Manic Panic Amplified Flash Lightening kit and Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink Amplified dye

I was always one of those kids that had multi coloured hair during the holidays because the school I went to wouldn't have a bar of multi coloured hair, or any coloured hair for that matter. Anyway from the age of about 13 onwards I always had my hair lightened so I could temporally dye it during the holidays. By the time I finished school I had had every coloured hair under the sun, including a rather ghastly electric green. To colour my hair, I had always used Paintbox by Fudge which lasts anywhere between 3-30 washes, nice and vague right? I used Paintbox because it really was the only dye that was readily available for me to buy in Sydney. But now theres a whole world of online dyes available for us to try and test, so I finally picked up the one that I had always herd so much about, Manic Panic. And it really is manic.

Due to my hair being relatively dark brown, even after complete lightening, I knew to get truly electric colours I would have to completely bleach the hair I wanted to colour. The Manic Panic Flashed Lightening Amplified kit was absolutely amazing for this, its very easy to mix, apply and takes almost no time to process. This bleach kit also didn't leave my hair limp, broken or excessively dry although before colouring I did decide to run a damage control mask through my hair just in case. 

After applying the Hot Hot Pink Amplified dye and allowing it to process for 15 minutes, this was the electric result.

Manic Panic's Amplified Hot Hot Pink

Lest to say I love it, AND IT LASTS, about 30% longer than the normal Manic Panic dyes. The problem I always had with Paintbox was that it never lasted in my hair, this stuff on the other hand for me lasts around 5-6 washes, although it doesn't like chlorine pools. Manic Panic dyes are animal friendly and completely vegan as an added little bonus. And it won't stain your shower floor or your fingers either. To dye all my hair, which is quite long and thick, I used less than 1/3 of the bottle, so its well worth the money. 

Oh yeah, and it glows under a black light…

Price: About $22 per bottle if you get it online, (Bleach kit is about $22-$25 online), I bought both products on ebay for a total of $44 excluding shipping.

Weight:118mL (Bleach kit is single use, more than enough in each box to completely bleach long thick hair like mine shown above)

Colours available: The amplified dyes come in 17 different colours, (Bleach kit comes in both amplified and normal which is better for lighter hair that needs less extreme bleaching)

Colour true to packaging: In most cases yes, but it does depend heavily on your starting hair colour.

Waterproof: It is a semi-permianent dye that lasts quite well through normal gentle hair washing, cold water will help preserve the colour more. It does not like chlorine pools, so if you go swimming be prepared to re-dye.

★★★★★/★★★★★

Maybelline New York Dream Nude Airfoam

Ok, I'm not going to deny that when I first saw this product quite a while ago, I was intrigued. So after much fiddling around I bought it and I've got to say, I'm not impressed at all. For starters the colour matches doesn't seem to use a scale known to man kind. I have medium brown/light skin with some pretty uneven tones on my face sometimes. As a result usually I fit in to the medium skin tone category, but for this product I ended up with Classic Ivory (150), one of the lightest colours and its still far too dark!
After reading the instructions on the back of the can and shaking with significant vigour, I followed the instructions and squeezed a "walnut sized amount" on to the back of my hand… walnut sized… ok, rather odd measuring system but we'll run with it anyway. To apply this product you are told to take small dab from the back of your hand and buff it on to your face in small circular motions, not completely ideal if you are looking to build product as it seems to just push the now liquid around more and more leaving small, streaky circles. However, once the product does dry it is buildable but be prepared to take your time with this one as it needs to dry in-between layers throughly.
The first thing that I noticed after applying this product to my face was that it felt somewhat sticky when wet, and if your the kind of person that has oily skin or gets hot easily, this probably isn't ideal for you. This product does also have SPF16 as an added little bonus, but I think the products smell does resemble sunscreen a little.
Maybelline claims that it doesn't clog pores and is lightweight for everyday wear, which seems to be true, once it dries on your face it feels weightless and I, nor anyone else I know who has tried it has had a problem with clogged pores.

Nude Airfoam on skin, Classic Ivory 150

Overall, when choosing which colour you want to try, choose wisely, try a sample pot first in the store, just make sure its hygienic to do so. When applied to the face, this product does take some time to dry and feels sticky to the touch in the meantime, I would recommend finishing it with a powder of some kind just to help set it a little more. And most of all, BEWARE MESS. An overactive spraying finger with this product will leave you with a tonne of product on you hand and potentially everywhere else, so take it easy.

Price: About $11-$15, available online, in target, kmart, supermarkets etc.
Weight:46g (1.6oz)
Colours available: Total of 12 shades available, so a pretty good range.
Colour true to packaging: It doesn't seem so, have a good look at the instore testers.
Waterproof: No.
★★/★★★★★