Bring on the blonde! And yes, we are aware it's winter. 

Are you stumped? Don't be! Rather than going dark for winter, have blonde clients embrace their color by adding some subtle, cool tweaks. Matrix Celebrity Stylist George Papanikolas says by making small adjustments, you can achieve your client's perfect blonde shade for winter. 

"In the winter months, I like to give my blonde clients some subtle adjustments," Papanikolas says. "That might mean adding cool babylights to tone down brass and add sparkle, or perhaps I might deepen the base or add some lowlights to create depth that looks right for the season."

Icicle Blonde

“This client is a natural Level 7 and she is also 50 percent gray,” Papanikolas says. “Because the amount of gray was making her hair quite light, we opted to create this dramatic, icy shade for winter.”

 For this cool color, Papanikolas started with her base—applying Matrix COLORINSIDER 8N + 20-volume developer to the new growth. He then mixed Matrix Light Master + 40-volume developer + BOND Ultim8 and created hand-painted highlights, placing delicate highlights at the roots, gradually making them heavier through the midlengths and ends. He began with a temple-to-temple parting, then worked up in one-inch sections. 

“Because I wanted a bright result, I placed the highlights close together,” he adds. 

Last, he toned the hair with Matrix Color Sync 10SPN for an elegant, pastel beige finish.

“We’re always fine-tuning the color for model Hailey Baldwin,” Papanikolas says. “On her most recent visit, in order to prepare her to shoot the new Guess ad, we decided to add lots of delicate babylights to infuse her color with cool, brightness. Because her natural color tends to reveal unwanted gold tones when lifted, I opted for lots of heavy highlights instead of lifting her base.”

To adjust unwanted warmth like this example, try Matrix Light Master + 40-volume developer with BOND Ultim8, and apply many delicate babylights at the root, leaving plenty of space between sections in order to maintain dimension. Extend the babylights a few inches off of the scalp. 

Once Papanikolas did this for his client, Baldwin, he then I went back and backcombed the babylight sections, and used the same lightener to apply heavier balayage highlights on the non-backcombed midlengths and ends.

This client is a natural light brown with 20% gray. 

“Over time, her blonde color had become quite brassy,” Papanikolas says. “I decided to refresh the entire shade by deepening her base color with a cool formula to eliminate the brass, and then reapplying balayage highlights.”

Papanikolas used Matrix COLORINSIDER ½ 5A + ½ 6N + 20-volume developer on her base, and COLORINSIDER 5A + 6A + Blue SoBoost + 10-volume developer on her midlengths and ends. After processing, he applied balayage highlights that began fine at the root and evolved into a heavier v-shape as he worked through to the ends. Then Papanikolas used Light Master + 40-volume developer + BOND Ultim8 for the highlights, and placed them off of the natural part and around the face.