Wella’s Illumina Range
Earlier this year I travelled to Manchester to spend a day at the Wella studios, taking in a colour master class with Laura and Dan. I’ve been a fan of Wella shampoos and conditioners for a long time – the smell they leave on your hair feels like you’ve just been to the hairdressers and their product range is pretty extensive too. Chances are, if you get your hair coloured in a salon they either use Wella or L’Oreal but these professional colours aren’t readily available on the high street so most people know little about them. This is what I learned:
Perfecton is their temporary range – completely washes out after 1 shampoo. Great for a little extra vibrancy for a special occasion.
Colour Fresh is semi-permanent, usually lasting about 8-10 washes. This contains keratin, the protein required for healthy hair and so can actually improve the condition of your hair.
Colour Touch is what they call quasi-permanent (lasts about 20 washes). Great for when you fancy a change but would rather it fade out than be left with massive roots.
Koleston Perfect is their permanent range, meaning it grows out rather than fading.
Illumina is more sheer kind of permanent colour and, as the name suggests, is very light reflecting.
Beachball Colour Technique
It was Illumina that was being used for the demonstrations today, with two models having their blonde hair coloured. Whilst colouring her models hair, Laura used a technique I hadn’t seen before. It’s called the ‘beach ball technique’ and means that the hair is sectioned, like a beachball and a selection of complimentary colours are used alternately on each section. This helps to create a more 3D multi-tonal colour effect which I’m afraid I don’t think my photographs do justice to (sorry Wella!)
Shimmering, Sparkling Hair
Now, as much as I would love to claim that my hair is natural, in fact I’ve been colouring it since I was about 15. I recently decided I wanted to go lighter, but hated the idea of peroxide as my hair is pretty tangled already without further chemical treatments thank you very much. However, thanks to the Koleston Perfect range, I now have lighter hair that’s in a good state, hurrah for Wella. My colour of choice for the foreseeable future.
Helen Quinn 