L'Oreal Paris Excellence Cool Creme

I trailed this hair dye in 3.11 ultra ash dark brown. The dye covered all my greys (not all hair dyes do) and the colour is really nice although a bit darker than I was expecting (a cool-toned dark brown, almost black, colour) but I still like it. My hair also feels very smooth and silky now.

Really great to have purple shampoo provided as well as an anti-brass mask to keep those ashy tones. My hair is shoulder length and I have enough shampoo for two washes. The packet recommends only using the mask once a week - but that should last a while.

The dye does not smell too chemically, but it is very runny. I used the comb applicator at first, which was great for applying to my roots but it did make the dye drip out too much so changed to the normal applicator.

I was excited to give this dye a go to help even out my hair colour and provide depth to my light blonde locks. The pack was very attractive and had comprehensive instructions to follow. My hair is just below shoulder length and unlike other box dyes this one had more than enough dye to fully saturate my hair. The process was simple and smelt ok. The result was very soft hair that was a cooled down shade but a lot darker than I was expecting. I felt it was more a shade of muddy mousey brown than a light cool ash blonde, but hopefully with prolonged use of the purple hair mask they provided in the box it may become cooler. I would definitely use this dye again for the ease of use and the way my hair felt after but I would be a little more careful choosing a shade to match my desired outcome.

I’d like to start by mentioning the unboxing. This dye has an impressive number of bits and pieces in the box; the usual developer and colouring cream but also a purple mask, purple shampoo and a neat comb attachment for easier application.

Mixing and application was straightforward. I have very thick hair that is below my shoulders but I managed to get good coverage from the one bottle. The comb nozzle made it very easy to disperse adding to its overall economy.

I’m a regular home hair-dyer and I often struggle with two things: hair dye not covering the few stray greys that I have, and underlying red tones that seem to appear when the colour starts to fade

Leaving the dye in for 30 mins I got good coverage and the greys can’t be seen. It will be interesting to see if after a few washes they are still covered. The colour is a lovely rich brown, very glossy and soft, and I really like it although again I do wonder how it will live up after a few washes.

When I first opened the packaging, the first thing I noticed was the distinctive ammonia smell and I checked the details, I hadn’t even thought about ammonia as the product I’ve been using doesn’t have it and I felt surprised there’s newer products still using it when no ammonia is safer. I dyed my hair in the afternoon, and I could definitely still smell that hair dye with ammonia smell later on that evening.

Once the colouring cream is mixed with the developer, you can choose to attach a little plastic comb to the end of the application bottle which I quite liked. It’s ideal for mid length, straight hair so worked for me. I did find it easier to use without using a separate tool, like a comb to separate sections, though I did find I ended up having to squeeze the bottle pretty hard for dye to come out. I’m not sure if that was just me as the user or if everyone would find that. I did find that it was messier in that I got it in places not on my hair which I don’t experience with other dyes though again that could just be me as the user! Overall though it probably did make it easier.

The shampoo when I went to use it snapped off at the end, I think it’s single use, or that’s all I could use it for and that’s fine. It comes with an anti brass mask which is good. It’s very purple which is fine as well. The recommendation for this is once a week use, so I’ve not used it much as yet though will continue to. I haven’t noticed that my hair looks brassy so that means so far so good in my book! I was most interested in grey coverage, as I do have a bunch of grey hairs poking through in certain areas and I found that it did do what it said I would and cover these pretty well – a big plus.

When I was trying out this product, I was comparing it to L'Oreal Paris Casting Creme Gloss, since it’s the same brand and similar product. I tried the Crème Gloss through Beauty Review, it was the first at home hair dye I’ve tried and I liked it a lot so have continued to use. By comparison, I would probably continue to the previous product and not convert. The reasons for this are the smell is more pleasant for me and safer without ammonia, and it doesn’t have that distinctive dye smell for the rest of the day. Personal preference as well with colour.

I trialled L'Oreal Paris Excellence Cool Crème in 4.11 Ultra Ash Brown. My natural hair colour is a mix of light and medium brown tones. I opt to trial a darker shade of brown for the winter months. Upon opening the box the instructions showed a 3 step process Step 1 mixing/applying the solution Step 2 Post Colour purple Shampoo Step 3 Anti-Brass Purple mask

Step 1 was incredible easy. Mixing was easy – insert the crème from the tube into the bottle and shake to mix. With this Step you can either apply by squirting contents directly from the bottle or (as the instructions recommend) use a comb attachment and comb the dye through hair. I have long straight hair so attempted to use the comb as per the instructions on the box. Unfortunately I didn’t master this I would squeeze the bottle gently while combing and ended up with big spurts all through my hair. I ended up taking off this attachment and putting the original attachment back on. This worked better as I was able to squirt the mixture in lines and then massage into hair. I waited the 30 mins as per instructions and then rinsed my hair. Then onto Step 2. I applied the post colour shampoo. This had a really nice scent and was easy to work up to a later and massage in. Step 3 is the Anti brass purple mask. I applied a small amount and combed through my hair. The instructions recommended leaving in for 5 mins and then rinsing. I did this but unfortunately somewhere along the way my hair felt dry and was incredibly hard to brush. I had to jump back in the shower and put conditioner in to soften it otherwise I would have had a head full of tangled hair. Overall this is a product that is easy to diy. Only issues I had were with the gloves. I have small hands but these were almost kid sized and I could barely get my fingers in half way. I also feel like the aftercare could do with some improvement as my hair felt dry and was extremely tangled. I would use again as am happy with the shade - It is quite a lot darker than what I thought but I like it. Next time I would use my own gloves and will make sure I use my own conditioner.

Well, what can I say - in 15 minutes the colour creme had grabbed my hair and it was dark. I am hoping it will fade. To use was easy - just follow instructions - hardly any smell. 100% grey coverage is not exactly true. I still have grey/ white in patches even though I covered every strand. I have been coloring my hair myself since I was 15 so knew what to do. There was no conditioning creme with it as most other products have so used my own. Will be interested to see how long it lasts. Gloves are useless thankfully I have my own. Would I buy it myself probably no - I think I will stick to the one I always buy.

I wanted to trial this product as I had regrowth and my wash out dyes stick better to already lightened hair. The woman on the box looks like she has had some professional highlights put in and seems the dye is a lighter shade than what it is. Inside the box was gloves a standard dye bottle but also a lid you can put on the bottle after mixing the dye up like a streaking comb which is nice I did not need this part for the area in my hair but for my daughter who wanted "a hair cut" (shes 5) I thought I would use it to apply a little to her hair. I knew I was not going to need the whole lot so I tried to measure equal parts. The developer was fairly simple to measure but the tube of colour I think was difficult and I possibly added a bit too much for the amount of developer used. It smelt pretty standard for hair dye. My application was a bit hard because I did not want this dye to touch my bright coloured hair so keeping it on the regrowth only was a little challenging to do on my own and I did miss some areas simply because I could not see what I was doing. Using the lip with the comb part was ok and looked as if I was giving my daughter streaks/high lights to her light to medium brown hair. I applied it to some dark areas of her natural hair only while her hair was side parted to the side I did not do her whole head. This dye came with a shampoo to apply after using the dye to wash out residue. They claim it is a purple shampoo but seriously its literally almost white. The conditioning mask however is very purple even looked blue in some parts when I opened it to sniff. Smells good too. Now with the results of the dye on the hair: Subtle. I admit I was expecting a lighter result especially on virgin hair. My daughter has sort of warm caramel areas the tones look warm not cool because the toning mask - whilst impressive in terms of pigmentation did not do much for the hair as it was not a light enough shade to tone with purple. The back of the box for the shade indicator was not very true for us for reference the hair i used the dye on for my daughter was a lighter than the third of the three pictures of the result indicator and my regrowth was a little lighter than the second picture The result on my hair was similar to my daughter but the toner did make a bit of a difference making it look less warm toned as my natural hair is lighter than my daughters. In summary I like the scent and strength of the toning mask & the shampoo they included but this dye is not something I would reach for anytime soon. Expect it to be darker than the woman on the box. If you have light yellowy blonde hair all over this could be a good toner for you but do not expect much lift. The name of this shade "ultra light ash blonde" is misleading like the lighting and hair the lady has on the box. Would love to hear of others results with this one. I would possibly try some of their bright shades like purple red and burgundy in future.

I was so excited to try this as I haven’t dyed my hair for over a year,my hairs past my shoulders and pretty fine,my hairs also naturally a darkish dirty blonde but had always done my hair dark so even though it had been well over a year I still had a decent sized chunk of the old dark hair dye I’d previously used which was say mid way down so with just that alone I knew I’d be getting some nice brass tones trying to go back to my original,and this dye is supposed to help with the brass colour and keritan,the box was nice to look at and everything was easy to read,on opening the box I of course had to do the old sniff test and it didn’t smell to chemically like other brands,you mix 1 and 2 together shake and take off the cap and apply the little comb through attachment,your then left with the purple shampoo and the toner I believe,the consistency of the dye itself was pretty watery which I’m not normally used to but it was definitely very easy to spread through compared to my usual dyes and it was also a lot quicker to apply,my whole entire head was absolutely saturated so I thought there is no way there’s any missed bits anyway that was all fine it wasn’t until I got to the last 2 steps which the first was use the purple shampoo after you’ve washed out the dye and water runs clear but the last step which was the toner it doesn’t specifically state in the instructions to use this after the purple shampoo all it says is apply a hazelnut sized glob leave for 5 mins and wash out,so for someone like me who has never used purple products I was kind of like hmmmmm,so I just did the most common sense thing and used it after the purple shampoo,but I think it should be more specific e.g after using purple shampoo you then apply a hazelnut sized glob,after I had let my hair dry naturally it went frizzy and course feeling where any other time my hairs just been done it’s so shiny and barely any frizz,my hair looks as though there’s even more brassy tones than before I dyed it which has left me kind of stumped as my natural hair was actually a little lighter than the dye itself,was expecting that with my chunk of darker dye but not my natural hair,I’m hoping once I wash it again and use both the purple products for a second time it might tone it down a bit more,but so far I’m definitely happier with my older dye products for one it’s cheaper and seems to be more effective,my usual is about $16 where this one is anywhere from $23-$27 I think if I had gone with a darker colour it would of gone a little different,but I might even go and buy one more of the same colour in a week or so and see if it was just me or the dye itself or the fact that I might of needed a second bottle

I was hoping that this trial would work out for me but unfortunately it didn't. Firstly the gloves are too tight and tore them when I put them on so I had to use other gloves, yes I do have big hands but the gloves should be a universal size.

The application was fine and it didn't have an overpowering smell. After you rinse the colour you shampoo your hair with a purple blue shampoo then followed with conditioner. Usually you don't wash your hair for several days to ensure the colour sticks. My hair once dry is soft and shiny.

I'm a brunette with grey and the light brown I used matched but unfortunately it didn't cover my greys. I have been colouring my hair for many years with great success. Yes my greys are stubborn but it should have covered them.

The colour on my previously treated hair is a beautiful cool brown close to my natural shade and is very shiny. If only it covered my greys I would continue to use this.