15 Honey Blonde Hues to Inspire a Summer ‘Do, With Tips from Beyoncé’s Colorist

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The neutral color is a universally flattering option for a range of skin tones and hair textures.

Finding the perfect blonde hue comes with its complications. Whether you seek a warm-toned golden shade or a cool-toned ashy hue depends on your undertones and the kind of look you want to achieve. But one color that works on nearly everyone is honey blonde. Just ask celebrity colorist Rita Hazan. She's perfected the shade on celebrities like Beyoncé, Jessica Simpson, and more.

"Honey blonde is the most neutral color in the blonde category," says Rita Hazan, a celebrity colorist to stars like Beyoncé and Jessica Simpson, and the founder of an eponymous hair-care line.. "It's not warm and it's not cool." That's why it looks so good on so many people. Rock it if you're dark-skinned with cool undertones, mid-toned with olive coloring, or fair with neutral undertones. "It's just the right blonde for everybody. It's universal."

Hazan especially loves this shade for the warmer months. "It's a happy, brightening color for spring and summer," she says. "You can brighten it up a little bit by adding some, let's say, beachy blonde and have a honey base. But in the winter, you can just keep it all on the darker honey side with lighter honey highlights."

If you want to go honey blonde for summer, Hazan says it's necessary to bring a picture to your colorist to ensure you're getting the exact color you want. Luckily, we have 15 perfect examples ahead, ranging from true honey blonde to all of its variations.

Honey Dipped

Although J. Lo now works with Tracey Cunningham in Los Angeles, Hazan is the colorist who originally brought her honey blonde. "Way back when, after she filmed Selena, her hair was so dark. And I met her through Oribe, and Oribe and I together decided that she needed to be lighter and more honey-ish," says Hazan. "She fluctuates lighter and darker, but she has kept true to that honey tone."

Sun-Kissed

No one rocks honey blonde quite like Gisele Bündchen. The color looks so natural that I'd argue her hair actually grows out of her scalp like this. Maybe balayage is encoded in her DNA.

Honey Base

Beyoncé and Hazan have worked together for over a decade. And while the multi-hyphenate star loves to change up her hue, honey is her baseline. "Sometimes we keep it honey, sometimes we keep it more beachy, and sometimes we do an ivory blonde—it depends on what she's working on," says Hazan. "Right now, she's into a combo, because when she's in Cowboys Carter mode, she wants that white white blonde, but she also likes to go into like that honey-ish shade, so we're merging that white blonde with honey blonde."

Honey Highlights

Tate McRae brightens her natural mousy brown with honey-blonde highlights. "Versatility is what makes this honey color good," says Hazan. "You don't have to change your whole hair color—you can make it work with your natural hair color."

Honey Pops

When Thalía, a Mexican singer-songwriter and actress, visits Hazan, she focuses on adding pops of honey to a light-brown base. The brighter pieces are concentrated toward the ends of her hair, mimicking how hair naturally grows out darker before it's lightened by the sun.

Dirty Honey

"I just saw Jessica Simpson," says Hazan. "She just released a new album, and wanted to go a little bit edgier than she normally is. Instead of being super blonde, we made it more of a honey blonde. We called it a dirty blonde, where it's still light, but has dimension to it. It's a big change for her."

Sunny

Mariah is another star who's known for her honey strands. She goes for all-over brightness grounded with soft brunette root melt.

Dimensional Honey

A honey base with dark roots and pops of icy highlights give Suki Waterhouse a bright and dimensional blonde.

Bright Honey

Hazan loves Kate Moss's bright honey color. It's perfectly neutral yet sun-kissed.

Beachy Honey

Hazan says this shade on Emma Stone is a cross between honey blonde and beach blonde. It blends cooler blonde tones with neutral honey for an icier take on the look.

Honey Melt

Sofia Richie-Grainge's natural brunette melts beautifully into a rich honey hue, complete with subtle highlights for added dimension. The seamless blend exemplifies old money blonde.

Lived-In

Honey highlights strategically scattered throughout Jessica Biel's brunette lengths yield the perfect lived-in color.

Soft and Subtle

Joey King's cool-toned brunette is the perfect base for barley there honey highlights.

Perfectly Rooted

For the launch of Fenty Hair, Rihanna sported honey-gold curls with a subtle shadow root. Because curly hair runs on the drier side, bleaching can be super damaging. But since honey blonde isn't too bright, Hazan says it's easier to accomplish on this hair texture without damage than lighter shades.

Babylights

Although Hailey Bieber has been rocking darker hair lately, she has played with many variations of blonde. Back in July 2021, she had honey babylights peppered throughout her hair.

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