Achieving a lilac tinge to my bleached blonde hair has been a personal mission of mine for some time, so I was excited when L’Oreal announced a toning conditioner for light blonde hair that promises a pastel tone that will last 3-5 washes. Although my hair has a bit of a purple-y hue from using purple shampoo (I’ve blogged about the best purple shampoos previously), it’s not an all over colour and it’s a bit uneven in tone so I loved the idea of having all over lilac/lavender coloured hair. I know there are a few of you out there in search of pastel hair so I thought I ought to do a review so you know whether this is worth buying.
Here is a quick instagram photo of the box. I bought it from Boots for £4.79. The colour in the photo of the box doesn’t really show it very well but in the photo the model has very clearly lilac hair. You can imagine how excited I was when I lathered it on on Saturday afternoon, dreaming of lavender locks.
In case you’re wanting to know a little more about the application of the product, essentially it works just like a conditioner. You don your gloves (which come in the box), squeeze out a good amount and work it through wet hair. You comb it through from root to end for even coverage. You then leave it on for 15 minutes – I left it on about 20. I had an idea that it hadn’t been that effective when I washed it out as the water immediately ran clear (when you use purple toning shampoo it practically dyes the bathtub purple!) When I dried my hair I could see immediately there’d been no difference. I asked Tom and he said ‘If anything your hair looks less purple!’
The before and after photos make me inclined to agree!
Maybe I’m not a fair test bed as my hair isn’t exactly an even light blonde all over already but I expected better from this product. My verdict? Buy one of the purple shampoos I recommended in my previously linked review and leave that on for 15 minutes instead. That’ll give you much better results that this did.
