L’Oreal Preference Mousse Absolue – A case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it (and actually make an even bigger bags of it)

If I had a euro for every time I heard of the next new “innovation” in beauty, I’d be a billionaire by now. It’s one of those industries which is constantly innovating for the sake of it, to 1up in the arms race of personal perfection. There are some beauty items which lend themselves to new technology, and others which have remained pretty much unadulterated since they hit the shelves. Hair colour is very much the latter, sticking to the tried and trusted “mix the colour and the developer bottles and shake” ever since I can remember anyway. There’s no denying that it’s a messy, smelly, unpleasant process, however there are very few women out there who wouldn’t consider the bi-monthly colour top-up a part of their necessary regime. So an innovation to make this process easier and tidier is sure to be a winner, right?

 

LOreal Preference Mousse Absolue Review Pics

 

Enter L’Oreal’s new Preference Mousse Absolue, needing no mixing, producing a foam which can be applied directly to hair as required. Is this the droid we’re looking for? Read on »

Dancing with dye-saster. Or why you should ALWAYS patch test.

Clairole Xtreme N Easy Cherry Red

The timing was perfect. We were sent a box of Clairol eXtreme n’ Easy in Cherry Red, just about when I’d been feeling rather annoyed with my limp, dark locks and was craving a change. I’ve always wanted to be a redhead, so thought it was fate. Unfortunately my hair is not very cooperative. The last time I tried to lighten the tone, the only thing that was dyed was my scalp. So I had an idea – lift the dark brown permanent dyes I’d been using for a couple of years, with a colour remover. After doing some research I learned that it should lighten my hair to a ginger shade, without any damage, and could be dyed over immediately. Sold.

I picked up Adee Phelan Hair Colour Remover for dark tones, and got to work with the laborious routine: apply, rinse for 10 minutes, apply, rinse for 5 minutes yada yada yada. I followed the instructions to the letter and the results were great! Ginge Kat!

 

Adee Phelan Hair Colour Remover Before After

Unfortunately it turns out that you should use a dye 2 shades lighter than the desired colour, as it will turn out darker than expected (thanks for your tips Dee!). After dyeing I was back to my original colour with a hint of red. Feck sake. Disappointed that my efforts which took up half the day were futile, I resigned myself to the fact that I could never go red with box dye and went to bed.

And the next morning, I was red! Just not in the place I wanted. Read on »

Attention DIY Dyers! John Frieda Precision Foam Hair Colour – Fad or Revelation?

As someone who just can’t leave well enough alone, and loves what a “bit of a change” can do for her self image, I’ve been colouring my hair since I was 16. I’ve gone from mahogany, to blonde streaks, to violet, to henna-orange, to blue-black and every shade of brunette (my natural colour) inbetween. Mostly I’ve done my colour myself at home and luckily I’ve never had any disastrous results (unlike poor Rachelle!). That doesn’t mean I enjoy the faff involved though.

 

The drippy formula of home-dyes can be a nightmare for the cack-handed like me; it’s so very easy to ruin everything in the vicinity with permanent dye splatters. And even if you’re tidy about it, if you live with a neat freak they will still find miniscule dots of dye everywhere and give you hell (thanks mam, love you!). So when foam home colours were released, you can imagine I was all over them. John Frieda was the first foam colour I tried when it was launched in Boots last year, and it spawned a whole new world of mousse colours from the usual suspects. Was it the answer to my diy-dye prayers?

Read on »

DIY Hairdressing: A sign of the times or a total No No?


So with the recession in full swing I’ve decided to revert to home colouring, something I swore off since my Linda from Gimme Gimme Gimme nightmare a few years ago.

My hair once looked like this; yours can too if you home-dye!


I learned some harsh lessons back then and finally realised that hair colorists train for a reason! So this time round I tread carefully and I dipped my toe back into the DIY hairdressing pool with a little semi-permanent number from Garnier. I was going for the balayage look and I pulled it off quite well, if I do say so myself!  Even the fading colour looks quite snazzy. Read on »