40 Chic Short Hair Highlights Ideas for Your New Look

Short hair highlights on cropped hair are like creamy frosting on a cake. Even the subtlest coloring will make your pixie or bob irresistibly fabulous.

Balayage and other similar colorings make cropped locks appear luminous and lustrous, with lots of tones and dimension. We bring you a super-cool collection of trendy highlights to light up any dull mane. Check out!

1. Caramel Brown Bob. The sheen, tones, and texture of her brunette highlighted bob are stunning. It is a great example of how beautiful a dark chocolate base and multi-dimensional caramel balayage may look if done on a healthy mane by a pro hair colorist.

2. Caramel Stacked Bob. The vibrancy and dimension these caramel streaks lend to the chocolate base are superb. The trendiest balayage for cropped locks mixes warm and cool shades seamlessly.

3. Balayaged Bixie. What an amazing way to spice up dull brunette hair! Her blonde balayage, textured and fluffed out for more volume, hosts a stunning display of honey-brown and ashy-blonde shades.

4. Contrasting Coloring. These chunky, champagne blonde strands on a light brown base deliver a delicate touch and Barbie doll allure. The sprinkling of sandy blonde color adds luminosity and glamor to this choppy crop.

5. Brunette and Gold Stack. What can be more stylish than golden brown hair color on cropped locks! This balayage gives a gorgeous sun-kissed touch to the otherwise plain brunette bob.

6. Sandy-Blonde Bob Length. The cropped brown hair with blonde balayage is simply amazing! One of the most striking things about this stunning hairstyle is the multi-tonal effect of ashy balayage against the dirty blonde base.

7. Two-Tone Bixie. Her chunky golden blonde balayage on a windswept pixie bob is simply cool. The styling of her brown locks is fantastic too.

8. Chin-Length Balayaged Waves. A very funky hairstyle for the trendy fashionista who’s always at the top of her game! She went for some softly radiant balayaging and drew attention to her glowing skin. The right move!

9. Wavy Face-Framed Bob. Need a new glamorous hair idea for your cropped cut? Choose this wavy stacked bob. Concentrating the golden blonde streaks on the longer tresses framing her face is a super-fashionable idea.

10. Rooted Blonde with Lowlights. Combine lowlights and highlights throughout the entire length of your hair for an awesomely stylish look. The result is fascinating dimensional hair with luster and body.

11. Dark Balayaged Bixie Cut. This long pixie has a grown-out feel about it, and the lack of a clean shape could have been amplified by the messy styling, but these golden streaks turn the mess into texture and emphasize the choppiness and fun of the cut.

12. Rainbow Roots Bob. Why stop at one hair color when you can have more than one and look super-chic? This is one of the prettiest examples of trendy highlights that had us dreaming of all the endless shades to combine. Sticking to a platinum pixie cut with color streaks in light pink, green, and violet is a bold decision.

13. Highlights and Lowlights. You can play with lighter and darker streaks to achieve just about any effect on your hair. They can be tweaked to create an illusion of fullness or depth, just as in the photo below. The dark ash blonde streaks and silver strands make her hair appear a lot fuller.

14. Tousled Wavy Crop. Combining ‘surfer’ balayage with short locks is a great beauty tip. You just can’t go wrong with the two. This stunning messy bob with blonde highlighting readily proves it.

15. Dark Brown Bob. One of the secrets of eye-catching short hair balayage is selecting the shades that will add luminosity and dimension to your natural hair color. Just as in this mix of bronze and blue-black streaks on the dark chestnut base.

16. Black and Plum Coloring. Indeed, beauty is in shades, and hers is in the shades of black and plum. The iridescent plum shade brings a fascinating twist to her gothic hairstyle and makeup.

17. High-Contrast Pixie. A fascinating mixture of blonde, silver and black works to give her crop an amazing semblance of salt-and-pepper hair. This is a lovely idea to cover up grays.

18. Messy Neck-Length Bob. An adorable mess of honey blonde hair peppered with platinum blonde. Balayage provides an easy way to gracefully blend your preferred colors minimizing the risks of hair damage.

19. One-Length Bob. These highlights are masterfully blended with the brown base to give a touch of depth at the roots and a great lot of illumination in the front.

20. Straight Highlighted Crop. Beautiful, just beautiful! Try picturing how she’d look with dull brown hair. Now take a good look once again at those exquisite blonde streaks. Now can you see that all the rage about straight highlighted crops isn’t just mere hype?

21. Rose Gold Balayage. Here is a great way to add dimension and interest to straight strands: the pink champagne is a sophisticated shade that makes the hair really sparkle.

22. Straight Crop with Lowlights. Blonde and brown make for a perfect symphony. This exquisite combination of mildly contrasting hues of mushroom brown and platinum blonde sound a loud fashion note.

23. Asymmetrical Pixie-Bob. Even the subtlest hints of color on cropped hair are enough to give it a chic and classy feel. The brighter longer pieces concentrated around the front leave a fascinating impression.

24. Blonde and Copper Blunt Bob. Could you believe that these locks are actually thin? No? That’s because they are cut blunt and textured at the ends to have both body and movement and then the color is lifted to retain the most depth around the crown.

25. Honey Blonde Angled Bob. Chocolate brown and honey blonde definitely play well together, and the lighter pieces work fine to accentuate the texturizing job done to the interior.

26. Frizzy Bronde Bob. The natural, earthy feel of this bronde crop makes it so endearing. The chunky strips of soft strawberry blonde color offer an adorable touch to her bob hairstyle.

27. Bangs and Ombre Balayage. The next best thing for a crop with bangs is matching highlights. Her natural brunette hair is overloaded with gorgeousness thanks to those cute wispy bangs and well-blended blonde ombre.

28. Chunky Streaks. With balayage for cropped hair, little can be just enough. If you can’t afford the luxury of spending much time to get your desired hair color, follow her lead. Check out the super-fancy and chic effect of those few streaks of blonde balayage.

29. Ashy Rooty Bob. Light blonde balayage always appears fabulous against a darker base. The ashy-blonde streaks on her jaw-length hair catapulted her hairstyle from “just there” to “eye-catching”.

30. Front Money Pieces. The money pieces in her hair are subtle yet powerfully compelling. Brown hair with blonde balayage is a timeless, ever-fashionable combo.

31. Dark Highlighted Pixie. Try some radiant balayage to lighten up your hair and highlight your face. Her chic pixie dressed up with frosting and blonde wisps in the front looks super-charming.

32. Rooty Long Bob. This stunning coloring pairs a deep base with a cool-tone blonde balayage to bring out the pinkish skin undertone and complement the green eyes, but it also adds just a bit of platinum around the ends for brightness and dynamics.

33. Salt-and-Pepper Bob. Grays are not for mature ladies only, and if you are looking for crops in a cool color palette, this mix of gray, beige, and platinum is worth your attention.

34. Streaky Blonde Angled Bob. These straight tresses are cut with choppiness around the ends, so what’s wrong with using blonde ribbons to dramatize the texture and make it really piece-y?

35. Root Smudge with Ombre. The model’s hair, skin tone, and makeup are all perfect. Mega thanks to those dark copper roots and strawberry ombre balayage melting ever so softly.

36. Black Hair with Red Streaks. Her fiery red, chunky highlighting lends a debonair touch to her classic straight bob. This is a great rebellious idea for cropped locks, especially if you’re aiming at getting a bold and audacious look.

37. Mocha and Bronze Bob. If you have a fair or olive complexion, you may want to keep your brown pretty neutral, which is perfectly doable with a medium-to-deep base brightened up with a bronze shade that has no red or orange undertones.

38. Soft Beach Waves. Whether your balayage is bright or subtle, cropped brown highlighted locks always look adorable. Check out how these golden pieces light up the discreet brown color of the delectable beach hair.

39. Red Wavy Bob Crop. Jazz up your red hair with a subtle touch of highlights for a mesmeric appearance. The wonderful luster and luminosity of this cherry red short hair with lowlights and balayage make it worth the effort.

40. A-Line Balayaged Bob. This bob is undoubtedly classic, but it still could be sparse and flat if it wasn’t for these strategically placed golden pieces that maximize the depth and texture.

By now you must have found 1, 2, 3, or even more ideas that speak to the beauty queen in you. Try them, really, you’ll be amazed at the difference a few streaks of the right color at the right places can make!