Review: Jerome Russell PUNKY COLOURS Semi-Permanent Conditioning Hair Colour (Flamingo Pink, Plum, & Turquoise)

I Bought This

This was the first really good, bright, semi-permanent dye I ever bought.

The colors I've used, I've liked but they have their issues!

When I was wanting to make my hair pink, I also wanted to do turquoise. I went looking for a good brand and found PUNKY COLOURS at Ulta. There aren't too many reviews as far I can find, but I figured it had to be better than Beyond the Zone from Sally's and waaaaay better than anything sold at Hot Topic.

These come in short jars made of thick, semi-opaque plastic. The silver lid has a sticker on top with the shade name and is colored to match. It's a rough idea of what the actual color is! It's not exact but it's close enough that you can buy a color with relative ease.

Example of the consistency

Thin, slick, jelly-like product.

The dye looks crazy dark in the jar. Don't let that fool you, because it does actually come out quite bright and pretty! These have a very thin, jelly-like consistency. Be careful because they do stain like nobody's business. Because of the jelly-like consistency, they smooth over the hair easily and are very easy to work with. They dry a little on the hair but won't leave your hair feeling dry. It'll probably feel quite soft and moisturized! These have an artificial fruity smell, only noticeable when you open the jar; once it's on your head, it's not noticeable.

The colors I've used so far are Flamingo Pink, Plum, and Turquoise. Flamingo Pink is pretty magenta looking compared to my all-time favorite Special Effects Atomic Pink. It's a really bright, "French fuchsia" on platinum hair. In the jar, it's much darker and you might think it looks a little like a pinky-purple instead of a pink! This lasted pretty strong for some months but so far, I've never had a problem with my pinks. Your hair may vary. Here's a very old, very bad cellphone photo from the day after I decided to have pink hair.

Plum is a beloved color but it's also a troublesome color. It's really a very pretty, pink-based dark purple that slightly blends into my roots. Slightly. The dye looks nearly black-purple in the jar but comes out a vibrant, dark purple. Sadly, it doesn't last particularly well. It loses it's dark vibrancy for a brighter purple.

From Ulta.com

I loved having Turquoise bangs but this faded quickly. I don't have any photos of my hair when the dye was in full-force, only one where my hair has faded considerably. It was a beautiful, slightly dark-medium blue and was pretty dark blue in the jar. It faded to a sort of... Seafoam-like shade. (Hey look, I have eyebrows!) Not pretty.

If you've only ever used a "drier," pastey product (such as Special Effects), these can be tricky. I have been mainly using Special Effects so coming back to PUNKY COLOURS was a shock for me. I completely forgot about the consistency and came so close to making a huge mess. My hair never felt particularly dry when I had the dye on my head, something I face when I use Special Effects (don't worry, SE is moisturizing but the dye dries on the hair). Because this really, really stains (alternative colors are, after all, stains on the hair), I have to clean up my face and hair line as soon as I can.

I can happily recommend Flamingo Pink and I want to try Turquoise again (it was pretty while it lasted!). Plum is great for a deep purple but not so great if you want it to stay dark purple. These are $9.99 at Ulta but the price can be taken down with their $3.50 off $10 coupons. I might check out more of the colors as I hunt for a replacement to Nuclear Red (Special Effects isn't currently manufacturing but the brand hasn't shut down completely—manufacturing issues is all).

I didn't swatch these because that would be a bit silly and you've seen my hair before!

SPOOKEHDOOM