Sweet Rolls by Amanda Stone

Hair: Amanda Stone
Mentor: Brig Van Osten
Photography: Bill Knapp
Make-up: Aly Frank
Fashion styling: Alejandro Pasejo
Nails: Essie

Twenty-one year old Amanda Stone from Tampa, Florida, the first place winner of Pravana’s Show Us Your Vivids contest, knows what she likes.

“In Florida, there is a lot of bleached, beach-y hair but my thing is crazy hair,” Stone says. “Every funky-hair kid in Florida finds me.”

Also a winner of Sebastian’s “What’s Next” Awards in addition to the Pravana honor, Stone won the Vivids Contest by impressing judge Brig Van Osten, owner of California’s P!ay Hair Lounge and winner of Shear Genius 3, with her clear direction and daring use of color.

“I opened up her entry and was blown away,” Van Osten says. “She used a bird as her inspiration and the shape supported the color, the color combination was well done, and there was an intensity but still a softness that is very hard to achieve when using bold colors.”

Stone’s prize was a photo shoot with MODERN SALON and Van Osten, who mentored and encouraged the young artist during the day at Van Osten’s P!ay Hair Lounge.

In preparation for the shoot, Stone had been sent wefts of hair and two of every shade in the Vivids range. She laid down plastic on the kitchen table and threw a hair party.

“I started blending the colors for an ombre look. I didn’t use any foils because I didn’t want you to know where the color started and ended. They all swirl together like candy.”

How-To: Candy Swirls