The Psychology Of Color & Brightening Up Your Lifestyle

Rough day? Rough year? Rough couple of years?

No worries, we have a solution to help bring you a little sunshine and happiness back into your life!

The world went through a very interesting period since the pandemic hit in 2020. We had to deal with lockdowns, adapting to working remotely, and the infamous school-to-home online education. With this new transition, came a lot of isolation and a lot of havoc as families were stuck in their homes for months on end with a very uncertain future ahead of them. This brought a huge wave of deteriorating mental health all over the world. Don't worry, WE ALL felt it. You're not alone!

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a 25% increase of anxiety and depression worldwide, and that was just in the first year, 2020. But thankfully, along with the new wave of mental health issues, came the self-love and self-care culture - this new norm of practicing various methods to achieve happiness and find love with oneself and life. These beautiful practices then developed the recent trend of recycling and reinventing color psychology to bring that happy vibrancy back into your everyday life. Which, is what we want to concentrate on today.

So how do you use the color of psychology to brighten up your days?

We'll show you!

Color psychology, or the psychology of color, is basically the observation of how different colors have various meanings, connotations, and psychological effects on people (as per MasterClass). It's a scientific study that's been used traditionally by businesses, graphic designers, interior designers, and fashion designers. But, the average Jane can also implement color psychology in order to create a more lively and positive lifestyle for herself. According to colorpsychology.org, "color is vital to the human experience" - what a powerful statement! We can feel, communicate, and even heal through colors. Ancient Egyptians actually practiced chromotherapy, using colors to holistically heal (a very interesting fact we picked up from VeryWell Mind). The point we are trying to make here is that YOU can also take this wonderful concept and apply it to your home, office, wardrobe, and even in your daily makeup! Let's liven up!

So, color psychology basically takes each color and assigns it an emotion or feeling depending on how the human brain reacts to it. Here are the basics:

• Red: Associated with passion and energy. This color is bold and in your face. Yes, it can be overwhelming to some, but when used in the right doses, can make a beautiful and powerful impact. 
• Blue: Depending on the shade of blue you can feel calm and serene, or you can feel powerful and secure. Light blue correlates to peace and serenity. While, navy blue emulates strength, trust, and dependability. 
• Green: Green represents growth and nature. A color that has a calming presence, but brings about a sense of energy and life.
• Yellow: The color of positivity that invokes a strong reaction. It grabs your attention and literally brings you into the light! Also brings about the emotions of creativity and happiness.
• Orange: A color usually associated with playfulness and enthusiasm, along with a sense of confidence and/or success. Also, health and vitality! Think Vitamin C!
• Purple: The color that invokes mystery and imagination. It's the essence of the unknown, yet you can come up with your own wonderful conclusions! Use your imagination! Also, a color historically used to depict royalty and luxury.
• Pink: We saved the best for last! Pink is correlated to feminine energy. Don't get us wrong, we believe that pink is for everyone! But, thanks to society, it has been imprinted in our brains to link pink to all things "girly." Therefore, it naturally emphasizes feelings of light, sweetness, and a beautiful, womanly presence. 

Now, Amara's Enchanted Forest (AEF) would like to add an additional and unique color category into the intricate world of color psychology. Yes, we are literally inserting our very own hypothesis into the scientific study of color on the human brain. Let's talk RAINBOWS!

Here, at AEF, we LOVE rainbows! The human mind automatically correlates rainbows to happiness, sunshine, positivity, luck, acceptance, tolerance, etc. The list can go on and on. Basically, all human feelings that emerge when we see the rainbow are an amazing emotional experience to have in your daily life. Who doesn't get a natural smile on their face when they see a rainbow? It's a nostalgic feeling of all things happy and positive! And, a rainbow is so easy to create! You don't even have to stick with the basic colors of the traditional rainbow. You can make it your own with whatever combination of colors that excite YOU!

In conclusion, the AEF solution to naturally increase dopamine and add more vibrancy and positive energy into your life is by creating your own rainbow and physically inserting it into your home, office, fashion, and beauty regime! Sounds fun, doesn't it? And, it doesn't even have to be "tacky." Just keep it fun, classy, and bold!

Home is where the heart is. Therefore, your home is usually also your happy place, or at least it should be! Turn your home into a vivacious and lively spot for you to come back to after a long, stressful day. Simply, apply the psychology of color and add some rainbow-goodness into your house, apartment, etc. 

Ever heard of the term, maximalism when it comes to home decor? It's the new wave of maximizing your living spaces using A LOT of color, texture, and gorgeous decor. It's like a classy rainbow unicorn threw up in your personal space! According to Vogue, it's the 60s more-is-more interior design trend that's back with a vengeance! A good, flourishing and bubbly vengeance! We ran across the most stunning home inspiration via Instagram influencers, @homewithsisi and @tropicali_haven, who are known for tropical maximalism. Look at all this amazing inspiration!

Via @homewithsisi 

Via @tropicali_haven

Now, these girls are basically professionals and do this for a living. We get it. It would be difficult, unreasonable, and probably very expensive to redo your entire home to fit the tropical maximalist theme. We're not saying to do a full 180 degree turn! Simply take some inspiration from these lovely #homedecor influencers and add a little color to your home! Maybe you can add a vibrant rainbow theme mat next to your bathtub with a tropical print shower curtain? And throw some plants in there? How cool would that ambiance be during bath time! Or, you can get some colorful pieces to spread throughout your living area. Think pink vases and statement pillows! We actually have some cool touches you can add to your home and bath from our very own SHOP!

Check out this PyroPet Einar Unicorn Candle in a lovely shade of lavender:

And, these The Future Is Bamboo Rainbow Toothbrushes will brighten up any bath area! Plus, they come in adult and kid sizes! 

Here is some beautiful inspiration that's a little more realistic if you're not looking to completely redo your entire home. Form your own rainbow in your home by adding pops of color here and there like below:

Gorgeous inspiration, right? You can bring the some color-goodness into your work area too! The color and vibrancy doesn't need to stop at home! 

Thanks to 2020, we now have two different types of general offices - the home office and the work office. You probably have the freedom to do as you please with your home office, but we understand that you might have some creative restrictions when it comes to your work office. But why even upgrade your workspace into a colorful ray of joy and sunshine? Well, you most likely spend the majority of your day working, whether you're in the corporate setting or a full time mom with a side hustle. So, add some color and spark to get that natural dopamine high in an atmosphere that's bound to be naturally...well, stressful! Your workspace, remote or not, should be a little more fun so you're a little less stressed!

According to color psychology, specific colors like yellow and orange vamp up your productivity as they are associated with happiness and positive energy. Blue is known to stimulate the creative juices and can also help to relax, stabilize, and calm you down! Green provides a sense of balance, reassurance, and energy. And, don't we all need some more energy these days! Read more about the psychology of color in the workplace via Battle Born Painting's and InteractiveSpace's blog posts.

Now, getting into the good stuff!

For the home office, you have so many options! You can do a whole room makeover to create your dream workspace, OR you can add some subtle hints of color to spice up the vibe without breaking the bank! We have found the COOLEST inspiration for you (below) to utilize at your will! You can add bold colorful pieces like vibrant chairs and carpets. Or, you can make smaller changes by including fun artwork and/or desk decor! The choice is yours! Let the creativity begin...

Now, for the traditional at office workspace, we have to get smart about implementing eye-catching colors in your office space while still remaining "professional." We think the best solution is to express the concept and implementation of color psychology by utilizing your office supplies and tools. Use bold and colorful office supplies that are not only super fun, but also come with positive messages. Ever seen those amazing ballpoint pens or pencils with a positive quote written across them? We LOVE those! And, we have plenty of options that you can bring into the office to add your personal rainbow-esque touch! 

Check out all of our vivid office/school supplies HERE. We have AMAZING brands that would be PERFECT for you to implement in your everyday work adventures. Shop Taylor Elliot Designs, Effie's Paper, Smarty Pants Paper Co., Duncan Shotton, Moon Light Sticker Co, and much more in our SHOP. 

Now, THIS is a really fun one! Why not wear and exude the positivity that symbolizes the rainbow by literally WEARING IT. You're probably thinking, "Where the rainbow?! Won't that look tacky?" No, it won't if you do it the right way! You can be a sophisticated Queen that simply knows how to wear COLOR. 

It's the Spring season and summer is coming up, which means tropical and/or city-filled vacations. Take advantage by adding colorful outfits into your wardrobe. You don't even have to merchandise or worry about combining various colors together. There are various gorgeous multicolor dresses out in the market. Check out these GORGEOUS, eye-catching options from our SHOP:

More into lounge wear? We have that covered too! And, they even come with matching face masks! Please don't forget to be safe. The pandemic may be at its end, but it's still prominent and present. 

Want to create some colorful looks using separate pieces or using clothing you already have? Take inspiration from these amazing street style shots we found from Pinterest. These fashionistas do an amazing job combining vibrant individual pieces into extraordinary outfits:

What a cool aesthetic! And, don't stop at fashion! You can also emphasize and implement color psychology in your makeup routine. ;)

Beauty is an easy and simple one. We are not suggesting you wear a full face with a dramatic eye and bold lip. Unless that's your thing, then go ahead and do you, Queen! But, if you like a more subtle look, then you can add subtle hints of color to your already-beautiful face. Try brushing a beautiful shade of pink across your eyelids with your everyday look. Or, doing a bold cobalt blue eyeliner. Even just deciding to go with an eye-catching red or pink lip! 

Want to get really creative with your eye makeup? We have THE PERFECT eyeshadow palette that you can utilize to create colorful and bold looks. Checkout the magical Enchanted Eyeshadow Palette by Sigma Beauty. Available in our SHOP!

Here is an amazing tutorial by Like A Candy Shop using the  Enchanted Eyeshadow Palette by Sigma Beauty.

Hope you all had fun reading along this COLORFUL blog post! And, we hope that you found some great inspiration in using color psychology and implementing it into your home, office, wardrobe, and/or beauty routine! Please leave comments if you have any cool ideas of your own that you would like to share! <3

Some interesting articles and additional blog posts on Color Psychology:

• Colorpsychology.org
• Color Psychology: Choosing Home Color Schemes by TrueValue
• Color Psychology: Does It Affect How You Feel? by VeryWell Mind's Kendra Cherry
• Color Psychology In Marketing Branding is All About Context by Help Scout's Gregory Ciotti
• How Does The Color Of Your Clothing Affect Your Mood by The Good Trade's Audrey Stanton
• Room Color and How it Affects Your Mood by freshhome's Lena Borrelli
• The Psychological Properties of Colour in Fashion by Thrive's Sylvia Love Johnson
• The Ultimate Guide to Office Color Psychology - Boost Your Productivity, Happiness, and Comfort! by Ergonomic Trends