Garnier Olia Hair Dye

First off...HAPPY (really really really REALLY belated )NEW YEAR! lol :) 2012 had some good times and some bad but now that it's all been said and done, it's time to move forward into 2013! Yay!! I've actually really missed writing on here and now that things haven't been so hectic, I'm hoping I can start up again. Sooo......to start the new year, I decided to dye my hair. lol
Well not really... I wasn't like, 'OMG, it's a new year, time to dye my hair!' lol but I was getting bored with my hair color and it just happened to be a day or two after New Year's Day. And in all honesty, I had started writing this out on January 3rd, saved it, and haven't had a chance to come back to it. But if you've seen my instagram, this is kinda old news (sorry haha). 
I couldn't find the color I was planning on getting but saw a big display for Garnier Olia hair dye and decided to give it a shot.
I'm not going to lie, I'm a sucker for cute packaging...this isn't news to you lol.  But its very sleek and has a "pop of color" with a giant sunflower.

Anyways, if you aren't familiar with what Olia is, it is an oil based permanent hair color. The Garnier USA site says:

[...] The oil powered technology propels colorants deep into the hair, without ammonia, giving you pure, vivid, long-lasting color. Olia visibly improves and restores hair as the oils help to reverse roughness and dullness for more brilliant, dimensional color and softer, shinier hair with more bounce. 

[...]Unlike traditional haircolor, Garnier Olia uses an exclusive 60% oil blend with natural flower oils to achieve maximum color performance while visibly improving and restoring hair*. 

*restores hair by improving smoothness and shine

So I figured, why not.  My natural color is a dark brown, but kind of ashy and I had blond highlights.  I had the highlights put in about 6-8 months ago and when they started growing out, I used a L'Oreal Feria dye (I believe it was Havana Brown) and now that my roots were starting to show, I decided to go darker.  I opted for the Olia Dark Brown in number 4.

Here's everything that comes in the kit

When I took everything out of the box, I was pretty excited because it looks like there is a ton of product! I mean look at the size of that developer bottle! And the applicator bottle is such a unique shape, it was designed to "fit better in your hand".  But when I started mixing everything, there really didn't seem to be a 'ton of product', just the same as every other at home kit I've used. Not a big deal though.  What was a big deal, was the applicator bottle.  I've seen so many reviews of how people love it. I...HATED IT! Seriously, I must have dropped it like 4 times! lol Now, granted, I have fairly big hands (I wear a size 9 ring) so that could be the reason for it. But it was so annoying.  The top is like most applicators with the pointed tip, but since it's round and your wearing gloves, and I tend to switch hands when dying my hair so my gloves do get slippery, it was just not a good combo.  But on the other hand (no pun intended) it could have been a complete user error and maybe the applicator does work better for most.  Just not for me. :) Oh, one really cool thing, and this is really kinda lame but I liked it, the gloves are black. Most kits have the clear boring ones...yeah, these are black. lol (total nerd, I know!)

So, what was the ending result? Overall, I liked the way my hair came out. It was a huge change, but it did darken my hair slightly but still allowed my highlights to kind of peek through.  And left my hair super shiny and soft for DAYS. Not just the day or two AFTER coloring, so that was nice.

Probably shouldn't have worn a black shirt, but hopefully you get the idea.  Highlights still coming through but overall it's one color.

Well that's all I've got for now...well for this post, now that I've finally completed it. I did FINALLY pick up a Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush! Seriously, they've been out for how long!? But I couldn't see paying $25 for one! (And I didn't ;) hehe) So I'll post something on that. And! I picked up the 3 kits from Real Techniques (By Samantha Chapman a.ka. Pixiwoo) but I'm not actually sure if I'm going to keep them or not.  I kinda ordered them on a whim and now I have buyers remorse lol so we'll see about that... But anyways, thanks for stopping by and sorry it took so long for a post.