Before you venture out to give yourself a gorgeous balayage color, you’ll need the necessary tools to complete the task. While balayage is a technique, ombre is the effect or the result. Although balayage is beautiful, the price can leave your wallet a few pounds lighter.

This helps avoid platinum streaks and helps to achieve that natural look. Confused about what colours to choose when getting balayage? Well, there are two colours involved — the roots are darker while the mid-lengths are lighter. You need to ensure that the hues you pick are closer to each other all through the hair.

For more advice from our Beauty reviewer, including how to choose the right balayage kit for your hair color, keep reading. Try relaxed curls and loose, beachy waves to play up your sun-kissed balayage highlights. You can even let your balayage highlights go longer and transition it to an ombre look.

Lisa Satorn is a senior stylist at LA’s Nine Zero One salon, home to celeb clients Selena Gomez, Hilary Duff, and Taylor Swift. Step through the steps to making your own little art piece. Each step of the process has a unique look, and for me, you just have to pick out the steps by step to ensure a complete, yet beautiful, installation. Style as you normally do or try one of these quick and easy hairstyling tips. For parts that aren’t centered, create a horseshoe shape of sections.

Some people have really deep recession points and if you leave that out they’ll end up with a dark spot either side of their face frame. If you’re ever unsure, pull their hair back like they would into a ponytail and look at the points you need to hit. Balayage suits almost anyone, thanks to its natural placement, flattering tones and low maintenance. It can even straight hair curls at the bottom be applied on any base colour, whether you want to lighten or add lowlights to the hair. Balayage is the perfect solution for those who want to maintain their natural texture. You can touch it up in between visits to the salon or opt for a more dramatic change and get your stylist to do an additional process with high-lift color every time you visit them.

To create a balayage effect, take care not to apply any of the lighter blonde colour to the roots as the roots must stay dark in order to create the full balayage effect. Apply the dye only to the lengths, in the areas that you want to lighten. The best way to do this is to use your fingers to apply the colour.