At Home Hair Color Tips and Ideas

Get a gorgeous new hair color in your own bathroom, but make sure you follow these at-home coloring secrets to avoid any hair disasters! Find out what hair colors are safe to get at home and what colors will work best on your current shade! Here are the best blonde, brunette and red DIY hair colors with at-home hair coloring tips!

First, you have to pick the right "safe" shade for you – understand that you can't go platinum blonde if you are a natural brunette with a box color. Going just a little darker or lighter is easier to do without mistakes. These "safe" at-home shades won't get you dramatic dimensional effects or a precise salon design, but it's best to know what will work on your natural hair color and what just won't. If you're satisfied with something on the simpler side, like going from a mousy brown to vibrant red or a deep chocolate shade, you can achieve a brand new at-home hair color successfully with the following tips!

Shiny Brunette Dark hair looks best with it has some warmth running through it. When looking for the perfect shade, look for words like "warm" and "golden" on the box to get a rich, flattering brunette hair color. These richer tones will prevent a dark shade from looking flat and enhance healthy, sparky shine! A warm, shiny brunette can be achieved easily at home if you're a natural redhead, mousy brown or dark blonde.

Vibrant Red If you're not lucky enough to be a natural redhead, you can cheat your way to a new vibrant red hair color! The best shade for you will depend on your skin tone: red hair especially suit those with and English rose complexion – choose shades of copper, vibrant shades of plum or cherry for best results. Warm skin tones can also benefit from red hair color, but go for a darker mahogany shade or a vivid shade of raspberry. Your box red will be successful if you're a natural light brown/dark blonde. If you hair is dark, it's unlikely you'll achieve a bright red shade without bleaching first. For long hair use two kits for a strong, even color.

Luxe Blonde Luxurious, platinum blonde is a strong statement – it is hard to achieve it on dark hair even with repeated in-salon coloring. Only attempt to color your hair blonde at home if you're less than two shades darker and a natural blonde. You can also build up the color in time to preserve your hair's health as much as you can. An expensive platinum blonde will suit both warm adn cool skin tones, but avoid going too blonde if you have a tan, or your complexion is darker.

Application Tips! - Don't color your hair at home when you're in a hurry! Take time to gather your tools, including combs, clips and a timer. - Make sure you have somebody around to help if you can't reach the back of your head! - Do a skin test! Apply some product behind the ear and wait 48 hours. If you don't have a reaction, go ahead and color. - Apply the hair dye systematically, starting at the roots and taking sections around the head and working towards the hairline. - When the timer goes off, rinse immediately to avoid over-processing that will lead to irreparable damage!

Fall/Winter 2010 2011 Color Trends

Since there's not much time left before fall arrives, most of us are already curious about what the latest fashion trends for fall/winter 2010-2011 are. In terms of color at least, fashion trends are not restrictive at all giving us plenty opportunities we can play with to create interesting outfits. Discover the latest color fashion trends for the seasons to come.

Each season the world's most famous designers offer a multitude of options to perk up our wardrobe with original creations from various sources of inspiration. The colors are always reinvented depending on the vision a certain designer has on his collection. For the fall/winter seasons of 2010-2011 designers have put together a variety of looks with different sources of inspiration such as the image of the urban warrior with nature inspired elements as well as bohemian accents with a pronounced preference for the classic style. 

With so many worthwhile sources of inspiration it's not surprising that the color palette is very varied allowing a multitude of choices. The colors for the following seasons range from light neural shades to classic dark shades such as khaki, charcoal gray, dark blue or black with a series of rich vibrant tones of red, deep purple, bright red and many others. However, in the multitude of choices you have for colder seasons a few tend to stand out:

Bright red

Many fashion experts think that bright red will be the main color of the fall/winter season of 2010-2011 being present on many important runways looks such as Givenchy, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana, Carolina Herrera, Alexis Mabille or Tommy Hilfiger. Rich deep red tones are not only some of the hottest hues in fashion trend for the season but they are also present in some of the most important make-up trends for the fall and winter of the year.

Camel tones

With the strong tendency for classic exhibited by many designers it's no surprise that various beige shades are coming back in fashion with full force. The classic cuts are perfectly represented by nude and decadent beige tones. Variations of this trend have been spotted at Chloé, Gucci, Elie Tahari and even Michael Kors. As you can see, embracing the idea of comfort and looking stylish at the same time is now easier than ever before if you know how to make right combinations. 

Deep purple tones

Considered a royal color, purple tones were used on several occasions to add a magnificent, unique injection of energy to many outfits. The purple tones used range from plum shades to rich, intense purple orchid tones that cannot go unnoticed. Phillip Lim, Jill Stuart Donna Karan or Oscar de la Renta were only a few of the designers that decide to take this trend to the next level with a series of amazing eclectic combinations that some might even consider extreme.

Khaki shades

It seems that the military fashion trend still has a strong influence on the the fall and winter trends of this year placing khaki and olive tones on the spotlight once again. The combination used manage to preserve an overall conservative attitude trough the intense but still subdued tones adding just enough interest to any outfit without making it look over the top.

Green tones were also used to create a mixture of feminine outfits with a strong masculine touch creating an overall look that exudes confidence and a solid knowledge when it comes to style. Different perspectives on this trend could be seen at Burberry Prorsum, Rag & Bone and many others.

Fall/Winter 2010 School Girl Preppy Fashion Trend

Teen fashion-inspired trend pop up on the catwalk each season. Indeed similarly to the the other style movements the Fall/Winter 2010 school girl preppy fashion trend also radiates a classy approach to the various school-chic must have outfit pieces as well as signature uniform prints as plaid. These creations were promoted by designers in their vision of the modern Preppy look which combines some of the feminine body consciousness in the shape of high heels with that girlie flair. 

Adopting a runway style trend might not be the easiest task if you are in need of the secrets of the perfect accessorizing as well as outfit planning. However the Fall/Winter 2010 school girl Preppy fashion trend needs less pro skills as well as handiness as it promotes a neat and well-defined apparel line which embraces some of the classy style items worn during the school years. These are without a doubt comfy and practical as well as stylish when dressed up with an urban flair and adding more feminine and cosmo chic features as the high boots as well as additional accessories. Turn your old-school outfit into a modern and cutting edge style by using your creativity when it comes of playing up your best features. Designers as Proenza Schouler, Donna Karan (DKNY) as well as the Chloe fashion house all offer you the chance to sport the trend in its utmost beauty and glam.

DKNY
DKNY
Cynthia Steffe
Cynthia Steffe

Classy School Uniform Preppy Style

Those who were enrolled in school that promoted the sporting of a classy uniform would know which are some of the must have pieces of an appropriate school apparel. The stylish shirts, coats or blazers as well as cute knee-high socks and even chic skirts are the A-list elements of a textbook style school-fashion appearance. However it seems that these designers still managed to set these traditional looks into a brand new perspective.

Adding more foxy and feminine features as the high heels and the mini skirts that would perfectly balance out the college look enhancing the whole appearance with a tint of sex-appeal. The chic headwear as well as socks trend presented in the DKNY and Cynthia Steffe A/W 2010 RTW collections offers the chance to embed the timeless Preppy accessories into our casual wardrobe and sport some of the latest style trends on the market. Take a glimpse at the outfit ideas above and make sure you bring out the uniform-inspired college girl of yourself and rock the look over and over again.

Cynthia Steffe
Proenza Schouler
Karen Walker
Karen Walker

Funky Preppy Style

In spite of the neatness of the trend some designers decided to take the Preppy looks to the next level and turn them into more non-conformist and uniquer looks as the ones popularized and envisioned by Proenza Schouler perked up with a sultry Gothic tint. On the other hand you should not go that far if you would like to sport a more funky Prep look and appeal to the radiating creations of Karen Walker who decided to fuse the bright color trend with the school-girl-inspired fashion and line up a rich parade of outfit alternatives for the fans of this trend.

In this case red, orange as well as any other shades and also the neutral and classy black and white combination would make a smashing fashion statement especially when presented in our unique and signature style vision. Whether you would like to pair Preppy with Goth or any other style movement you have free hand to try your hand at all the important styles. Include the must have accessories as the knee-high socks and bow as well as printed details and choose a Preppy hairdo that best suits the overall image.

Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger
Chloe
Chloe

Ladylike Preppy Fashion

Eager to play up the most romantic and feminine branch of the Preppy look? Then don't forget about the ladylike Preppy fashion that plays up the dainty flair of your features as well as plays with the girly allure of your features. Emphasize your best assets as well as rely on your sensual and more classy style skills to combine the various outfit items and melt them into a gorgeous apparel.

Cute skirts, tops decorated with bows as well as the cute capes and coats trends would serve as the best means to play up your classy Prep charm. Crown the look with the latest shoe trends, be it stylish oxfords or knee-high boots that would help you stand out from the crowd, even when sporting these outfits as back to school style alternatives. Spy on the A/W 2010 RTW collections of Tommy Hilfiger as well as Chloe for inspiration.

Images via Style.com, ELLE.com