Ridiculous looking, yes, but it does make for a great highlighted effect since you can apply the color precisely where you want it. While the process is a little gimmicky, who cares about looking silly in the privacy of your own bathroom? (Especially since the price is so budget-friendly.) Here’s how it works: You pull on a special cap with holes in it, then use hooks to pull various pieces of hair through the holes and apply the color to those pieces. Never underestimate the power of a drugstore highlighting kit like this one from L’Oréal Paris. It’s the priciest option on this list, but the sunkissed look is worth it.Īctive Ingredients: Keratin, argan oil, ginseng root extract | Shades: 5 | Size: 1 ounce (Light Works Lightening Cream), 2 ounces (Light Works Lightening Activator), 1.35 ounces (Light Works Finish Toning Glaze), 2 ounces (Light Works Finish Toning Glaze Activator), 0.5 ounces (Light Works Bond Building Cleansing Treatment), 0.5 ounces (Color Protecting Shampoo), 0.5 ounces (Color Protecting Conditioner) | Cruelty-Free: Yes The kit also comes with a toner to use afterward, the secret to ensuring a natural- and professional-looking result. Since it comes with a wishbone-shaped applicator, you’ll achieve the look of hand-painted balayage highlights you’d get in a salon-without the salon price. It’s available in five shades that even work on tough-to-color dark brown hair, and the clay-based, ammonia-free (no harsh odor!) cream color makes the experience mess-proof and more goof-proof than usual. The brand has truly revolutionized the at-home hair color world, so naturally, their innovative highlighting kit is our Best Overall pick. We then cross-referenced our results with top-rated formulas to give you the best in show. After considering dozens of brands, and consulting an expert colorist, we narrowed down the list, looking for options that consider your hair health and come with formulas designed to nourish and protect while lightening hair. We conducted hours of research on the best at-home highlighting kits, evaluating them on the active ingredients of the dye formulas used, shade ranges available, ease of use, and what each kit comes with-from activators to glazes.

Some work better for blondes, and others are intended for brunettes, but they’re all easy to use, leaving you with quality color and a happier credit card statement.

That’s why we narrowed down the eight best at-home highlighting kits. Strategically placed highlights can instantly brighten your face, adding dimension to your base color, and giving the impression that you spent the summer in Santorini. Instead, with an at-home highlighting kit, you can achieve the same effect for a fraction (a fraction of a fraction, even) of the cost. It’s time-consuming, energy-sucking, and-perhaps most importantly-expensive. Who wouldn’t love a zen salon appointment, getting pampered and strutting out with freshly highlighted hair? Sometimes an afternoon of indulgence isn’t an option, though.

Highlight kit for brown hair