"I'm dying!" L'oreal Casting Creme Gloss

I LOVE these semi-permanent dyes as they seem to leave my hair in beautiful condition and with really vibrant colour.

I first used Casting Creme Gloss in 2011 in the shade 'Black Cherry'. I loved this shade and always had people complimenting me on the colour. It's practically black but in the sun and under lighting it has that lovely dark red tinge - this photo was when it was beginning to wash out so looked a little orangey/red - be prepared for the wash out colour!!

'Black Cherry' after a few weeks

Since then I have been 'Chocolate Brownie' which is a dark auburn red/brown and sometimes looks a little purple! It doesn't look like that on the packaging but it is - so beware.

'Chocolate Brownie'

I have just decided to go a little darker and more natural. I dyed my hair with shade 'Chocolate Truffle' and it has come out looking almost black but with a brown sheen -  luckily for me black seems to suit just fine and it feels great!

TIP: Be aware that the colours often come out darker than what they appear on the box so you may want to choose a slightly lighter colour than you would usually choose if you want to go darker.

Overall opinion I wouldn't try any other semi-permanent dye. There are over 20 shades, leave my hair glossy, no ammonia and last over 30 days.

How I went to blonde hair and back to dark hair

As I always say - life is too short to be boring with your hair - you must experiment. 

I have had my fair share of hair 'experiments' namely changing the colour. I never went too far afield from my natural brunette but in 2012 I decided that I wanted to be blonde. 

Here are the 3 steps I did to go blonde and the steps I took to get back to the dark side (my favourite side) : 

1. I did all my colouring at home using hair bleaching highlighting kits.

2. I began highlighting little areas of my hair but that wasn't enough for me so i decided to 'highlight' all of my hair over a week or so. 

3. I used schwarzkopf purple shampoo every other day to get rid of any brassiness - this worked perfectly.

Yes - it looked pretty...but it didn't feel it and as I went on holiday to Italy for 2 weeks I realised I looked a little like 'Tanning Mom' with my complexion against this bleach blonde, which personally I'm not a fan of. 

My hair was suffering and so was I. Luckily I had chosen the PERFECT time to grow my hair out...in the height of the ombre scene. So, It didn't look awful...It looked ok and it seemed to grow out well. 

 

My steps back to the dark side:

1. I kept trimming my hair to get rid of the blonde growing out and to improve the health of my hair.
2. I then dyed my hair with a semi-permanent  brown casting creme gloss dye but it didn't cover all of the bleach (went a bit grey..)
3. I then dyed my hair a colour that had red in it ('Chocolate Brownie' casting creme gloss). It covered it really well and it felt great going back brunette.
4. I kept re-dying using semi-permanent dye and now all traces of bleach have grown out ! :D

Be prepared for going blonde by thinking about whether it will go with your skin tone, if you believe you will want to go back dark again and if you have the patience to let it grow out. In my opinion I love brunette hair the best on myself and I will never go blonde again.