Review: L'Oréal Paris Préférence Hair Dye in P28 Violet Pearl

Let's talk about my most essential cosmetic product today, shall we?

This is the state of my mane on hair-colouring day, dark brown with some reddish undertones-

 The roots are appalling, all of this in 28 days. My hair grew even quicker than usual this month.

I feel I should state a few facts about my hair type and history: I've been using permanent dye for four years now, occassionally attempting a change but always sticking with purples and pinks. My hair is very thick, comes down to about under my shoulderblades, naturally straight and medium blond (don't be fooled by the white roots). It grows very fast, is IMPOSSIBLE to brush and oily in type. 

It also doesn't seem to take dye in very well, more than once I followed the instructions on the hair dye package only to find that an hour later my hair was the same exact colour with no change whatsoever.

Thus to those of you who struggle with annoyingly healthy hair (yes this is a thing) I am hoping to suggest a dye that I could not survive withou.

 L'Oréal Paris Préférence in P28 Violet Pearl. I originally started using the shade Mystic Black, which has to my utmost horror been discontinued.

 The box promises some very vivid colour results, which the product fails to deliver. This is the reason for the high incidence of negative reviews out there; personally I would sell my soul to have true purple hair, but I am pretty pleased with what it does for me anyway.

 The package contains, besides the obvious tubes of colouring cream and developer, a big-ass conditioner and a pair of BLACK gloves. You got me there, L'Oréal. 

 And this is my hair part four days after I dyed it (I don't shampoo when rinsing out dye, so this after the first wash). I sense some roots already..? WTF, Mother Nature.

And the lengths of my hair in direct sunlight. In dimmer lights they look basically black.

Overall I highly recommend this product with about 9/10 satisfaction.

Pros: 

• an extremely unique shade among permanent dyes
• great lasting power (other dyes I've tried turned ginger on me within 20 days)
• leaves hair feeling very lush and soft
• washes out to a pleasant shade
• the enclosed conditioner is fantastic  and lasts me for a full month (also SLS-free)
• doesn't fry hair even if left on for a long time*

Cons:

• the most expensive drugstore box dye, retails for around 9 euros
• nothing will ever replace Mystic Black in my heart**
• the colour result differs significantly from the prictures on the box even on very light hair
• probably not cruelty-free

* I do this because my hair is so resistant. After about an hour the reaction is quantitatively completed and no further effects or damage to your hair occur. Do NOT prolong recommended exposure times when lightening your hair.

**Mystic Black was more of a true black with blue-based purple sheen, lasted longer and turned to a very dark brown after a month.



What is your favourite hair dye?

Locally Available Beauty Products Haul

I splurged a little today, combining a trip to a DM drugstore with collecting a webshop delivery. See below for results.

Left to right, top to bottom: 

• Brische Lux hydrating lipstick in the shade 9
• Brische Barra del Labios Liquida liquid lipstick in No 12
• Paese Manifesto liquid lisptick in 910
• Six Jewelry earrings
• Paese Kashmir Eyeshadow Trio in 682
• Avon Care 3in1 Oil Control Cleanser, Toner and Moisturizer
• Balea Dusche & Shampoo for Kids in Pferde
• Dontodent sensitive intensive-Schutz Mundspuelung mouthwash
• Essence All about Matt! blotting sheets
• BrushArt Eye Brush
• Essence Powder Brush
• BrushArt Eyebrow Brush
• Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder in 001 Transparent
• Monster High wet wipes
• Das Gesunde Plus Halsbonbons (sore throat remedy) in the litchi & green tea flavour

I haven't tried all of the products yet although some are repeated purchases. I loosely grouped the goodies up for more close-up pictures.

The sore throat hard candies were quite disappointing. At 0.99 cents I have no significant regrets over buying them, however, given my current state of health I would have liked something that actually worked. They seem to contain no menthol/eucalyptus or any symptom-relieving ingredients I could identify. They taste pretty off-putting so they won't double as candy either.

On to the Balea kid's shampoo: I LOVE this stuff and this could easily be my twentieth bottle. It is one of the most readily available SLS-free shampoos in Slovakia, costs 0.99 cents AND has fun animal facts in German on the back. My hair trouble would be enough to fill a whole anotherpost, so to keep things brief, this shampoo provides the best cleansing action vs colour protection balance. The primary surfactants listed are Coco-Glucoside, Sodium Coco-Sulfate and Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine. This particular edition is horse-themed and for once actually smells pleasant.

I have absolutely no experience with the facial wash and the mouthwash yet. Both were under two euros.

 Next I grabbed some blotting papers after discovering that the handy package contains 50 pieces. I used to think there were about three or five per package for some reason. I yet have to put them to a difficult test against the oily monstrosity that is my nose.

The Rimmel Stay Matte powder is pulverized gold and the ultimate solution to the aforementioned nose problem. It is not entirely transparet, however, I am happy to report that it is actually lighter than my skin and slightly yellow-toned. I prefer to combine it with a higher coverage pink-toned powder to create an almost neutral colour balance. 

Obviously I got the wet wipes primarily because of the brand. I spend excessive amounts of time in the children's cosmetics aisle in DM; I want everything! (Btw the Monster High shampoo is a very good SLS-free shampoo too.) I like to carry these in my bag for all sorts of emergency clean-up. 

 I badly needed a replacement for my disgusting shabby handle-less powder brush and I thought that upping my eyeshadow game is a life-long process waiting to be aided by some more eye brushes.

 Quite randomly I popped into a Six Jewelry shop and saw these earrings for two euros! I've had this exact same pair before and worn them almost daily for about nine months until the metal parts oxidized into oblivion. They feel very lightweight and are the ideal length for my preference.

The rather well-colour-coordinated picture above captures my 'colour' makeup aquisitons. I would not have bought any of the lipsticks in an actual shop: the online swatches depicted them as true purples. At least I'll  have something to challenge my comfort zone :) It must be nevertheless noted that the quality of the liquids ( in terms of opacity, pigmentation, precision of application, scent and taste etc) is superb.

The eyeshadows feel extremely luxurious considering the ludicrous 1.39 euros I paid for the whole trio. Despite their heavenly smooth, velvet-like textures, they did give me impressions of the chalky kind. 

Above: a swatch of the lip products under natural daylight.
Below: eyeshadow swatch under natural daylight.

 

Would you like to try any of these products?:)

Love,
Maggie.