How I got my Hair Colour: Bleaching & Lightening Dark Brown Hair, Colouring and Toning

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How I got my Hair Colour: Bleaching & Lightening Dark Brown Hair, Colouring and Toning

Admin   September 16, 2019   Comment  

My journey to achieve my current light-medium blonde hair colour was not a short one, in fact it started over nine months ago and it took me several bleach + toning session to achieve the colour that is now very close to what I originally wanted. My hair is natural dark brown, it's thick and very dry, so I had just about everything stacked against me achieving the desired colour. This actually isn't my first rodeo, as I had some blonde highlights in my teens and back then no one even used a toner one me or told me I have to do a second set of bleaching, so I ended up with very orange looking highlights (which I later dyed over with a red colour, another hair stylist disaster that I ended up covering with a dark brown and stopped colouring for over a decade). Now I took my time to educate myself well about bleaching, toning, what to do to prevent damage, which was my biggest concern, and how to achieve the balayage look I wanted. I'm not one to just jump into doing something reckless so I spent months researching and also testing on individual strands before I did anything, yet I still made some mistakes I wish I knew about before. I was remarkably stupid to do all of this on my own because, well for one I wanted to, so I can learn the process myself, but also because I still don't have a lot of trust in hairdressers when it comes to my hair (just experience, I'm sure there are brilliant hairdresser's out there). Doing it professionally is so expensive and I would feel awful if someone else screwed up my hair and me being, well, me, I'd be afraid to express my dissatisfaction and just paid for it without a word - yes, I'm that kind of a person. I preferred to do my own mistakes this time, however, I strongly discourage you from doing your own experiments, particularly when it comes to bleach, unless you're 100% sure you can do it. 

There weren't just these stages, there were actually more, but this shows it well enough. The second picture is when I did my first successful-ish balayage and toned with L'Oreal Preference 8.1, which I wasn't happy with (compared to the Excellence formula). When I finally lightened my hair to a much lighter colour on the third picture, I had big problems with toning. I tried it three times: once with Schwarzkopf Blondme Blonde Toning Steel Blue + Sand, second again just with Steel Blue and because none of those cooled it, I went with L'Oreal Excellence 7.1 + 8.1 mix, which left my hair even darker than the 4th picture and completely erased my balayage (I'll show you somewhere below in the post). I tried to wash off the colour a bit, but let me tell you, those L'Oreal Excellence are not easy to fade quickly. I did a couple of chelating sessions, which did nothing and I could've just done a bleach bath, but I decided to keep the colour over the summer. The last picture is that colour after three months, so it washed off to this lovely coppery brown. What you don't see is 4 centimetres of roots and a very shoddy work on my fringe, which is why it was high time to do another bleaching session.

First step: RESEARCH

If you're just interested in my process, then skip ahead, this might be long for some, but it actually barely covers everything I've learned. I can't vouch that everything is correct, so I encourage you to do your own research as well. 

Hair Levels

This is good bit of information to know even if you're just buying box colours in any shade. It helps you determine the depth of your hair colour. Knowing this will help you pick the right colour, strength of developer if your using bleach or high lift colours and a toner after bleaching.

Hair generally falls into 10 levels. Like I said this is just how dark the colour is and the scale shows shades with a natural/neutral undertone, but obviously hair also has warm and cool undertones, which here don't matter, this is just establishing the depth of your colour. Not all levels are exactly the same at hair companies, but it's something like this: Level 1 is darkest black (think dyed intense black emo shades), level 2 is natural black, 3 is dark brown, which is my natural shade, 4 medium brown, 5-6 are light brown, depending on the chart you're looking, 7 is dark blonde, 8 medium blonde, 9 light blonde and 10 is bleached very light blonde.

When you're picking a box dye, levels tend to be the first number (L'Oreal, Garnier, Subrina Butter, Schwarzkopf Colour Expert) or at some the last (Subrina Charm, Saten, Spectra). I haven't managed to unravel the mystery of Schwarzkopf Diadem, Poly Palette or Brilliance system in central Europe, but their Colour Expert follows the same pattern as most with level the first shade and the second two denoting the tone. If you know your hair level, then you know which colours you can pick that will work on you and which are a lighter or darker version of picked shade (for example 7.1 is darkest, 8.1 is a shade lighter, 9.1 even lighter; or 660 is lighter than 500, but with a neutral undertone compared to the warm 660). Among tones, number 1 or a letter A usually indicate an ashy shade, which is information that comes handy when looking for a shade that tones warm yellow, brassy and orange tones (by the way, shades like 7.31 don't count. Number 3 in this case usually indicates a golden tone, but companies have different tone charts).

How bleach works and understanding the connections with the levels

This might be such an obvious information for most of you, but when hair is lightened it does not follow the natural/neutral part of the level chart, but instead the underlying tones are revealed. So putting bleach on level 3 hair like mine and letting it reach level 10, the hair goes through transformation into red (levels 3-4), orange (level 5-6), golden (levels 7-8), yellow (level 9) and finally very pale yellow (level 10). I sometimes hear people say they have "too much of red pigment in the hair" - everyone with hair darker than level 5 has it, it's not something only a some dark haired people have and it's revealed when lightening hair (if you want it gone, you either have to lighten your hair, use an ashy brown or use a cooling hair mask like Subrina Refresh Cold Brown, which is only a temporary solution, as it washes off). Depending on which level you reach with bleaching, you base your choice of a toner, since a classic purple toner won't work on hair level higher than 9-10. 

 My first use on bleach and my last, showing you underlying pigments. There's coconut oil on the hair on the right picture.

What can you achieve with box colours?

The darker your natural colour is, the less you can do with it without bleach. If you're one of those lucky people with naturally light blonde up to light brown hair you can get a regular hair colour in the drugstore and you have your lightening + toning done in one easy step. If you have dark hair, mostly all you can do it stay on the same level or change the tone (based on my experience with my hair), but there is one tiny loophole how to reach light brown without using bleach and that is by using a strong ashy blond dye. Before going blonde I used L'Oreal's Excellence 9.1 for the job and it worked out great. You can also use 8.1 and 7.1, the last will give you the most ashy result with no red tones (the darker your hair, the better it is too pick the darkest ashy colour. I should have started with 7.1). I also heard from one of Subrina user that using their shade 30/3 light special cendre blond works great on dark hair. She used Charm, but their Spectra are even stronger with a 5 level lift (these will get even light brown hair to a very blonde shade when mixed with a 12% developer). I used 80/8 ice blonde on a strand and was surprised by the lift (stronger than L'Oreal), but it wasn't toned, while I think the ashy cendre blond has a better chance.

One important thing to know in case you don't - hair colour doesn't lighten previously coloured hair. You can only stay on the same level or go darker. If you want to go lighter again, you'll have to bleach it.

Picking the right bleach

I really wanted to do this right, so focused on salon brands. Bad side is you can only get big packaging, but actually this turned out a big plus at me, since I had to go through more than one bleaching, plus I'll have to deal with roots. I picked Schwarzkopf Blondme Bond Enforcing Premium Lightener 9+ because it has a very high feedback, I heard it can lift even the darkest hair to a level 10 in one go (which actually turned out not true for my thick hair) and because it has bond enforcing complex, they explain it's succinic acid which forms a protective layer around the bonds in the hair and prevents damage. Other bleaches I heard good things about are Schwarzkopf Professional Igora Vario Bond, L'Oreal Quick Blue Powder Bleach and Wella Bondor (Wella is very popular in North America and consequently it's the brand you hear most about on YouTube, but we have different products here). I got my Blondme products on Amazon.de.

There are some box colour bleaches. I only have experience with Schwarzkopf Color Expert L8, which left my hair in nice condition, but it was too weak for me and you have to buy a separate toner because the added tiny satchel of blurple mask is a joke. In some places you can find L9 version and their Blonde line in blue boxes, like shade L1++, which are praised. I heard great things about Garnier Olia bleach, but we don't have it here.

Picking the right percentage or volume developer

There are the basic four types of developers:

- 3% or 10 vol. - the most gentle developer, pretty much causes no damage, but also doesn't lift much or not at all, instead it just deposits the colour. Best for when you are refreshing the colour on your previously dyed part of hair and for mixing with toning shades. 

- 6% or 20 vol. - low lift of only a couple or few shades with bleach. Best used with permanent hair colours when you're trying to cover grey hair (with those the lift is the usual 1-2 shades).

- 9% - medium lift, used with a hair colour it offers a lift up to three levels depending on how dark your hair is. With bleach it can lighten medium brown hair to pale blond. This is the one most use for mixing with bleach.

- 12% or 40 vol. - this is the strongest developer and some don't recommend it at all because it can be damaging and especially because it can burn the scalp, but at such a formula as is Blondme, I find it's not damaging on my hair and I wasn't applying it on the scalp anyway. This one can lift up to 9 levels with bleach, but I wasn't able to achieve than on my thick hair. In combination with a colour such as Spectra special blonde shades and I presume Blondme Bond Enforcing Blonde Lifting or Blonde Hi-Lighting colours it can lift up to 5 shades.

When I was ordering Blondme bleach from Amazon.de, they only had a 3% and 6% developer. I took the later which I knew from the start wasn't going to be ideal and if I could fix one mistake this would be it. However, bleaching my hair gradually also gave me a chance to take greater care of my hair in between my colouring sessions. I later found Notino has a 12% developer, which I then mixed with 6% to achieve varying strengths of lift. By the way, you don't have to use same brand developer, but it's good if you do.

Colour Theory and Toning

Here you need the knowledge of the basic colour wheel, so it's not complicated. For toning the most used shade is violet which counteracts yellow, so levels 9 and 10, but if your hair is brassy a.k.a orange, purple likely won't cut it, so you need blue and for red you need green. Purple toners are very easy to come by, they come in form of shampoos (like below mentioned Ice Cream No-Yellow. Keune has one as does L'Oreal), hair masks (Schwarzkopf Blondeme Tone Enhancing, also mentioned below. L'Oreal released its version this year) and proper toners like Wella Color Charm T18 or T10 (North American products, here we have the less praised Color Fresh), Schwazkopf Blondme Blonde Toning in Ice, Redken Eq toners (which are highly praised and I wanted them, but they are hard to find and expensive) and Subrina Spectra demi-permanent 8/10 Ice Blonde). Blue toners are less common, but you can try Subrina Colour Refresh mask Diamond Blond, Schwarzkopf Blondme Toning in Steel Blue and Wella Color Charm T14 or a darker T35.

In my case I didn't have luck with toners because my hair had too many different shades from level 10 at the ends, and ranging from 9-7 above. That's why I decided to use a permanent hair colour in an ashy shade. L'Oreal and Garnier have the best selection of ashy shades of various levels in my local drugstores, so I went with those, but they are not the only that exist, though when searching online L'Oreal was by far most frequently mentioned. I was thinking about getting Wella Illumina online, which is what hair dressers use, but it was more expensive. At L'Oreal and Garnier ashy shades are marked with .1, so 9.1, 8.1 and 7.1 and I think their 6.1 was renamed to 6.00.

Balayage and highlighting techniques

I have spent a lot of time researching how to do balayage on YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram, studying how to do the sections. I made a mistake the first time because I missed the front bottom part of my fringe bits, so when I put my hair up, it was still dark brown. This was one of my biggest mistakes because you mainly see the front bits. I decided to use a highlighting foil technique on those, so I do that part differently than the rest.

My technique is mostly like this video here and I even used such a brush, but not all is the same, for one I left no strands out and I saturated the ends on both sides. Most do the front part completely differently, more in a criss-cross way, but I prefer it this way.

More helpful videos:

How to: DIY Balayage - Dark Hair from somegirljess (this is how I did my ends) 

SECRETS OF HIGHLIGHTING! Jessi - JZ Styles - not all inspiration pictures found on Pinterest are balayage, this technique is used a lot too. 

101: Learning the Basics of Balayage | Kenra Color - inspiration for how I did my front bits.

Testing

Before any colouring I tested on strands to determine how long does it take for my hair to lighten to level 10 or if it even does in one go. This way I had a reference how much time you I and picked the right developer.

I also tested toning products before doing anything. I actually have quite a stash of hair colouring products from Subrina, but I had boxes of L'Oreal colours in stock and one Schwarzkopf shade I before I completely understood toning. L'Oreal Excellence 8.1 and 9.1 turned out to be the best options for my hair colour, but previously I have used 8.1 and it didn't work because my hair was still too dark in most places. The one time I didn't test beforehand, I've used L'Oreal Excellence 7.1 mixed with 8.1 which turned my hair light brown, but that time my mistake was that I left them on for too long because bleached hair picks up pigment in minutes. To be fair, it wasn't a total mistake because it at least toned well, but I could have done the same type of mix I've done in my last attempt, so using different colours on sections of my hair because the ends were light enough to be toned with a lighter shade. In my previous attempts I also tried Schwarzkopf Steel Blue and Sand, both failed to properly tone my hair, but again at that time my hair was possibly too dark, but still I expected Steel blue to impress me more - I was sure it will work on hair such at below.

Toning with L'Oreal Excellence 7.1 + 8.1 (50:50). It was my last resort because I already tried toning twice with Schwarzkopf toners. It ended up way darker than I thought, but at least I learned to not leave the colour on for long and it was the reason why I decided on the a lot more complex toning I mention below.

Aftercare

One thing I kept hearing when researching bleaching was get Olaplex. N.1 is a yellow liquid that is added to bleach in the salons and n.2 is a aftercare treatment, both are outrageously expensive, but you can get them in some places online. N.3 is something more affordable and made for use at home. I said many times that I don't get magical results from N.3, but it helps rebuild the bonds that are ruined at bleaching and I kind of blindly trust it must be working something, since my hair is not falling apart after all its been through. I recently got N.6 and it's amazing.

I also invested in proteins. Joico K-Pack duo of Reconstructor and Hydrator have managed to restore my hair to some level of normalcy after it became coarse and wasn't absorbing moisturising care anymore, so I rate them higher than Olaplex n.3, but I don't consider them the same type of product.

One of the most important parts of my bleaching routine was definitely using coconut oil. It doesn't affect the colouring process, it just protect the hair was drying out too much and damage. 

MY PROCESS

I just want to say that this is me explaining how I did it on my hair, but don't take it as instructions to do it yourself because you won't get the same result. The hair care parts excluded of course, I kept my hair in good condition with those and you might find some products for yourself. Don't literally follow my toning, but make the research before doing anything, learn to determine your hair level and try to identify what kind of a toner you need. For a lot of you it's actually going to be a lot simpler than at me, you might just need a regular violet toner like Subrina Spectra demi-permanent 8/10 Ice Blonde, Schwarzkopf Professional Blondme Toning Ice or Steel Blue and Wella Color Charm T11 or T18. I had to make it very complicated because of colouring mistakes I made in the past and a vast difference in levels I had on my hair.

Colour I started with. I mentioned above it's a 3-4 month old colour L'Oreal Excellence 7.1 mixed with 8.1. On the tips you can see some red, that's me playing with Subrina Colour Refresh Hair masks a couple of weeks before, so they were washed out by then, but they were very intense freshly applied (really rubbish pics of those mini strands here).

1. I applied coconut oil well before colouring, actually a day before and I reapplied it on the day of bleaching. I didn't apply a very generous amount, just so all my hair was coated, including the scalp to form sort of a barrier in case any bleach comes in contact (though I have used this bleach with no gloves once before I realised I have none on and I got zero reactions).

2. One of the things I've learned in all my bleaching tries is do the sections before colouring and I don't mean the basic two sections at the side and one in the back, I mean I pinned individual strands I was going to colour because it's so hard doing it at the time you're colouring. I even got a fresh pack of grips the day before. Since I was doing everything myself I had a "unique" setting with my camera on a stand behind me working as a mirror and I had the picture on my phone (through the Olympus app). This made sectioning and colouring the back a lot easier and well, actually doable. The sections are pictured above under balayage research.

3. In my first bleaching sessions I mixed my bleach too thick because I heard it has to be such consistency for balayage, but this turned out to be a failure because the bleach dried out too fast even with foil. So for the last two sessions I did the 1:2.5 which is the highest amount of developer vs. bleach recommended. Since I had two developers and so many layers, meaning my lowest layers could have the bleach on for very long by the time I'm finished, I customised the strength of developer for individual layers. My kitchen scale was actually broken the last time, but I had the measuring spoons from Tedi and it worked out great. I used a 1:1 mix of 6% and 12% on the lowest layers and when I reached the top, my mix was almost fully with 12%

4. I started with the lower back sections. I tend to rush through these and there's not such a need to be precise, but I did a general V pattern as shown above. I applied the colour just on the top of the strands, with exception of the ends which were saturated with colour on both sides.

The side part which were separated from the back at just behind the ears I had two techniques: I took very thin framing front bits and painted with much gentler, feathery strokes basically just depositing a bit of colour to achieve a less stripe-y result. I wrapped those in alufoil because it's more stable and doesn't fall off every five seconds. I did these before the side bits because it's nicer to have a lighter highlights framing the face.

The remaining parts of the sections we split in diagonal sections, with a mix of the classic triangles with two sides painted to the top and different triangle design where the bleach reaches the top just on one side on the strand. I was more precise here than at the bottom, taking more time.

5. I covered everything well to prevent it from drying out, because dry bleach doesn't work and it's actually quick to dry. I used cellophane this time because food foil is a nightmare of stickiness and alufoils though most stable need aren't see though. Cellophane was a whole new challenge, while it stuck when the bleach was freshly applied, it just fell off a few minutes later, so I was constantly picking those up. I then just clipped them on. Though the cellophane I monitored the progress, I took the whole 45 minutes for me to reach this shade, which is not close to level 10 except some part of the ends. I've achieved an only slightly lighter result than before, so I'm somewhat stuck on this brassy level and can't go over. 

Pre-toning colour. There's coconut oil on the hair, so it looks a bit darker than it was dry.

6. I washed off the bleach with Ice Cream No yellow shampoo. On me it toned some of the lightest hair, but on brassy this has no effect. I got this because reviews said it leaves blonde hair purple-blue, so I hoped it might be strong enough more me.

7. I immediately went with the protein treatment, a combinations of Schwarzkopf Professional Blondme Keratin Restore Intense Care Bonding Potion + Tone Enhancing Bonding Mask in Cool, which is purple, but very lightly tinted. I had these on for 30 minutes with a shower cap, to prevent it from drying out.

8. I let my hair air dry and before it was fully dry, I applied a ton of coconut oil again and left it overnight.

9. I did the Olaplex treatment the next morning. I left it on for an hour and a half, again wearing a shower cap. I washed it off with L'Oreal Extraordinary shampoo.

10. Before using a permanent colour I wanted to try a less damaging way. I tried Subrina Colour Refresh Diamond Blonde on my hair before bleaching and I was actually very surprised to see, it toned even that colour. It wasn't very orange, but that strand looked cooler after this. This is very strong and when I tried it on a freshly bleached strand, it turned it blue in a second, so it has to be mixed with a clear shade to dilute the pigmented when used on blonde hair. I was testing several mixes and I ended up using about a 50:50 mix. I had it on for mere minutes when I saw it toned the lightest parts, so then I just decided to wash it off, because it would likely tint my lightest hair blue, but tone the orange bits. If my hair was all the same level or not so varied, this would work perfectly, but I decide to use a permanent shade to tone and cover. By the way, these are very new and so far sold only in Tuš drogerije, Leclerc and Click2Chic.

11. My hair felt dry so I used Kerastase Chonologiste which I left on the hair for a half an hour and it did not impress me at all. Yes, it smells great like Miss Dior Cherie/Soap & Glory classic scent, but it's a pale shadow of their amazing, already discontinued Nutritive Masquintense Thick (I think the replacement is Nutritive Masque Magistral). I ended up applying another conditioner for a few minutes, the amazing Pantene Hair Food Full & Strong.

12. I applied coconut oil again and I really went to town with it. I dipped my ends into the pot, squeezing out the extra and applied as much as I could on the remaining hair. I left it on for almost two days, reapplying as soon as I noticed my hair absorbed most of it (which was happening fast, I was reapplying it every few hours). I kept my hair in a braid during that time.

13. I then did colour tests with individual strands that are for the most part not visible. I used L'Oreal Excellence 9.1, 8.1 and Schwarzkopf Palette Deluxe 220 (for some reason this has a much better numbering in other countries: 10-1 Silver Blonde). L'Oreal colours both did a fantastic job, but Schwarzkopf toned on the lightest ends and not as well as I expected. I planned to use that one just on the ends mixed with a 3% developer, but a 9.1 did a better job, so I went with that one. I later wished I had L'Oreal's Excellence 03 shade, which would leave my ends lighter, but 9.1 did the job great anyway.

14. I ended up doing a very complex toning: 

- L'Oreal Excellence 8.1 + the added developer on the top part of my hair. I risked damage here by going with the added developer and a 3% would have been a better choice, but I felt my roots looked too dark compared to the bleached part and I wanted to blend it in better, so went with the developer in the box. Why this can backfire terribly on others? While it can lift your colour, it can leave it orange if it's too dark, due to not having strong enough pigments to counteract underlying tones. I got some orange at me, but since most of the hair was lighter, it blended in well. I'd pick a 7.1 for toning+ lifting + blending darker hair. I left it on for 25 minutes. I started with this part of the hair and by the time I was finished with all that's how much time has passed. 

- 9.1 with the added developer on the mid lengths. Again, it's be far better if I used a 3% developer and I wonder if using the added developer even made a difference, but again I wanted it to blend a bit better with the darker hair, so I went with that. Here the colour was on for 10-15 minutes.

- 9.1 plus a 3% developer just on the ends. I left in on for mere minutes, less than 5.

I won't claim the result was orange-free but I had enough light hair to make the orange less prominent. For a better coverage of orange, a darker ashy shade, such as L'Oreal Excellence/Garnier Color Naturals 7.1 would be needed.  

15 . I washed it off with the added shampoo in the new version of Excellence (usually shampoo shouldn't be used after colouring for a least three days, but since they added it here, I gave it a try) and used their amazing conditioner. When it comes to leave-ins phrase "too much" is not really in my vocabulary, so I basically put half of my stash on the hair - mind you, my hair is so dry that it cannot just handle it, but needs it otherwise it's a dry, tangled mess, well as soon as it's not wet anymore. I used Schwarzkopf Professional BC Bonacure Fibreforce Fortifying Primer, which I heard being called Olaplex in a bottle, but it's not that impressive, still I used it because ingredients are great, since it's got hydrolised keratin high on the list, so this was my first protein treatment and the second was Redken Extreme Anti-Snap, which is a product I've been using for many years with some pauses. For hydration I used another one of my long-time favourite Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave-in Conditioner. I gave Nivea Styling Primer Curl its first chance because it has shea butter right after water and shea is great for keeping the moisture in. Olaplex n.6 is an extra dose of the bond building ingredient, plus it makes my hair feel so much nicer. 

 After drying I also applied Dove Super Quench (discontinued) and Moroccanoil Treatment so make the hair shinier and more put together. The pictures of the hair area second day hair because I kept it in a tight bun for the next day (not much reason except that I needed my hair out of the way).

Despite this amount of used leave-ins, I actually had to reapply some hair care in the next days, which is standard for my hair, but since I've done this process, my hair is in surprisingly good state. I think it was all that coconut oil that kept everything in check. In my last attempts, my hair because coarse, which I had to fix with Joico K-Pack duo, but this time, it's been behaving so well. I hope it stays that way.  

I hope this was helpful to you and no hairdresser comes to murder me in my sleep for this post. Have a great day!

New in #77

Aveo Avon Bourjois catrice deborah Ecotools essence Ice Cream L.O.V. L'Oreal max factor New In Olaplex Oriflame Physicians Formula Rimmel Schwarzkopf Subrina The Body Shop

New in #77

Admin   February 08, 2019   Comment  

MAKEUP

ESSENCE I <3 Extreme Volume Mascara Waterproof

This remains my favourite waterproof formula and a favourite mascara overall. I don't know which tube in a row this is so far, but there have been a few. It holds my lashes perfectly curled like I expect from a mascara, it gives a lot of volume and length, the only mini minus is that it could fan out and define a bit nicer, it's the closest to perfect and it's cheap. I'm glad this keeps dodging the discontinuing frenzies by Essence. 

Műller, 2.99 €

CATRICE Liquid Eyeliner

010 Dating Joe Black

My standard repurchase and I still use this formula every day. It's the best liner I've found so far because it's very black, dries matte, has a great applicator and it lasts all day. 

Müller, 3.79 €

PHYSICIANS FORMULA Shimmer Strips All-in-1 Custom Nude Palette 

Warm Nude 

I got this as a birthday gift from my cousin after it's been on my wishlist for years. There are two versions of these Shimmer Strips palette, mine is a warmer one, though both look warm to me (second is called Natural Nude). It's a combination of 12 shimmery-satin shades that can be used in many ways, but PH recommends these methods: 

1. All shades mixed together can be used all over the face for an all-over nude glow. 

2. First row as a highlighter.

3. As eyeshadows: 1th row highlights, 2nd as base 3rd as contour and 4th as eyeliner.

4. Nude contouring with 2nd row as blush and 3+4th row as bronzer. 

PH also added two brushes. A bigger thin brush is surprisingly good because it picks up just enough, the size fits stripes well and it blends ok, while a sponge applicator isn't all that helpful. On the back in a separate compartment is, as is usual for PH, a mirror. 

I've tried it all these ways and it does work as an all over veil if I avoid the bottom row, but it should be applied with a very fluffy brush. As eyeshadows it definitely works well for a warm nude look and gives you a nice level of versatility. As highlighter it's a nice one with a good level of glow. As a blush it's very subtle because only one square has any significant colour for a blush. As a bronzer it's very warm but it would work for warm light skin tones. 

Overall I'm happy with this. It is very close to a proper all-in-one product. I tend to use it as an eyeshadow palette, a highlighter and occasionally as a blush, but as I said it's too light for any significant flush. 

iHerb, $10.44

*BOURJOIS Rouge Fabuleux

07 Perlimpinpink

Bourjois launched a new range of lipsticks following their fantastic matte Rouge Velvet The Lipsticks. This is their newest creamy formula, which I don't know if they are replacing their Rouge Edition or not, but the formula is different. These drew me at the drugstore because the shade range looked so wearable and every day appropriate, and I wish their Velvet lipsticks had these shades. Formula feels exactly the same as Velvets at application, meaning it has that super slippery, buttery texture, however, it unlike Velvets has a creamy finish. Packaging is the same tube as Velvets except in black. 07 Perlimpinpink is a warm bubble gum pink.

12.99 €

 *DEBORAH MILANO Double Effect Volume & Length Mascara

My first mascara with a wand that can be transformed. On step 1 it's a plastic wand with bristles placed in parallel rows, but on step 2 it becomes shorter and pulls the bristles closer together creating a spiral pattern. I prefer the step 2 because step 1 doesn't create a nice fanned out effect as it starts to clump lashes together and doesn't separate them as nicely, but step two does it much better. In terms of volume it doesn't matter on which setting you have it, both do about the same. Formula is not my favourite. While it's nicely black and it doesn't smudge, it makes my lashes hard and it also doesn't keep them up, so the hit my glasses and with stiff lashes it's very obnoxious. But it creates quite large lashes because the formula is thick, it just doesn't hold my lashes up so that volume is barely visible on me. 

DM, 7.99 €

*RIMMEL Wonder'Swipe 2-in-1 Liner to Shadow

001 Slay

I think this is the right name of the shade because it's nowhere on the bottle, but it's a silver metallic eyeliner with quite a good colour pay-off for a colour liner, though at my shade most of the "colour" is densely packed shimmer. It applies nicely, like a good regular liner, so I have no problems with it skipping parts of not being able to draw a wing, but it could be more intense. The silver feels a bit underwhelming on my eyelids, maybe because there not enough contrast with my grey eyes, but in terms of quality, it's an ok eyeliner. As an eyeshadow, it sheers out a lot and what's left is a gentle haze of the grey base colour and you're left with a lot shimmer. It promises to be transfer proof, but some shimmer does end up in my create, though it doesn't smudge or move on the lids. The price is crazy high, over 8 € for which I expect exceptional quality and this could be better.  

DM, 8.79 €

*ORIFLAME The One Eyes Wide Open & Awake mascara

This has quite a unique shape of the brush, it's almost like a pear shaped. It's not making a difference compared to a regular brush, so it's a gimmick, but it doesn't clump the lashes and separates them adequately. The formula is much lighter than the Deborah one, so effect with one coat it more natural and it takes time to build this one up to proper volume. Still I prefer it to Deborah because it's lighter, it leaves my lashes soft and it's easier to remove. It doesn't hold my lashes up at all, so the effect is hardly visible on me, but I've been using it almost every day since I got it because I currently have nothing better in my stash. 

In the current catalogue the packaging is violet-pink with a price 12.90 € 

*ORIFLAME The One Eyebrow Kit 

I don't use eyebrow products so I'm skipping on trying this one, but it's a pretty nifty kit for on the go. You get an eyebrow wax, two shades of brow powder which look cool-ish to me, a mini mirror and in a compartment bellow you also get two mini brushes. 

Oriflame, 11.90€

*L.O.V. RoyalLASH Superior Strength & Volume Lash Primer

This promises to make your lashes 3x stronger and more voluminous after 30 days. I haven't seen improvement, but I haven't committed to using this daily. It's completely white on the lashes and applies nicely with no clumps. It doesn't make the mascara application any more difficult (unless it's quite dry) and in my before/after on the Instagram Stories you can see that this does add a good level of extra volume.

Ličila.si, 13.99 €

*L.O.V. EYEttraction Magnetic Loose Eyeshadow

N.510 METALfusion

I like this a lot and I've already included it in my last monthly favourites. I tried them a few times in the shop, but it's only now that I'm properly trying it out that I'm impressed. I think I like them more that all those Colourpop/Essence Melted Chrome/Catrice type of formulas. It's a drier, but similar version as those and I just find it sticks better to the lids and I get an intense metallic coat without having to build it up much. I apply it with fingers so I get a lot of colour on quickly and then blend the edges with a fluffy blush and I'm done. I enjoy the shade a lot, it's one of those classic taupes that I have tons of dupes for now, but the shimmer is much finer than the one is Colourpop or Essence eyeshadows so I prefer it. It's on my eyes on the pictures with the highlighting drops below. I give this formula two thumbs up. 

€ 6.99

 *L.O.V. LOVglow Highlighting Drops

020 Sunlight Glow

I think was a limited edition because I can't find it anywhere apart from on kosmetik4less.de website. It isn't the best highlighter because it ends up weak on the skin, instead it's a much better glowy primer. It's got that type of light formula that doesn't feel greasy and neither too matte, plus the shimmer is very fine in this, so it a good product to either apply on the skin under foundation or mixed in the foundation. The shade Sunlight Glow is a yellow gold that if it was more pigmented I wouldn't be able to wear, but since it's so translucent it's fine. The packaging bothers me at this and a pump would be better. It's got a pipette, but it's not easy picking up much product, maybe because the formula is too thick, I'm forced to scrape the product from the outside of the pipette. 

10.95 €

*L.O.V. LOVicious Caring Volume Gloss

N.100 Mystic Sand

I like the formula of this one, though it's not that special. It's a nice comfy formula with medium colour pay-off and a thicker formula than average lip gloss formula. Like most it's not sticky and I didn't notice it bleeding. The colour is a good wearable nude that would fit most. 

€ 5.99

*MAX FACTOR Colour Elixir Lip Gloss

25 Enchanting Coral

Love at first try, but that pretty much happens with all Max Factor glosses to me and I also already featured this in my monthly favourites. It's a less thick version of Honey Lacquer formula and also with a more sheer effect. Formula is like a comfortable cushion on the lips, so my lip balm substitute and they still have that lovely vanilla scent they had over a decade ago in their silly glosses. I wasn't thrilled when I saw this in my parcel because it's a coral and coral tend to look so orange and unwearable on me, but this one is very pretty, a nice pinky-peachy sheer shade. I've already wore this a lot.

*RIMMEL Provocalips 16HR Kiss Proff Lip Colour

710 Kiss-off

This is one of the most long-lasting lip products I've ever tried. It's so hard to get it off and I still had some on the next day. The colour layer is similar to matte liquid lipstick, but it dries slower, while the top coat is a clear gloss like product that eventually sets and pretty much cements the colour on the lips. Regardless of such a staying power, I didn't find this drying - not that I usually do when it comes to lipstick. It's a shame though that this shade is soo not me. It's an almost pastel, yet medium-toned orange, so I don't like myself with it. I've went to check other shades we have if I find something more wearable for me, but we only have three and I like none. I like lipsticks at which I don't have to care if it's still one and this one survived a Bacon Rosti which is probably the greasiest thing McDonalds sells, so it's a shame we don't have all the colours available.  

DM, 8.49 €

 ESSENCE The Gel Nail Polish

98 Pure Beauty, 56 You and me? And 21 A Whisper of Spring

These are being discontinued and replaced by ones in a much uglier and too me less practical packaging, as the new cap looks hard to hold compared to these old ones. Before they are gone I had to pick a backup of my favourite 98 Pure Beauty which I'm running low on as it's one of my most worn nail polishes and in the spur of the moment I grabbed two more shades. 56 You and me is one of the most popular shades I believe, but it always looked so ugly in the bottle (too cool for my skin tone) so I've been avoiding it for so long and now I genuinely regret not picking it earlier. This is one of the prettiest muted powder mauve-pinks I've ever seen and it's much warmer on the nails than the colour in the bottle indicates. I got 21 A Whisper of Spring because I have no pastel violet shades and this one actually ends ups in between a pastel pink and violet on me. I love all the shades and are so worth picking up now that they are about to go.

Müller, 0.99 €

ECOTOOLS Wonder Colour Finish Blush & Contour Brush

Another birthday gift and another product that has been on my wishlist for a while. It's a medium sized, very dense and soft brush that Ecotools recommends for blush and contour. It's nice for contouring because the size is just right and it stiff enough to blend, but for blush I find it's just a bit too stiff. Honestly I expected the bristles are a bit longer, so this would be more fluffy and due to being quite dense I find it's better for creamy textures, including foundations, which is what for I've been using for it instead. 

iHerb, $6.99

SKIN CARE 

 *THE BODY SHOP Drops of Youth Concentrate Sheet Mask

This peaked my interest when I saw it in the parcel. I always like to try an new sheet mask and this one looks intriguing because the ingredients are actually the same as the Youth Serum, at least the list is the same, but I don't know about the concentrations. It's a very expensive sheet mask so I did expect a lot, but I wasn't that blown away by it.

Sheet: Sadly TBS decided on a very thick and stiff material for the sheet, which absorbs a lot of the product (you get a massive 21 ml in this, but it feels much drier than most Asian sheet masks). It's not a very comfortable mask on the face due to that and it starts to dry fast, but the cut outs are well placed and it's not very big, which is more of a good news for those who are petite like me.

Essence: formula is light, like a classic clear serum and it leave some stickiness when it dries.

Scent: this is heavily fragranced, though that primary cosmetic chemical scent is pleasant to my nose. It's the heavy whiffs of alcohol that bother me, mainly because it makes me uneasy with how much of the stuff they packed in this mask. It's 2nd on the list after water and unfortunately on my currently dry skin this had an effect. 

Effect: Immediate effect was more evenly toned and fresher skin, but where the mask was creased, my skin was creased too, which from a mask that promises a youthful effect (by that I assume plumping) is not what I expected. By the morning my skin felt dry and I had a few dry flakes on my forehead and the rest of the effects weren't visible any more. This was my first time trying the Drops of Youth line and I don't think it's for me, but I love their Oils of Life oil, which is high on my wishlist.

Ingredients: here.

The Body Shop, 5.90 €

BODY

 *THE BODY SHOP Cactus Blossom

Shower gel, Exfoliating gel body scrub and body butter

Something new for this season from TBS. I've got to say Cactus Blossom is not a scent I ever expected from TBS, but it is very unique. It's fresh and just a bit floral-fruity sweet, but mostly it smells to me almost a bit herbal. It reminds me of L'Occitane's discontinued Angelica line. It's not my favourite TBS scent, but it's fine. The shower gel is a classic one, I actually only tried their creamy formula and I prefer them to this because it's more luxurious feeling, but this is just fine too. The body butter is a classic, again brilliant nourishing texture and well worth investing in. The Exfoliating Gel body scrub is a new thing to me. For a scrub this is very weak, even though the scrubby particles are not just the big visible bits, but there are also micro particles that are the ones actually doing the job. To me this is just another version of a shower gel.

Shower gel 6.50 € | Exfoliating gel body scrub 19.90 € | Body butter 17.50 €

AVON Bubble Bath

Bubble Gum

This smells just like you'd expect, like Bazooka bubble gum. I have yet to try it proper in a bath, but I couldn't wait to find time for it, so I used it as a shower gel so I could enjoy the scent. I had one of these before and I was very disappointed with the amount of bubbles. Maybe this one will be different.

Avon, regular price 7.90 €

AVEO Intensive Care Duschől

I've been using these for washing my hands since sometime last year. Less drying than regular liquid soap and it suits me better.

Müller, 1.95 €

SUBRINA Shower Gel

Cherry Blossom and Rose Garden

My by now standard repurchase. These are so cheap per ml when I buy them in Spar, they do their job, they come in such nice scent and one some of the rare ones that leave behind a fragrance for several hours. Of course the heavier fragrance is a not for everyone, especially those with sensitive skin, but scent is an important factor at beauty products for me. Cherry Blossom is a lovely powdery floral that is the favourite of many and Rose Garden, which I got instead of my usual Perfume Drops, is an amazing floral scent for those who hate granny rose fragrance because this is very different.

Interspar, 1.79 € (400 ml)

AVON Luck For Her Perfumed Deodorant Spray

Another birthday gift. I have the La Vie version of Luck which I love and this is the original version of the scent. It's much sweeter, less fresh version with the main notes of sweet red berries and sandalwood. Other notes include bergamot and white flowers, but this is overall a lot less complicated scent as La Vie, which is my favourite of the two. It's not a unique scent, but it's a nice simple, every day fragrance and thought the notes don't mention it, I get pure pineapple immediately after spraying it. I have the deodorant version, which sadly doesn't last long, less than an hour.   

Avon, regular price 14.50 €

HAIR

OLAPLEX n.3

I already talked a lot about this in my monthly favourites. I've recently bleached my hair and Olaplex or any other bond builder is a must if you want to keep your hair as healthy as you can. This only step 3 out of 5. First two are proper salon products, one is mixed with bleach and the other applied at rinsing which is almost the same as this number 3, except with a higher concentration of Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate. Number 3 is the one they sell as a maintainer and is meant for wider consumption, as are 4 and 5 which are a shampoo and conditioner. Olaplex's Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate fixes the disulfide bonds that get broken during bleaching. I still don't I believe this fixes any significant damage that's already happened and indeed of course this didn't fix my broken and spit ends from before, but I do think it maybe fixes minor crack that might get worse and more importantly protects the hair from further damage. I fully expected that this tiny bottle with only a 100 ml was going to last me two uses at most, but surprisingly I only used about a 1/5 of the bottle and I really went to town with it. The formula is so easy to spread, it's no problem coating all the hair with minimal amount of product. It also is completely unscented. I apply it on washed damp hair and put on a shower cap - they don't say to do this, but I have it on for a few hours and I want to prevent it from drying out because then it probably wouldn't work as well later on (recommended time is at least 10 minutes, but the longer it's on, the better results). This isn't a conditioner and you need to follow up with shampoo and a mask/conditioner after, so I expected that like at Joico K-Pack Reconstructor I won't even notice I used anything, but this left my hair with that silky feeling as I was rinsing it off. I used my usual L'Oréal Extraordinary Oil shampoo and L'Oréal Professionnel Absolut Repair Lipidum mask that contains Phyto-keratin (as well as lipids and ceramides) that strengthen the hair. Plus I also use Redken Anti-Snap for additional protein treatment. I've done several dyeing and bleaching sessions in the past months and my hair still feels the same as it did before all this experimenting, so I find Olaplex does what it promises. I will continue using it and if you lighten, bleach or colour you hair (to a lighter shade than natural colour) regularly it's not a bad idea to invest in one of these type of products, but if you don't, I don't see the point in getting this unless your hair is very damaged and you really want to try it. However, I'd first get a good protein treatment like Anti-Snap and a mask instead. 

Spletična, 21.50 €

 ICE CREAM No-Yellow Shampoo

I'm not a proper blonde yet, so getting this was a bit premature, but I do have some blonder bits on the bottom layers where my hair is thin and it was as expected quite yellow, so I grabbed this in DM to tone it. It's quite fun to use because this is like a dark violet ink when you squeeze it out. I accidentally stained my curtain with this when I turned my hair, so you need to be careful with it. It lathers well and it's easy to spread all over the hair. I leave it on while I shower, so a few minutes and it rinses off completely. Since most of my hair is dark blonde level 7 on the hair chart, I'd actually need a blue shampoo to tone the orange hues (I used L'Oreal's Preference 8.1 for that), so this only worked on those paler blonde hair I have as expected. I've used this on a strand of hair I bleached all the way to pale yellow and this toned the yellow tone a lot, so if you're a pale blonde, this is a nice formula to try, though I hear L'Oreal recently launched their violet shampoo and mask which might be cheaper. It's not terribly drying but neither moisturising, so I think it should work for all hair types. It smells a bit like grapes.

DM, 9.99 €

 SCHWARZKOPF Blond Me Premium Developer 6% and Bond Enforcing Premium Lightener 9+

I've also already talked a lot about this in my monthly favourites, but the gist is this: it's is a high quality bleach that left my hair with no damage. I did apply coconut oil prior and I only have a 6% developer because that's what Amazon had (I regret not getting a 9% or a 12% from another place as they would be a better choice for my thick, dark hair. I stupidly wanted to avoid more shipping costs). I picked Blondme after an extensive research because it has an added bond builder (something like Olaplex that prevents the bonds between keratin plates from being dissolved, therefore prevent significant damage) and because I read many reviews saying it got even those with very dark hair to platinum blonde in one try (like I said it works with a 12% on dark hair, while with a 6% it got me a few shades down). Aside from no damage, it didn't make my hair drier, it doesn't smell like bleach much (it actually has a floral scent) and it got on my skin numerous times and it felt like nothing, so this is definitely a bleach I'm very comfortable using. There's an added measuring spoon in the bleach powder packaging. By the way, despite the fact it's blue, you need to get a toner to use afterwards. I also do not recommend using this alone at home, unless you're really knowledgeable about bleaching, hair levels and underlying pigments. I did it myself only after several months of research and I really did the balayage myself, with a help of several mirrors, a camera and a smartphone. I'm happy with the results, even though it didn't got as light as I hoped due to a weaker developed, also no one said anything bad about my hair colour yet (you can see it in my monthly favourites).

Amazon, 23.38 € for bleach powder (400 g), 9.93 € for developer (1000 ml)

L'OREAL Récital Préférence 

8.1 Copenhague

I'm a big fan of Excellence (seriously, the more box dyes I try, the more I see how utterly brilliant it is), so I wanted to see how the slightly more expensive Preference fares. I got this shade to tone after bleaching because it's got ultra-cool tones and I've heard good things about this shade in particular. This is the strongest smelling colour I've tried. I'm really not sensitive to smells, but this knocked me down and made my eyes water, so it was this big minus from the start. Number two is that the colour part is a liquid and not a cream. While it doesn't drip, it's got a consistency similar to an egg when you mix it with the developer and the colour slides of the brush when I tried to pick it up (I always use a pot and a brush instead of these applicator bottles because it's a lot more precise). One colour also felt like it had less product that Excellence, but I managed to spread it enough using a comb and fingers. In terms of toning it did a fantastic job on the lightest hair which were medium yellow (level 8-9), but obviously it couldn't tone out the more orange parts, so I regret not taking 7.1, but it's fine. The well-toned parts are now nice very cool blonde, almost a bit silvery. It did not leave my hair feeling as fantastic as Excellence does, nor is the conditioner better than that one, so I'm definitely sticking to Excellence and I'm not going to buy this one again (they have the same shades in both lines anyway).

DM, 8.99 €

*WELLA Eimi Dry Me Dry Shampoo

You know what the deal is with me and dry shampoos - my hair is never greasy, it only gets drier the longer I don't wash it and dry shampoos something I use to merely refresh the hair and not absorb oil. Hence I can't tell you if this one is good. It didn't notice any white cast, but I didn't use a lot of it and it didn't leave a powdery feeling. The fragrance is nicely fruity. 

Have a great day!