Pastel hair like this reads like an accident of light. It is not. It is a star carved into the crown, a different shade in every wedge, and a blow dry that melts the edges together.

This one is Helena Brookes, a colorist working in the UK, using Color Clique semi-permanent hair color start to finish. We sent the shades. She did the rest, and filmed the whole thing.

Semi-permanent hair dye is deposit only. There is no lift in it. Whatever tone sits in the hair when you apply is what you are painting on top of, and pastel is the least forgiving finish there is. A level 8 turns pink into muddy coral. A level 9 with warmth left in it pulls blue toward sage.

For pastels this clean you want a level 10, evenly. That part is worth paying a professional for.

The sectioning is doing more work here than the color is. Helena works from a single point at the crown and cuts partings outward in sharp points, so the head divides into triangular wedges rather than the horizontal slices most vivid placements use. Each wedge takes one shade. The canopy that covers everything when the hair is down gets twisted up and stays blonde.

The points are the reason this works. A horizontal slice puts a hard horizontal line between two colors, and a hard line between pink and blue is exactly where the eye catches. A star puts the boundaries on the diagonal instead, so as the hair falls the wedges overlap each other and the transitions land in different places down the strand.

Keep the wedges clean. Pink and blue feathered together on wet hair make grey, every time. Let the blow dry do the blending.

It also gives the look two modes. Hair down, silvery blonde with a flash of pink. Hair moving, the whole star shows. This is the placement that gets a hesitant client to yes.

Below: the placement seen from the side, then down on the crown where the wedges radiate out from a single point, then the iron that melts the edges together.

Waves, not straight. Bending the hair stacks pink over blue over violet, which is what turns separate wedges into a melt.

None of these went on at full strength. To get pastel you cut each shade with a clear diluter, and that is the entire trick. Ghosted is ours, built on the same semi-permanent formula as the colors but with no pigment in it, so it thins the color down without thinning what conditions the hair. Water will not do this.

Start at 50/50, equal parts color and Ghosted, then adjust from there. More Ghosted for a softer tint, less for something with more punch. Strand test first: porosity swings along a single head of lightened hair, and the same ratio lands deeper on the ends than at the root.

One note on styling: alternate the direction of every curl. All one way and the wedges stay in their lanes.

Pink at the face, seafoam through the mid-lengths, lilac underneath, all sitting on silver blonde.

Rinse cool, then no shampoo for 24 to 48 hours. Semi-permanent color keeps settling into the cuticle well after the chair, and a same-night wash costs more color than the next three combined. After that: sulfate free, cool water, heat protectant every time. Plan on four to six weeks.

A pea of your shade in a palmful of conditioner, five minutes in the shower, holds the tone between appointments. That is the diluter earning its keep twice.

Every shade here is Color Clique semi-permanent hair color, cruelty free, 7.03 fl oz.

• Pink Voodoo, the money piece and the front panels
• Blues House, the mid panels
• Purple Masquerade, the underneath and the depth
• Ghosted Clear-Diluter, the one that makes all of it pastel

Grab our 4 Pack Collection and get creative.

Color and photography by Helena Brookes (@hellsbelllshair), UK, working with Color Clique semi-permanent hair dye. Licensed stylist? Ask us about pro pricing. Free US shipping over $50.