It always feels like a blank slate at winter, right? The air is cool, the light dims, and in a flash your hair begins to want something different. Leaning Dark and sultry or Bright and radiant, this winter’s hair color with highlights has something to please every mood. Here are a few of the ideas that caught my eye the most – the ones that feel warm but not too trite, old but new. Be prepared to play with your new color obsession?
Rosewood Balayage with Satin Waves
Something unresistible in the melting of soft chocolate brown into warm rosewood ends. This color combination creates that subtle shift of dark brunette hair to shinning reddish-pink hues that sparkle in the indoor light. Winter hair color, not only to brunettes with highlights, but as a complete mood, and it wraps up as cozy as a cashmere scarf. The ribbon feature is very small, but it gives the entire appearance a feminine appeal, which feels unforced but graceful.
To maintain this sort of tone healthy into the cool months I always turn to colour-blocking masks – such as the Redken All Soft Heavy Cream. It is thick enough to put the shiny back in it, and light enough to not bog down those shiny waves.
The aspects of this palette that personally appeal to me are that it reflects light in a different way depending on the weather. On cloudy days it is more sombre, and sultrier; and, when in the sunshine, the rose colour is more mischievous–almost as though it had its own little secret.
Soft Brunette with Icy Lowlights
This appearance appeals to minimalists who desire depth without fanfare. Imagine a natural brunette hair with cool, silvery Lowlights, a subtle yet fashionable texture and shade. It is a winter brunette hair color highlight that borders on a luxurious whisper and suits a person who is more interested in class than trial.
Carewise, cooler colors dissipate more quickly, so a violet-colored shampoo such as Kristin Ess The One Purple Shampoo preserves the level of brassiness away, but still maintains that TRUE cool aspect.
I would always tell you it adds frosty latte vibe to your skin– it works well with what to wear when your skin is fair and to anyone just wanting that cool winter image. It is smooth and tender, sure but not overbearing.
Molten Copper Brunette
Deep copper brunette, rich, fiery, and oh-so-flattering, this one of my favorite ideas of brunettes in winter. The effect of the warm is brought by the glow of auburn tones even when the temperature decreases. It is the place where brown hair tinged with highlights in winter touch passion the richness of chocolate and the fire of flame flowing together in a long arc.
To maintain the glow, the stylist Chris Appleton suggests replacing hydrating masks with gloss refreshers to avoid the copper pigments fading. I do entirely agree—a bit of gloss restores the entire color.
It is a glance that narrates a tale– a tale of confidence and luster. Ideal on a coffee date, dinner lights or just enjoying your own reflection on a frosty window.
Butter Blonde Balayage Knot
Blonde cascades of ribbons below a warmer bottom– this appearance shouts of soft luxury. The shininess of the hair with the balayage caramel is not as vivid as it is in the summer, but that is the point that makes it one of my favorite winter hair colors with blonde highlights. The loose half-up knot is this casual, out of duty style which I can never resist.
Blondes should be given some extra attention during winter time – I use Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector so the hair will be smooth and pliable even in cold weather and under indoor heating.
It is a cozy, yet bright, tone that puts you in that ideal glow-up mood, especially when trying to think of what to do with fair skin or when you want a natural thought to use in the fall that will blend into the colder weather.
Honey Beige Melt
This is a color that tells you I woke up like this. The honey-beige gradient transitions out of an average root into pale and buttery ends – a classic that anyone seeking a natural brightness will want to wear. It is a conventional highlighting hair color in the winter season that is placed between bright and neutral.
To maintain the color, lightweight toning conditioners (such as dpHUE Gloss+ in Light Blonde) prevent the color being over-processed. I adore this tone as it creates the impression of more dense and shiny hair – it captures each piece of winter light as gold.
And honestly? It is one of those glances that seem perennial. Easy, lightweight and limitlessly comfortable like your best sweater, but on your hair.
Smoky Root Melt with Frosted Ends
As the days are short, the light is silver, I yearn to see colors that replicate that softness. This appearance is a deep dark brown bottom with cool, icy beige tips, or the ideal gradient- morning frost on satin. It is a grounded and ethereal winter hair color with highlights. The lines are clean and smooth keeping everything clean and modern and the blended effect of ombre gives a touch of lightness without losing the chills.
To maintain that cool factor between appointments, I normally suggest a purple or blue gloss and my favorite is dpHUE Cool Blonde Gloss+. It is fast, gives sheen and it keeps away that undesired brassiness that creeps in during dry and heated winter months.
This is a classic color, but also somehow cybernetic. It is very pretty with medium to light brunette color and wants to flirt with blond but without being fully icy. I would say it was the best low-commitment glow-up of the colder season.
Caramel Ribbons on Brunette Flow
Breathing soft waves with golden ribbons- this color is all about dimension created by contrast. The foundation is velvety caramel chocolate and warm balayage caramel pieces can be seen flowing through the lengths. This blend provides that lived-in quality that we love in brown hair colors that have highlights winter and when you want to extend your summer glow to those chillier seasons.
Retaining this colour denotes being damp. Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask is something I apply once a week to keep that caramel shine shiny and shiny. The oil enhances life in your hair and particularly when your hair is interacting with cold air and low humidity levels.
This to me is one of the most flattering concepts of brunettes, a combination of lush and luxurious that never seems too polished. It is warm yet assertive, such as covering your hair with a designer blanket.
Golden Beige Bob with Soft Layers
This loosely wavey, golden beige bob is natural and totally casual and still, completely styled. The cozy tones work so well with fair skin and so it is one of my favorite winter fair-skin ideas this winter. The color lies between the bright honey and the dull sand providing that elusive mix of warmth and sophistication.
In order to look after this shade, I use Olaplex No.6 Bond Smoother, which keeps flyaways under control, and imparts shine, particularly when you wear it in loose curls. It is perfect when one desires a salon-fresh finish without the day time maintenance.
There is grave French-girl vibe in this colour: it is casual, not-done, and certainly luxurious. It is a winter hair color on brunettes with highlights that you can wear out of the office to a date, and not touch it up at all.
Champagne Waves with Light Dimension
This appearance is pure elegance due to a light sandy root to champagne transition. It is not too ideal but dreamy enough, which is the right choice when one wants winter hair colors with blonde highlights that are best-suited to both warm and cold undertones. The rippling curls produce that glittering edger, fishing up the winter sun in little golden fibers.
Hairstylist Justine Marjan frequently suggests blending tones such as these to provide a natural depth – she describes it as blending luxury with reality and I could not agree with her more. A lightweight leave-in such as Kerastase L’Huile Originale Elixir Ultime will provide instant gloss to maintain the same luminosity.
This is one to be tried by anyone who needs soft glamour. It moves organically out of thoughts about fall into the core of winter, almost as if it were the best mix of hard work and relaxation.
Silver Contour Lights
The most far-out interpretation of the trend – this one is sheer cool-girl. The face is framed by graphite base streaks of silver contours to form a beautiful contrast both dark and bright at the same time. These chunky accents of low light are not just color, but statement-making architecture on your face. Indeed one of the coolest winter hair colors on brunettes at present.
Fanola No Yellow Mask is my secret to preserving the silver-tone to keep such a shine fresh, it removes any dullness and gives a mirror-gloss finish. It is the type of colour that instantly transforms even a plain outfit to something deliberate and bold.
It is to people interested not in a hair color but in identity. It is bold, swaggering, winter-light.
Ash Mocha Glow
Something so placid about this hue–it is as though the winter of hair preserved in hair. The soft brown and highlights winter palette of hair color unites smoky taupe and soft ash colors that play with every wave. It is sophisticated without being overly so, leaning toward both dark and dull bright.
I always have shades such as this moistened with Pureology Hydrate Soft Treatment – it is my winter lifesaver in keeping hair shiny and smooth. Darker colors will dry more quickly in high humidity and this cream will contribute back to gloss and motion.
It is a wonderful tone that serves as a transition between the seasons a palette that is equally appropriate to both the thoughts of fall and winter. It is very simple, elegant, and exactly in keeping with the silent glamour of the season.
Espresso Gloss Waves
The appearance is a glorification of sheer richness, lush chocolate brown hues, with gloss that lets light pass through and turns mere curls into molten silk. It is one of my brunette winter hair color favorites as it has the strength and confidence of dark hair colors without causing the hair to feel heavy.
Celebrity stylist Chris Appleton is a firm believer in glossing serums to keep that mirror shine, and so am I. The Color Wow Dream Coat spray especially helps to fix frizz and humidity and seal in a light-reflective finish, which appears salon-fresh days later.
This is a great tone to go with the people who want to know the ideas that a brunette can have that are both classical but stylish. It is snug, audacious and goes as well with a cashmere turtleneck as a red lip does on date night.
Smoky Mauve Rose
In case you have been feeling like having something slightly unusual, smoky rose is your bidding. This mixture of mauve, dusty pink, and faded brunette roots is as futuristic and feminine as possible a hue that does not scream to be noticed, yet draws heads. It is a real breakthrough in winter hair colors with highlights, providing a new inspiration of creativity in 2025-2026.
As a shield against this color, I use Redken Color Extend Magnetics Shampoo – this is a very mild cleansing shampoo that also increases the longevity of the pigments, especially in more artistic colors such as this one.
I like best its wearability. Neither bubblegum nor too impertinent it is romantic, down-to-earth and perfectly in step with the dreamy, introspective air that winter has.
Cinnamon Fade
Cautiously hot, but not too hot, this light fade between espresso and cinnamon-tipped ends provide just the right amount of dimension to make the hair come alive. It is a really natural winter Brunette highlights hair color that seems smooth but low-key. The fine ombre brings motion without washing out your natural sound- the one everyone wants during transition to the soft season.
When you don’t like all the fuss and maintenance, like myself, this appearance is ideal, it grows out and does not require regular maintenance. To Brunchetti, Living Proof Restore Perfecting Spray is my favourite to give shine; it gives that smooth, healthy finish, without flattening hair.
The shade is so comfy to the touch – imagine cinnamon lattes and cozy scarves – so it is one of the most popular colors to wear this year among brunettes.
Cool Brunette Balayage
Winter light is best suited to colors that are able to pick up and reflect it – and this cool-toned brune balayage is able to do so. There are faint streaks of ashy brown and mocha accents that run down a deeper underglaze and will be forming a subtle contrast and easy texture. It is contemporary, and is wearable, and absoolutely true to this winter of understated hair colors with highlights.
I use Matrix Brass Off Mask in alternation with a lightweight serum such as Kerastase Nutritive 8H Magic Night Serum to keep it shiny and moist.
This appearance targets minimalists – it is stylish, functional and exceedingly stylish. An allusion to silent eloquence and a flawless culmination of the most beautiful color concepts of the season on brunettes.
Warm Chestnut Melt
The low waves reflect the light as molten bronze it is that brunette-with-highlights mix of hair that is at once earthy and shimmering. The roots are deep Chocolate brown and disintegrate into cinnamon and chestnut ribbons along the lengths. It is warm and refined in a certain way, that is, the color that is only dreamy during cafe illumination but is no less so in daylight.
I like the effect of this tone, as though Ideas for fall were fading into actual winter, but it is not heavy, not brassy, it is a warm tone. The glossy look would require me to use Redken All Soft Mega Shampoo and a nourishing mask just once a week. When the waves reflect, few drops of argan oil added after the blow-dry will make the waves appear beautiful.
Personally, what I find to be the best thing about it is that it does not scream out trend, but whispers of luxury. It provides a healthy shine, as colorist Tracey Cunningham has once remarked, beats any shade, and it does.
Iced Beige Blonde
This is where the frost fades in a Bright Blonde gradient that chills and drains down to winter hair colours with blonde highlights as smooth as snow. The combination of Cool beige and icy colors is posh but non-fussy, with the help of the soft gradient.
I know this tone was going to go everywhere when I first noticed it during the New York Fashion Week, it is minimal, clean, and camera-ready. To keep it, however, will require effort: the panacea is purple shampoo (such as Amika Bust Your Brass). And when your ends are particularly weak, add a bond-repair repair like Olaplex No.3 once a week.
Once, Gregory Patterson claimed that Cool palettes could be fresh, empowering, and precise, and this is what it is like with this tone. It is bottled courage on frosty mornings.
Frosted Face Frame
I can not have enough of this Dark-rooted appearance– those daring, silver-white panels which outline the face are all. It is sophomore but classy, and a new approach to experiment with Ideas among Brunettes who do not wish to lose any details. The combination of charcoal brown and frosted streaks evokes the essence of snow-queen that is so 2025.
Toning is essential when it comes to maintenance, and to retain the TRUE Cool effect, every two washes of silver or ash conditioners should be used. I tend to prescribe Fanola No Yellow mask, as it does not over-tone the silver.
Something is very impressive about this combination – the self-confidence it conveys. It reminds me how frosty mornings are: chilly, clear and unavoidable.
Caramel Espresso Balayage
Nothing makes hearts, though, like this: brown hair colors with highlights winter edition. Imagine deep espresso with Blondes balayage caramel ribbons playing with the light with every move. It has a subtle multi-dimensional quality – the kind of thing you want when you really want to get warm but you do not want to go all Auburn or Bright.
I love the universal nature of this one- it fits Ideas equally well as it fits olive skin. The trick is in having those Low lights chunky ribbons where they are; they are feathered to look natural and bright enough to produce contrast.
I use Kerastase Elixir Ultime L’Huile Original when I need to get my balayage glossy again, only a drop of this product in my damp hair brings me a salon-fresh look again.
Soft Mocha Lights
This voice is like the final drop of a latte in a snowy morning, smooth, serene and seemingly never ending. It is a lighter version of winter brunette highlights with the neutral mocha color that combines with slight gray streaks of light. It is the type of color that is subtle but becomes a mood-alterer.
It seems to me the best illustration of a balance, not too Dark, not too Bright. A nice amount of warmth so as to add radiance to Ideas and not to weigh down the tones. In the case of at-home care, a sulfate-free shampoo and a light gloss treatment every few weeks will have it shiny and dimensional.
At one time colorist Anh Co Tran said that movement is more important than saturation, and this shade has that quality in spades. It is fluid, it is casual, and it is so current.
Rosewood Ends
It has a subversive sort of mutiny in this colour– deep roots softening into low-keyed pink hues that are simultaneously courageous and gentle. Not bubblegum, but winked sophistication. This mix of chocolate and blush is just a healthy balance between winter hair colorations on brunettes and what you would find coming out of a Brooklyn salon in the middle of January. The gradient exudes a warm feel of motion – the one that makes me think of winter scarfs and late afternoon sunsets.
To maintain, it is important to have toning, pink pigments do not last long. I would always recommend the Pureology Color Fanatic Top Coat + Tone in Copper or Rose Goldwhen you want to wash the oil on the hair without making the hair dry. Also, when using heated tools, remember thermal protection, it helps that Bright pastel sheen last longer.
I have experimented with this style in the past- and I tell you, people take notice. It is light-hearted yet well-grounded, such as putting on your favorite neutral piece with a bold lip. According to celebrity colorist Jenna Perry at one time, soft pastels on brunettes are best when there is a depth below it and that is precisely what makes this shade have balance; the actual secret to wearing fantasy tones in winter.
Soft Honey Dimension
It is the tone that occurs when Ideas for blondes and Ideas for brunettes come into ideal jointure. Imagine soft roots with strands of honey and beige and melting along the mids. It is low-tone high end, that type of winter hair that is colored with highlights that is both natural and high-end. In colder light, the gold glows in a subtle way, and the skin has that candlelit warmth that we all seek mid-season.
When I consider this palette, it still seems classical, as it refers to brown hair colors that have highlights as they are in winter, but more tender and light in nature. Glossing is essential to maintenance. Once every month, I apply Kristin Ess Signature Gloss in Golden Hour; it rejuvenates the buttery reflections and keeps the whole mixture in place.
The color looks nice on Ideas in fair skin since it does not leave you pale; it also gives you warmth. It has enough Cool beige in the highlights to balance the golden touch but with just enough lived-in luxe to find in runway models and casual influencers.
This shade proves that dimension is what makes blonde so blonde as Chris Appleton once wrote, Dimension is what gives blonde its character. It is such a color that talks of confidence without screaming to take any notice, but it invariably takes up the scene.
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