Go Bronde | L'Oréal Review & Makeup Look

I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of hair colour - nothing wacky or by any means professional, but having had my hair an array of colours from bleached blonde to dark brown, mahogany to black, dirty blonde to dip-dyed and even a few blue streaks here and there when I was fourteen, I like to think I have tried enough brands and types of home hair colours to be able to tell the difference between the good and the bad - and sometimes the ugly! I have used L'Oréal Préférence home hair colour before, using one of their Ombre kits which worked really well and was fairly easy to use, but this time, going into Autumn in a few weeks, I wanted something more subtle, but more exciting than the one-tone hair I have currently - so I decided to try one of their Glam Highlights colours.

So, how does it work? As with the majority of home hair kits, you are supplied with a variety of tubes, pots and other essentials like gloves, and this kit is no different - except for an 'expert precision' wand, which is three pronged to give you an easy way to create perfect thickness highlights in your hair. You also get a colour lightener, to use after colouring your hair to bring out the highlights. I went for the No.3 shade, 'Medium Brown' for my hair to get a subtle tone. The hair colour kits are also offered in two lighter shades and one darker shade.

Most of the kit was straight forward, and very easy to get your head around on your own - it was just when it came to actually applying the colourant to my hair with the wand, I found it difficult to get a straight highlight, especially in the back of my hair, without getting the colourant on my hands or in a wiggly line all over the tips of my hair - and don't even get me started on making sure that the colourant went all the way to the roots - unless you have a mirror behind you as well and some very good lighting, this is almost impossible. So, with the help of my boyfriend, I battled on and got all the highlights done and waited. The suggested waiting time in the instructions is between 25 and 45 minutes, dependent on how strong you want the highlights, so I went for a good middle ground and waited 35 minutes before washing off the colour completely and shampooing before applying the lightening cremé and conditioner.

Before & After

I was so impressed with the colour in my hair and the highlight effect, although I think the colour was a little more copper than I thought it would be based on the colour example given on the box, although it does look really pretty in my opinion. I'm really impressed with the shine it gave my hair and how healthy my hair feels afterwards, as my hair can sometimes feel dry when it's been a warm day especially in the Summer. It's definitely not an easy kit to use on your own as it's hard to make sure that you're putting the wand in the right place for even and straight highlights, but it's so much cheaper than going to the hairdressers, at between £7 and £8 a kit (dependent on where you purchase it from) and does come out looking really professional. As a way of brightening up or putting some attitude into dull hair, I would recommend the L'Oréal Préférence Glam Highlights kit to anyone - but maybe suggest they employ a friend to help them with the application along the way!

How About A Makeup Look To Go With That New Hair?

Feeling sassy and confident with my new hair colour, however subtle a change it was, I thought it would be a perfect time to try out a makeup look to go with my new colour - something as subtle as the colour change, but still glamorous enough for my Bronde look. I went for a pink lip to bring out the girly side in my blonde highlights and a light smokey brown-gold eye to bring out the 'Bronde in me'. I wanted to do a light foundation, using a bronzer to contour instead of a harsh contour, with a peach blush on the apples of my cheeks. I used the darker colours of the bronzer palette for my dakrer contours around my under-chin and below my cheeks and used the pale pink shade for my nose, forehead and chin. I used a mixture of all the brows in the Beauty Collection palette (below) as well as the golden brown and dark pink colour to highlight my brow bone and tear duct and the darkest brown for a thick upper lash line. I used a pencil black eyeliner on my bottom lash line, and then a liquid eyeliner thin-tip pen on my upper lash line to create a thin, dramatic cat-eye. I also used two types of mascara, using a thickening mascara for the bottom layer of my upper lashes and on my lower lashes, and then went over the top lashes with a volumising mascara for ultra volume.

How Did I Create This Look?

Foundation // Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation with SPF15 in '100 Ivory'

Powder // L'Oréal True Match The Powder in 'No.4 Beige'

Bronzer // Beauty Collection Pressed Powder in 'Powder Bronzante'

Blusher // Rimmel Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush in '010 Santa Rose'

Eyeshadow // Beauty Collection Classic Eyeshadow Palette in 'Set 2'

Eyeliner Pencil // Bourjois Khôl and Contour in 'Ultra Black'

Liquid Eyeliner // Dior Art Pen in '095 Catwalk Black'

Mascara (Bottom Layer) // MaxFactor Clump Defy False Lash Effect in 'Black'

Mascara (Top Layer) // Rimmel Scandal Eyes Xtreme in '003 Extreme Black'

Brows // Barry M Brow Kit Shape & Define in 'Medium Brown'

Lipstick // Beauty Collection Maxi Lipstick in 'No.14 Vintage'

Foundation Brush // Real Techniques Expert Face Brush

Powder Brush // Wilko Powder Brush

Bronzer & Blush Brush // Avon Slanted Blush Brush

Eyeshadow Brushes // Avon Eyeshadow Soft Brushes in Sizes 3, 4 & 7

Eyebrow Brush // Avon Thin Tip Brush in Size 4

I hope you have enjoyed this look and impression of L'Oréal's Préférence Glam Highlights home hair colour kit and the makeup look to go along with a beautiful Bronde look - let me know in the comments below your favourite Summer/Autumn hair and makeup looks!