theories to supplement Newton’s color theory and color wheel in his 1810 publication “Theory of Colours''. Some found it peculiar that Goethe included data about the psychological effects of colors on emotions. However, as an artist, it is believed that he wished to communicate the emotional catharsis colors painting with a myriad of colors gave him. He described his passion for painting as “an art which has the power of producing on a flat surface, a much more perfect visible world than the actual one can be.” His research birthed a more specific color wheel displaying colors opposite each other, deeming them antagonistic colors, also known as analogous colors. Goethe’s studies, passion for art, and love of color served as the foundation for how researchers interpret color privy to the human eye.

When you were in elementary school, you were most likely exposed to the fundamentals of color theory when you were given a plate of paints carrying the three primary colors. The primary colors consist of red, blue, and yellow because they cannot be formed by combining other colors. As a kid, you may have tried to connect them to create a rainbow, only to get brown. However, if you mix two of the three colors, you can get all the other hues. The color theory considers the darkness or brightness of a color and its color values, best understood by adding different quantities of a particular primary color. For example, the color orange is formed when mixing red and yellow. The brightness or dullness of the shade of orange can depend on how much yellow or red is added. However, you may also adjust the hue of a color by adding white for tint, which produces lighter pastel colors. Black is mixed in for shade, which produces darker and duller colors. Gray provides a tone when combined with a primary, secondary, or tertiary hue. The brightness and intensity of color are reduced when it is toned down. When these tints, hues, and tones are added, the color wheel expands to encompass monochromatic and analogous colors. A monochromatic color scheme involves a single color viewed after being mixed with various tints and tones. Alternatively, an analogous color scheme uses adjacent hues on the color wheel, such as red, orange, and yellow.

Assuming a basic understanding of primary colors is established and secondary colors are made, you can start to study colors that complement each other. Complementary colors consist of both primary and secondary colors. They can be best understood on a color wheel where these colors will have an antagonistic role as they face each other. For instance, the colors red and green are antagonistic. Others include yellow and purple and orange and blue. 

I would argue that complementary colors are what give our everyday world that bit of je ne sais quoi, something distinctive and perhaps even beautiful if you choose to see it that way. However, often, the beauty of color is evident in our everyday lives. The fashion runway is a fantastic display of color and color theory. Clothing has been used as a communication tool for years; however, the message may fall short without color. For instance, an all-black attire can evoke countless feelings: dread, fear, seduction, or death. 

An all-red outfit can evoke an array of opposing emotions: passion, energy, love, or anger. 

The color white also has opposing psychology: purity, innocence, or isolation.  

This spring, the colors coming off the runway represent a breath of fresh air and new life as we head into another year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The trendiest colors evoke feelings of hope, love, growth, and enthusiasm. Pantone is considered the leading “color authority’ that announces the most fashionable colors every year. In 2022, they announced an array of bright and pastel colors representing the world’s resurrection. One of which is the color “Very Peri,” a blue color with hints of a purple hue. Pantone describes the shade of blue as "warm and pleasant…with a careless confidence and joyous attitude." A personal favorite is the color “Innuendo,” a bright pink offering a “wonderful jolt of energy,” according to Pantone. Other foremost “color authorities” include WGSN, a trend prediction company, which has decided that their color of 2022 would be “Orchid Flower.” Etsy selected the color “Emerald Green,” another personal favorite. 

While the color theory is most obviously seen in clothing, it is heavily utilized in the makeup scene. One could argue that makeup was built off the foundation of color theory. It relies on secondary and complementary colors working in tandem to meet the specificities of every face, skin tone, eye color, and lip color. In makeup, the temperature in the shade is used to determine the color palette that will mainly be used to achieve a uniform foundation and concealer base. More pigmented colors will sit, such as blush. True colors, also known as primary colors, are either warm or cool-toned. Value is also a determinant of the base foundation and subsequent color palette. A color’s value is determined by how much black, white, or grey has been added. The foundation, the canvas for any traditional makeup look, consists of an intricate understanding of one's undertones, temperature, color values, overtones, and natural skin tones. Warm foundations work well with warm undertones.

In contrast, cool undertones work best with cool foundations. The foundation must be chosen based on the product and the model’s skin color value, which will run from light to dark. With the lightest and darkest skin tones, the margin for error is more significant because lines of demarcation will be more visible. New makeup artists or amateurs typically confuse surface tones with undertones. If the skin's surface tones, also known as overtones, are misidentified as the undertone, the choices of foundation (and concealer) will be inaccurate and unattractive. Eyeshadow placement relies on analogous and complementary colors to enhance the natural eye color. For instance, according to the color wheel, the eyeshadow that best suits complimentary green eyes would be the complementary colors on the opposite side of the green. Thes would be shades of red & red-violet. One could also choose a color that is analogous, or right next to green, instead of a complementary color, one opposite green. An analogous color that best suits green could be another shade of green, blue-green, or yellow-green shadows. 

While a fundamental understanding of color theory explains the reason for all the bright colors, we see in clothing and makeup these days, an appreciation for their beauty and meaning is essential. The world is rarely as colorful as our minds paint it. We are surrounded by the smokey tones of gunfire, the red bloodshed, and black funeral attire. Our brains can perceive the wavelengths that produce color; however, sometimes, we fail to cherish the pops of color that make life brighter. The bright orange and yellow rays of a sunset are just as beautiful as the night sky's darkness.

Brown eyes are just as beautiful as blue eyes. Black is just as beautiful as white. Beautiful colors are everywhere; we just need to perceive them as such.