I was sent these CIELO hairdyes from awhile back but I had the hair makeover session at Komachi lined up and had no intentions of coloring my hair anytime soon so when the brother said he wanted me to DIY for him, I took it as a great opportunity to give these a trial.

I received it in 2 shades, and knowing my brother, he opted for the mousey brown one (4M) as opposed to the other reddish toned one (3SA).

From the brand Hoyu, the idea of CIELO Mousse hairdye is that they mix themselves as you dispense so there is no need to mix-and-shake 2 solutions together and here's the best part!

You can store them if you haven't finished using it all.

Because they are housed in separate canisters that mix upon dispensing, you don't have to worry about it being effective for only 1 hour after mixing.

To my dismay though, the instructions are all in Japanese and for something that is of 'new technology' (new to me), i could really use some English!

Theoretically it shouldn't be that far off from the usual hair dye method but who knows, I could be skipping out on important information!

Googling provided very brief English instructions, hardly of any help, so I decided to just go with the wind and see how it turns out. It's not my head/hair anyway.... heh!

Key points I noted:

• Shake the canister before use
• Always dispense the foam at a 90 degree angle
• Leave on for 20 minutes (or 30 if desired)

Yay to diagrams!

The product dispenses like a foam for 'easier coverage' and boy am I glad it's just a press-and-dispense. My last encounter with Liese foaming hair dyes aren't all that pleasant. I remembered it being more like a workout than a hair coloring session.

If you take a good look, you will notice a darker purple lining the bottom of the foam. I suppose that is the difference from dispensing it from two canisters.

Regardless, I give the foam a good stir in my palms before slathering it all over their hair.

The boy decided to join in as well since my brother wouldn't finish a canister himself. And so overnight, I seemed to be operating a hair salon coloring service.

Even after some liberal use on 2 heads (of short hair), there was about 30% of the product left. This was based totally on the rough weight of it, I wouldn't actually know.

So the idea is that if you purchase hairdye to touch up your hair or if you have shorter hair, this would be very ideal since you can keep it for the next use.

It does get messy during the coloring process but the dispenser washes easily.

Here it is post-wash, almost good as new! If you are a frequent DIY-er, you would know how nasty hair dye bottles can look after.

Now... after I have gone through all facts and such about this product, it sounds so perfect and ideal, yes?

Well, I really liked the whole idea and the way it works but sadly - so very sadly - this did nothing to my brother's hair (and hardly anything on the fiance's).

If it is of any reference, this is my brother's first time coloring his hair so I figured maybe the color wouldn't be obvious but I practically couldn't see a difference. Under sunlight it does shine a little brown - a little bit if you try and spot it but generally, zilch.

On the boy, there was hardly any difference but it did cover over the reddish-tone he had previously, making his hair appear slightly darker.

Here's the after on the bro.

Overall, it was quite a disappointing coloring effect and I want to believe that I got a wonky one but there aren't enough reviews online to cross reference the effects either.

I do have another box in a redder tone (which fiance and bro do not want to use) so maybe I will try that on myself sometime down the road. I am looking at a hair refresh in maybe end August? So... we'll see again!

Has anyone else received this or bought and tried it for yourselves? I love the idea and even the texture of the mousse so I wanted this to work so much but.... pity.

Thanks for reading!

What are some of your favorite DIY box dyes?

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

As I have (discretely?) mentioned on twitter, I am no longer a tamarin monkey! Incase you're wondering what a tamarin monkey is, click here.

I have finally fixed that hairdye job gone wrong but not without much deliberation. I could cut to the chase but that wouldn't be fun and as you know I like rambling so I feel I need to share my internal conflict.

I was torn between finding a way to keep the lightness and go ash or go over that entire color with something else, namely red. The best choice would be going to a salon and telling them what I wanted but the inflated rates and the fact that the salons I frequent were booked out left me with no other choice but another round of home DIY-ing.

I researched loads on how to go ash with off-the-shelf hairdye without ending up with a funky color but in the end, I figured it's too dangerous to experiment again so.... red it is!

I went back to a brand that I have used and trust, Revlon. Though I've not tried their Luminista range so this was a first. Instead of doing a Bright Auburn color, like I had before, I opted to go Red.

Since I had some gold undertones in my hair, I was afraid that the Bright Auburn might end up emphasizing that.

So here's the end result:

Another thing when I was lightening my hair the previous time is that not all the strands ended up being the same lightened shade. Hence, I seem to have various shades of red across my hair, which I kind of like because... it's interesting?

The 'front' and top part of my hair remains a uniformed red while the bottom parts lean towards a more auburn shade with some strands looking like highlights.

The above shots were taken under the muted sunlight we had earlier today.

Indoors, the red kind of tends to look a little brown-ish at times and a little more deep-ruby at others.

(iphone camera)

It's been awhile since I had used a red dye so I totally forgot how scary it looks washed off. The entire toilet floor looked a deep crimson red and some even got on the walls. It sort of reminded me of my college project but thankfully it all rinsed off and nothing stained (except my towel).

In all, I still like Revlon's dye even though it's a major pain to rinse off but they give sufficient product (enough for me and some for my boyfriend!) and their conditioner smells and feels amazing on.

I'm also glad my hair isn't as dry as hay after all this though it's still best in indulge in some hair masks after the CNY madness has blown over. Speaking of which, I was telling my mom about how I need not wear red for visitings, I'll just let my hair do the talking!

Thanks for reading!

I will confess. I didn't post up a photo of this new color job prior to my trip because I didn't manage to snap a photo in time.

According to the 'which hair color should I do' poll I did sometime back, majority chose the option Jewelry Ash.

I was quite intrigued by the color as well so I gave it a shot. Thankfully I did some research beforehand to know that Jewelry Ash doesn't make your hair look as fancy as on the box so I wasn't too disappointed and it was within the range of what I expected.

It lightened my hair a little, hardly noticeable, and at least it's a rather interesting shade, to make up for the 'deception'!

Looking a little reddish at times

And at times a little ashy

It gets pretty light under the sun (d'oh!) and from angles the edges almost seem like a mousey dirty blonde. Yes I might be consoling myself here, but it's not a bad color, I'd say.

If you're looking for a medium brown boxdye with varying tones, this will be interesting. But don't be fooled by the pretty model's hair color on the box. I think your hair has to be blonde beforehand to achieve that color.

Thanks for reading!