I went into a Hair Product store a few weeks ago on the hunt for a Bright Dark Purple & walked out with Pillar Box Red... It's my favourite & wave it in my face I'll buy it!
I usually get Manic Panic but this store stocked La Riche instead. I had heard good things so I didn't hesitate in buying it.
Much like Manic Panic, it comes in a wee tub with a screw on lid, no gloves or application tools. One needs confidence with these products.
I popped it in, left it in for 45 minutes instead of the recommended 30 and washed it out.
The results were beautiful! I had a few weeks before stripped the colour out of my hair with a Bleaching Product, so I was a Gingery pink. On top of that I had put in Schwarzkopf Brilliance Ultra Violet (Dark Brunette Purple) which had faded out to an almost pinkish colour but still quite dark. So I was surprised at how vibrant Pillar Box came out!!
However!
It washed out in the first wash... My hair was still red but more Brunette Red, not the vibrant red I had had for the previous 5 days (Dry Shampoo is your mate).
SO I applied colour again, second go never acheived the Vibrant red.... I'm a little sad about it.
The colour runs out in water very easily, so do not wear light colours with wet hair or if there's a chance of rain... Also be manned with a bottle of shower cleaner if you have white acrylic walls in the shower as it stains something wicked!
I will continue to use this product though as I love the colours & I have resigned to the fact that if I was bright coloured hair then it will be a weekly maintenance.
I love the range of colours La Riche provides, they provide some colours that a lot of other dye brands don't. My go to shade was "tulip", a lovely reddish pink shade. I bleached my hair first before applying the dye to get a nice bright colour, I prefer a darker pink so I put the dye through twice. I found the product was thick so didn't run and was easy to apply, I only needed to use half a tub each time on medium length hair. The colour lasted a month or so before it started to fade so I received two or so months of good strong colour from one tub. Good value for money.
Tips: Does stain basically everything it touches so be careful.