Stacey Seaside

What’s your favorite color?

Do you think your favorite colors reveal something about your personality?

Do you surround yourself with those colors–in your home, in your work, in your apparel?

My color is blue, blue, blue!

Did you just clock an emotion?

Slap a label on me?

Feel like I just let you in on coded information?

What does blue say about me as my favorite color?

Greece is blue

Blue is the color predominantly associated with Greece.

Blue and white stripes adorn the national flag, the country is surrounded by azure waters, the skies always seem to be bright blue, and most island homes have blue shuttered windows!

So it makes sense that blue is my favorite.

Even my website has a blue base color.

Blue has only become my favorite during the last two decades.

Before that, I embraced black–black apparel, black granite counter tops in my home, black leather furniture.

In my 20 somethings, it was deep purple. I have no idea why.

And my college dorm room featured a striking yellow and orange comforter with repeating sunsets. My go to wardrobe was jeans, until I had to start wearing suits for my student teaching practicum. Most of the hues I wore had autumn referencing–and my hair was auburn.

According to the most recent quantitative research there is absolutely no correlation between who you are and what your favorite color is!

I associate specific colors with certain friends. Yvonne is olive green. Jan is a peachy russet. Eric is black. Barbara is aquamarine.

So is color analysis a road to self discovery or coding a personality?

And if so, what does my fondness for blue say about me and likewise, Barbara’s aquamarine, Jan’s peachy russet, Eric’s black and Yvonne’s olive green?

Color Psychology researchers Dr. Christine Mohr and Dr. Domicele Jonauskaite conducted a study in 2021 to link the empirical data of color preference to personality traits. The study concluded that “We failed to confirm any of the 11 predictions. Further exploratory analyses (MANOVA) revealed no associations between colour preferences and personality trait. Favourite colours appear unrelated to personality, failing to support the practical utility of colour-based personality assessment.”

According to Mohr and Jonauskaite, “Until different empirical evidence has been presented, however, it seems worthwhile leaving colour personality tests to game nights and conversation starters. Their “insights” into who you and other people are should be taken cautiously and with a grain of salt. If something sounds like it could apply to anyone, it probably does. By being too general, too positive, and too optimistic, such descriptions fail to discriminate between (groups of) people. And for these reasons, they offer little true insight into other people’s characters.”

So scientifically there is no evidence to predict my personality because I love the color blue. But surrounding ourselves with certain colors has proven benefits emotionally for both our immediate environment and for our appearance when it comes to our apparel.

Red hot, cool blue

Every color has a feeling or attitude associated with it.

According to, Color Meanings certain colors have specific connotations, or effects on the human brain as related to how we feel and maybe even what we think or do at that moment. The psychology of color studies the meanings that humans have developed for different colors. Interpretations of color can be evolutionary or objective. They can be purely creative and subjective, based on our feelings or emotions, when exposed to these hues.

The human brain operates on wavelengths and frequencies. Alpha frequencies are responsible for human creativity. Color that is transmitted from the eye to the brain will release hormones that affect our emotions – either negatively or positively. Colors stimulate alpha brain waves the most. And emotions are the primary drivers of our behavior. While the specific feelings can vary individually and by culture, the fact that people connect color with emotion is universal.

A pioneer in the study of color was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In 1810 he published The Theory of Colors, linking colors with emotions. Goethe’s studies probed the complexities of human color perception as opposed to Sir Issac Newton who studied the mathematical model of the behavior of light. Newton’s focus was the optical spectrum but Goethe’s focus was the phenomenon of human perception of color.

Color my world

Colors can have a significant impact on our perception of the world and the way we interact with it. Red is often associated with passion, excitement, and energy. Other emotional color associations are as follows:

• Green: Harmony, nature, growth
• Purple: Cool, spiritual, calm
• Yellow: Positivity, enthusiasm, happiness
• Pink: Fresh, feminine, playful, young
• Orange: Optimism, friendly, warm
• Red: Strength, passion, love, danger

I am drawn to Blue: serenity, trust, calm

So to infuse your world with the emotions you are attracted to you must follow a color pallet that represents those feelings. My bedroom and bathrooms are bathed in blue. Eventually I hope to get to the rest of my spaces as well by splashing a bit of blue. In the meantime, I make due with daily visits to the sea and looking out the window at the Aegean.

Color Me Beautiful

Your home or work setting should strive for colors that appeal to you but just as important is how you wear color and how the right color on you makes you sparkle. Color consultancy has become a lucrative profession for gurus who tell you the best color to highlight your skin tone and hair. Dating back to an 80s trend launched by Carole Jackson’s book Color Me Beautiful, color analysis consulting is a growing occupation.

I hosted a Color Me Beautiful session for some friends back in the early 80s while I was teaching in Freeport, Illinois. The only two details I remember about the session was receiving a color sample packet I carried around for years in a repurposed clear plastic fold out for business cards. I was cast a Winter and had to choose royals to look regal! Today, even though my hair morphed from auburn to brown to henna red to black to blonde and finally to my natural silver grey, royal blue pops on me. Throw me into the Aegean and I have an entire body of water enhancing my appearance–inside and out!!

If you want to pander to parlor games to check your self on color, take the wiki quiz, just keep in mind that recent studies show these are not empirical but just for fun!

If you would like to participate in color psychologist’s scientific work, Mohr has created a dedicated web page on this issue of color choice and associations: The Colour Experience.

In the meantime, I am happy to suffer the blues in the best kind of way!