Honey Brown Is The Sunniest Winter Hair Colour

The honey-brown highlight is the hair equivalent of a subtly sun-kissed (spray) tan in the dead of winter: an instant mood booster. If you're a natural brunette, the golden-bronze lift says I just spent ten days in St. Barths — even if the only traveling you've done is the long trek to your office wrapped in a puffer coat.

According to L.A.-based colourist Tabitha Dueñas, the ideal tone is a warm medium brown, not the lifted blonde you typically see with highlights. "Honey brown is not a bright, cool-toned blonde highlight," she says. "It's much warmer and looks best infused subtly via babylight foils or blended balayage focused through the ends, leaving the root tone natural to give sparkly dimension between the honey lift and dark-brown base shade."

Ahead, the best examples of how the honey-brown colour reads on a range of hair textures — so you can get in on the seasonal pick-me-up that costs a whole lot less than airfare to the Caribbean.