Two of the hottest fashion hair colors had a baby, and it looks stunning: it’s called smokey pastel hair. It combines one part ashy, silver tones of #grannyhair and one part shimmery pastel shades that look like they came off a unicorn mane. In short, it’s a light, silvery color with rainbow overtones.
Getting this smokey pastel look is on the trickier side. If you’re not a home hair dye pro, you may want to head off to the salon. Getting a subtle, nuanced shade like this requires making sure your hair is bleached basically or nearly white. Any underlying pigment will influence and mess with the exact shade you’re trying to achieve.
From there, it’s finding the right dye. What makes this especially tricky is that a lot of fashion dyes on the market are either pastel or silver. But L’Oreal’s smokey pastel shades could work. The blue and violet shades look especially smokey. When put over the lightest blonde, the pink shade seems to have the most silvery tones to it.
Another option is to go for a semi-permanent color that has silver shades to it. A couple examples would be Manic Panic’s Blue Steel or applying Manic Panic’s Virgin Snow over ash blonde hair. You also might consider applying a pastel dye shade, but leaving a few ash blonde strands alone to accent the smokey look.
Whether you go for the home dye or head off to the salon, there are tons of ways to wear this smokey pastel look. Below are some ideas for base inspiration.
Metallic lavender, bright
Lavender is one of the most popular shades for smokey pastel. It’s a versatile color that comes in a lot of shades and mixes well with silver undertones. One option is to go heavy on the brighter lavender shade.
Metallic lavender, dark
Another option is to go with a deeper, more muted purple. This color is a combination of purple hair, with an almost gunmetal hue to it.
Silver lavender
Still another option is to go with a very faint lavender with silver overtones.
Silver blue
Another popular look, blue also goes well with silver tones. In fact, it’s one of the more common looks with #grannyhair.
Silver pink
A very light, dusty pink looks stellar with silver overtones.
Mixed smokey pastel
Can’t decide on a color? Combine different thin highlights of each shade.
Smokey pastel highlights
Another option, if you don’t want to totally commit to smokey pastel hair, is chunky smokey pastel highlights mixed in with blonde hair.
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