Every time I go to the hairdresser, I ask for a creamy” blonde. Turns out, I’m not alone, with more and more hair colourists receiving requests for natural-looking hues they could have been born with. Wella Professionals took this demand and turned it into their biggest colour launch in 20 years - Illumina.
Beauty media were briefed on Illumina at the launch event on Monday, before trying the colour out for themselves with appointments on Tuesday. I managed to catch up with Wella colour ambassador Christine Rowe from Valonz Salon in Sydney to find out more about Illumina and what’s set to be big in 2013.
Rowe says the average client is going to notice a much nicer feel to the hair with Illumina, and a softer, more natural colour that isn’t so dense. They’re going to be getting what they want,” Rowe says. They’ll get a more natural-looking colour with more natural fading between salon visits.”
Rather than being asked to copy celebrities’ hair colour, Rowe says people are admiring it from afar but more looking for colour that will suit them. And what does she predict will be big in hair colour in 2013? I think it’s going to be a reflection of what I’ve done here today – strawberries and warm tones, but also creamy blondes,” Rowe says. I don’t think we’ll see so much gold in your blondes, I think it will stay quite cool. But definitely warmth is coming back into the deeper colours, which I think is so nice after everyone went so ash and flat for so long.”
Following the excitement of the launch and speaking with Rowe, I was eager to see how this colour would work on my own hair. Especially since she had spoken with me about the great results Illumina can produce on blondes. When I reached the chair, my colourist explained that to strip back” my highlighted hair to an extent, she recommended a gloss treatment and all-over colour. Unlike anything I’d experienced in colour before, the colour was applied at the basin, like a toner would be. It was allowed to sit on the hair for about 15 minutes before it was washed out. The idea was to provide a more even colour over the whole head, but still allowing my natural (and unnatural) tones to show through.
Once my hair was blow-dried, I could really see the amazing effects of Illumina. The result was a much more natural-looking colour, but still with a multi-tonal effect. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a natural colour in my hair straight after colouring and I was thrilled. Here are some shots of me before and after the colour treatment.
Before (left) and after (right).
The end result.