After 1 application of Garnier Olia in 6.60 Intense Red

I can see masses of people mourning my old blonde hair, but sadly it was never the same after I decided I wanted to try a slightly darker blonde. Enter L'oreal Preference in Honey Blonde that turned my light ashy locks into a yellow mass mess. One 'Colur B4' and several washes of Bleach London Silver Shampoo and my hair was semi back to normal but the yellow tones just wouldn't shift. This brought me down and I just wanted to give up the blonde. It did have almost a year's seat on the Hair Throne which for a serial hairdyer like myself, is a miracle. 

Debating what colour to go next, I knew it had to be darker. My hair likes to keep a lot of warmth so I knew my old faithful ginger or red locks would be a good bet. Enter 'Olia 6.60' dye to get me on my way to Florence and the Machine locks. 



Before application of Garnier Olia 6.60 (Excuse lack of make-up)

I've used the Olia dyes before on my old purple locks and my mother's brunette locks but never before had I used the red shade 6.60. I knew usually going from a bleach blonde, the red would be super vibrant but I thought as this was a box dye and the red's USUALLY go a lot darker, I should be fine. The box comes with a separate bottle to the two mixture bottles which seems like an excessive amount of packaging and plastic. The whole process is a little bit of a blur to me now whilst I'm typing this as soon as the dye went on, I was transfixed as to whether or not I was doing the right thing. (I knew my hairdresser was mourning the loss of my hair as the dye touched my blonde locks and sucked up the dye)

Once applied, wait 30 mins and wash off the dye. You get the little conditioner as usual which is meant to last you a wash and 6 weeks but I end up having to use over hair the conditioner due to the dryness of my hair. I know this is mainly down to the bleach my poor hair has been subjected too over the past year but also this dye didn't really help with the dryness of my hair. Considering it's marketed to contain extra oils to help with the condition of your hair, I would say this doesn't do that at all. 



During processing of Garnier Olia in 6.60 Intense Red(Excuse lack of make-up)

The washing out process felt like an eternity. Usually your told to keep washing until the water runs clear (with red hair this is far from easy but not impossible) but with this dye, it just kept bleeding. My hair felt like a dry tangled mess and just oozing red hair dye everywhere. I gave up with the washing out and just wrapped my hair in a towel and proceeded to soak my hair in heat protector and give it a quick blast with the hair-dryer. 

It. Was. Red. For sure. 

I was red, that was true but the colour just looked so flat. I don't know whether this was my fault due to not using a 'filler' colour but research stated the red would be fine due to it being a filler colour usually. I was expecting a lighter result due to the bleached base but this just looked super flat. The dye seemed to come out very 'orange' based but again, I think a lot of that may be to do with the bleached base.

The day after I actually tried another application of this to see if it was just the fact that the first had to act as a filler and the 2nd add some more depth and shine but this was not the case. It actually didn't really look that much different just if anything, actually brighter. I cant fault the vividness you can get from this dye as like I said before, usually the red boxes go darker. I avoided using my ever so loved La Riche Directions 'Vermillion Red' due to being scared it would be too bright on my blonde locks and a little 'Ronald McDonald' but I actually ended up with almost that from this box. If you're looking for bright locks from an easy to grab box you can get from your local superstore or drugstore, this would be just that. Alas, it was not quite what I was after at the time and I've since had to purchase another box (from a different brand this time) to try and add a little more depth to my hair. 



After 2nd application of Garnier Olia in 6.60 Intense Red

Red factor | 7/10 (Quite orange based instead of Pink based)

Condition of hair | 4/10 (Dryed my hair out)

Colour payoff | 7/10 (Great 'red' colour from a box but not as advertsied)

Would I repurchase? | No