Allure Exclusive: Blake Lively's Colorist Gives the Scoop on Her Hot New Red Hair

Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

By Victoria Land,Allure magazine

The woman with the most coveted hair in the world-Blake Lively-has traded her signature blonde locks for a decidedly racier shade: Red. Lively debuted her new look at the Time 100 Gala in New York City on Tuesday evening, but Rona O'Conner of Lukaro Salon in Beverly Hills tells us she actually colored Blake's hair over three weeks ago and that it was a very well thought out change.

"We did it for the role she is playing in the movie Hick and we planned it months ago," she says. To arrive at the precise shade, Blake even brought her niece and nephew, who are both red heads, to the salon for O'Conner to see what she wanted. Here, the whole scoop on her fiery new color:

Why did Blake decide to trade in her coveted beach blonde locks for a bright red shade when she could have simply worn a wig during filming?

"I love red and creating it and Blake thought a change would be fun. I knew I could layer in the red without damaging her hair and that was key as we will have to take it back to blonde in the fall when she starts shooting Gossip Girl again. She wanted something pretty but with more of an edge that's why we went for a fiery shade"

How did you decide on the exact shade of red?

"We kept it a lighter tone primarily so we can reverse it. There are six tones in there and I strategized where to place each color as I layered the red through her hair. I used a red wash to start and used a deeper tone through the lower layers; more strawberry tones in the middle and bright and fiery coppers mixed in with punchy golden apricot streaks on the top. It's really dimensional and has lots of shimmer."

Does this shade have a name?

"Yes! Blake and I both love naming her hair color after food and gems. I said to Blake what shall we call it and she said 'fire opal.' It's the perfect name because it's exactly what we created. When you look in a fire opal you see multiple hues of gold, orange, and red and that's the blend we used to create her color. The pigments fade and we want to keep it bright so I just touched it up in NYC on Monday before the Time event. To keep the brightness and fiery tone we will have to touch it up every three weeks or so."

Can anyone go red?

"Yes, skin tone can be easily altered with makeup so you don't have to worry about that because you can adjust it and red brings blush to the skin anyway. When I'm thinking about whether someone will suit a particular shade I look at their eyes. Blake's eyes are so bright and would actually pop more and more the deeper we took her red. We tinted her brows for that extra pop."

So, was Blake nervous on the day of the big change?

"The night before I know she was nervous. She trusts me so much and we had planned it out with strands and used her own niece and nephew's red coppery hair as a reference (she's kind of a mix of both them!) but it was a big change so its understandable she was nervous"

And, what was her reaction when she saw herself with red hair for the first time?

"She was so excited, she loved it! She actually picked me up and spun me around because she was so happy with it. We both thought it was gorgeous-it is!"

What do you think about Lively's new look? Would you color your hair red?

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