Best: Overall

Rating: 10/10

Beauty Works is well known for its collaborations with influencer and Love Island star Molly Mae Hague, having launched collections of heated styling tools and luxury hair extensions. We tried the 18in set in the colour “sunset boulevard”, weighing 140g and designed for fine or medium hair types. The colour matching process on the brand’s website easy to navigate and the colour we chose was a perfect match for our reviewer’s blonde highlighted hair.

The box is neat and compact, making it easy to store when not being used and prevents the hair from becoming tangled. This pack contained two 11in wefts and one 8in weft as well as a helpful instruction booklet with a diagram to demonstrate where each one should be placed and a step by step guide to application, making this a great option for first-time users. They couldn’t have been easier to apply, with sturdy clips that clicked open and shut with ease, and felt secure for hours. Removing them took seconds too and didn’t pull or tug on our natural hair.

Best: For adding volume

Rating: 9/10

If you’re looking for a more subtle transformation to hair, this clip-in extension comes as a one-piece that can sit flat on your head and add a bit of a boost. It’s ideal if you’re not concerned about adding length as you can get a set that’s the same length as your own hair. It comes with two spare clips too if you want to make it even more secure. They’re the most lightweight extensions we tried and the easiest to install too, at 9in wide with four clips. The clips are narrower too, which we found very useful for our naturally thin hair as it was easier to clip into thinner strands without falling out. The box is also nice and small, making these extensions easy to store away when you’re not using them.

Currently available for pre-order these extensions will be released on 21 April.

Best: For highlighted hair

Rating: 9/10

Hair Rehab London was created by Lauren Pope, who you may recognise from ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex. In this 18in set comes six pieces, one large, one medium, one small and four mini, so you can alternate between adding volume and length. In the pack, there’s a sample piece at the top that allows you to check the shade, quality and length before removing the hygiene seal on the rest of the clear packaging, in case you need to return it.

We’d recommend laying them all out and brushing them through before you decide how many pieces to apply, and regular brushing will also keep them less knotty and healthier looking. If you’re using heat on these extensions to style them, make sure your tool doesn’t reach any higher than 180C, and always use a heat protectant spray to prevent damage.

The clips are thicker along each welt than any others we tried, but we found this to be very helpful when gripping onto thinner strands. They feel secure when clipped in, making a satisfying snap to let you know they’re in place, but can easily be removed without snagging. There are 17 shades to choose from too, whether you have the same colour all over or highlights. The brand claims that this set can last up to a year with the correct care.

Best: For adding length

Rating: 8/10

This set arrived in a cute heart shaped box with two sections. It includes a tester piece of hair to help you check if you’ve got an accurate colour match before opening the whole set, which is very helpful when ordering extensions online. If you’re unhappy with it, you can then return the whole set. It contains nine wefts, two 6in, five 4in and two 1.5in with flat silicone base strips so they sit discreetly in your hair without any tracks being visible.

We loved the varying lengths that made it easy to customise where you wanted to add length. We also found we didn’t need to wear every weft, but instead could pick and choose when and where to add volume. There are 24 shades to choose from, ranging from icy blonde to caramel highlighted brunette to glossy jet black.

Best: Budget option

Rating: 7/10

This is a synthetic set, which means it’s much more affordable but lower quality. That said, it’s ideal if you want a speedy hair transformation without breaking the bank. This one piece comes curled, meaning you just need to clip it in, loosely curl your own hair so it blends together and viola, you’ll have the bouncy blow dry effect.

They’re a great inexpensive way to make a speedy yet dramatic change to your hair for an evening or day event. Despite being synthetic, there is still a lengthy choice of 32 colours too. It saves time and money and can easily be cared for with shampoo and conditioner, before being restyled into loose waves with a curling tong.

Best: For length and volume

Rating: 8/10

Created in collaboration with Easilocks and Towie star and singer Megan McKenna, this two-piece set is great for adding voluminous bounce to short hair or tousled lengthened styles. The shorter piece is 14in, falling just below the shoulder and the longer piece is 22in, giving you luscious looking locks. They’re great for giving that freshly blowdried look without the legwork, and it’s a style of curl/wave that we often find quite hard to achieve ourselves with heated styling tools.

You can use the two pieces separately or together too as they easily attach to add oodles of volume. The clips are nice and sturdy and because they are fibre hair extensions, they will return to their original shape after washing, making them very easy to maintain.

The colour matching system offered by Easilocks is very simple too, it can be done over a Facetime appointment with a consultation, Instagram DM or by ordering swatches via the brand’s website. This is fantastic customer service for extensions that won’t break the bank but are still good quality and blend well with your natural hair.

Best: Wavy clip in hair extensions

Rating: 8/10

For adding perfectly done beachy waves, this eight-piece set is great for the summertime, and we’ve seen similar styles dominating our Instagram feed. It’s a nice way to experiment with a different hairstyle and has a continuous hold, so if your natural tresses never hold a wave well, this is a brilliant quick fix.

The clips clamp quite tightly to your hair, which we loved as they felt super secure at all times, just keep in mind it can take a little more work to make it look uniform with your natural hair, but we fully anticipated this and it still took less time than styling our hair without extensions. We’d recommend using this set if you have naturally wavy hair, just to make the process a bit quicker.