There’s pink hair, then there’s glitter hair… combining the two makes for the festival look of our dreams, but the reality is far messier than anticipated. Giambattista Valli’s SS19 show saw one model become blessed with shimmering rose strands, and we’ve been excited to recreate it ever since. As we soon discovered, it would be the first and the last time…

Lucy Partington, Stylist’s beauty editor says: 

This is a look that is great in theory but in reality was the complete opposite – and not just because putting the wet dye on my hair made it dry curly (there’s a reason I straighten it every day). I also feel like I went to a lot of effort – I was finding glitter for days after and I had to use a lot of hair colour – for something that doesn’t really show up. On the catwalk it was really striking, but in real life? I’m not so sure. 

Hanna Ibraheem, Stylist’s beauty writer says: 

The idea of a pink head full of shimmer sounds appealing, but it’s better left to the catwalks. No matter how much dye (read: bottles of the stuff) I slathered on, the colour got eaten up by my dark hair. Applying glitter with my hands while the dye was still wet was very messy, and the only reason it shows up in this picture is thanks to the photobooth’s strong flash. When I got home, it took four shampoo washes to get most of the glitter out – and even then, I was still finding bits of it on me days later. 

Ava Welsing-Kitcher, Stylist’s junior beauty writer says:

I’ve been toying with dyeing my hair a pastel colour, so I was pretty excited to take rosy pink for a test drive. It worked OK-ish on my lighter ends, but got totally lost in the dark brown roots no matter how much product I applied. Adding glitter was actually horrible – every time I moved or even breathed, cascades of the stuff descended onto my jumper and everything else within a metre radius. We were on our hands and knees for 20 minutes cleaning up after the shoot. Never again.

Verdict

The feeling’s mutual: don’t try this look at home unless you’re planning on sitting completely still all day, or don’t mind putting in an almighty effort to yield pretty underwhelming results – especially if you’re brunette. Maybe a proper dye job, less glitter, and a sturdy glitter fix spray would do this look justice, but we’re not about to commit. 

Lime Crime Unicorn Hair Tint in Bunny

The Gypsy Shrine Pink Biodegradable Glitter

L’Oréal Colorista Washout Semi Permanent Dye in Hot Pink

Bleach London Super Cool Colour in Rose Gold

With thanks to Republic of Photography