Fruity and gentle. (Garnier Nutrisse)

Member Name: Vaula

Product:	Garnier Nutrisse
Date:	15/07/09 (209 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely fruity smell, good consistency, easy to apply, 1 pack can be used for 2 colouring sessions.

Disadvantages: If you're looking to lighten your hair, the strength (%) of the shades is a bit weaker than L'Oreal.

Garnier Nutrisse is a hair colour I was using a couple of times when I was putting lowlights in my hair with the shade "7.3 Golden Blonde" after I managed to create some way too light and yellow highlights in my hair, and highlights another time with the shade"9 Light Natural Blonde".

The colour is packaged in a yellow and light green rectangular cardboard box, with a photo of a model sporting the chosen shade on her hair. The box has a young, fresh feel to it, and looks to be channeling the Garnier Fructis shampoos.

The box includes a tube of colour cream, a bottle of developer cream, a sachet of after colour conditioner, gloves and an instruction sheet.

The colour cream needs to be mixed with the developer cream. The mix will be light at first, and gradually darken. The consistency of the mix is nice, creamy and easy to apply - not too runny to be all over the place. The product has a lovely fruity smell to it, that's not too strong, and much nicer than the L'Oreal shades.

If you're using any of the blonde/ light brown tones, I wouldn't recommend you to plop one of these colours into your whole head, unless your hair is very very short and you want a flat colour. This is because natural hair has different tones in it (highlights sometimes very close to the same shade), even if it may look fairly even-coloured. Bar the very dark tones, none of the models on the boxes have one-dimensional, one-colour, flat hair either. Their hair is full of subtle highlights. It is also very unlikely that a light colour poured into your whole hair will give an even result. I have therefore been using these shades to create highlights/ lowlights.

I apply the colour mix with a little brush on the chosen sections I'm holding on top of the foil (any small brush that's not too soft seems to work fine, I use a tiny paintbrush), and wrap the coloured parts in the foil to protect the rest of the hair. It takes a little practice to get quick at this, but even a small number of highlights/ lowlights in the top sections make a big difference. I use two big mirrors to be able to see what I'm doing when working on the back sections.

The development time is 25 minutes, after which you'll need to emulsify the colour with water and rinse off. I leave it on a little longer to make sure that the colour sticks.

What's nice about these types of colours that come in a tube and a bottle to be mixed together, is the fact that when you're only high-lighting/ low-lighting your hair, you don't need as much of the colour and can use one pack for two colourings. You just need to squeeze out half of the colour cream, and mix it with half of the developer cream together in whatever little plastic dish/ plate etc. you have handy, and use the rest next time.

The end result is even, and feels like your hair hasn't been terribly damaged, but feels quite healthy and shiny. If you're making your hair lighter with these shades, the lightening strength of the product (without any pre-lighteners) seems to be a little bit weaker than with the L'Oreal shades.

Summary: Good permanent hair colour, that doesn't feel too harsh on your hair.