The Recipe for the Perfect Vanilla Blonde

Creating beautifully blended vanilla blondes and chocolate brunettes is difficult to master, but with the right products, talent and experience, artists can achieve some yummy results.

Austin, Texas-based colorist Ellie Toia is known for her swoon-worthy color transformations. Everything she posts to her xoxo_balayage Instagram page gives us major hair envy, so we just had to figure out what she uses as her recipe for success.

The answer? The right ingredients! Toia uses Milk_Shake’s lighteners and toners, which counteract residual warm tones.

The brand’s Decologic Level-9 High-Lift Powder is suitable for all lightening techniques and creates an intense lift of up to nine levels. The Decologic Clay Balayage Lightener is suitable for all freehand techniques.

“The clay lightener goes on smoothly and gives an amazing and even lift up to four levels,” Toia says. “Its consistency is perfect. It doesn’t expand, and it isn’t too runny.”

The Decologic Blue Lightening Powder is dust-free and easy to blend. It lifts up to six levels while reducing brassiness. It is designed to create a consistent moisture level during application.

In addition to color, Milk_Shake’s toners, Silver Shine Shampoo and Silver Shine Whipped Cream work to finish and maintain hair color brilliance. The toners are available in Platinum, Light Ash, Smoky Grey, Amethyst and White.

Here, Toia creates the perfect vanilla blonde:

 

Starting: Natural level 7.

1. Toia balayaged ribbons in a halo formation (higher around the front and lower in the back) using the Decologic Clay Balayage Lightener from Milk_Shake with 30vol.
2. She lifted to a pale level 9. I
3. Toia then used Milk_Shake’s Light Ash Gel Toner and processed for 20 minutes. I
4. She brushed her client’s hair out and used the Whipped Cream Styling Mousse.
5. She power dried her client and then sectioned her hair and used a Babyliss Pro 1 1/4 curling iron and curled all of the curls away from her face.