Now for a while now I have been contemplating dying my hair. I've never done it myself before, and the only time I have had it dyed is only by having a few highlights one shade lighter. I had no experience about dying it before this!

The look I was going for was 'ombre' hair. For people who don't realise what ombre hair is I will explain. It is a colouring of the hair which has a gradient effect, from one shade to another. In my case I wanted the ends /midlength of my hair to be blonde, while the rest of it stayed the same colour (light brown). It has been a growing fashion trend recently, shown in quite a few magazines. Some celebrities that have had this done are; Rachel bilson, Nicole Richie, Drew Barrymore, Erin Wasson.

If you type 'ombre hair' into google, you'll be able to see photographs and it gives you a clearer image of the look I was going for!

Now ofcourse the big difference between me and these celebs is that they have money, and unfortunately I do not. I was tempted to save up and get this done at the hairdressers, but... I have bad experiences at hairdressers. Especially when you get them picky types they style your hair the way they want to, not what YOU want! While on a food shopping trip routing through the hair dye boxes, I eventually found this one. At a little price £4.49 at my local Morrisons, I thought just go for it.

The box includes:
-1 tube of lightening crème 50ml
-1 application bottle with developer lotion 50ml
-1 sachet of blonde booster ultra plus 20g
-1 tube live colour conditioner 22.5ml
-1application tip (for the application bottle)
-1 pair of gloves
-1 instruction leaflet

Through the while I've been deciding whether to dye or not, I had done previous research online (mainly from youtube bloggers) and general advice given was to get a 'highlighting' kit not a normal hair dye, because it needed bleach in it (unless your hair was dark blonde, or a few shades darker). At Morrisons there wasn't any 'highlighting' kits so I searched through numerous boxes to see if 'bleach' was included on the ingredient list on the back. My nerdy boyfriend then pointed out that 'hydrogen peroxide' is the posh word for bleach, and this box had it on!

I won't tell you the exact directions to use, a well laid out information leaflet came with the box giving a step by step guide. You must read this before and be prepared for what you are doing! I was quite worried how complicated the process would be, But it wasn't that difficult. No need to worry for first-timers (aslong as you read instructions before you do it). It's also incredibly important to take a skin/allergy test before too. This is also explained on the info leaflet.

Mixing the products as I said wasn't too difficult. One disadvantage is that the packaging of the different components. The sachet of 'blonde-booster ultra plus' sachet was ridicously tricky to get into the bottle without spilling the powdery form everywhere. You must use like an old towel or table to mix these on, cause the powder stuff goes EVERYWHERE, even with the carefullest of hands. And the tube lightening crème was just as difficult. This is in a metal tube but it takes forever to get the whole contents out.

I got my sister to help me apply it to my hair, as me being quite clumsy is not a good trait to have when handling hair dye. After everything was mixed up we started! We split my hair into different sections, otherwise the hair dye would not have covered. My sister ran her hands (with gloves on) through the ends of my hair and tried to get an even coverage. Feedback from my sister was that because the dye sets so quickly, its extremely difficult to get the dye on the whole of the hair, and on every strand. It would have been so much more easier if an applicator brushes were provided in the box, like one used in a hairdressers. If I ever do the process again, I would definitely invest in one and even perhaps use some foil.

What I do have to warn you about is the smell when putting this on! Woahh, it is so strong it blows you away. Luckily, I did actually like the smell, whereas my sister hated it. Your hair is left with this smell and essence a couple of washes later, although I found it a nice side effect.

We used about two thirds of the dye in the bottle, which only covered the ends of my hair. So anyone with long hair like me, you'd need atleast 2 boxes to get an even coverage. This needs to be taken into consideration when buying! There was an offer on at Morrisons that sold the boxes 2 for £7.50, this is pretty good pricewise although it didn't occur to me at the time.

Because I wanted 'ombre' (the gradient-look) I also got my sister after 10 minutes to put some more hair dye on further up, at mid-length. Although it states on the box, to NOT use the dye after 2-3 minutes after mixed, we sneakly did it anyway. She also used an afrocomb to try and spread little tiny bits of blonde randomly here and there, to try get a more natural look.

As the dye set, I left it in for a lengthy 40 minutes (the longest 40 minutes of my life!). Then with a helping hand from my sister I washed it out over the bath using the showerhead. Although conditioner is supplied in the box, I didn't use it. I just used my normal trusty Simple conditioner and it seemed perfectly fine. As soon as the water hit it, I could tell it had worked. Even when wet my hair looked bright blonde. This caused a great deal of panic and regret. *Oh no what have I done, this is gonna look awful, what was I thinking* thoughts running through my head.

After another 10 minutes blow drying and tadarrrr, I was over the moon! It looked surprisingly exactly what I wanted it to look like. The blonde was also practically as blonde as it showed on the box too. It's been 2 weeks since I dyed it and I have washed it pretty harshly (I wash my hair obsessively every other day) and the colour has not changed or faded the slightest. I think this must be down to the bleach content, by whatever the reason I am happy.

**Advantages**
-This process was a lot more easier and less daunting than I made it out to be.
-So much more cheaper than a hairdressers
-£4.49 is one of the cheaper hair dyes sold
-Got the ombre look I wanted!
- The smell

**Disadvantages**
-One box would no where near cover me as a full head
-If an application brush was provided it would be a lot easier to get an even coverage
-Packaging needs to be improved, tricky the mixing ingredients in the bottle.
-The 40 minutes seemed to last forever!
-Another person is needed. I wouldn't have been able to do this on my own.
-The smell (according to my sister)

Although I have listed some disadvantages, the fact that this turned out so well for me I am giving it 5 stars. I will definitely be doing this again, I hugely recommend doing this at home rather than the hairdressers. Although it has been bleached my hair doesn't look frazzled or as dry as I thought it would be, even sticking to my normal conditioner. I never expected the result to be so successful, and comparing this to a perhaps £40+ trip to the hairdressers, the money I'm saving is outstanding!