Cardi B's Cherry Red Hair Is Copper's Darker, Even More Opulent Cousin

If there’s one thing celebrities love (aside from high-profile contracts and chopped salads), it’s a warm-weather dalliance with red hair. While winter usually ushers in its own red-tinted hair color trends, something about the imminent arrival of summer invites the most extreme transformations — just look at Kendall Jenner and Sydney Sweeney, who went from a deep brunette and sunny blonde respectively, to a warm shade of copper. The latest celebrity to get in on the redhead moment? The ever-stylish Cardi B, whose cherry red hair just made its Instagram debut to the delight of her 126 million followers. Deep red, remarkably shiny, and styled into an intricate updo worthy of a thousand red carpets. Darker than the airy copper many of her A-list peers, the captivating color is sophisticated and playful — in other words, practically made for Cardi. And come to think of it, it probably was.

The hair color makeover comes amid a particularly cool period for Cardi, who’s been experimenting with creative nail designs, fun makeup, and different outfit aesthetic aesthetics for some seriously excellent results. “Simple but nothing simple,” she captioned a set of photos showing off her new hair color. Her updo is hoisted high with well-formed curls and plenty of cheek-grazing tendrils, its overt glamour offset by her down-to-earth (albeit designer-made) puffer vest and loose-fitting jeans.

While this color shift is indeed major, it’s a metamorphosis Cardi’s all too familiar with. The endlessly creative rapper switches up her hair with to-the-minute regularity (she is a visually-driven Libra, after all), deftly going back and forth between icy silvers, playful platinums, and plenty of utterly mesmerizing, multicolored wigs to match her always-fabulous on-stage costumes. This dark cherry red isn’t even Cardi’s first flirtation with red recently. This past winter, she played around with a true copper and a few months earlier, in late August, she stepped out in a bright violet-red half-ponytail that literally stopped traffic and she walked through New York City.

If you’re looking to go for a summery red like Cardi, now’s a perfect time to kick it off. Use your skin’s undertones (check your foundation color for an easy trick) to determine the most flattering, natural shade, or just pick your favorite shade regardless — the only rule here is that you’re into it. As to what’s next for Cardi, that’s anyone’s guess. She loves to overhaul her look, but here’s hoping she hangs on to the dark cherry for a while longer — it really is just that good.