Ombré Hair with Schwarzkopf Live Colour

 

If you've been a long term follower of my blog you'll know that once upon a time I ombréd my hair! I absolutely loved having ombré hair and was really missing it, so it was about time that it made a come back. Thanks to Schwarzkopf Live, I'd been given the confidence to get my ombré on again after attending their Live Colour Club event a couple of weeks ago. I thought it would be a great idea to review the products they gave me to make this possible and show you how I got on! ♥



So as I said before, if you've been a follower of my blog for a few years now you'll know I ombréd my hair when the L'Oréal Wild Ombré kit came out. And you may have seen the review of that kit on here too. (It's actually my most popular post on my blog to date!) I kept it for almost a year before I realised how bad a job I did at the back and deciding to go all brunette again. After watching Hayley from Frock Me I'm Famous doing her own hair with the same at home kit I have here and getting some tip from the Live Colour Club, I was ready to take on my own hair and feeling very confident about it too!

 

THE COLOURS

 

For my ombré, Schwarzkopf Live gave me one of their newest intense lighteners allowing you to achieve up to 9 levels of lift in the hair. The colour I was given to achieve my ombré was their 00B Max Blonde * colour - the second to lightest blonde in their newest collection. It obviously depends how dark your hair is in the first place and whether your hair as been previously dyed or not as to how many levels you actually achieve and what colour you achieve. At the event they told us the back of the box was very accurate so brunettes - don't expect a full blonde instantly. For us, it's a working progress to achieve a true blonde.

I was also given a Cool Browns * colour refresher for my brunette hair after. This would be to help make sure I achieved the perfect blend from my brown to blonde hair. I also went out and bought the Cool Blondes colour refresher too to help remove any brassiness from my freshly dyed hair.

 

BEFORE

 

 

I was going to be working with virgin and dark brunette hair to start with and I may have had some ends still dyed from the last time I dyed my hair back in August 2015 but as far as I was aware, most of my dyed hair was cut off during the time I had my short hair, so if I did have any dyed hair left it would have been about an inch max. I was confident about dying my hair after watching Hayley dye her own hair because she had pretty much the same colour hair as me and the same story, having dyed ends also but mainly working with virgin hair.

 

 

THE APPLICATION

 

I decided I was going to be working with the bottom 3 inches of my hair and ended up working with about 4 in the end. I knew I wanted it to be obviously ombréd but look pretty natural at the same time if that makes any sense. Lyndell showed Hayley how to do a "smooshing" technique where you rub the dye in an upwards motion to achieve a well-blended and softer gradient and I was going to religiously adopt this method when doing my own hair.

 

I also made sure my hair was sectioned into left and right and then about four sections from the bottom to the top so that it was easier to work with. I started with the back and worked my way to the front.

 

I worked some of the dye in higher up to achieve a more blended look too. Last time I achieved the most horrid blunt line at the back of my head that absolutely no one told me about and I only found out after having my ombré for about 6 months! It looked awful and I dyed my hair one colour within a week. This was NOT going to happen again.

 

So ready, knowing what I was going to do and the kit mixed up I started the application and began to become really nervous really quickly simply because I hadn't dyed my hair for such a long time and was terrified of doing it all wrong. By the end of it, my nerves calmed and I realised how easy and simple the whole process was. It was just as planned and I had nooooo hiccups! HURRAH!

 

BEFORE & AFTER

 

I apologise that my hair is curly in one and straight in the other but they were both taken in the same place with the same light so I think you can still see the difference quite well. As you can see I didn't achieve a really true blonde, but a definite light brown colour. I don't know about going any lighter in the future just yet simply because I don't want to ruin what I've got at the moment since I think it's looking pretty good for an at-home hair dye kit! The levels of the lift were quite high for me considering how dark my hair really is and I will admit I didn't like it after I'd done it and was feeling really regretful. I spent the rest of the night wondering what I was going to do since I didn't want to dye my hair again.

But when I woke up with a fresh and open mind on a new day, I was much calmer about it and after washing it one more time, using the colour refreshers and then styling it, it grew on me - and quickly! I took photos of it and realised how much of a good job I did. The gradient was perfect, I had no harsh lines and my hair wasn't as brassy as it looked the night before. I was really happy with it and so glad I'd done it despite my feelings the night before.

FINAL VERDICT
I've got no regrets about going ombré again after all this time. It means I can have some fun with my colour in a plait and an top knot now, it adds a ton of dimension to my hair and it looks so much healthier and vibrant. I know bleach doesn't make your hair healthier but it wasn't looking very alive when it was all brunette either so something had to be done! I also feel a like I've got more pride in my hair now, and noticed I've been styling it more and taking a lot better care for it. It's amazing what a change up in colour can do isn't it?

As for the colour that I used, I would definitely recommend it and use it again myself if I ever needed to! I would also definitely recommend the colour refreshers for removing brassiness and livening up blondes and for brightening up brunettes too. I've always been a big fan of the Schwarzkopf Live Colours anyway - I've always used them for when I had my Post Box red hair and when I've dyed my hair back to a warm dark brunette. I've even used their purples and pinks throughout my time dying hair. I was a dark purple before my blogging days and I used their bright pink the last time I did something funky! But I'm glad that I can feel confident in yet another one of their colours and on the other side of my usual spectrum of colours too. I'm also really excited for their new range which should be out next month, but I'm sure you'll hear more about that soon....!

Thank you Schwarzkopf Live for making my ombré dreams come true again! I'm going to enjoy my fresh new hair now - I hope you like it ♥

Sorry for such a lengthy post but I hope you like this review!
What do you think of my ombré results? Would you try doing your ombré at home now?