I want to get highlight and dye my own hair?

whenever i do my highlights and dye my hair, i bleach the highlights and then put a light brown hair color on top which leaves the highlights blonde and the rest light brown. But now i want to get more blonde highlights and have the rest a chocolaty brown instead. any suggestions on how to do it? can i do the same method as before but just get a darker color for the hair dye? or should i bleach the highlights and add the chocolaty hair dye on the rest of the hair while the highlights are covered?