Picture this: you’re at a beauty counter. There are 36 shades of eye shadow angled toward you ever so sweetly, each like a velvety soft puppy, begging to be taken home. People with pink undertones should choose blue-reds, right? And olive skin tones should steer clear of pastels...or something? There are ‘rules’ to color-matching of course, but maybe whoever first wrote them up had it all wrong in asserting that a person’s hair and makeup shades should be based skin tone. What about starting with hair color? After all, Drew Barrymore once told us, “We could get hit by a bus tomorrow, and we’re going to have played it safe and conservative? Forget it. I want to try every hair color, I want to paint my face crazy colors. I don’t care what people think or say, I want to live. I want to have fun!”
In an attempt to demystify hair shades (let’s be honest—how many times have you been asked to “bring a reference” to your colorist?) while having Barrymore-level fun, take a look at the work of hairstylist Thanos Samaras, who essentially created six entirely new identities for us with a change of hair color and a little makeup experimentation. It’s all in celebration of John Frieda’s new Colour Refreshing Glosses. Because what’s that warning that comes at the end of every lotto commercial? Play responsibly. If you’re going to go for a new color, keep it looking good between salon visits (or enrich what you’ve already got going on) and your colorist won’t kill you for Manic Panic-ing your hair in a moment of...panic. And now, the fun part:
The hair you want: Golden blonde. You googled photos of Suki Waterhouse and Doutzen Kroes to show your colorist, but fast-forward a few weeks (or a month... or two), and things are looking pretty dull up top.
Your Colour Refreshing Gloss: Warm Blonde. Use once a week for a month and watch your gold levels optimize.
Makeup experiments:
-Oversaturated aqua-blue matte cream shadow just above the upper lashes (we used Nars Eye Paint in Solomon Islands) and powdery pink lips have a fun, Marianne Faithfull feel. Or mid-century Texan housewife, depending on how you feel about huge hair and bangs.
-Raspberry lip-to-cheek stains are an easy go-to, but adding crisp white liner (peep Kenzo ’14) will make the look pop.
-Try a bare face with a flash of neon pink on the lips—or eyes.
-Smudge a brassy gold metallic into the lash line, or even in the form of chunky glitter dabbed sparingly at the outer corners of the eyes.
-To illuminate, try light opal. The whitish iridescence with reflective pinks and blues looks gorgeous with yellow-gold hair.
Part 1 of a 6 part collaboration with John Frieda Colour Refreshing Gloss. Annie Kreighbaum photographed by Emily Weiss in New York on January 19, 2014. Hair by Thanos Samaras; makeup by Junko Kioka.
