current obsession // Balayage Ombre

 I used to think of "ombre" as this...

 

or this...

or this... (oh Drew..)

 

or THIS...

LOL.  Okay, maybe not that last one.  It was just too amazing to not include though.  Anyhow, because of this, I vowed that I would NEVER try out this trend.  I just can't believe anyone would think this looks good.

Well since then, I have realized that not all ombre looks this ridiculous.  When done correctly it can look like this...

Pretty.  Nice job LC.

Still a bit too much contrast for my normally all-over-high&low-light self, but nice.  It wasn't until a week or so ago, that I found my happy medium...

Balayage Ombre.  Now my current obsession...

Balayage - NOUN : A technique for highlighting the hair in which the dye is painted freehand rather than using the traditional foiling or cap highlighting techniques, usually giving a more natural look

+

Ombre - ADJ : shaded or graduated in tone

So basically its a graduated, but blended, hair look created from nonuniform painted highlights.

This way you don't get that "dipped" look, that's just so NOT fabulous.

I thought I'd share some of my favorites. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And what a beautiful rose gold effect for red heads...

 

I guess what I like most is that you can't see where the highlights come from, which gives a super natural and soft look.  

So after about 5 years of the same thing, maybe it's time for a bit of a change??  We shall see... At the moment I'm letting my roots grow out a bit to see what it might be like.  And luckily I have a great colorist, so the line isn't too harsh as it is.

You can check out all of my inspiration on my Beauty Pinterest board, unless you already follow me.  In that case, you already got barraged with all my balayage ombre pics over this past week.  :}  

Oh, and any advice is greatly appreciated!!