The 12 Best Highlighting Kits for Easy, Inexpensive Hair Touch Ups

Best Overall

Madison Reed Light Works Balayage Highlighting Kit

$45 at Amazon $45 at Ulta View on Madison-reed.com

Key Ingredients: Keratin, argan oil, ginseng root extract | Shades: 5 | Cruelty-Free: Yes

You gotta hand it to Madison Reed. The brand has truly revolutionized the at-home hair color market, so naturally, their innovative highlighting kit is our Best Overall pick. It’s available in five shades across blonde to medium-brown hair, and the clay-based cream color makes the experience mess-proof and more goof-proof than usual. Since it comes with a wishbone-shaped applicator, you’ll achieve the look of hand-painted balayage highlights you’d get in a salon—without the salon price. The kit also comes with a toner to use afterward, the secret to ensuring a natural- and professional-looking result.

Best Drugstore

L'Oréal Paris Frost & Design H65 Caramel

$14 at Amazon $14 at Target $11 at Walmart

Key Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide, ammonium chloride | Shades: 2 | Cruelty-Free: No

Never underestimate the power of a drugstore highlighting kit like this one from L’Oréal Paris—it's budget-friendly, and it makes the application process oh-so-easy. Put on the pull-through highlighting overcap, use one of the two styling hooks to pull various pieces of hair through the holes, and apply the color to those pieces. The cap is ridiculous looking, yes, but it allows you to apply the color precisely where you want it—plus, the two hook sizes help you pull smaller or bigger pieces out for added control. The included toner (which should be followed by a good comb-through) ensures a refined color and healthier hair, too. It comes in caramel and champagne tones for darker and lighter blonde bases, respectively.

Best for Blondes

Clairol Balayage for Blondes

$10 at Amazon $10 at Walmart $15 at CVS

Key Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide, ammonium persulfate | Shades: 1 | Cruelty-Free: No

Whether you want to paint on just a few baby lights, do a full-on balayage transformation, or even create an ombré vibe, Clairol’s highlighting kit makes the process—whichever you choose—easier than ever. It comes with a foolproof applicator and has a quicker processing time than other highlighting kits do. While it comes in just one shade, it works on a range of light to dark blondes. (Sorry, brunettes, this one isn’t the best option for you.) It doesn’t come with a toner, but since the highlighting kit costs just $10, adding a separate toner to your cart won’t increase your budget by too much.

Best for Light Brown Hair

Garnier Nutrisse Multi Lights Highlighting Kit

$56 at Amazon $9 at Walmart

Key Ingredients: Ammonium chloride | Shades: 10+ | Cruelty-Free: Yes

This Garnier highlighting kit is specially made for those with dark blonde to light brown hair and immediately gives you radiant highlights. (Leave it on anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how light you want to go.) The formula itself is packed with moisturizing avocado, olive, and shea oils and also comes with a separate ampoule of a grapeseed oil treatment to use afterward to ensure your hair stays hydrated post-highlighting. The color is rich and long-lasting, and a really fair price. FYI: We were warned that the color doesn’t exactly match the box, so you may want to do a small test on an inconspicuous chunk of hair before highlighting your whole head.

Best for Brunettes

Revlon Color Effects Frost & Glow Hair Highlights in Honey

$6 at Amazon $6 at Walmart $13 at Walgreens

Key Ingredients: Bond restore complex | Shades: 2 | Cruelty-Free: No

There are two shades of this Revlon highlighting kit available, but this particular option is best for those with brown hair. It comes with a highlighting cap, which can be tedious, but if that’s not your preferred method, check out YouTube. There are plenty of tutorials of people using the product without the cap and still achieving impressive results. Also nice: The formula is enriched with a keratin complex to strengthen hair bonds.

Best for a Quick Fix

dpHUE Hair Lightening Blonding Brush

$28 at Ulta $28 at Dermstore $25 at Revolve

Key Ingredients: Lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide | Shades: 1 | Cruelty-Free: Yes

If you’ve scrolled through Kristin Cavallari’s Instagram, you’ve likely seen videos of her using this brush, which she created in partnership with her longtime colorist Justin Anderson. It’s ideal to use between salon visits when you want to brighten up your highlights but don’t have the time, energy, or wiggle room in your budget to deal with full-on color. The brush-on gel uses purple pigments, lemon juice, and hydrogen peroxide to ever-so-subtly brighten and lighten blondes. The heat-activated formula kicks in when you go in the sun or hit it with a hair dryer, making it a solid choice for a fast fix.

Best for Base Color & Highlights

L’Oréal Paris Couleur Experte 6.1 French Éclair

$12 at Walmart $17 at Walgreens $20 at Riteaid.com

Key Ingredients: Ammonium chloride | Shades: 4 | Cruelty-Free: No

This is the kit to use when changing your base shade and adding some highlights. It's available in four base shades, from dark mahogany brown to medium iridescent blonde, and two hues in between, which come with coordinating highlight tones. The highlight shade is tinged with a blue tone, which makes it easy to see exactly where you’re placing them, and the tiny fingertip brush adds to the ease of precision during application. Even better: This kit comes with a purple conditioner to ensure the color is bright and not brassy.

Best for Balayage Effect

eSalon Light Set

$35 at Amazon $35 at Esalon.com

Key Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide | Shades: 6 | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Balayage highlights are often lauded for looking more natural and growing out less noticeably, but they are often more expensive. To achieve the hand-painted look at home, add one of these eSalon Light Sets to your online cart. This kit includes everything you need—even access to a personal colorist whom you can consult to determine which of their six colors is best for you. The formula, which can brighten your hair up to three shades, dries quickly so you can brush it onto your hair without the mess, and it comes with a toning mask to blend your base and highlights seamlessly. Big points to eSalon for including easy-to-follow instructions, videos, and color charts on the brand’s website, too.

Best for Ombré

L'Oreal Paris Superior Preference Ombre Touch Hair Color

$20 at Amazon $25 at Walmart

Key Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide | Shades: 3 | Cruelty-Free: No

Whether you're going for an ombré look or you want to add a few strategically-placed highlights to frame your face, this kit will work. The applicator is a tiny glove with bristles you slip over your finger to brush color on to select strands. Keep in mind it does skew a bit warm, so if you're looking for ashy, cool-toned highlights, this may not be the kit for you. There are kits for dark, medium, and light brown hair, making it easy to find a match.

Best Bleach

oVertone The Bleach 30 Volume Hair Lightening System

View on Overtone.co

Key Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide | Shades: 1 | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Vertone’s The Bleach 30 Volume Hair Lightening System can lift up to seven levels of hair color in one session. Yes, that's a lot of beaching power—but the formula's nourishing ingredients and vitamins aid the intense lightening process. We're talking moisturizing plant-based squalane and botanical oils, as well as toning violet micro pigment to help neutralize yellow and brassy highlights. Another plus: It can be used on medium blonde, light brown, medium brown, dark brown, and red hair for ashy, golden, and warm blonde results. And the formula's bond complex can help strengthen the hair cuticle and tame static, too.

Best for Dirty Blondes

Sun Bum Blonde Formula Hair Lightener

$16 at Amazon View on Sunbum.com

Key Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide | Shades: 1 | Cruelty-Free: Yes

UV-activated highlighting formulas have become increasingly popular, and for the men and women who receive the gift of natural babylights courtesy of Mother Sun, this hair lightener will replicate that very effect during summer’s off-season. That doesn’t mean you can’t use Sun Bum’s Blonde Hair Lightener during summer, too. If anything, this spray will give naturally dirty blonde hair color bolder highlights if you simply spritz it onto the palm of your hand and distribute it throughout your hair. (Brunettes, it's best you skip out on this product if you don’t already own purple shampoo—it may bring out orange undertones from your dark hair color.) The coconut scent is a nice touch, too.

Best for Fantasy Color Highlights

IGK Color Bright One Step Bleach & Color Kit

$39 at Ulta View on Igkhair.com $39 at Sallybeauty.com

Key Ingredients: Hydrogen peroxide | Shades: 8 | Cruelty-Free: Yes

IGK’s Color Bright One Step Bleach & Color Kit is so much fun. The processing time takes about 45 minutes to add tones of pink, purple, blue, red, or blonde to already-brunette hair color. Two emollients star in this formula—squalane and castor oil—which replenish the moisture of the hair. We love the kit's applicator, too, as it’s a comb on one side and a brush on the other. Plus, there's a rattail tip to help you easily section the hair and properly apply tinfoil.