/Hair/ L'Oreal Preference Sun-Kissed Caramels Hi-Lift Ash Brown

this was purchased by me.
I needed to color my hair again as my previous color had started to fade, introducing my roots to the world. I choose this shade because it was featured on ekiblog (my ultimate source for hair coloring among other things) and I was curious to see the results of the hi-lift on my hair. Annndd, I happened to have a coupon for a box of L'Oreal hair color.

The sun-kissed caramel lines of L'Oreal Preference hair dyes are designed to "lighten the darkest hair up to 3 shades lighter, without a hint of brassiness achieving beautiful balanced browns". I picked up my box at Target for around $8, but I had a coupon for $2 off (this dye is also available in an array of stores at prices ranging from $8-10). Hi-lift ash brown (UL61) is described as "a frosted brown shade with ash tones, which will minimize red/orange tones." Sounds delightful. For reference, here is the color chart from the box.

The contents of the box:

color optimizing creme, color gel, conditioner, instructions, and gloves
The ingredients for things in the box are as follows:



Here's my hair before:

natural light


with flash
I really felt my hair was a little too orange-y yellow and uneven (noticeably so in pictures). Prior to applying the dye to my head, I did not do a skin test (naughty, I know), but luckily, I had no adverse reaction to it. I think the only thing I found offensive was the smell of the dye which made me nauseous throughout the application process. The dye from one box was enough to cover all my medium, slightly-past-shoulder-length hair with some product left over (surprising!). I left the color on around 30 minutes to process, rinsed it out, conditioned (this made my hair phenomenally soft and shiny), and here are the results:

natural light


with flash
The one thing I was scared of most was my hair turning really orange. Or red. I had browsed the reviews for this dye on hairwikia that seemed to describe this product as disappointing. On me, however, the results were quite nice (probably due to my hair type) and the color evened out, coloring my roots as well. Although my hair has darkened a bit, I very much like the way it looks.

Overview
likes
.lightened my hair color
.evened out my previous color
.one box of dye covered my mid-length hair
.didn't irritate my skin
.good price

dislikes
.overpowering chemical smell
.my hair isn't nearly as light as the model/color chart predicts it to be

bright young person loves it

this much