Best of Boston

Remember when you used to sneer at bottle blondes? Stylist Leon deMagistris and his staff of colorists have changed all that with bold, rich hair colors that look better than the real thing. (His latest venture, known as California highlighting, mimics the look of sun-kissed hair without foil strips or hours of harmful sun exposure.) Moreover, deMagistris’s talent and sway go far beyond the Boston-area beauty scene. He’s the former U.S. creative director for the venerable Italian product line Tocco Magico and regularly grabs international attention with runway coiffures in Europe. None of which stops him from running his 33-year-old Belmont salon like a finely tuned machine.