L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss 810 Pearl Blonde Review

I know it's been ages since I bought it, but I finally got around to trying the L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss in 810 Pearl Blonde.

The product promises 'super soft' and 'super glossy' hair in this no ammonia hair colourant that washes out in 28 shampoos.

Here's what I found.

I followed the instructions for already-coloured hair as I really wanted to disguise my roots a bit before I get my hair professionally done again. This meant leaving the mixture on my roots for 15 minutes, then adding the rest of the hair for the remaining 5 minutes. So the whole process is 20 minutes total.

The packaging and instructions were clear and easy to follow. The gloves were decent quality, coming in a little plastic tube. Easy-peasy.

The results...

After rinsing the first time, the tips felt a bit dry, but honestly I've not had my hair feel like this, well ever! Okay, that's not true. I found my hair felt like this when I was using TRESemmé Split Remedy Shampoo and Conditioner. Days later my hair still feels heavy and sticky. My hair has never felt like this before.  I know my hair looks shiny in the picture above, but it didn't feel soft!

It did work for disguising my roots though. So I guess it wasn't a total loss.

So no, I would not recommend this AT ALL. While the colour isn't too different from that on the box, it has absolutely wrecked my hair. It's been a week and even with intense conditioning, my hair still feels heavy, greasy, and yucky. I would avoid this at all costs.

Have you had better luck with L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss?

Non-permanent Hair Dyes - Clairol Nice'n Easy and L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss

On my way home from work last night I decided I'd stop into Boots and pick up a few things. I was actually lusting after a red lip gloss in the Chanel 2011 Holiday collection: Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Triomphal. (Reviews here at Temptalia and at Cafe Makeup) Sadly, it was *already* sold out! I was gutted.

But before I realised it was sold out, I was browsing away and fell in love with another in the collection, the lipstick Rouge Allure Luminous Satin Lip Colour 197 Enivree, a sparkly pink. Then I needed to spend more money (there was a special offer on yesterday at Boots - spend £50 get £10 in points) so I ended up buying a few more things than I strictly needed. I also picked up the Chanel eyeshadow quad 33 Prelude which I've been eyeing for awhile now. I'll blog about these beauties soon, but I also picked up some non-permanent hair dyes.

I haven't home dyed my hair since I was in school. Yes, it's really been that long! I always opt for the salon and letting a professional working her mojo. I also stopped dying my hair for a few years and really enjoyed my natural colour. Although, like most women, I then got bored and wanted a change. So I've gone from natural dark blonde to super light blonde and back. Actually, my hair is still blonde now, a bit lighter than natural, but because I had my hair bleached so light, ever time I dye it, the dye sorta washes out and I'm back to blonde eventually.

That's a story for another day.... the point is, now that my semi-perm professional colour has washed out and money is a bit tighter, I thought I'd look at the non-permanent hair dyes available for DIY. I picked up 3:

• L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss 810 Pearl Blonde
• Clairol Nice'n Easy 93 Light Golden Red
• Clairol Nice'n Easy 96 Lightest Golden Brown

I'm curious to see what happens, but also still worried about damaging my hair. They don't have ammonia so that's good, but they do have some peroxide so I'm not sure. I will definitely strand test. I've read some mixed reviews that the colours on the box don't always reflect the result, so I'm feeling pretty hesitant. 

Have you used any home dye hair products? Any recommendations?