AF Blog — Mixology

@Hairwaytoheavennn in Poison and Phantom Green

1. Winter Wonderland Blues ❄️☃️ and Holiday Greens 🎄 for Your Hair

Embrace the winter wonderland with our rich blues like Poseidon and jewel-toned greens like Phantom Green. Create a mesmerizing teal by mixing Poseidon and Aquamarine, perfect for capturing the essence of the season. Consider balayage or ombre techniques using different shades of blues turning your locks into a captivating icy landscape, or create dimension with a green color melt, Iris Green melted into Phantom Green with some red hair accessories!? It’s giving Christmas tree🎄. If you want to really make a statement, try mixing some Space Cowgirl with a little Ginger Flare to get the perfect ‘Grinch’ Green. If you want to keep your signature blue but make it more festive, try styling your hair with holiday accessories, like @xomerlissa does here:

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A post shared by Melissa Ann (@xomerlissa)

@xomerlissa’s styles are always a sleigh! 🛷

@Sighmmaya used Periwinkle and Poseidon for this wintery balayage

2. Ice Queen Blonde Mix: Achieve Frosty Royalty  👑

Channel your inner ice queen ❄️👸 with a frosty blonde mix. Lighten your hair with Bleach, Please - which is perfect for a wintery blonde on its own - or add a dab of Periwinkle after you’ve rinsed your bleach to tone it to be the perfect icy-toned blonde. This ethereal shade is perfect for those who want to stand out while embracing the winter chill 🥶.

3. Radiant Reds: Ignite the Night with Fire Hair 🔥 

Make a bold statement with radiant reds, capturing the warmth of the holiday season. Our Poison and Wrath shades are ideal for a fiery, festive look, no custom mixing required. Experiment with placement techniques like highlights or peekaboos, adding a touch of drama to your holiday hairstyle. I love a Ginger Flare and Violet Dream blend for the perfect cranberry hair color that looks great on multiple hair levels. It's the perfect way to have festive hair without needing to bleach.

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A post shared by Arctic Fox Hair Color (@arcticfoxhaircolor)

If you want to take it one step further, a spicy split dye with a custom ginger mix with Ginger Flare and a drop of Purple AF on one side, and the other side dyed with Phantom Green. The ultimate holiday mix! Two-toned hair is one of my favorite ways to stand out, especially something as bold as a green and red hair combo.

@Hairwaytoheavennn used Poison and Phantom Green for this two-toned Christmas look.

4. Sterling Winter Magic: A Metallic Touch for Winter Hair ❄️☃️

Sterling silver isn't just for jewelry; it's also a stunning hair color choice for winter. Showcase the versatility of Sterling with different color placements. Whether it's an all-over silver hue, strategically placed highlights, or a custom silver mix, Sterling adds a touch of elegance to almost any winter look. Mix 50/50 Sterling and Periwinkle for a stormy winter’s night vibe 🌨️. 

Equal parts Sterling and Periwinkle

Or if you think you might be on the naughty list, Blue Jean Baby and Sterling creates a smokey-toned dark blue, making your hair resemble the coal you’ll be getting in your stocking this year.

Base of Sterling with Blue Jean Baby

5. Foxology Finishes: Polishing Your Festive Look 💅🎅🎁🕎

Let's talk about the finishing touches that can take your holiday look from ‘deck the halls’ to completely decked out! Our Foxology line offers a range of polishes that add the perfect finishing touch. Highlight your icy blonde with Snowflake it til you Make It or add a pop of color to your red locks with Crimson Claus. Or, be especially bold and do a holiday nail design like Sigourney Nuñez did with this adorable holiday wrapping-paper inspired look:

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A post shared by Sigourney Nuñez (@nailartbysig)

Sigourney used: 

✨Goldie Fox

☃️Foxy the Snowman

🎄Perfectly Pine

🎅🏽Crimson Claus 

💚Phantom Green

To create these holiday plaid nails!

Foxology’s Polish line is honestly the best nail polish I have ever used. When I am feeling fancy and want a more elegant design, I will take it with me when I get my nails professionally done - because it lasts SO much longer than most nail polish AND truly doesn’t chip (plus it’s free of 15 common harsh chemicals and vegan, which most professional polish is not!). It’s also a quick-drying polish, unlike other traditional nail polish. If you are anything like me, I always ruin at least one nail every time I am waiting for my nails to fully dry (why does it take forever!?!), but never with Foxology! The brushes are also designed in a way that I can actually paint my nails at home and not get polish on my fingers. I was so excited for this collection to launch and it did not disappoint. I dare you to really stand out this season with a holiday-look, head to toe!

This holiday season, let your hair steal the spotlight. With Arctic Fox Hair Color's bold and vibrant shades, you can start your own holiday hair trends, and with our Foxology Holiday Collection, you can complete your look to really embrace the season. Spread holiday cheer and stand out with Arctic Fox! 🦊

These hair dye mixes didn’t go as expected…they turned out even better!

We’ve been mixing up a storm this week and had to jump on here to share with our Fox Fam some of our favorite discoveries. Nothing is more exciting to us than experimenting with hair colors, and the endless color blends and creative applications for our AF hair color range that are just… *chef’s kiss*. Even more exciting is when we go wild and start throwing together colors that shouldn’t work together—but absolutely do.

Here are some traffic-stopping new hues that we’ve created with some seriously unexpected color pairings. If you’ve been collecting our color range at home but you’re not quite sure they work together, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. Read on and have a look at some of the surprising ways our AF Hair Colors come together to shake up the rainbow. 

Why are AF dyes so great for mixing?

AF’s range of colors is truly full of endless possibilities - the bolds, brights, and pastels show up incredibly on their own. But if you’re looking for something new, or want to add a surprising twist to your usual color routine, you can totally mix away to your heart’s content! You’d be surprised at the stunning shades you can create. 👀 

Sometimes you might need a little inspiration when it comes to cooking up a new look, we’re here to save the day with all the inspo - ratios and swatches included! Ready to dive in? Let’s get into the mixes you wouldn’t think would work, but omg do they! 

✨AF Pro Tip✨ Once you’ve found a great hair color, you can stick with it and keep it intense with regular dyeing, or switch it up for something totally new! AF dyes are hydrating and deep conditioning, so coloring your hair as many times as you want is completely safe. 

Mixes you wouldn’t think work but do

First up on our list of surprising mixes is this velvety hue. 60% Blue Jean Baby to 40% Sterling gives the blue a serious depth. This swatch shows the results on a platinum base, but you’ll get a similar result on a medium blonde, and a gorgeous tint on light brown.

Electric Paradise with a drop of Wrath gives us this 5-alarm siren of a color that is hard to predict from two colors on the same slice of the color wheel. It’s bold and bright, but it still gives ‘sexy’. Again, a platinum base here yields this exact color, but up to a medium blonde will see the same color and a light brown will still get a tint.

Ginger Flare, Space Cowgirl, and Frosé on a medium blonde base bring a fiery edge to your locks, in what might be our most unexpected blend yet. How can you get it? The mix to get this one just right is 70% Ginger Flare,15% Space Cowgirl, and 15% Frosé.

Arctic Mist Diluter, Poison, and Girl’s Night make a bubblegum pink that will stand out no matter where you show it off. What’s extra fun about this cotton candy hue is that adjusting the mix is a snap. So this swatch (on platinum) is about 80% Arctic Mist, 10% Poison and 10% Girl’s Night, but if you find it’s a bit dark just add in more Arctic Mist!

Space Cowgirl and Virgin Pink in a 50:50 ratio brings out a cinnabar hue in the final mix, and on a platinum base it gives a va-va-voom effect that can really pack a punch. 

Space Cowgirl and Periwinkle join forces to create an unexpectedly dark, leafy, earthy green. A simple 50:50 mix will get this result on a platinum base. 

For a dreamy twist on a calming green hue, add 75% Neverland and 25% Transylvania in your fave mixing bowls and adjust away! If you want darker, drop in more Transylvania… if you like it on the lighter side of the spectrum, use less. This color feels very ‘underwater fantasy’ to us. FYI this swatch is on a platinum base but you’ll still get a lovely deep teal tint on darker colors.

Basic rules of mixing

If you’re going to use this post as the match to your potion-making fire, make sure to follow a couple of basic rules:

1. Don’t go overboard with the colors, at least at first! Mix one or two to start with, otherwise the colors start to all trend towards brown.
2. Use the right tools! We always recommend (and use) our tint bowls to make sure we’re treating our dyes right and keeping the blends precise. If you want to keep your Foxology manicure intact, use these reusable gloves as well.
3. Remember that some colors can cancel out certain shades. As always, take a look at our color wheel post for some ideas on how to mix and match using the right colors.

You don’t know until you try

Mix it up, baby! Splash your fave shades into your best mixing bowl and stir away. And let us know what you discover! As always—share your hair change journey with the Fox Fam, tag Arctic Fox, @arcticfoxhaircolor and let us see what you create.

@berlinstacy in Arctic Mist Diluter, Virgin Pink, Sunset Orange, Cosmic Sunshine, Iris Green, Aquamarine, Purple AF, Violet Dream, and Poseidon 

What is the Color Wheel?

The color wheel is a visual tool to explain and visualize the relationship between colors. When it comes to coloring hair, the color wheel is your personal hack to understand how colors will combine or cancel each other out when you’re creating your dream shade!

Understanding the color wheel will help you better understand color theory so you can better predict how specific colors will mix together and how to avoid results you weren’t expecting.

Color Definitions

When speaking to the color wheel, there are a few terms to know.

Primary Colors - What we learn in Kindergarten! Red, yellow and blue. These colors cannot be made from any other colors.

@erez_ivan in Poseidon 

Secondary Colors - Two primary colors mixed together that create orange, green, and violet.

@kunailuv in Sunset Orange, Cosmic Sunshine, and Purple AF 

Intermediate Colors - One primary and one secondary color mixed together: blue-violet, red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, and blue-green.

@lilygraceglam in Blue Jean Baby, Purple AF, Violet Dream, Poseidon 

What Are Complementary Colors?

Complementary colors are two colors that live opposite each other on the color wheel. For example: violet and yellow, red and green, orange and blue.

When mixing these colors, you will get a brown shade. We receive a lot of questions around natural shades from the Fox Fam, so this color wheel hack is good to know in case you want to go back to natural color OR to avoid mixing colors or applying over faded color that might yield a muddy result.

Knowing complementary colors can also be great in creating looks that are bold and contrasting, especially for split dyes or layering colors.

@ashley.smit17 in Space Cowgirl, Aquamarine, Virgin Pink, Violet Dream, and Purple AF

@hairwaytoheavennn in Poison, Phantom Green, and Space Cowgirl

What Is Your Base?

When choosing a color, it’s important to consider how your base shade will affect the final outcome. Using the color wheel and color theory, you can have a better educated guess on what might happen or how to plan to get the result you’re looking for.

Starting From A Natural Base

Your natural hair color will affect the outcome of your look. Learn all about hair levels here and which AF colors will work best for your natural base. 

Starting From A Processed Blonde

Most Arctic Fox hair dyes will look and perform best on hair that’s a level 9 or higher, for some, that will require processing. Using the color wheel to figure out the tone of your blonde will help determine which colors to choose to get the results you want. Most natural hair colors that are bleached to blonde will start with an orange undertone and may reach a yellow/brassy color at the lightest. There are multiple ways to cancel out unwanted yellow/orange tones. One option is to use a commercial toning product found at your favorite beauty supply store. A second option is to use the color wheel and “tone” with AF colors. If your hair is leaning toward the yellow side, pre-dye using Arctic Mist Diluter and Purple AF to create an extremely diluted purple color. If your hair is leaning toward the orange side, you might try pre-dyeing with Arctic Mist Diluter and Poseidon to create an extremely diluted blue. 

@salinesimon in Arctic Mist Diluter and Aquamarine

For example, if you want a Poseidon to appear as a nice true blue, but are starting out with yellow undertones, your color might pull green. Since we know that violet is opposite the color wheel from yellow, mixing in a little bit of Purple AF may help counteract those yellow tones.

Starting From A Faded Color

If you’re a DIY dye queen, you might already have a faded color on your hair. Using color theory, you can get to the next color seamlessly without creating a muddy mess!

This video by Stella Cini is a great example of how to use color theory to get your desired color or read this blog by Thuy Pham on how she shifted her hair from green to purple.

AF Colors Charted

Each of our colors have specific undertones. Knowing where our colors fall on the color wheel, can help you make decisions on which dyes to mix to get the results you’re looking for.

@nadine.xoo in Cosmic Sunshine and Sunset Orange 

@chjango_john.n115 in Violet Dream, Cosmic Sunshine, Sunset Orange, and Virgin Pink

@angelicabarragan3 in Space Cowgirl and Neon Moon

@_kenzurrito in Poison, Purple AF, Periwinkle, Aquamarine

If you haven’t heard the good news yet, here it is… SUMMER HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN! 🥳☀️ Question is, have you decided on how you’re going to color your summer yet? Maybe you’re stuck between a couple of really great shades and just can’t decide? Well I’ve come prepared with some summer mixes, just for you 😉 

When I think of summer, I think HOT 🔥 So let’s crank up the heat with these orange and red focused mixes first. Sunset Orange is a wonderful base for this, so let’s get to mixing in some other shades.

Sunset Orange + Poison + Cosmic Sunshine 🥵 

@theeglamnaija

Sunset Orange + Wrath 🧯

@a.dragon.soul

Sunset Orange + Violet Dream  🌶️ 

@evelina.forsell

Unreal, right?! Why don’t we cool things down a bit with a few blue mixes 💧 Let's dive right in (pun intended 😏).

Poseidon + Aquamarine 🌊

@jessicamoralemusic

Aquamarine + Periwinkle + Transylvania 💙

@billiedawningle

Aquamarine + Phantom Green 🐚

@arisa_hair

Arctic Mist Diluter + Aquamarine 

@salinesimon

When you think back to how you colored your summer, what shade is going to forever bring you that summer nostalgia feeling when you see it? Is it blue? Is it pink? Maybe it’s green! ✨

The beauty of ‘color your summer’ could mean a lot of things but color expression is definitely one of them 🎨 You may be wondering “well, when I think of summer, I think of a beautiful sunset to end the perfect day with my favorite people”. To be completely honest, I couldn’t agree more. So let’s settle things down with a couple of sunset inspired mixes! 🌅 

Electric Paradise + Poison 🌺

@tamaracamps

Cosmic Sunshine + Frosé ☀️ 

@itslauren.jpg

Periwinkle + Purple AF 

@_gumshoe_

After a long day of laughter, heat and good vibes; It’s time to reminisce on the core memories you’ve built and get ready to make more during those long summer nights 🌌 Nothing says “summer nights” more than this last mix.

Using equal parts Periwinkle + Sterling with just a few drops of Blue Jean Baby and BOOM… You’ve created a masterpiece. 👩🎨🎨✨🤌

So how will YOU color your summer? 🌈 Let us know in the comments! And as always, if you have questions on how best to use any of our products, feel free to reach out to us at support@arcticfoxusa.com. Stay foxy! 🦊 

Split dye:

A split dye is when you use one color per side of your head, giving a two toned look. 

@Die4whitney in a Transylvania and Virgin Pink split dye

 How to create a split dye at home:

1. Pre-lighten hair if you’re planning on doing pastels or any AF colors that aren’t great for darker hair. See this blog for the best colors for unbleached hair if you don’t want to pre-lighten.
2. Part hair down the center of your head starting from the top all of the way to the base of your neck. 
3. Clip the half of your hair that you are dyeing second to one side starting from the base of your neck, using more clips as needed to make sure the hair is secure to one side. 
4. Take the other half of your hair and clip the top of your head, leaving only one small section, starting from underneath.
5. Apply dye section by section, roots to ends, until you have reached the top of your head. Make sure the last section you are careful to only apply product on the side of your hair you are dyeing. Go slowly here! I recommend using a small amount of dye applied with a brush and repeating until the last section is fully saturated.
6. Apply steps 4 and 5 to the other side of your head with your second color.
7. When you are ready to rinse, use cold water and lean your head to each side to prevent bleeding. Or if you have a detachable shower head, rinse each side at a time. 
8. Air dry or style from there and take a selfie or video of your new look and share it with us on Instagram!

Money Pieces

@pret_a_paisley in Wrath, Ritual, and Violet Dream Money Pieces

Money Pieces are dyed face framing sections for a fun color pop!

How to create money pieces at home:

1. Part from the middle of your scalp from the top of your head about 1-2 inches back depending on how chunky you want your money pieces to be.
2. Section each side from the end of that part, moving down the side of your head towards each ear. Clip or tie back the hair behind the money piece sections to make sure it is out of the way.
3. Apply dye to each side of the hair starting from the root to the ends. If you have thicker hair, do this in sections moving from underneath to the top. I recommend using a brush to do this. Be sure your hair is very saturated.
4. When it’s time to rinse, use cold water and keep the back of your hair clipped or pulled back. Lean your head forward and rinse to prevent any bleeding.
5. Enjoy your new fun look! 

Color Melts:

Color melts can be applied to any sectioned portion of hair, whether that is all over color, money pieces, peek-a-boos, etc., and can include as many colors as you want. Just make sure you are using complementary colors so when you blend them, they work together! A color melt is exactly what it is called- you are melting or blending each color into the next. 

@Ciarasikes created this rainbow color melt

How to create a color melt at home:

1. Section hair into the style you want to do the color melt on.
2. Take a smaller section of hair and clip up the rest, sectioning from the base of the section to the top of your head.
3. Apply the color you are using for the top of the melt at the root, making downward strokes with the brush. Apply as far down as you want for that color.  
4. With the second color, apply starting about a centimeter from the end of the previous color. If you are only using 2 colors, apply all of the way to the ends of each section. If you are using more than two colors, apply as far down as you want each color section to go, and apply the last color to the ends.
5. With a gloved hand or brush, blend the two colors filling in the gap. The colors will mix creating an ombre gradient so there is no banding in the melt.

AF pro tip: Make sure you are making each color block the same size for an even melt for each hair section for an even look! 

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A post shared by Arctic Fox Hair Color (@arcticfoxhaircolor)

Here is a video for multi-colored rainbow color melt!

There are so many color placements and mixes you can create using Arctic Fox, but these are some of the trendiest placements for the summer! You can even get creative with combining all of them, like a color melt on a split dye, split dyed money pieces, or a combination of all three! What color color placement are you going to try next?