Good dye, annoying bottle (Laboratoire Garnier Movida)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	Laboratoire Garnier Movida
Date:	27/09/08 (602 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Colour came out well, quick to develop

Disadvantages: smells awful, the bottle is a pain in the neck!

My hair is naturally what I would describe as 'dark blonde' but I have been dying it dark brown for several years now. When I was in the hairdressers recently, the hairdresser commented that my hair was very fair underneath. I told her that I am naturally a dark blonde/mousy brown colour, but she showed me with a second mirror, and my hair did look very blonde underneath where I obviously hadn't dyed it properly. If I thought that was bad though, there was worse to come! She parted my hair at the side and lifted the top section up. Along the roots of my hair was a bright blonde stripe, the rest of my hair being dark brown! How I had not noticed this before, I don't know, especially as the roots where my parting is looked OK - I think it could have been the harsh salon lighting making it look worse than it was as I've never been able to locate this blonde stripe since I got home, but even so, I was horrified - it looked thoroughly ridiculous, and it took all my strength not to scream when she pointed it out!!

I had a box of brown hair dye at home, which I had picked up whilst it was on special offer, and decided I would use it the minute I got through the door!

The dye was Garnier Movida, one I had not tried before, but I've used other Garnier dyes and found them to be OK, so I had no hesitations about using this.

The dye is a tone on tone colourant which contains no ammonia and covers greys. The dye is semi-permanent, so the results should last 6-8 weeks. There are 16 shades available, from blondes to purples, and browns to blacks, so you should be able to find something to suit you. The one I bought is dark brown and called 'Espresso.'

The product comes in an orange and pink box, and on the back shows what colour your hair will turn out depending on your natural colour. Inside the box is an instruction leaflet, a bottle of colour, a bottle of developer crème, a sachet of 'after colour' conditioner, as well as a pair of gloves. The gloves supplied are those 'plastic bag' type ones, which is a little disappointing, as I have quite small hands, and find that not only do these easily slip off, but also that they make my hands sweat!

Making the dye up is quite easy in theory. You simply unscrew the lid from the colour and twist it so that it clicks onto the bottle of developer crème. I actually found this step quite difficult, as I couldn't get the bottle to twist into place, and it took about five minutes and a whole lot of effort to do it. Once you've managed that step you need to shake the bottle to mix the colour, then snap the tip off the applicator nozzle. Again I found this very difficult, and had to put a damp cloth over the end in order to remove it. This is certainly not a product for weak arms!

The dye should be applied to wet hair and applying the dye was easy. The bottle has a long thin tip so you can apply it to the hair precisely where you want it to go and then you rub it in so it covers the whole of the hair. It goes on easily, but has quite an odd overpowering smell which isn't particularly pleasant.

You only need to wait 15 minutes before rinsing, and then applying the sachet of conditioner. The conditioner smells like apricots and is quite nice and only needs to be left on the hair for 2 minutes.

After my hair had dried, I was pleased with the colour, as it looked exactly how it did on the box. It also felt quite nice and soft, as sometimes immediately after dyeing it, my hair feels quite coarse and thick. I also noticed the next morning that the smell of apricots from the conditioner still lingered in my hair.

I bought my box on special offer, but I believe it normally retails at around £4.50 and can be purchased from Boots.

Overall, although I was impressed with the results, my experience with the base of the bottle not going together, and the strength it took to break the tip off the applicator bottle have put me off a little. Still it's a fairly good dye, and I like that it only took 15 minutes do develop, so I may consider purchasing it again if it is on special offer.

Summary: Garnier Movida Dye