Cindy Crawford's 'Upper East' brunette hair might look expensive, but it's all thanks to a box dye

While most new celebrity hair colours and cuts just end up as reference pictures we show our hairdressers, Cindy Crawford's 'Upper East' brunette refresh is actually a look we can replicate exactly, with a budget L'Oréal hair dye.

If you're keen for a change this season, the 2026 hair trends are brimming with inspiration, from fringes and bounce-boosting layers to soft and natural-looking hair colour updates. If you want to skip the salon, though, there are a few ways to refresh your strands at home. If your hair is blonde, for instance, one of the best purple shampoos will help neutralise brassy tones and add radiance, while there are also semi-permanent glosses that can help add vibrancy back into your red hair, and so on. Then, of course, there are more permanent options, like box dyes.

The latter is actually something Cindy Crawford has opted for this spring, having debuted a fresh and expensive-looking shade, inspired by New York's Upper East Side - and we know the exact brand used to create it.

The budget hair dye behind Cindy Crawford's rich NYC brunette

Cindy Crawford's hair is practically an icon in its own right, with the model's voluminous, '90s blowout, especially, becoming legendary. Fast forward to 2026, and Crawford's hair is still just as enviable as it was then, right down to her shade of rich, caramel brunette. At least on that front, though, it's a tad more attainable compared to her beautifully thick and gravity-defying hair. Especially with her stylist having shared the exact L'Oréal Paris box dye behind it.

Taking to Instagram, Dimitris Giannetos, who is also the go-to hair stylist and makeup artist of Demi Moore, shared Crawford's spring hair refresh, dubbing the colour, "Upper East Brunette' - referring to the famous and wealthy area of New York City.

Giannetos wrote in the caption, "Upper East Side brunette aka
Expensive brunette, it’s bold, it’s dimensional, it’s pure coco-color w out highlights, only caramel hues from east coast sun!" He then went on to share that he had used L'Oréal Paris' 5G Excellence colour to achieve her luxuriously glossy, sun-warmed shade.

This feels very on-trend with all the hyper-natural but multi-dimensional hair colours we've been seeing this year, and it's also ideal for a quick, new-season refresh, especially if you already have brown hair and want to boost its vibrancy and add a caramel-y tint.

Alas, it currently only seems to be available in the US, but there are similar golden-brown shades to be found from the same line in the UK, at retailers like Boots.

If you're keen to recreate Crawford's glamorous loose curls too, we recommend investing in one of the best curling irons, as well as one of the best heat protection sprays, to shield your fresh golden-brown hair colour.