A new shade of blonde has caught our attention—it’s soft, warm and very rich: welcome to expensive honey blonde.
Our obsession with these honey blonde hues all started with Succession’s Willa Ferreyra’s season four locks, which are synonymous with her transition—or as one publication put it, Ivankification—from an aspiring playwright and call girl, into a wealthy republican’s wife.
Since the Succession character debuted her enviable locks, Jennifer Lawrence has stepped out at Cannes Film Festival with a similarly warm blonde shade.
The appeal of the colour, it seems, is that unlike lighter and brighter platinum blonde tones, these warm, buttery hues masquerade as a natural shade—in other words, it doesn’t try too hard. Essentially, honey blonde is the quiet luxury of hair.
QUE Hair Salon international colour educator, Monique Mahon agrees, describing the colour as “the perfect shade of blonde.”
“It’s warm yet bright, light but not bleached looking. It’s the perfect balance of healthy hair and healthy colour,” Monique tells marie claire Australia.
While the natural looking colour does appear to be a low-maintenance shade, anyone who has experimented with blonde knows that achieving the perfect shade is rarely as simple as it looks.
For those desperate give their usual blonde a little honey-esque upgrade, we got Monique to give us the low-down on everything you need to know about achieving this highly sought-after shade.
How Do I Ask My Colourist For Expensive Honey Blonde Hair?
According to Monique, achieving this shade isn’t as simple as showing your colourist a picture of Lawrence’s buttery blonde locks (but it won’t hurt either).
“Ask for warm tones but not brassy. Think Werther’s original caramel—not caramello koala,” Monique explains. “Keep some soft vanilla pieces to balance with the honey tones so it doesn’t look yellow. Ask for soft natural placed foils and not so many bleach foils.”
When it comes to selecting a toner, Monique advises to go for toners that are “buttery and vanilla” and “high in gloss results.”
Monique also points out that the expensive honey shade relies on the health of your hair.
“This colour looks so good because it’s on healthy hair which reflects more light and moves with the wind.”
For this reason, Monique also advises asking your colourist for a treatment to finish.
“My faves are Sebastian Cellophanes colour treatment and Christophe Robin Paris colour cleansing mask, which envelopes your hair in an egg white like consistency and leaves is soft as silk.”
How Much Maintenance Does The Honey Blonde Hair Colour Involve?
Blonde is rarely a low maintenance colour and expensive honey is no different—let’s be honest, there’s a reason it’s modelled by people who have time to extra time to spend at the salon.
Monique warns that those after the expensive honey look are going to have to commit to caring for their hair.
“You have to visit the salon for regular for baby trims—split ends are not going to work on this look,” Monique says. “You also have to look after it at home with glazing and glossing products.”
When it comes to regrowth, Monique says that it will be different for everyone but generally you can expect “seven to ten weeks for a full colour top.”
Just How Expensive Is Expensive Honey Blonde Hair?
There’s a reason the shade is referred to as expensive honey—all those treatments are going to cost you and unfortunately, when it comes to expensive looking hair, there’s no cheap dupe that can replace the proper care.
“It’s expensive looking because you have to have the extra treatments when you do your colour and you have to have a healthy blow-out,” Monique says.
But if you’re committed to spending a little extra time and money on your hair then say hello to expensive honey blonde.
