Nicole Kidman's Hairstylist Achieved "Sexy" Curls With Amal Clooney's $26 Volume Hack
Chris Appleton used Color Wow’s Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer on Nicole Kidman for the 2025 Critics’ Choice Awards. Shop it for $26 on Amazon.
Nicole Kidman is batting 1,000 with her recent red-carpet looks, but she really outdid herself at the Critics’ Choice Awards when she showed up in my favorite outfit and glam of her career. She wore an oversized suit that gave ‘90s Julia Roberts, with her long hair cascading down in perfect yet natural-looking waves. I needed to know the products responsible for this magic—and thankfully, celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton shared all the details with InStyle.
"My goal was to bring out Kidman’s timeless elegance while giving her hair a modern, effortless touch. It was all about creating something soft yet striking,” he tells InStyle. To achieve said look, he used four Color Wow products; one in particular, the Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer, was key to “smoothing her hair, getting amazing volume…and sexy soft curls.”
Amazon
$26 at Amazon
This volumizing mousse has fanfare—it’s been used by celebrities like Amal Clooney, has 11,000-plus five-star ratings, and is even a favorite of this picky editor. I usually think of mousses as being old-school, but this one is anything but. The science behind it is a little complicated, but essentially it temporarily gives your strands added girth, resulting in bigger, thicker, and fuller hair. It does this without penetrating and damaging the cuticle or leaving behind a tacky residue. I can attest to the fact that it’s tactilely invisible, your hair will be as touchable as if it were bare.
Among the thousands of five-star ratings are shoppers who praise it for being “easy to use, light, and nonsticky.” One reviewer said “my hair has gotten so thin in spots as I age, but this product has restored its fullness.”
In addition to Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer, Appleton used Shark’s FlexFusion Hair Straightener and three other Color Wow products: Dream Coat Supernatural Spray, Style on Steroids Texturizing Spray, and Cult Favorite Hairspray.
Head to Amazon to shop Color Wow’s Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer and the rest of Nicole Kidman’s routine below.
Amazon
$28 at Amazon
Amazon
$399 at Amazon
Amazon
$28 at Amazon
Amazon
$30 $28 at Amazon