9 Color Tips We Discovered At America’s Beauty Show 2017
After three days of checking out almost every booth, trying tons of products, watching stage presentations and peeking into numerous classes, BTC has gathered our nine favorite color tips from America’s Beauty Show in Chicago! See them below—then read our best styling and cutting tips, too!
1. 4 Babylights Tips You Need
We caught Joico Celebrity Colorist Denis De Souza onstage, where he shared four great tips for perfect babylights. Check them out!
2. Two Trending Color Formulas
Our friend Leah Freeman, Healing Color Director for L’ANZA Healing Haircare, gave us the scoop on two shades that are super hot right now—über platinum-white and wearable rose gold.
Two trending color looks from L’ANZA.
Wearable Rose Gold
Formula A: L’ANZA Healing Color 100V + 1 drop Red Mix
Über Platinum Blonde
“We call this ‘paper blonding,’” Leah says. “We lighten to a Level 8 and then use color to lift the hair even higher, toning while lifting.”
Formula A: L’ANZA Healing Decolorizer + 20-volume developer
Formula B: L’ANZA Healing Color 10P + 100V + 30-volume developer
3. Collaborative Pixie
TIGI® always kills it onstage, but we especially loved this hyperlapse video of TIGI’s Joel Torres (aka @joeltorresstyle, a 2016 #ONESHOT nominee) and Richy Kandasamy tag-teaming a beautiful gunmetal pixie cut backstage. See how it’s done!
4. Seamlessly Blend Color Melts
When color melting, the last thing you or your client wants to see is a harsh line that clearly gives away where one color begins and ends. To make sure your melts blend seamlessly together, Matrix Artistic Director Danielle Keasling (@danielle.keasling, a 2016 #ONESHOT nominee) says to place the color in the middle of the section then blend it up into the color above to avoid harsh lines.
A perfect color melt spotted at the Matrix stage.
5. Guy Tang’s Icy Metallic Indigo
We had a front row seat at the Guy Tang #mydentity launch in February, and we were so excited to see even more gorgeous looks with the line! This icy metallic indigo uses Crystal Clear, coming in April.
#mydentity Color Formulas
Formula A (outgrowth): #Big9 Creme Lightener + 20-volume developer + Olaplex No.1
Formula B (midlengths to ends): #Big9 Creme Lightener + 20-volume developer + Olaplex No.1
Formula C (base): 8SS + 6-volume developer + Olaplex No.1
Formula D (midlengths): equal parts 8SS + Crystal Clear + 6-volume developer + Olaplex No.1
Formula E (ends): equal parts 10SS + Crystal Clear + 6-volume developer + Olaplex No.1
6. The Magic of The Blonde Wand
Watch how PRAVANA Artistic Educator and Platform Artist Meg White gives a client a perfect “pale yellow” in seconds, plus hear her favorite ways that she uses the Blonde Wand in her salon to get more clients in her chair and make more cash.
7. Hair Paint With Clay Lightener
We loved watching Scruples artist Katie Mrotek hair paint using Scruples’ new POWER BLONDE Balayage Clay Lightener. Katie used 1 part lightener and 1.5 parts cream developer (you can use 10-, 20- or 30-volume) to make a frosting-like consistency. Using even tension, she worked from the right side of the head to the left, making sure to keep her pinch point consistent. She lightly feathered down the strand, then feathered up the strand when there was little product left on her brush, maintaining a V-shape.
8. Prolong Creative Color
For the unicorns in her chair, Aloxxi Artistic Advisor Erin Nelson likes to make a personalized color conditioner for them to help make their color last longer. Simply add a few drops of direct dye to a sulfate-free conditioner. And make sure to encourage your creative color clients to start using dry shampoo on Day 1, instead of waiting for their hair to get greasy. This way, they’ll wash less and keep that creative color vibrant.
Hair by @erin_nelson_doh for Aloxxi.
9. La Estrella Color Technique
There are a lot of sectioning patterns and techniques you can use to apply your creative color. Redken Artist Justin Isaac uses a star-shaped sectioning technique to get beautiful movement from the color. Watch how and why he chooses to paint his creative color this way.
