Skip to content

Top Navigation

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Food
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Home & Garden
  • Style & Culture
  • News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Southern Living

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • These Haircuts Are Going To Be Huge in 2021

      The trendy haircuts you’ll be seeing everywhere next year. Read More Next
    • How To Season A Cast-Iron Skillet

      Learn how to season this Southern kitchen staple in five easy steps. Read More Next
    • The Right Way to Heat a Pre-Cooked Ham

      It's so easy, trust us. Read More Next
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Lost Cakes of the South

    These simple and spectacular Southern cakes deserve a comeback
    • All Food
    • All Recipes
    • Holidays & Occasions
    • Quick Fix Suppers
    • Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Desserts
    • Casseroles
    • Healthy Recipes
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    70 Wedding Vow Examples That Will Melt Your Heart

    Fight writer's block and find ways to express your love with these romantic, funny, and short wedding vow examples.
    • Christmas
    • Entertaining
    • Thanksgiving
    • Southern Weddings
    • Easter
    • Kentucky Derby
    • Valentine's Day
    • 4th of July
    • Mother's Day
  • Home & Garden

    Home & Garden

    See All Home & Garden

    7 Paint Colors We’re Loving for Kitchen Cabinets in 2020

    ‘Tis the season to ditch your all-white palette in favor of something a little bolder and brighter.
    • Home Decor Ideas
    • Idea Houses
    • Before & After
    • Inspired Communities
    • Curb Appeal
    • House Plans & Builders
    • The Grumpy Gardener
    • Plant Names A-Z
  • Style & Culture

    Style & Culture

    See All Style & Culture

    50 Books Everyone Should Read in Their Lifetime

    Curl up with a classic!
    • Southern Culture
    • Hair
    • Travel
    • Beauty
    • Pets
    • Southern Fashion
    • Healthy Living
  • News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Southern Living
  2. fashion beauty
  3. Hair
  4. Tortoiseshell Hair Color Is Brightening Up Brunettes This Summer

Tortoiseshell Hair Color Is Brightening Up Brunettes This Summer

By Kaitlyn Yarborough
May 30, 2018
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet
Credit: @haleyvalentinehair
When your crown is feeling more lackluster than lustrous, it's time to head to the salon and hit the refresh button. From root beer to rose brown, this year’s hair color trends for brunettes are taking dull brown strands from monotone to magnetic; and tortoiseshell, or écaille in French, is a shade that’s leaving brunettes feeling shiny and new with its rich blend of warm shades. (And yes, it’s inspired by your favorite tortoiseshell sunglasses.) Tortoiseshell hair is a mixture of dark shades and touches of warm caramel, honey, and gold. Somehow teetering a perfectly sun-kissed balance between dark and light, this shade often starts with a chocolate brown base and can use techniques like balayage, babylights, ombré, and shadow rooting to create a seamlessly blended finish that’s as low maintenance as you wish. So why not put a few strokes of honey here, a few ribbons of caramel there? It'll liven up those locks in no time. Check out these tortoiseshell hair color inspirations before your next salon trip.
Start Slideshow

1 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Caramel Ombré

Credit: @mizzchoi

This melting of color feels fresh and light, even though the roots are an almost cool mocha shade. The subtle ombré covers all of the tortoiseshell hues: chocolate, chestnut, caramel, and gold. We love the way the color works with the long, warm blonde face-framing layers. There's no doubt they'll be catching the sun all season long.

1 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Baby Balayage

Credit: @mizzchoi

Want to spice up your bob? A deep chocolate base color gets a welcome kick from baby balayage highlights in rich chestnuts and caramel. Piecier highlights and heavy face-framing help make a great blend of color.

2 of 14

3 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Honey Brown

Credit: @maddiemelts

For those who just want a low maintenance, not-too-noticeable change to their classic chocolate brown, these honey-tinged tresses will do the job. Ribbons of randomly placed honey balayage highlights add just the right amount of shine and reflection.

3 of 14

Advertisement

4 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Blonde Tortoiseshell

Credit: Pinterest/Anh Co Tran

Think of this tortoiseshell shade as its cool beachy partner-in-crime that lets a dirty blonde or bronde base melt into a gorgeous caramel, honey, and golden finish. It’s the perfect laid-back, lived-in warm blonde look.

4 of 14

5 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Toffee Touches

Credit: @johnnyramirez

Complement olive skin and brown eyes with rich strokes of toffee and caramel, focusing heavily around the face and on the ends. Using chestnut brown to melt the dark base into the sun-kissed touches is key to a low-maintenance, lived-in look.

5 of 14

6 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Sweet Cola

Credit: @haleyvalentinehair

This syrupy brown injects some serious touches of liquid gold into the layered hairstyle, and it even brings out hints of reddish-brown chestnut near the coca-cola brown roots. We’re all for this shiny tortoiseshell blend.

6 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Deep Mocha

Credit: @hairbyrachellenicole

Though tortoiseshell is full of warm shades of browns and caramels, nothing says deep brunettes can’t get in on the action with some perfectly placed balayage. A black-brown base color gets warmth and lightness from chestnut, amber, caramel, and gold.

7 of 14

8 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Amber Balayage

Credit: @juliahengel

This tortoiseshell blend works super well for those with lighter brown or bronde hair, enhancing it with rich honey and amber highlights while keeping a light chocolate base. The super subtle balayage makes for easy upkeep and natural-looking results.

8 of 14

9 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Sombré

Credit: @lesleylouhoo

When hair color looks totally natural, you know you’ve done it right! This incredibly subtle soft ombré starts with a warm brunette base and melts into a robust covering of caramel. This blend will pop on olive or tan skin tones.

9 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Tortoiseshell Ribbons

Credit: @hairbysaiphetkhosa

For this bold tortoiseshell look, blend a few different hair shades—such as golden blonde, rich caramels, toasty chestnuts, and darker brown—using ribbon highlights. This style adds a little extra honey blonde, making it summer-approved.

10 of 14

11 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Golden Caramel

Credit: @hairbylexiiii

Talk about some summertime sunshine. This chocolate brown mane is making us fall head over heels for the rich caramel-gold balayage that coats every inch from midway down to the ends. You can’t go wrong with this bright blend of color.

11 of 14

12 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Bronze Sombré

Credit: @salsalhair

We can’t get over the rich metallic finish of this bronzed tortoiseshell mane. Bronze is characterized as a shade of brown that emphasizes gold and red undertones. A little extra honey and gold around the face and towards the ends makes it look naturally sun-kissed.

12 of 14

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Heavy Caramel

Credit: @mizzchoi

For those with fair skin that want to lighten things up, this warm caramel lands right in the middle of the essential chocolate and golden blonde shades. Heavy face-framing and shadow rooting make it super flattering and low maintenance.

13 of 14

14 of 14

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Chestnut Balayage

Credit: @bloom_beautybar

If concerned about going too bold, keep the look subtle and soft to avoid making it look overdone. This multi-dimensional chestnut brown uses rich ribbons of color to achieve the tortoiseshell look.

14 of 14

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Kaitlyn Yarborough

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 14 Caramel Ombré
2 of 14 Baby Balayage
3 of 14 Honey Brown
4 of 14 Blonde Tortoiseshell
5 of 14 Toffee Touches
6 of 14 Sweet Cola
7 of 14 Deep Mocha
8 of 14 Amber Balayage
9 of 14 Sombré
10 of 14 Tortoiseshell Ribbons
11 of 14 Golden Caramel
12 of 14 Bronze Sombré
13 of 14 Heavy Caramel
14 of 14 Chestnut Balayage

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Login

Southern Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • About Us
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Books from Southern Living
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Southern Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Southern Living is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporationthis link opens in a new tab All Rights Reserved. Southern Living may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.southernliving.com

View image

Tortoiseshell Hair Color Is Brightening Up Brunettes This Summer
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.