Purple rain is a color challenge hit
Purple Rain has always been something of a cult classic and the Prince song has now made its mark on hairdressing too. The 80s hit inspired Woking hairdresser Lucy Mitchell's winning hairstyle in this year's Paul Mitchell Color Challenge contest.
Lucy, from Shear Beauty, complemented an asymmetric bob with the season's must-have purple and violet hues to create an on-trend commercial look that wowed the judges and saw off stiff competition from over 400 hairdressers, who had entered the Color Challenge regional heats.
"I've always loved the song by Prince, and when Ruth performed it on the X Factor the other week, her passion bought it back to me," says Lucy. "Purple is also one of my favourite colours and very on-trend for the winter season.
"I love working with Paul Mitchell® professional color, the shine and natural looking results you can achieve are unsurpassable."
Lucy was named the Color Challenge winner at an exclusive event for the 30 finalists, who also enjoyed a trip to Madam Tussauds on the Silver Routemaster Color Challenge bus, as well as an exclusive screening of 'You Don't Mess With The Zohan' at cool Mayfair venue Sketch.
As Color Challenge winner, Lucy scoops a trip to the Paul Mitchell A Signature Gathering in Las Vegas 2009 as well as $500 in spending money.
Runner up Trishna Patel from Image International, Spalding, has won a trip to A Signature Gathering Europe in 2009; while Jenya Kritskaya, also from Image International won £150 Topman vouchers.
When named the winner Lucy added: "It felt absolutely amazing; I'm still in total shock! The competition standard was so high this year."
It was the fifth year the Color Challenge has taken place and this year the use of imagination, level of talent and overwhelming enthusiasm demonstrated by everyone who entered made it a tough job for the judges.
Sallyanne Dexter, Education Development Manager for Salon Success said: "Each year the level of entries are raised higher and higher than previous years.
"Displaying high levels of skill and creativity, the finalists from all the heats demonstrated exceptional technical ability.
"This combined with their superior knowledge of the Paul Mitchell® professional color range, along with their mannequins complementary cut and style, resulted in all stylists creating incredibly beautiful entries."
Gary Williams from Newcastle-Under-Lyme also bagged an amazing trip to Las Vegas and $500 to spend after winning the Color Bar Competition, which rewards a salon that has used a color bar to increase their colour business.
"Its fabulous - brilliant! We put a lot of effort into the color bar, and now we have been recognised for it, which feels great," Garry explains.
"The color bar has helped define the clients journey with designated areas for styling and for colouring. If a client brings in a friend, there is now a social area for them to sit together."
Envy Hair and Now Studio in Newark finished runner up in the Color Bar Competition and won four tickets to a Spotlight Hair Camp for members of their team.
The Color Challenge on HJi
