Eric Anthony, an artist at Canyon Salon in Westlake Village, California, loves client Erica who allows him to "Play With Color." Lately Anthony and Erica have been playing with pastel shades. "When a translucent-pastel look is the goal, I always like to take my client to a light platinum first," says Anthony. "This platinum base will allow the final color to be the translucent-pastel I have in mind. A yellow or darker blond will give the color a strong anchor, and thus, the color can appear opaque."

Here Anthony shares the HOW TO for three of Erica's most recent shades on her natural level 5 shade:

Step 1: Lift to a light pale yellow, using Wella Blondor, Multi-purpose bleach and 10 volume developer on the previously highlighted hair. Apply in back-to-back foils.  Process for 30 minutes and then shampoo. (This process may be repeated, but never process longer than 30 minutes.)

Step 2: Apply Wella Soft Blonde cream and 10 volume. "I always use 10 volume when using bleach. In my opinion, this keeps the cuticle from swelling too much, making the hair coarse. The hair remains soft and flexible." lift to pale yellow.

Step 3: Tone with Wella KP 10/16. "I add 2-parts, Wella Pastel developer for this toner."

Step 4: Process for 45 minutes.

Step 5: For the PURPLE, apply Paul Mitchell Ink Works. "I foiled a lowlight formula of 30Grams clear to 15Grams purple. Once foils were in place, I applied the base color of 60Grams Clear to 10Grams purple. This was applied all over with foils still in place. Process for 1 hour. Rinse well after process (no shampoo) and then take random pieces and wiped with a dry towel dipped in a 10 volume bleach and shampoo mix. "This is done very quickly. no more than 5 min to wipe all pieces. Immediately, rinse well."

Step 6: For the PLATINUM-PINK, remove the previous purple using a shampoo, bleach and pastel developer mix of equal parts. Apply at the shampoo bowl. Cover with a plastic cap and process for 20 minutes. Once the purple was about 80% cleared, I washed and used a keratin amino acid, reconstructive treatment. Next, using Paul Mitchell, Ink Works, apply 60Grams clear to 5Grams purple.

Step 7: For the PINK, Anthony once again removed the previous purple. This time the color was removed completely. The hair was then reconstructed the hair with a mix of Joico K-Pak Professional H.K.P. Liquid Protein Chemical Perfector and Caviar, Fix & Fill treatment masque. Process for 30 minutes, with light heat. The pink was done with Wella Relights. 

-First application: Lowlight formula of 20Grams /00 to 7Grams /56. This was foiled on the top.

-Second application: an overall base formula of 40Grams /00 to 5Grams /56.  

(Wella Color touch 1.9 developer was used for both formulas.)

Process for 30 minutes.

Next, I used the same dry towel/dipped in bleach technique to pull some light pieces through the top of head.