Beauty Bulletin puts Wella Instamatic pastel colour to the test, courtesy of Scar Hair…

We thought the pastel hair trend had run its course, but if celebs like Ellie Goulding are anything to go by, it’s still big news. The trick is to keep the look soft and sophisticated – more ‘dreamy Disney princess’ than ‘rock royalty’.

I decided to channel my inner unicorn and go rainbow as an antidote to dreary winter. I enlisted the services of expert stylist Salome De Wet of Scar Hair in Cape Town, who recommended I get my pastel on with a Wella Instamatic Colour Rinse. There are six pretty shades in this demi permanent collection – Smokey Amethyst, Muted Mauve, Pink Dream, Jaded Mint and Ocean Storm – and the coolest thing about it is that multiple colours may be painted through the hair without them bleeding into each other.

Here’s the lowdown on my experience…

1. LIFT
Salome explained that applying Instamatic colour to my medium-brown hair would result in a subtle colour wash as opposed to the radiant pastel look I was after. To get the best look, hair needs to be white-blond with no brassy yellow tones; the darker the hair, the softer and more hazy the effect. Salome applied a blonde ombré base, lifting the natural colour from small sections of my hair: “Lifting colour from the whole head requires a lot of maintenance, and the colour will fade more gracefully when you start with a blonde ombré”.

2. TONE
Salome removed the foils and the lower sections of my hair were a light-yellow blonde. She corrected the brassiness with a toner to prep my hair for the Instamatic colour, and ensure the best and brightest result.

3. COLOUR
Inspired by Nicole Ritchie and Kelly Osbourne’s lavender locks, I opted for Muted Mauve, but after Salome had applied the colour and let it develop, my hair was ash blonde without a hint of purple in sight! It was time for Instamatic Round Two…

4. AMPLIFY
This step is not mandatory for everyone, but my virgin hair was stubborn and the colour didn’t take as well as we’d hoped. Salome repeated the process which culminated in a silvery lilac-blonde ombré – not exactly what I’d expected, but still gorgeous!

Three weeks have passed and the colour has subtly faded into a lovely ash blonde. I’ve fallen in love with my silvery locks, so I’ll definitely be back for more Instamatic when I hit the four-week mark…

Scar Hair has created some truly breath-taking pastel looks with Instamatic. Check out their Instagram snaps for inspiration. As if you needed any more encouragement to play with colour this winter, Scar is running an Instamatic special until 30 September: An Instamatic rinse for R 250 as an add-on to your service in salon. Not too shabby, hey?

BB Beauties, would you give your tresses the rainbow effect this winter? Which colour calls out to you? Let us know below…