For most of us winter season can mean trouble for our skin (think dryness); however it is actually a great time for your hair, which means less frizz and more natural shine. In fact winter is the best time to experiment with trendy hues as they can liven up your look when the rest of the world seems dull and grey. An exceptionally great hair shade can certainly elevate your overall look and, with the current wave of hair-colour innovation, you can definitely breathe fresh life into your current hair colour.

Usually hair colours that thrive in winter are bold and universally flattering and this season is all about extra dimension and more natural-looking hair colours overall. To help you get your hair game together, Instep has rounded up the trendiest hair colours you can flaunt…

Highlighted brunette

According to stylists, highlighted brunette is a natural-looking dark brown colour that incorporates dark blonde pieces with a more neutral, smokey vibe rather than super icy or super warm shades. It’s not warm or cool, but is somewhere in the middle as the highlights don‘t lean too far into the blonde territory and shouldn’t register as too blonde or appear stripe-y. The key is to go for a rich brown base which is illuminated with neutral highlights. It’s a very melted and seamless look that shouldn’t feel like a big departure from natural shades.

Going ‘bronde’

Can’t decide whether to go for blonde hues or a brunette shade? It’s time to get the best of both worlds and blend the two colours together to create the ‘bronde’ shade. The look is a marriage of warm and cool; a mixture of ash and butter blonde swirled in with brown hues. All you have to do is let your dark roots gradually get lighter to achieve a reverse ombre effect. Both deep and warm, sunset blonde shade is timeless.

Dark mahogany

If you have your heart set on going darker, try the subversive shade of ultra-dark mahogany, which is a reddish brown colour with a rich blend of red and purple. The plum undertones not only add vibrancy but the best part is that the multi-dimensional tones work for all skin tones.

Caramel ombre

‘Tis the season to embrace rich, dark hues and complement them with just a touch of lightness. If you have dark brown hair, caramel ombre highlights are the perfect way to soften and warm up your look. Opting for a melted hue like caramel not only looks soft and natural, but also adds a bit of brightness to the face. Experts say that a melange of dark and light browns should be subtle because you don’t want them to end up looking red or brassy.

Tweed hair

Dubbed as tweed hair, this trend is one of this season’s most popular hair colouring technique, which is all about subtle highlights that are evenly distributed throughout the hair. A form of balayage highlights, tweed hair is a subtle, earthy colour trend that can be achieved in two different ways; by toning down your brighter highlights so that it’s closer to your base colour or by doing the opposite and lightening your base to be closer to your highlights. The end result is gorgeous highlights that create dimension and look like they’re melting together.

Warm hazelnut

One of the trendiest hair colours is warm hazelnut, which gives off a sophisticated effect and complements all types of skin tone. If you already have dark brown hair, you can warm up your hair colour by adding dimension with golden and copper-based undertones. The shade also gives you plenty of room to play with accent colours in both your hair and makeup.

Spiced chestnut

Spiced reddish browns like chestnut and cinnamon are trending and for good reason. They add warmth and look great on almost all skin tones. And the best part is that they are also versatile - you can either subtly incorporate chestnut highlights to your dark brown hair or you can opt for chestnut brown base with hints of honey brown.