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Review: L'Oreal Colorista Effects Balayage And Washout Peach

I have been coloring my hair since I was about 14 years old. It started with wash off foams, a few highlights here and there and all the way up to experimenting with permanent colors. My natural hair color is what I call cool mousy grey brown. Some may even call it dark blond. Obviously I hate that color. If you know my makeup style, you know I'm all about warm tones and that's how I like my hair as well. Anyway, I saw that L'Oreal launched a huge Colorista range. You get effects colors, which are permanent and you can choose among balayage, ombre or bleach. Then there are temporary colors in a spray (last you only one day), washout temporary colors and permanent colors. You can also get a fader shampoo which washes out temporary color quicker - which I don't get the point of using, unless you're really unsatisfied with your result. I was intrigued and tried out Balayage as well as Peach Washout color. 


L'Oreal Colorista Balayage

I've always wanted those effortless looking highlights in my hair and always felt like hair dressers near me don't know how to do it or I was afraid of what color it would come out. In general, I have trust issues with hair dressers and I prefer experimenting myself, so that I have no one else to blame but me. Brands previously had these types of ombre colors, but this one seemed a bit less harsh. I don't want to ruin my hair completely, because my hair is in general very fine and prone to damage. 


It comes in a white paper box with a holographic design. The design is modernly minimalistic, just enough informative and definitely eye catching with that holo effect.


In the box you get developer cream (60 ml), lightening cream (20 ml), lightening powder (18 g), brush applicator, gloves and conditioner (I forgot to include some on the photo). The price in Slovenia is 7.49€.


The brush has three rows of bristles, which are silicone and really bendable. I guess the comb is designed to give you that balayage natural look by just putting it on your hair and pulling it downwards. I wouldn't know, because I don't believe you can create a natural look with that. That's why I got my boyfriend to color the hair and I chose the balayage technique that Guy Tang uses. Btw if you need some hair inspo, you should definitely check out his YouTube channel. If I could, I would scrap up my last savings and go to his salon. 


These balayage sets are sort of like a pre-step before applying on washout colors. You can use balayage to create natural highlights, ombre to get a more intense color or bleach to completely blank out your natural color. After that they of course advise you to apply one of those washout colors for a more fun colorful effect. 


I have to apologize for my photos. I work with natural lighting which changes often and I took photos myself, so it may not be perfect. But I think you can still see the before and after effect. 

I usually use Golden Brown color (Garnier Olia 5.3) for my hair and I've recently just been coloring my roots, so the length of the hair has been kind of washed out, a bit lighter golden brown than usual. On that base my boyfriend applied balayage color. The highlights started a few centimeters from the root to look more natural. I should state that I only used half of the color, because I wanted a really light effect and because my hair is shorter and very fine. The color itself is quite thicker and is nice to apply. It won't drip down at all.

I left it on for about 25 minutes. On the box it says to leave it on 25 to 35 minutes. If you want the color to be lighter, leave it on longer. 

I hope you can see the difference. I got very natural looking highlights and they were more concentrated at the ends. The color that came out was like a golden yellow strawberry blond color. It's actually the same color that I get once my hair color either washes out or gets lighter naturally on the sun. I usually come home from beach holiday looking almost blond, but very yellow or as some would say brassy.




Be realistic when buying this color. It will either react with your natural color and pigment in your hair or with that base color that you have. Because I have golden brown color, I got golden highlights. If you have a lot of red pigment in your hair, you'll probably get warm highlights as well. I think it's unrealistic to expect that perfectly toned cool blond color from it. For that I would advise you to get it done by a professional. 

It did make my hair slightly dry, which happens with most stronger hair colors. Especially ends, but I didn't see a lot of damage, which was nice. My hair is a bit more tangled now, which I assume is due to some damage, but it's definitely not bad and not really visible. 

Btw the hair conditioner that comes with these hair colors is the bomb. Always keep it and reuse it the next time you're washing your hair.



L'Oreal Colorista Washout Peach

Washout colors are inviting you with colorful hair models and simplistic design. There is 13 shades to choose from and you literally get all you could possibly want - mint, pink, lilac, blue, turquoise and many more variations. Some are pastel and some are slightly darker designed for darker hair. These should only stay on your hair for a few washes about a week or two, depending on how often you wash your hair.  



It comes in a much smaller paper box, because there is just one main product inside and that is the actual hair color in a pretty peach plastic tube. With the box you also get set of two gloves, one for applying the color and one for using when you're washing it off.  

You get 80 ml of color for the price of 7.49€. 



In the tube is 80 ml of color and I think this is too small amount to use on your whole hair, even if you have it as short as I. I used only one tube and came out with a bit uneven result. It might just be due to a non-permanent color formula, but I think I would need two tubes to perfectly cover every strand of my hair. But then again, L'Oreal had it designed to only be applied on top of that highlights that you create with effect colors. 

I also got my boyfriend to apply this color as well, from the roots to the ends. I just wanted the same wash effect all through the hair, because I knew it won't be that visible, since I didn't have as light base as I should have for a pastel peach color.

This cream is darker peach shade when it comes out and it's thinner and a lot wetter. It won't drip and you can definitely apply it yourself, because it's not meant to look perfect. It also has a built in conditioner, so there's very little chance of damaging your hair with it. It's definitely very gentle to use on all hair types.

I left it on my hair for 25 minutes. It says to leave pastel colors on for 15 to 20 minutes. While I was washing it out, it felt like I was washing out hair conditioner - which is actually what it was, just a tinted one. My hair was ultra smooth. You definitely don't need to use any conditioner after using this. The hair is left hydrated and smooth.


 
Hair color showed up more on some strands and less on others. As I said, I think this is due to the fact that I would need two tubes to completely cover every hair. I got slightly yellow toned golden highlights, some looked light orange peachy colored and some looked a bit more pinkish peach colored (coral). I guess a proper peach color is a mix of orange and pink and that's how my hair came out. Obviously the color is lighter over those highlights from balayage and darker on my other hair. 

I actually liked the color, it screamed fall to me. I've had copper hair many times, but this color has a tint of pink in it, although it's still very much a golden peach. I think it would look coral on proper blond hair.




Since I've applied this color, I've washed my hair two times and it has mostly washed off. I'm back to my balayage result. There's a hint of peach color here and there, if I look really closely, but mostly it's all gone. So the 2 to 3 shampoo claim on the box is right.

I also did a compilation of photos. From left to right: my previous golden brown color, my hair with added highlights from balayage color and my hair with peach washout color all over.


As I said the lighting is different in all three photos, but I hope you see the main difference. I think my phone picks up color difference better than my camera. Again from left to right: my golden brown color, added balayage highlights and added peach color. 


Here are my final thought for those of you that got through that. I just wanted to be informative, because I sometimes search for hair color reviews and there are none. Hopefully mine is a bit helpful.

L'Oreal Colorista Balayage

If you've always wanted to add subtle highlights to your hair, but didn't want to damage it too much, I recommend you to check out this set. Keep in mind that you don't know what kind of lighter colors you'll get, unless you've already experimented with hair colors. I assume it will mostly come out warmer yellow blond shade, unless you have a very cool natural undertone to your hair. It's not too damaging - my copper hair colors usually did even more damage than this one. It's permanent effect, so don't do it, if you don't want it to last. You can obviously apply another color over it, if you don't like it, and it would look just slightly lighter as a base. The price point is also not bad for the effect and the fact that there's enough product in it, to do a subtle highlights all through your hair.

L'Oreal Colorista Washout Peach

The color that is shown on the box is pretty accurate, but will look like that only if you have a proper almost bleached out blond base. Otherwise this will just look like a slight tone of peach on top of your base color. I think it won't show up on medium to dark hair. In my opinion this is overpriced, because you get a small amount of color (especially if you want to apply it all over your hair) and it's a washout, which means the effect will only last you for about 2 to 3 washes. To me this is too expensive to experiment with a lot. I think L'Oreal could easily priced it at like 4€ and they would have the income they want and we would experiment more. But obviously they saw the appeal of it and the fact that people would want to use it, so they overpriced it, knowing it would sell out anyway. I would rather buy a permanent color for that effect, because washout color is not that noticeable on hair that is not bleached and it doesn't last either. It's more of a special occasion fun color to do or something that you can try on before getting a permanent color to see if those kind of colors even suit you.

I also hate the fact that these colors are sold only in certain DMs. In Murska Sobota no DM has it, the nearest one that has it is in Gornja Radgona. You might as well go to Austria for it - I saw it in Bipa. I don't get their logic on deciding which stores would have it and which won't. Kind of confusing. Here is the list of DMs in Slovenia that sell this Colorista range.

I'm glad that brands are coming out with these fun colors and it's nice to experiment, but I just wish these fun colored washout colors would be lower priced. These are also more or less designed only for blond hair, it kind of defeats the purpose on anything darker than blond. I guess I think they're really fun and unharmful, but just overpriced for a hair color. But grab those effects kits, if you've always wanted to experiment with highlighting your hair. If you do it right, the results look really natural.
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Review: Cover Your Gray 2-in-1 Mascara (Medium Brown, Dark Brown)

Once you start coloring your hair, you have to be prepared for the regrowth  and coloring your roots once a month or two months. The roots can look weird, if your natural color differs from your hair color. I have naturally very cool almost grayish brown hair and I dislike that cool tone so much. I always color my hair in a golden brown shades and once the roots grow out, it can look a bit weird. That's why I was interested in trying out Cover Your Gray products, to basically try to hide my roots. I don't have gray hair as of yet. 


Hair mascara comes in a plastic packaging with two sides. The plastic color should indicate color on the inside, but I wouldn't bet on it. Color inside is not identical to the plastic color.

In it is 7 ml of product and the price is 6.99€. You can choose among 6 shades, but I think in our stores you can find 4 shades. 



It has two sides like some of those old school mascaras. On one side you have a doe foot applicator and on the other side your have a mascara wand. 


Sponge applicator is better for applying color on sideburns or for filling in the roots. You can also apply the product with the sponge and then brush it out with wand. It gives you a higher coverage. Mascara wand brushes through the hair and gives them a light wash of color. It's not as opaque looking and it doesn't cover all the hair. I think mascara is best suited for those strands of hair that may have some unwanted color in them. 


I wanted to try out Medium Brown color and I was sent Dark Brown at first, so now I can swatch both shades for you. 

Dark Brown is a cool toned brown. It's definitely very dark and too dark for my hair color. The weirdest thing about it is that it has gold shimmer in the formula. I don't understand why, because it looks really odd on the hair. 

Medium Brown is medium brown shade with slight warm red undertone. 


Texture of it is like a thicker cream or almost like a mousse cream. It is pigmented enough that it covers gray or colored hair, but it all depends on application. If you apply it with mascara wand, it doesn't cover all the hair. If you apply it with a sponge, it gives better coverage and can cover the entire area. 


It's not the best product to use on the roots, because you need quite a lot of it to cover every strand of hair. I think this is best for certain gray strands or for those strands that didn't get covered with hair color. Sponge applicator is also great for covering sideburns, which are one of those parts of the hair that show hair regrowth the quickest. You can also thicken your hair line with it, if you feel like you don't have enough hair around there. 

It is harder to apply on longer hair, because it tangles them. Especially, if you try to cover just the roots, it can get a bit messy. 

I also don't like the fact that it makes the hair slightly wet, which also means that it looks shiny. After a while it dries down a bit, but then the hair feels crunchy, like when you apply cheap hair spray. It is slightly sticky and the hair can become really stiff, if you apply more coats of it. If you fluff the hair afterwards, it can also give you a bit of volume because of the added texture. 

The look of it on hair is actually not as bad as it may look on the photos. It actually gives you color and covers roots or gray hair. It's just the texture that didn't impress me. 

Here I applied Medium Brown on the right side. You can probably notice that the right side is a bit clumpier looking and it has warmer tone. My natural hair color is cooler and as you can see the shade isn't exactly a match for my hair color that I use.



Here you can also see my root regrowth with nothing on. 


On the left side I have Medium Brown and on the right side I have Dark Brown. I hope you can see golden flecks of shimmer on the right side. It's really hard to catch it on camera. It looks like I have dandruff and I don't get why they would put shimmer in a hair color.


Here I also wanted to show you how you can extend your sideburns and make it look, like you have fuller hair. 


Another minus is that it transfers, so you can't really go to sleep with it. It's more of a day product. Medium Brown doesn't transfer as much as Dark Brown, which is probably because of the darker shade. 

Medium Brown

Dark Brown
I think that this is a product for those of you that may need product that would give you hair color for a strand of hair that didn't get colored or a strand that is gray and stands out. It's also nice for filling in your sideburns and making it appear fuller. It's not exactly for a large part of hair, like roots, because you'll use too much product at once and it still won't cover every single hair.

I don't like that the formula makes your hair crunchy and that it sort of makes it hard to the touch. Basically, it looks obvious on the hair, if you use too much of it. It also transfers. Color choice is small and I sort of get that. But if you don't have a standard hair color, you probably won't find the perfect match, so it's pointless to use on the roots. There is also not as much product in it for you to use it on daily occasions. It's more one kind of a thing, when you really don't have the time to color your hair or you can't for other reasons. 

So it didn't really work out for what I wanted it to use - on roots, but I am not target audience for this. I just think the formula should be less wet looking. That's my main problem with it and of course, don't add shimmer in it, it doesn't make sense. 

*PR products.
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Hair Styling: Adding Volume And Thickness

Hey Beauties!

When it comes to styling my hair, I am really lazy. I do love to treat my hair with leave in treatment and hair masks, but I don't like to style it. Part of the reason is, because I have very fine and flat hair, so nothing holds. If I curl my hair, it holds for maybe one hour and then it starts to vanish. It's almost like magic (sarcastic me). You can imagine how hard it is to add some volume to my flat fine hair. That's why I decided to share some hair products that in combination give me the best result that is possible. 


L'Oreal Elseve Fibralogy Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner

I've been avoiding drugstore hair products, because I was under the impression that they just don't work. Well, I was wrong. These are supposedly meant for hair that's lacking thickness (yep, me!). This technology, called Filloxane, should penetrate in your hair and make them look thicker. All I know is that these two actually add some volume to my hair and even make them look thicker, even though they can't permanently change my hair, obviously. 



Both have blue plastic packaging with a pop up pink top. It's classic and works fine. In each is 250 ml of product and they cost around 3€.


Shampoo has creamy and runny texture. It's an off white shade and it leathers well. Conditioner is like a thicker cream. It coats the hair well and makes them soft and nourished, but not silky and slippery. They both have that hair salon scent, which I can't explain, but I really like it. 


Since I have dry ends, I love to use shampoos and conditioner for dry hair. Those make my hair silky soft and flat. These two also nourish my hair and make them smooth, but they also look thicker. They're not flat and there's definitely some added volume, which I assume is the same as with someone who has naturally thicker hair. Even if I just use these two products instead of regular shampoo and conditioner, I still get a bit more volumised and thicker looking hair. It's just not as flat as it's normally. 

got2b Volumania Volumising Spray Mousse

I saw Mateja mentioning this product and when I saw it in the store, I decided to get it. I've had a hate relationship with hair foams for a while. When I was in my teenage years I used them a lot, but stopped, because they made my hair greasy. All foam hair products still make my hair greasy, if I apply them directly on the scalp. 


Mousse comes in a metal can with a funny dispenser on top. It reminds me of cats and dogs that get those plastic things put on to avoid chewing their sick paws and such. It's pink colored. In it is 250 ml of product and the price s something around 6€. I am not sure if these are still sold in Slovenia, becuse I couldn't find them in physical stores. 



It produces foam that actually vanishes, if you hold it in the hands for too long. I think this is supposed to be used sprayed directly on the roots of hair, but I always spray it in hands. That way I can control where I want to apply it. 

It has almost sickly sweet raspberry scent and it also feels like sugar in hair. This makes my hair slightly sticky and I try to apply small amount, avoiding the scalp. Sometimes I also apply it along the hair legth to give some extra volume. For me this works as a root lifter. It gives slight volume on the roots, making hair look a bit more puffy and not flat on top. 

When I blow dry my hair with this product, I like to comb my hair with hands and hold the hair up, away from roots. This way I get optimal root lift. Not to say that this holds for hours, because it doesn't. You may not even notice the difference, but I definitely see it, which is more than nothing. 



Toni&Guy Casual Rough Texturiser

I also wanted some kind of texturiser to give my hair some texture to hold curls and such. Volume can vanish in matter of minutes, but some texture in the hair, should prevent this. I heard some good things about this one from Toni&Guy and because it was on sale, I gave it a go.


It's silver blue matte can spray. In ti is 200 ml of product and costs around 7€. It promises root lift and backcombed effect for casual, dishevelled volume with a matt finish.



Comes out slightly wet and then gets matte and almost dry. It looks like a mix of regular hair spray and tiny bit of dry shampoo. I wouldn't agree that this gives root lift, because on my hair it doesn't. It only adds texture to the hair, which means you can style them and scrunch them and they won't look as flat as usual. This is definitely one of those bed hair or after sex hair looks. My hair feels and looks thicker. It also  holds more volume. I m not as impressed as I thought I would be. My toughts were that this is going to hold my volume like crazy, but it doesn't. I have to dishevel my hair again and again, in order to give back that texture and volume.

I like to apply lots of it and it seems like the product is vaishing from the can really fast. So I have a feeling this won't last me a long time. 


Here is demonstration of how the product works on my hair. First photo is of shampoo, conditioner and mousse. These three together make my hair look thicker, add some volume and some root lift.


In the process of adding texturiser my hair can look crazy volumised. I like to scrunch my hair while spraying texturiser in. 


And here is how it looks like after I tame that. So basically on the bottom photo is my hair with all four products together. I find that these all together give my fine and flat hair some slight change in thickness, a bit more volume, slight root lift and some added texture that stays in the hair. If you fluff them here and there, it can almost last through the day. 


 I also wanted to show you that I also use combination of these products, when on rare occasions, I decided to curl them. My not so flat hair - using shampoo, conditioner and mousse.


This is curled hair, before I applied any texturiser. 


As you can see the texturiser gives me some added volume and texture, but again, it doesn't really last on my hair.


With combination of these product I can make my hair looks lightly more volumising and add some texture. I have naturally fine and flat hair and have come to realization that I'll just never have those hair commercial hair. That's why I often times just don't bother with all the hassle. If someone wants to prove to me that my hair can have some volume, I am up for a challenge. Name the place and time and I'll be there. 
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