I had been wanting to try Balayage highlights for years, and decided that summer would be the perfect time to brighten my look. So I headed to Redken’s Cutler Salon in Soho (where I had my hair beautifully blown out) for a fun, blonde makeover.

My appointment was with expert Redken colorist Chiala Marvici, and she is amazing! We talked about what I was looking for, and I told her that while I wanted a brighter look, I was afraid of the highlights being too “blonde-blonde” since my hair is very dark. She reassured me that Redken has a range of blonde tones, including honey, carmel and golden bronze shades that work well with dark hair. Then she mixed the color that would go best with my hair, and got right to work!

If you’re not familiar with balayage, they are highlights that are painted on the hair. They require much more artistry than foil highlights, and allow for a more natural, sun-kissed look.

Chiala Marvici is a balayage expert, and did a great job of customizing the location of the highlights based on my hair, skin tone and face shape. If I learned one thing at my appointment, it was that balayage = bespoke!

Unlike foil highlights, which saturate color all the way to the roots, Chiala started painting the highlights an inch or two away from my roots, and then used another brush to blend the area from my roots to the beginning of the highlights. This resulted in a beautiful, seamless look, where the highlights just appeared to flow naturally through my hair.

I’ve never looked better! Ha.

The result was absolutely beautiful. The balayage highlights added a brighter, more golden tone to my color. Plus the look is extremely natural, which I love, and makes me look like I’ve been spending the summer on vacation (which I suppose I have!).

Here is my hair from behind. See how seamless the balayage highlights are?

I love the results! And I also love before and after pictures, so here you go:

Before:

And after!

Now the next step is making sure that my hair retains this fabulous color all summer, which we all know can be a challenge with chlorine, sunshine and city grit! Luckily, Redken has a line of Blonde Idol color maintenance products which are fully customizable for each hair color and guarantee that you won’t have any brassiness.

Want your own summer blonde makeover? You can book an appointment with Chiala Marvici, and find out more information on Cutler Salon, here.

You can purchase Blonde Idol products here.

I love my new look! Now it’s time to see if (balayage) blondes have more fun!

~A

*This is a sponsored post for Redken through Condé Nast*