Buttercream Blonde: The Warm Blonde of 2026

Cool, ashy, ice-white blonde had a long run — and 2026 is the year it officially steps aside. The new headline shade is buttercream blonde: a soft, warm, buttery tone that sits somewhere between honey and vanilla, and it’s the colour every blonde in London is quietly asking for this summer.

It’s the shade Hailey Bieber, Jennifer Lopez and Sienna Miller have all shifted toward in recent months. It photographs beautifully under London’s grey-summer light. And — crucially for our clients — it grows out far more gracefully than the cool blondes most people have been living in for the last five years.

What buttercream blonde actually is

Think of it as the colour butter goes when it’s just starting to soften on the counter — warm, creamy, golden-adjacent but never brassy. It sits in the sweet spot between a beige blonde and a soft honey, with a faint golden undertone that catches the light without ever tipping into yellow.

It’s a multi-tonal shade, not a single block of colour. Done properly, you should see depth at the root, buttery mid-lengths, and slightly brighter ends — the kind of dimension that makes hair look like it grew this way, not like it was painted on.

Why it’s replacing cool blonde

For nearly a decade, the brief at the salon has been the same: “cooler, ashier, brighter, no warmth, no yellow.” It was a beautiful look, but it came with a cost — high-lift bleach, frequent toning, and a fragile relationship with heat tools.

Warm blondes are friendlier to the hair. You lift less, you tone less aggressively, and the regrowth is softer because the contrast with your natural base is gentler. The result is hair that looks expensive without looking maintained — which is, broadly, where all of beauty has moved in 2026.

Who buttercream blonde suits

It’s one of the most universally flattering blondes we colour. Warm undertones glow in it. Neutral undertones get a beautiful soft lift. Even cooler complexions can wear it if we anchor it with a slightly deeper root and a glaze pulled fractionally cooler at the front.

It works on virgin blondes who want a touch more warmth, on natural light-to-mid brunettes who want to lift gently for the summer, and on existing platinum or ash blondes who are ready to retire the cool tones and grow into something softer. The only conversation we always have first is condition — buttercream needs healthy hair to look luminous, so a bond treatment is almost always part of the appointment.

How we do it at Gusto

Every buttercream service starts with a proper consultation. We look at your natural base, your existing colour, your skin tone in natural light, and what your hair can realistically handle. From there, the technique is almost always a combination of fine balayage or babylights through the mid-lengths and ends, a softly painted root smudge to keep the regrowth seamless, and a custom-mixed warm glaze pulled through everything at the basin.

We finish almost every buttercream appointment with a bond-building treatment (Olaplex or K18, depending on hair history) and a glossing service to lock in the tone. The shine on day one is half the trick — it’s what makes the colour read “expensive” in photos.

Looking after it between appointments

Warm blondes are forgiving but they’re not invincible. Use a purple-free, sulphate-free shampoo built for warm or honey blondes (purple shampoo will dull the buttery tone within a few washes). Wash with lukewarm water, not hot. Use heat protection every time you blow-dry. And come in for a glossing refresh roughly every 8–10 weeks — it’s a 45-minute appointment that resets the tone and the shine without touching the lift.

Done that way, buttercream holds beautifully through a London summer — through sun, sea, chlorine and all of it — and grows out into something you’ll genuinely still want to wear in October.

Ready to try it?

If cool blonde has started to feel a bit flat and you’re curious about going warmer for summer, book a buttercream consultation with our colour team. We’ll look at what you’ve got, talk through what’s achievable in one appointment versus two, and design the exact shade for your skin tone and hair history.

Book online at Gusto Oxford Street or Gusto Covent Garden.