A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

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Mkatsi
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A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by Mkatsi » Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:51 pm

Hey lovelies, I posted this on tumblr with a picture, thought you might find it useful at least in part.
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Hair Dye haul.

Now ladies and Gents, I have to admit, this isn't the entirety of my stash, but these are the ones I have in Cardiff, the others are at home and are various unknown brands that are a last resort to me.

I thought it was about time to review some, since I've around 8 years expereince with at home crazy colouring now, and it took alot of mishaps to get to the good stuff.

I have, from left to right, top to bottom,

* Manic Panic Ultra Violet (amplified)
* Directions pastel pink (this may have been discontinued)
* Directions Violet
* Directions Dark Tulip
* Directions Ebony
* Renbow Crazy Colour silver
* Directions flamingo Pink
* Directions Lagoon Blue
* Directions Lagoon Blue (again, I think, Unmarked)
* Directions Midnight blue
* Directions white toner
* Directions Lavender
* Directions Lilac
* Adore Forest Green (never used so no review)
* Wella Koleston Perfect 0/11
* Wella Koleston Perfect 0/81


I also just found Directions Poppy red, which isnt in the photo.

I'm not sure of the best way to do this. I think a simple number out of ten for Overall colour, staying power, and fade colour will be best, then a short description where needed. :D

If people want pictures to match, please ask! I will try and dig one out, but its a little difficult to remember in some cases which is which.


* Manic Panic Ultra Violet (amplified)
* Colour- 6/10 staying power 0/10 fade colour 0/10

This colour is the one I paid the most for, I had to have it shipped from the US before Manic Panic was available in the UK and I had read so much good about the brand I put alot of faith into this. Sadly the purchase was a failed one. This colour was basically crap. I admit, it was the second attempt at bleaching my hair after a failed orange disaster 6 months or so before hand, and the colour went on over yellowy hair with patches of some orange, it wasnt a good base colour, but it was light enough. I was young! I have learnt since then. That aside, the colour was a lilacy washed out purple, not at all what it promised, and after two washes, the colour faded to patchy brown and gray cak, the result was probably the worst colour I've ever endured, needless to say I dyed it quickly after that with something better.

* Directions pastel pink (this may have been discontinued)
* Colour 7/10 Staying Power 6/10 (but it is a pastel) Fade 7/10

Not something I've used alot, only in use now I have actually white white hair, but a nice colour, the same as I would make using a strong pink and conditioner

* Directions Violet
* Colour 5/10 Staying Power 5/10 fade 5/10

Straight down the middle, not a great purple but good mixed with white conditioner as a toner.

* Directions Dark Tulip
* Colour 9/10 Staying power 8/10 fade colour 8/10

A really lovely deep colour, lasts for ages and fades to a nice pink tone.

* Directions Ebony
* Colour 7/10 Staying power unknown fade colour unknown

Apologies on this one, only just put it in. I was fed up of splashing out on black permenant dyes to do my fringe streak and them always fading to brown super quickly, and paying a bomb for using only a tiny amount.

It is a VERY blue based black, so Im guessing it will fade to blue. If you dont leave this on for like an hour its just a dark blue colour. I'm wondering because it is blue based whether the tiniest smidge in conditioner will made grey.

* Renbow Crazy Colour silver
* Colour 3/10 staying power 3/10 fade 9/10

The fade is only high because it leaves you with no staining at all, to white. The colour is pretty much useless, it gave me a very slight violet sheen for a couple of days. That was it, and my hair was white.

* Directions flamingo Pink
* Colour 10/10 staying power 10/10 fade 8/10

What can I say a near perfect colour.

* Directions Lagoon Blue
* Colour 7/10 staying power 7/10 Fade 6/10

I'm unsure about this one, beacuse I am sure when I first bought Lagoon Blue it was super bright blue and lasted forever, but recently using this its been a washy colour that fades a little oddly. :/

* Directions Lagoon Blue (again, I think, Unmarked)
* Directions Midnight blue
* Colour 9/10 Staying power 10/10 fade 8/10

Nice deep blue colour, stays like a biatch, even with bleaching and fades nicely and gradually.

* Directions white toner
* Colour 3/10 staying power 8./10 fade 8/10

Okay so pretty useless as a toner for me really. Some people have shown really bright white results, for me, it just didnt do much, the same as the manic panic toner I had, waste of time and money really. Also a cheap way is directions violet or lavender in conditioner, its the same, but you get a million times more. This did tone somewhat and stayed toned for a long time though, but nothing compared to proper toners.

* Directions Lavender
* Colour 5/10 staying power 9/10 fade 7/10

Didnt really turn out on my hair even on white for an hour, didnt really show much colour, but what did show stayed.

* Directions Lilac

As above.

* Adore Forest Green (never used so no review)
* Wella Koleston Perfect 0/11
* Colour 7/10 Staying power 7/10 Fade 10/10

This was my first forey into salon brand dyes, mix with Wella wellexalon developer. This is a dark grey tone, but was a little too green based for my taste, I had to tone with red after a week or so, however the colour before that was perfect dark grey (I used half 0/11 and half 0/81) fades beautifully, no patchyness and now a lovely silver blonde.

* Wella Koleston Perfect 0/81
* Colour 10/10 Staying power 7/10 fade 10/10

Just lovely, if I was to use again I would use just this and not 0/11 I think to make a silver :)

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MrsEss
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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by MrsEss » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:01 pm

Directions ebony is a green base, apparently it fades to a sludge green colour. I was gonna try it, but after I was told this, I decided not to.

You should try SFX, they have much, much better staying power :D
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Mkatsi
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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by Mkatsi » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:04 pm

Maybe :S, but I promise you, it looks very very blue. If you get a little on your fingers, its blue, when I wiped it up with white cotton wool, it came away like blue cartridge ink.

I got it three days ago, and used it that evening, I thought it'd only take 15 mins to develop, being such a strong colour, but it just left me with a midnight blue coloured streak in ma fringe. An hour with another coat came up black, but the edges are still blue.

Also, I realised after writing this review, it makes directions seem crap! But I really like them XD
Also, for me, staying power isnt always good because I change my mind so often :P All my favourite directions colours are not on here to be honest though, because I reviewed the pots I have, not the ones I have used up. Silly huh?

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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by MrsEss » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:10 pm

I guess if you wanna change your colour a lot directions is the way to go, I'm a "natural" blue though, so SFX is better. I'm only saying what I was told about ebony, is all :D
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Mkatsi
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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by Mkatsi » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:15 pm

Yeah I know, i read so much crap about directions ebony I didnt really wanna go for it, but I had been through three box dyes in three months. I went to Blue bannana to get SFX but they didnt have black so the only other place that does veg dyes I know of in cardiff was a shoe shop that does directions (I still dont know why :P ) I'll keep posted on how it fades.

Hehe yeah I know you are ;-) though on saying that all my directions blue's stayed forever, I couldnt even bleach the bitches out. Its the only colour apart from red I ever had real trouble shifting.

I think (making up science here) that the dye must depend on the person's hair to an extent because I swear what is perfect for some people is crap for me and vice versa. Plus I guess it depends what you're used to, directions was the only dye I could readily get when I started dying, and its what I stuck with because my friend started using SFX and it always looked a bit muddy. :S

I should branch out now I have the internet and the power of ebay huh? ;-) trouble is I now have such a stash of colours I rarely need to buy new.

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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by MrsEss » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:48 pm

Mkatsi wrote:
I think (making up science here) that the dye must depend on the person's hair to an extent because I swear what is perfect for some people is crap for me and vice versa. .

this is pretty much true, it depends on hiar condition & what not as to veggie dye staying power. I could never get red to stick, but I know that blue is almost impossible to shift out of my hair (not that I want to) I used to use Directions midnight blue, but when I was pregnant with my son in 2009 the hormonal changes changed my hair, so my roots were 2 or 3 shades lighter EVERY time, I'd even do it twice in about as many days to get them darker & it wouldn't happen. It really started to annoy me. I thought I'd go back to "normal" after having him, but my hair is still the same. So I switched back to SFX after using pimpin purple I knew it was a good choice. I don't have bright blue roots anymore :D
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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by VixenSingsBlack » Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:58 am

I had great success with Manic Panics Ultraviolet, and I still use it as a toner every now and again. I bleached streaks into my hair, then added the Ultraviolet right over that. It stayed the true, bright cool purple tone for 2 weeks, then faded off to a lavender, then went manky grey, and finally left my highlights very bright white until it completely went away about 2 months later leaving me with yellow-y white normal bleach out. My hair does bleach very very well though, very light with only a hint of yellow. Maybe that's why it worked better for me?

PS This was like... 6 years ago that I did this. Maybe the formula has changed??

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Mkatsi
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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently have

Post by Mkatsi » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:31 am

VixenSingsBlack wrote:
PS This was like... 6 years ago that I did this. Maybe the formula has changed??
It was about 6 years ago I did mine actually XD maybe more. Funny! Still, I was very new to the whole hair dye thing, it was one of the first crazy colours I used.

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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently

Post by DrowningBoys » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:59 am

Did you ever try the Directions Ebony with conditioner? I'm really hoping to get a similar shade to the dark grey you had and was thinking to go with the Wella 0/81 to begin with but then add some Ebony+Conditioner over the top of it to get a darker shade without the green tones you said were in Wella 0/11. I want more of a blue based grey but struggling to find the perfect one! x

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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently

Post by Miss Liberty » Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:11 pm

DrowningBoys wrote:Did you ever try the Directions Ebony with conditioner? I'm really hoping to get a similar shade to the dark grey you had and was thinking to go with the Wella 0/81 to begin with but then add some Ebony+Conditioner over the top of it to get a darker shade without the green tones you said were in Wella 0/11. I want more of a blue based grey but struggling to find the perfect one! x

Maybe try Pravana Vivids in Silver. I used that to go grey, and it was a lovely blue/purple gunmetal color that gradually faded into a true silver.

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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently

Post by night_wolf » Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:33 pm

I'm glad you gave the Direction Blues some nice scores. I love them and miss them. I've said when I move I'm putting the blue/green back on, it'll be lovely to see some colour in my life.

Thanks for giving them a review, very helpful.

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Re: A semi-comprehensive review of all the dyes I currently

Post by Bomber » Fri Jun 15, 2012 2:54 pm

Directions Ebony turned out navy blue on my white hair, and faded to putrid green. I don't recommend it at all.

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