Get the Look: Fiery Color Melt by Liz Robson

Liz Robson, stylist at Salon Blonde (Instagram @HairbyLiz__), recently created this fiery red, melted hair color for a guest. "For my sweet client Ana's red color melt we already had the perfect base to start," says Robson. "She has been a client of mine for awhile, and we have previously done balayage highlights on her. That, along with her natural level 8 outgrowth, made the perfect canvas. She was a little nervous doing such a dramatic change from her natural blonde, so I opted to use direct pigment colors to stain the hair instead of a semi or permanent color. I had used similar colors on my hair and Ana loved the way it faded. So we were going for a 'living color,' which I like to call it because it is fading and changing with each wash… and will eventually fade back to her natural color."

The result: striking, multidimensional color with minimal upkeep for the more commitment-shy client. See the steps Robson took to create this look, below.

Get the Look:
1. Says Robson, "I mixed up three different colors for this color melt - a mixture of Joico Direct Pigments and PRAVANA VIVIDS/PASTELS.

• "First formula: I mixed up Joico's Red and Violet; we were wanting more of a cool red (fading into pink) color melt.
• "Second formula: I mixed up Joico's Red with PRAVANA's Orange and a few lines of PRAVANA Magenta.
• "Last formula: I mixed up just a bit of PRAVANA's Pink and a dab of Joico's Orange with some clear to dilute it.

2. "I applied the first formula to the root down the mid-shaft in 1-inch (1 inch and 1/2) sections, and then applied the second formula to the mids, twisting each section to blend the colors.

3. "Processed for 10 minutes, and then applied the third formula to about half (randomly selected) of the twisted sections, applying where the second formula ended, just to give some pops of pink! I purposely left the ends un-colored, knowing that when we shampooed they would pick up some of the red, creating the strawberry blonde look we were going for.

4. "Processed for another 15 minutes and then rinsed, shampooed, conditioned and blew-out nice and smooth.

5. "Finally, I quickly added some thick braids and pinned them across her crown, creating a fun, braided style."

[Images courtesy of Liz Robson]