How To Get Sun-Kissed Hair In Time For Fall

The honey-brown highlight is the hair equivalent of a subtly sun-kissed (spray) tan when you're feeling kind of blah: an instant mood booster. If you're a natural brunette, the golden-bronze lift says I just spent a restful ten days in Capri— even if the only traveling you've done is the long trek to Trader Joe's.

According to L.A.-based colorist Tabitha Dueñas, the ideal tone is a warm medium brown, not the lifted blonde you typically see with highlights. "Honey brown is not a bright, cool-toned blonde highlight," she says. "It's much warmer and looks best infused subtly via babylight foils or blended balayage focused through the ends, leaving the root tone natural to give sparkly dimension between the honey lift and dark-brown base shade."

Ahead, the best examples of how the honey-brown color reads on a range of hair textures using different techniques — so you can get inspired to try a fresh color for fall.