She’s one of the coolest women in the world and now actress Helen Mirren has made us want to buy the exact bargain blue hair dye she used just so we can look like her.

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Dame Helen Mirren knows how to make an entrance and that’s exactly what she did at opening day at the 76th Cannes Film Festival when she sported freshly dyed blue hair down the red carpet.

Dame Helen was attending the event not only because she is one of the world’s most famous actors of stage and screen, but also as part of her role as a L’Oréal Paris ambassador, the brand have been the official makeup partner for the Festival de Cannes since 1997.

And when she hit the red carpet she made sure all eyes were on her thanks to her amazing blue hair that had been achieved with the most bargainous of products, L’Oréal Paris Colorista Spray in Pastel Blue, £10. 

This genius colouring product combines a semi-permanent colour with a deep conditioning hair mask to keep hair looking and feeling soft. It comes in eight different shades and all of them work best on pre-lightened or bleached hair (perfect for Mirren’s regular platinum white base shade). They develop to different intensities depending on the levels of bleach and colour in the hair, hence the fluctuation in the colour in Mirren’s hair from root to tip. And it’s super easy to use, you simply massage it on to shampooed and towel-dried hair, leave it for 10-20 minutes and then rinse off. There’s no need to condition as it already contains hydrating ingredients. The colour gradually fades out after a few weeks or depending on how frequently the hair is washed.

Images: Courtesy of L’Oréal Paris

So why all the fuss about Helen Mirren’s blue hair? Well, it’s easy to read far more into this than there might be. It’s quite plausible that Mirren and her stylist decided it would simply be fun to co-ordinate her hair to her outfit.

Or it may well be that she has been inspired by the huge #mermaidcore trend thanks to the new The Little Mermaid film.

But we’d like to think that, as she has been known to do before, that Mirren wanted to subvert old beauty standards. The blue rinse has always carried a slightly grannie stigma with it and if anyone can make blue hair not only cool but ultra chic, it’s Dame Helen Mirren. Whatever the reason behind the colour choice, we’re here for it and it genuinely has made us consider blue for our next colour change up.