REVIEW: L'Oréal Paris: Récital Préférence 7.3 Florida Caramelblond

bought at the dugstore DM 6,45€EUR

So beginning of last week I had the urge to dye my hair to a lighter shade, the one I had was a very dark brown with a tint of red, cause in October I had dyed it to a reddish tone, which faded really fast, since my hair was virgin black hair ( I'm Chinese ) and it is really hard to dye black hair to a rich colour. My hair reaches a little over my chest and I don't have like very thick hair it's on the normal side but I do have fine hair

Originally I was gonna buy from the collection True Brunette but unfortunately I couldn't find it in the drugstore, maybe they don't sell it here in Germany.

I decided to get the lighter shade between the two colours I was trying to decide on, advice is that the lighter shade will give you a better result concerning originally dark hair colours.


The product:
-permanent liquid dye
-the developer
-shine elixi
-deep conditioner for extra shine ( 6 weeks therapy )
- black gloves, that fit suprisingly well
-instruction manuel


The preparations:
I waited 2 days almost 3 days after I had washed it to proceed with the dying, because I wanted to protect the hair as much as possible so it doesn't loose its natural shine.
The natural oils that build up throughout the days protect your scalp and hair from the harsh dye, no matter how good the quality, the chemicals are never good for the naked scalp, so remember wait as long as you can until the actual dyeing.
To prevent the dye from staining the floor or your bathroom or wherever you plan to dye your hair, make sure you cover the areas with paper that you don't need anymore like newspapers or broshures. 
Put on some clothes that you could care less about and make sure you have a plastic bag ready, if you want to use a shower cap, go ahead.
Then I put some vaseline all around my hairline so that it will be easier to remove any dye from my face/head.
Since I head some roots coming out from the previous dye I put all of my hair back into a tight ponytail so that all the hair was pulled back.
I poured the developer into a plastic bowl ( make sure it is NOT a metal bowl ) and added the liquid dye and the shine elixir then I used a dye brush to mix it.
Put on the gloves and take a deep breath.


The process:
I dipped the brush into the hair and put it along the roots and blended the dye out towadrs the already-dyed-hair, that was done all around my hair.
I released the ponytail and parted it the way I always wear it, putting some dye on both sides of the part and then move a section then colour both sides and keep doing that to bost sides of the original part, don't forget the back of your head. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gFd2avB7TjY 
 not me in the video )
After that I colour the rest of my hair and leave it in for 40 minutes in a plastic bag, so I can prolong the moisture of the dye. They tell you to leave it in only for 30 minutes but I always keep it in longer than advised, because I know that my hair won't turn out crazy light when I leave it in longer. Just remember keep checking by taking a strand and wiping the dye off and do at your own risk.
I rinse off with cold water at least water that felt cold to my head till the water was clear, squease out the excess water and put in the deep conditioner for a couple of minutes. Rinse off and I let the towel soak off some of the water and then blowdried the roots of my hair.


The result:
I could see that the roots were lighter than the rest of my hair and I wasn't sure if it was only because I blow dried and kept the ends wet or because I used the dye unevenly.
After a couple of hours, when it was dark and there was no natural lighting left, I tried to figure out if the colour was even. It was hard to tell.
So the next day I stood in front of the window and held a mirror to my hair, taking a some ends of my hair and pulling it to the roots so I could compare.
And indeed the colour was lighter at the roots. Probably because virgin hair accepts the dye better than already-dyed-hair or maybe it was because I used more dye on the roots than on the ends. 
Anyway it's kinda fading out into a very very veeeery subtle ombre from light to dark.

Anyway the colour turned out quite nice, under the lamp light it is the colour pictured on the bottom right and in the natural lighting it is the one next to it. I'd love to take actual pictures but my camera just won't capture the colours, so please bear with me.
I'm not sure if I will get another box and dye the ends so it is even, I'll give myself a week or so to live with it and see if it's a big difference .


REVIEW:
I really really like this product and I would totally repurchase it again, it is the first time using L'Oréal hair dye and it turned out really really nice. I was a little reluctant to buy this because it cost more than the dyes I usually buy which were 2-4€EUR,but then I read some reviews and comparisions between two brands that claim to have a salon finish to the dyes and it seemed to be obvious that the L'Oréal dye is better. So I finally decided to try it out myself.
To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be that light, I was hoping it would be so I could always go back to this product if needed.
After the dye the hair was very soft thanks to the conditioner provided and the shine elixir which gives the hair extra glow.
Usually when I dye my hair the colour was never really rich enough to be visible to the lamp light but this time with the L'Oréal dye I could actually see the results really well and see the difference between before and after without having to wait till the sun comes up. 
Of course since I only dyed it three days ago I can't review the permanentness ( sorry I don't know the word at the moment ) of the product, whether the colour will wash off quick or if it will fade away and loose its richness but I'll be sure to put up review after a while to complete the review of the product.

If any of you have questions, please do leave a message down below and I'll get back to you as quick as possible.

-Amy