Fall is the perfect time to give your hair a fresh new look!
While summer is all about highlighting and brightening, autumn calls for richer, warmer tones that complement your natural brunette color.
As a professional hair stylist who specializes in coloring for brunettes, I’ve compiled the ultimate list of this fall’s top hair color trends.
Keep reading for my guide to TOP must-try fall hair colors for brunettes along with tips to help you achieve the perfect look.
Get ready to fall in love with your hair all over again!
Chocolate Brown with Caramel Highlights
The classic brunette look gets a tasty update with the addition of warm caramel highlights.
By lightening only pieces of the hair, you create the illusion of natural sun-kissed color and dimension.
It’s a great option if you want to brighten up your dark brown locks while still keeping an overall rich chocolate brown base.
Ask your stylist for fine highlights concentrated around the face to really make your features pop.
For more contrast, go for bolder and brighter streaks throughout the bottom layers of your hair.
Keep the roots darker to look polished.
Make sure to use a sulfate-free shampoo and moisturizing conditioner to keep highlighted hair looking shiny and healthy.
Chestnut Brown with Golden Blonde
For brunettes who want to dip their toes into blonde territory, chestnut brown with golden highlights is the perfect choice.
By adding soft streaks of golden blonde to chestnut or light brown hair, you warm up your whole look for fall.
Concentrate the majority of highlights around the face and eyes to create a gorgeous glow.
For more subtle color, ask for fine highlights applied with a balayage technique.
The result is natural looking golden dimension from roots to ends.
This look is all about balance – too much blonde can overwhelm chestnut hair.
Ask your colorist for a heavier concentration of highlights through the mid-lengths and ends to transition from your roots seamlessly.
The golden tones complement both cool and warm complexions. Finish with a glossing treatment to boost shine and refresh the color between salon visits.
Espresso Ombre
Take your chocolate brown hair from day to night with the addition of espresso ombre ends.
This look is bold and striking, perfect for brunettes who want a touch of drama!
To achieve it, your stylist will hand paint espresso brown color starting midway down your hair and continuing to the ends.
When combined with warm brown roots, the result is rich dimension and interest.
Ask for a sharper demarcation between colors if you want high contrast.
For a more blended effect, go for a balayage ombre technique.
The espresso ombre is beautiful on straight, wavy or curly hair. Amp up your look by adding soft face-framing highlights in caramel or honey brown.
Finish with a nourishing oil or mask to keep dimensional hair glossy and hydrated.
Brown Sugar Babylights
Subtle, natural-looking highlights are the key to this barely-there beauty look.
Brown sugar babylights add the finest kiss of lightness to brown hair, lending dimension while looking totally natural.
Your colorist will apply delicate, ultra-fine highlights using a micro-weave technique. The results are incredibly soft and mimic the way hair lightens naturally in the sun.
Brown sugar babylights work beautifully on chocolate or chestnut brown hair.
For the most natural effect, ask your stylist to concentrate the highlights around your face and crown. This will play up your features without overly lightening your base.
Keep roots darker for grow-out that blends seamlessly. Make babylights shine with the help of a weekly glossing treatment.
This is a fantastic low-maintenance highlight option for brunettes.
Milk Chocolate with Caramel Swirls
Indulge your sweet tooth with luscious milk chocolate brown hair color laced with buttery caramel lowlights.
This unique color combination looks gorgeous on medium to dark brown hair.
Your colorist will weave warm caramel highlights throughout the top layers of hair to add dimension.
Then, decadent caramel lowlights will be painted underneath to add depth.
Ask for lots of variation between the caramel and chocolate tones for maximum contrast and visual interest.
Concentrate the warmer lowlights on mid-lengths and ends to keep roots darker. Alternating tones of milk chocolate and caramel mimic dimension seen in nature.
For extra softness, ask for a root smudge or shadow.
Complete the look with a hydrating hair mask to keep color multi-tonal hair looking supple and shiny.
Ash Brown to Caramel Ombre
For brunettes seeking a cooler look for fall, ash brown with caramel ombre is a stunner.
By pairing an ashy brown base with warm golden ends, this look provides an edgy yet wearable spin on traditional ombre.
Your stylist will transition from ash brown roots to buttery caramel at the mid-lengths and ends using either foils or balayage.
How dramatic you go depends on your personal style. For high contrast, request a sharply defined line between the ash brown and caramel shades.
Or, ask for a smoked out ombre with hand-painted caramel blended softly into the roots.
Ash brown and caramel is a great way to dip your toes into blonde tones while still retaining some coolness at the roots.
Boost shine with a weekly gloss treatment specifically formulated for color-treated hair.
Mocha with Creamy Highlights
Can’t choose between dark chocolate and caramel?
This luscious mocha brown hair color with creamy blonde highlights blends the best of both worlds.
Your stylist will weave ultra-fine creamy streaks throughout the top layers of your mocha brown base.
Concentrating the highlights around the face illuminates your features while creating soft contrast.
To keep this look natural, request highlights in buttery beige and ivory hues that complement mocha brown.
The combination of dark and light will impart gorgeous dimension while looking totally natural.
Ask for a root shadow to blend new growth and make highlights melt into the roots for that lived-in look.
Mocha hair color with creamy accents is perfect for brunettes seeking warmth along with subtle lightness this fall.
Chestnut with Amber Lowlights
Warm up your chestnut brown locks with the addition of amber lowlights underneath.
This unique combo provides subtle color variation by lightening the top layers while adding deeper dimension underneath.
Your colorist will paint golden amber lowlights starting midway down your hair and continuing to the ends.
When paired with chestnut brown roots, the effect is incredibly rich and multidimensional.
The intensity of the amber lowlights can be customized based on your desired look.
For more subtle color, ask your stylist for soft hints of amber copper concentrated on the very bottoms.
Or, go bold with brighter, bolder lowlights painted higher up on the mid-lengths for an ombre effect. Keep roots naturally darker for seamless grow-out.
Finish with a color-locking gloss or mask to keep intensity vibrant.
Maple Brown with Cinnamon Highlights
The flavors of fall come to life in this gorgeous maple brown hair color accented with cinnamon highlights.
Your stylist will incorporate fine highlights in cinnamon reddish-brown to add warmth and dimension to your dark maple base.
Concentrate most of the highlights around the face for a lit-from-within glow.
Maple brown hair provides the perfect deep neutral base for cinnamon highlights.
The tones complement each other beautifully for soft, natural looking contrast and lightness.
Ask for a comb-out technique to further soften and blend the highlights through the mid-lengths and ends. Boost vibrancy between salon visits with a weekly gloss treatment.
Maple brown and cinnamon accents give brunettes a fresh update just in time for fall.
Chocolate Cherry Cola
Have fun with color this fall by embracing this season’s hottest hair trend – chocolate cherry cola!
As the name suggests, this look combines rich chocolate brown hair with a surprising pop of deep cherry red.
Your colorist will weave vibrant cherry red highlights throughout the top layers of your chocolate colored hair using foils or balayage.
To keep this look modern, ask for cherry highlights in subtle hints – a little bit goes a long way against chocolate brown.
Concentrate color around the face and on the very ends for defined contrast.
Chocolate cherry cola hair color is all about that unexpected kiss of sweet cherry goodness.
Boost shine and prevent color fade by using a sulfate-free color-safe shampoo and conditioner.
Brunette Bronde
This fall’s take on blonde, bronde is perfect for brunettes craving lighter locks.
Brunette bronde imparts soft,neutral golden tones on brown hair for beautiful natural-looking dimension.
Your stylist will paint a combination of buttery beige, gold and ivory blonde throughout brown hair using balayage or foils.
The result is understated yet gorgeous – think sun-kissed brown hair glowing with hints of golden shine.
Ask for a heavier concentration of bronde highlights on mid-lengths and ends to subtly transition from your roots.
Keep the roots and base color slightly darker for the most believable contrast. Bronde works equally well on cool or warm brunette hair. Boost shine with a weekly glossing treatment.
Browned Bronde
If you love the look of bronde but don’t want to go fully blonde, try browned bronde instead.
This look maintains a rich brown base while still imparting gorgeous beige-blonde highlights.
Your colorist will weave ultra-fine bronde highlights through the top layers using foils or balayage.
Concentrate most of the blonde pieces around your face for a lit-from-within glow.
To keep this look natural, request highlights in various beige, ivory and gold shades to mimic the way hair lightens in the sun.
Ask for a root smudge blending the highlights into the roots for grow-out that’s barely noticeable.
Browned bronde allows you to be a brunette with hints of blonde ambition. Refresh color between salon visits with a moisturizing hair mask or gloss.
Brown With Purple Tones
Looking for something more daring?
Stand out from the crowd this fall by adding bold purple highlights to your brown hair!
The contrast of brown and vivid purple is striking yet surprisingly wearable.
Your colorist will weave ribbons of purple throughout the top and underside layers of your hair using foils or a balayage technique.
The intensity of the purple highlights can be customized to your desired dramatic effect.
For a deeper, darker look ask for eggplant or plum purple on light to medium brown hair.
If you have darker hair, try medium purple or violet instead.
Concentrate purple ribbons on the very bottom layers of hair to dip your toes into this trend.
With the right placement and tone, brown hair with purple highlights lets you show off your bold yet sophisticated style this autumn.
With endless gorgeous options, there’s truly no better time than fall to give your brown locks a fresh new look.
Just be sure to book your appointment with a skilled colorist and discuss your hair’s needs to achieve the healthiest, most beautiful results.
Above all, have fun with the process and enjoy debuting your stunning new brunette hue this season.
Your hair color says so much about your personal style and mood.
So embrace your inner hair artist and go for the color you’ve been dreaming of. Here’s to an amazing fall full of good hair days!
