For years I've been having my hair highlighted at the hairdressers but as I'm trying my best to save money these days I decided a few months back to stop having it done and try just dying it myself instead. My hair is naturally what I would describe as a mid golden blonde (as you may be able to make out from my profile photo which was taken before I ever started highlighting or dying it), and I decided to try a lighter blonde. After looking around I decided on Nice 'n Easy in shade SB2, which is described as 'Natural light cool summer blonde'. I paid £5.89 for it but I have seen it on offer quite often.

In the box you get 2 different sized bottles, the larger one having an applicator nozzle on it, a tube of conditioner, a pair of gloves and an instruction leaflet. The instructions are easy to understand and follow and includes all the relevant safety information including how to do a strand test before using it.

I wasn't sure about doing this myself the first time having never dyed my own hair before but I gave it a go and found it surprisingly easy. All you need to do is pour the contents of the small bottle into the larger one, shake it up until it's fully mixed and you're ready to start applying it to your hair. Applying it to my whole head was extremely easy, just a case of sectioning my hair and making sure it's applied evenly. Subsequent applications, just doing my roots, were a little harder and took more patience as you need to make sure you get all the roots without getting it on the rest of your hair, but I've still managed to do it on my own fairly easily and quickly.

The one main thing I noticed about the dye while I was using it was that although it didn't smell too strong, the chemicals in the air made my eyes sting a little, but this was only for a few seconds before they got used to it. The dye has a creamy texture which is the perfect consistency to allow it to be spread easily over the hair without it splashing or dripping.

How long you need to leave it on for will depend on your hair type and colour so they suggest doing a strand test first to see how long it takes to get to the colour you want to achieve. I didn't bother with this and decided to just leave it on for the maximum time which is 45 minutes as it says if you want the lightest shade possible from this dye to leave it for that time too, and I decided that's what I wanted.

After it's been left for the required time you just add some water, massage it in and then rinse it thoroughly from your hair, before applying the conditioner, which you leave on for 2 minutes. The conditioner is lovely, it has a scent which is fruity and creamy at the same time and it leaves my hair so soft. I was impressed with how healthy my hair felt after using the dye and the conditioner.

The colour did not turn out how I'd expected at all. On the box the colour looks about 1 shade darker from proper white blonde, and on the side of the box it said that that's the result you should expect if your hair is naturally medium to light blonde, which mine is, but it turned out only slightly lighter than my natural colour. I was disappointed that the colour wasn't what I was expecting but it does look very natural and shiny, so I decided to keep it this colour.

One of the great things about this dye is that the conditioner that comes with it is supposed to last 6 weeks, which is already more than most dyes which have enough for 1 or 2 applications, but I find on my hair because it's fine, it lasts me much longer than that. I've used the dye 4 times now and I've only used 1 and a half tubes of the conditioner.

Overall I do think this is a decent dye, it's easy to use and left my hair looking very natural and healthy, it just wasn't the same as the colour on the box.