LIVE Color XXL Foam Review - Dark Cherry Bliss 388

LIVE Color XXL Foam Dark Cherry Bliss 388 (here)

In the ever lengthy quest to grow my hair I decided virgin hair was healthiest; I had the colour chopped out and was enthusiastically growing my naturally very dark brown locks. This was going great until one day, when my hair was in a top knot, my boyfriend kindly pointed out that my temples were smattered with grey. Lots and lots of grey. Now, after my GCSEs (so, at 16 for you non-UKers) I noticed I had the odd grey; nowadays, my whole head is covered in grey-sprinkled brown (though thankfully not brown-sprinkled grey, just yet). 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen the recent T.V. advertisements for the LIVE XXL Foam dye and has been very intrigued. Foam dye isn't knew; mixing it in the container that you buy it in however, is new. I like new. So off I went to buy some more dye when my grey roots started poking through my parting (no joke). I bought it in Dark Cherry Bliss (388) for a bit of a change. 

Firstly, I love the idea of mixing the colour in the pot you buy it in; the lack of rubbish appeals to the conservationist in me. When you crack open the container, it smells like strawberries too; it still smells like fruit when you whip your hair into a foamy bubble. Of course, the smell of dye isn't lost, but covered with strawberries is much nicer! The gloves to apply the foam are also an upgrade - more like latex and less 'sandwich bag'. The colour is gorgeous too, my hair is always dark, but the shine on it with Dark Cherry Bliss is a deep purple-ish red which I really like.

With flash.

There are a few downsides; I found that although the instructions are simple - tip everything into the container, put on the lid and shake 40 times - that at the bottom there were still unmixed bits. It was really gloopy, dark red and disgusting! But I mixed it with my hand and ran it through the lengths of my hair, hoping it wouldn't over-do the colour... I'm also not sure how I stand on foam in general. It was a bit irritating when I was waiting for the development time, purely because the bubbles were popping and 'moving' on my scalp. It kind of tickled and itched - either way, not the nicest thing when you can't scratch your head! 

The colour also seems really intense. Great on my hair, less so for my towels and bedding. It's been about 2 weeks since I coloured and red is still coming off my hair when I wash it! (I wash every other day.) It doesn't bother me too much, it's probably my own fault for having white laundry and red hair, plus it comes out in the wash. But I imagine for some people this would be a real gripe. 

Overall the coverage is great, it's easy to apply and not too messy. It also smells really fruity and the lack of useless packaging seems a step in the right direction too. There's not really that much difference between the liquid version in terms of quality, so I'd probably just buy the cheapest! I find all of the LIVE XXL dyes to have a great range of colours, both the liquid and foam leave hair shiny, and both have such staying power my roots grow out before they fade. 

xx