Fall is officially here and there is no better time than to freshen up your look and try something new. Whether you are reluctant to give up your summer highlights, have a sun faded dye job or are just in need of something new.
Fall is all about embracing natural tones, whether it’s dramatic burgundy inspired hair, to feminine caramel highlights and darkened roots. If you are looking for inspiration, we have some great ideas for you.
Copper
Make sure you make your hair copper and not brassy. SZA’s copper look proves that this warm golden red will look amazing with both dark and fair complexions. The warm pop of color looks amazing against brown skin, giving you a natural glow.
This color is not difficult to achieve if you already have dark hair. You will need to lift the hair color if you have previously dyed it but you just need to apply the color over your hair if you’re a natural brunette. It’s even easier for blondes, all you need to do is tone the hair to achieve this gorgeous copper tone.
Make sure you stick to copper undertones rather than purple or red tones but be prepared to spend a lot of time at the salon as keeping your copper fresh and vibrant can be high maintenance.
Look at Sophie Turner, Katherine McNamara and Christina Hendricks for inspiration.
Burgundy Hair
Burgundy hair has been a huge hit on Pinterest with deep oxblood coloured locks looking amazing on any skin tone. From bright hues to dark rich shades, this shade is going to be the must-have color of the autumn.
If you have natural hair this shade is hard to achieve as the color can get soaked up by the hair’s dark pigments. Go for permanent rather than use a semi-permanent hair dye, as these tend to be brighter but be prepared to have to lighten or bleach your hair first.
If you like this burgundy toned hair but don’t want to fully commit, then try a chilli chocolate brown. This is a rich auburn painted over a deep brown that will give brunettes a natural sun-kissed appearance that embraces this burgundy trend without being too red toned.
See Cheryl Cole, Drew Barrymore and Megan Mullaly for inspiration on this color.
Softly Contrasting Hair
The new blonde makeover is inspired by the likes of Marion Cotillard. The roots are kept a soft brown hair and the brows not touched, whilst the rest of the hair is dyed a bright blonde. This look is perfect for the woman who wants to keep her blonde makeover low maintenance.
Ask your colorist to put a darker semi-permanent color at the roots whilst leaving the face frame and roots lighter, this will make the roots look more purposeful and make the look lower maintenance.
Vanilla Lilac
The Vanilla Lilac is a perfect blend of brunette roots, with a fade to cinnamon and warm blonde hues, before lightening to pastel purple ends.
This is a great way of given edge to a lightening hair makeover. Ask your hairdresser to focus on dyeing your ends and the face-framing pieces. After lightening the hairline your ends will be bleached and then mixed with an ultra-lavender toner. These ends could be dyed any colour from pastel pink to neon green, but the pastel lilac color is so on trend. This is a look that requires knowledge of hairdressing and dyeing. If you are darker skinned try an in-between dark purple shade and then work your way up to pastel hues, to avoid damage.
Demi Lovato, Nicole Richie and Rita Ora have all experimented with vanilla lilac looks.
Bronde
Broke was one of the most talked about hair colors of last year, it’s no surprise that it has made its well back into this year’s trend list. The blend of blonde and brunette colors are so easy to maintain yet will bring warmth to even the palest of skin tones. The joy of bronde is that it’s very versatile and can be adapted to suit any skin tone. A good colourist will know what colors and tones will suit your skin tone and choose the right color to flatter your complexion.
Bronde is achieved by using balayage, a free painting style of highlighting hair that skips using the traditional foils. This means the results are more natural and won’t require as much maintenance.
This hairstyle is all about subtlety so be careful when choosing the tone, your best-suited color will be only two or, at most, three shades lighter than your natural shade.
Check out Jennifer Lopez, Blake Lively, Lily James and Gisele for bronde inspiration.
Caramel Highlights
If your dark hair needs to be revamped this fall, head warm molasses-hued highlights will immediately add dimension and brightness to brown locks. Known on Instagram as cold brew hair, this style is a great way for dark-skinned people who don’t feel like blonde suits them, to play with the summery tones. Think of Beyonce or Sofia Longoria’s warm-toned hues that looks stunning when styled into cascading waves.
The color can be added to any brunette color using techniques like balayage or highlighted with the classic foil technique. The caramel color should be evenly distributed and placed carefully, so they mimic what the sun does naturally.
Stay away from blondes and instead choose subtle reds, cinnamons or edgy pinks to get into the fall season. Incorporating lowlights will add a beautiful contrast and will help the colors pop. When you’re at the salon, ask for cool caramel highlights to avoid any orange being added to your hair.
If you have a darker dyed base or lots of gray hair, this caramel hue is likely to oxidize over time and become warmer. Using semi-permanent dye will help avoid this.
Honey Tones
Honey is a smart color option for blondes and brunettes alike. This honey tone hair color has been very popular this year and this fall the color trends will be darker and more dynamic. This warm toned hue is perfect for blondes who don’t want to go full brunette but feel like they want a new style direction.
Honey blonde is a stunning mix of neutral golden and cooler tones, that will appear warm but nowhere near as warm as copper, strawberry of reds. Start with ombre highlights, as connecting the color through a darker base will make the end result look more natural. Mid-lighting techniques will stop highlights looking too stripy or too much like an ombre.
Saoirse Ronan used honey blonde to go between her natural brown hair and icy blonde tones and Lili Reinhart rocks a preppy honey hue on Riverdale.
Strawberry Blondes
For blondes itching to try out red hues, try the on-trend strawberry toned blonde. Make sure the red you add to your hair is conservative because you can always add more but it is very difficult to take it out.
This look can work amazingly on dark skin tones, look at Karreuche Tran and Queen Latifah for inspiration, dark russet roots faded into the strawberry blonde is the most flatterning. Tawny highlights give the hair an instant lift, this is a trick Jessica Chastain uses on her locks.
Avoid putting in too much copper tone and not enough gold, the key to the strawberry blonde look is balance. It’s good to go with the tonal direction of your skin and consider the natural undertones of your complexion when choosing the shade.
Mauve Champagne
Last year’s champagne bronde gets updated into mauve blonde. This custom mauve toned formula makes the hair color look different depending on how the light hits in, much like the recent holographic highlighter trend. This cool toned color shifts between golden champagne and a metallic mauve. This look Is perfect for someone with already lightened hair that wants a modern fall makeover.
This look is achieved by giving a head of fine natural highlights and then lifting the hair to a platinum blonde color, all in one process. The mauve hue is custom made using ash-gray tones and violet dyes, as well as using a rose gold toner for 25 minutes.
The look is easy to achieve but these types of light metallic colors are very high maintenance to keep from not looking brassy. The issue with this hair look will be getting highlights if any dark pigment has been used in the past.
See Cara Delevigne’s recent pink toned crop for inspiration.
Mushroom Brown Hair
Whilst many people go towards warmer tones in fall there are some cool toned trends like mushroom brown hair. This trend favors the ashy brown tint that many mushrooms have, especially portobello mushrooms.
The multi-dimensional hair shade has an ashy base that is then layered with blonde highlights and neutral brown lowlights. This hair shade will look great all through Winter and will wear well into Spring. This versatile hair color is very versatile and can be customized with highlights, babylights and balayage.
See Sarah Jessica Parker, Josephine Skriver and Taylor Hill for inspiration.
Dusty Blondes
Although the glossy bold tones of the summer are still very in trend, fall is a perfect time to cool down your colour and make your blonde more muted. Adding cooler, blended, bold highlights over a darker base it will allow you to go lighter but whilst enjoying dimensions. If you have naturally black hair adding icy silver highlights will be a dusty yet unepected hair transformation.
Balyage is an effective way of mixing cool blonde highlights into long hair, and it looks great when dark roots grow in.
Gigi Hadid and Rosamund Pike are both fans of this blonde hue.
Shadow Roots
Shadow Roots, also known as gloss smudging, is a great makeover for anyone not willing to give up their summer highlights yet. The best thing about shadow roots is that it looks better the more it grows out.
The perfect color to transition from summer to fall, it consists of toning the roots a bit darker than the middle and ends of the hair. This allows people to go lighter and be more creative with colors, without having to worry about a harsh contrast when your roots begin to show. If you have lighter roots your colourist may recommend deepening the root shade so there is a bolder contrast.
Shadow roots can be done with any contrasting colors, just as long as the roots are darker than the rest of the hair. Katy Perry has done this with both blue and purple shades. Never use a permanent color on the base as when the roots grow lighter you’ll end up with a strange looking band of color.
Kaley Cuoco and Elizabeth Olsen have been seen rocking this look on the red carpet.
Icy Blonde
Platinum hair is not a new fall trend but switching to a pale icy blonde is an unexpected choice that can change your whole look. Icy blonde hair looks amazing with fall and winter wardrobe colors.
For honey blonds it will take 1-2 sessions of heavy highlighting, a few months apart and some pastel toner to neutralize the warmness before you get to your ideal icy hue.
To achieve this ice queen look when you have dark hair, it will take several highlighting sessions but some colourists may not recommend doing it. Most experts will recommend never going 7 shades darker than your hair, forcing it beyond may cause extreme and long-term damage, dryness and breakage.
Icy blonde is the type of makeover that will require high upkeep. Try violet shampoos to keep the tones cool and not brassy, and make sure you use conditioning masks on a weekly basis.
Icy Blonde has been a popular trend in Hollywood with Taylor Swift, Karlie Kloss and Kim Kardashian all making the huge change.
