Considering our current climate of hair color trends, featuring shades like bold blackberry and bright rose gold, we’re willing to cleanse our palettes for a brief moment by going back to the basics. No one said the basics need to be boring, though. We’ve come across a brilliant shade for brunettes that gives incredible dimension and fresh life to a classic hair color. KEVIN.MURPHY recently launched its 2018 COLOR.ME collection, and it’s chock-full of hair color inspiration for every style. Our current fave: cocoa butter. This blend starts with a beautiful chocolate brown base, but then runs wild with tiny touches of color, courtesy of babylights and subtle balayage, that include dark chocolate, toffee, caramel, and beige blondes.
Kate Reid, COLOR.ME by KEVIN.MURPHY Design Director, told us: “The trick is working with a multitude of dark blonde to brunette shades that mirror and reflect to create seamless dimension…Out with the thicker, chunkier balayage face framing and in with the softer seamless cascading flow in Cocoa Butter.”
It comes down to focusing on the whole, not the pieces. Creating a seamlessly blended look with multi-dimensional color, as opposed to using heavy balayage with pronounced color contrast, is the vision. If you’re a little worn and weary on trendy hair colors, this beautiful rendition of a classic might be your next move. Check out these cocoa butter hair color inspirations before booking your next salon appointment.
Ashy Mocha
This cool chocolate base gets to take the main stage by only adding very subtle balayage from midway to the ends. We’re swooning over the silky mocha finish.
Sun-Kissed
While many cocoa butter blends stick with beige or biscuit blondes, this shade gets some gold-tinted balayage that is toned into a seamless finish.
Toned Down Brown
This natural brunette hair color was given even more softness by adding toner to the mix. It gives the highlights a gorgeous muted look.
Chocolate Shag
We didn’t think this sumptuous shade could get any better, and then we saw it with a shag haircut. We’re loving the rich warm brown color with the heavily layered and textured style.
Dark Cocoa
This cocoa butter shade is heavy on the cocoa with only faint brushes of caramel blonde, mainly towards the face. If we can get that effortless done-undone look, we’re really on board with this deep brunette.
Face-Framing Babylights
Bring a little extra dimension to the table with carefully placed babylights. This super deep mocha base has touches of warm chestnut and caramel, and we love the cocoa butter shade on a blunt bob.
Hazelnut Balayage
Cocoa butter is a no-brainer for natural brunettes, and this deep mocha base color gets a subtle lift from warm hazelnut balayage throughout, heavily focused on the ends.
Warm Cinnamon
Baby strokes of balayage create a warm shade that starts with a medium chocolate brown and ends with red-brown cinnamon flecks.
Caramel Kisses
Johnny Ramirez, the hands behind this dynamic brunette shade, credited “subtle kisses” of caramel and sunny blonde as the key to this lived-in look.
Warm Babylights
Add some babylights to that bob, and you’re in business. This chocolatey base color gets some major vibrance from warm cinnamon and chestnut.
Cinnamon Mocha
We can’t get over the downright syrupy finish on this silky mane, and the deep cool mocha base gets perfectly complemented with a rich warm brown color.
