Medium Neutral Bronde Hair Gloss- Smoky Topaz

I have brunette hair on the dark side of medium brown. I had been getting it professionally dyed but regular salon visits just aren’t in the budget right now so I picked this up after reviews on TikTok. I got Bittersweet Dark Brunette as it’s about the salon color I get. There are gloves in the box and the two bottles mixed easily enough. I’d recommend swirling instead of vigorously shaking it, let it sit for a minute then give it a gentle shake again as the product gets thicker as it mixes. I washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo first to get any product and build up out of my hair and rinsed throughly, rough towel dried my hair then applied the product. It applied easily enough and the smell wasn’t super strong but not overly pleasant (smelled mildly of wet dog). I let it sit on my hair for about 30 minutes then washed it out with Kristen Ess shampoo and conditioner. I got it EVERYWHERE on my skin and it washed right off but where I touched my shower with a dye covered hand did stain my shower. Rinsing didn’t stain my shower and it didn’t have any bleed out on the towel afterward. I used very tepid water to rinse it and wash my hair. It covered grays and previously lightened areas and it left my hair soft. I put a random leave in conditioner in afterward as a precaution since other reviews said it made their hair dry. I will probably do a hair mask before my next wash too. One bottle was more than enough to get all of my fine, thick, mid back length hair. I would absolutely use this again.

GOT ORANGE HAIR? GREAT HAIR DYE FAIL SOLUTION! Love this gloss. I plan to buy it every month for the next two years while I grow out a hair dye fail. I have orangey hair that can't be bleached because my strand test turns green, gets hot, and smokes... My only choice is to cover it up, grow it out, and cut it off incrementally. I wanted something that would cover up the orange and not dye the roots. I saw this in a Brad Mondo video, so I decided to give it a try: - Before photo: My hair fail... I have level 8 blonde hair which I accidentally dyed orange, then had to cover up with black for a couple of years. I got the black out during quarantine using Metally B + 10 peroxide and washing with Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo over and over again. I then covered it up with level 8 Clairol Natural Instincts, but it grabbed an uneven level 4, lifted my hair too much, and turned the new growth orange too. - Round 1 - Middle photo - I did an intermediary step of using the Smokey Topaz color to tame the orange. It did a little.. but still looked orange in the sun. I let it wash out and was relieved to find that my roots had not lifted to the point they were orange. The roots stayed the same color and washed out completely in about 3 weeks. The rest of my hair was back to orange in about 6 weeks. So it basically went back to the before photo. It is important to note that they have a video online on how to apply this gloss... Watch very carefully exactly how they handle the hair while it is applied and how they let it sit. I had a hard time getting started the first time and wasn't careful enough on the first section... There was a considerable amount of mid-strand breakage there. Not a big deal since I was planning on cutting it off anyway... But if you are trying to save the length, have a friend help you. It might even be worth getting it cut first so none of the dead dry ends tangle and cause breakage further up the strands. - Round 2 - No photo - This time I used Bittersweet (I knew from the Brad Mondo video it wouldn't be black... it's a really pretty ash blonde color... but it will take the brass out of anything which is probably why the model is black... that hair type has a lot of orange hair issues.) I loved it as soon as I saw it, even when it was wet. It evenly coated the roots and the new growth. I also loved it when it washed out 4 weeks later and left my roots unlifted. I almost thought about just leaving it and not dying it, but it would have probably kept washing out and I wanted what was left to be filler for the next layer. I will say that the dyed part I cut off looked very "flat" once the gloss part was gone. I had so much mid-strand breakage round 1, I decided to cut off as much as I could first, then apply the gloss. When I cut off 4 inches at the salon yesterday, I looked at it on the floor and the color was so flat and even I had a hard time seeing the individual strands on top of each other. The roots I had covered up were still "normal" though... So once the dyed part is all gone, flat color won't be an issue. I did notice that the color was a little streaky in spots the first week. Probably needed a second coat. - Round 3: After photo. 3 weeks in on Round 2, so the first box of Bittersweet was a good primer for the second box. No streakiness. I applied the gloss 2 days ago and took a shower yesterday. This is my result. I have about 3 inches of the old hair color that can't be bleached left to grow out. I have a few strands of grey here and there that the dye doesn't stick to, but not a big deal. I don't see any of the streakiness this time around... Probably because I did the second box 3 weeks after the first box so it was a primer. Also, it came off my bathtub very easily with Comet.

My natural hair his dark brown, almost black. I had 2 rounds of blonde highlights done and used this in color bittersweet when I was tired of them. This achieved the desired effect of darkening my hair to my natural color. It was easy to apply and looked very good when styled. It darkened my money pieces and made the texture of my hair very smooth and silky, similar to before I dyed my hair. I would recommend!

I’ve been experimenting with my own hair since Covid, and enjoy it so much I have continued and avoided paying too much at salons. I have been doing “ombré” hair, or at least that’s how it started. I don’t mess with my natural, medium brown on top, just the ends that slowly fade to a very bleach blonde. Over the years I’ve purposely bleached my front pieces that frame my face, and accidentally got bleach above my ear - which i’ve turned into a “money piece” (random chunk of hair that’s bleach blonde from root to end. I love doing my own hair (it’s therapeutic in a way, and so satisfying when it comes out better than I expected, even more satisfying when someone compliments my hair (it doesn’t always turn out great, I’ve definitely made some opes. However, the one thing that always trips me up, is the toning. If I want to tone my dark orange/copper mid-section, I have to use a 5A or light ash brown/dark ash blonde. While this works fantastic on the brassy part, it’s proven very difficult to avoid getting that darker toner mixed in with my bleached ends. Admittedly, this was easier before I started adding the front pieces and accidental money piece in the mix. Then whenever I tone the blonde to be less yellow and more of a natural hue, it comes out either gray or purple, or it only tones the very blonde and leaves a light orange mess behind. I’ve tried everything from demi/semi and permanent hair dyes and toners, to purple masks, purple shampoos - everything from the popular and affordable drug store brands, to the more expensive salon-quality brands. I was looking to try something new, basically just a toner or purple shampoo/mask but a different brand, and I came across this. I’ve used Kristen Ess products before (I looooove her hair detangler spray and swear by it) so I knew it was a good brand with affordable yet “expensive-looking” and high quality products. I searched through reviews on this Amazon page, as well as the Kristen Ess website & google images, for before-and-after photos, but mostly people just posted photos of the box 😭 and left vague reviews. I watched so many videos and tried to get an idea of how this would help with my brass, without darkening the blonde (too much) or turning it purple. Not much luck but… I decided to just go for it. I got the color “Smoky Topaz.” I love that it was a good price, no harsh or stinky chemicals (ammonia), and wasn’t permanent. So if I really messed up I could easily fix it with a quick bleach bath or color remover. I know it says “in shower” but I found it so much easier to rinse my hair with warm water in the sink and throw it up in a towel until it was damp, but not still dripping wet. A lot of videos I watched, girls put this directly on dry hair- while it is true that dry hair may absorb product much more quickly, in my experience, working with wet or (preferably) towel-dried hair helps so much with making sure the product is evenly dispersed. With dry hair, you can end up with patchy and uneven results. I mixed the product and started at my midsection which needed the most color-change. I noticed reviews here mentioning that it smells bad- have they never used hair bleach or dye with ammonia?! That’s open-a-window bad. This, on the other hand, smelled mostly medicinal in a way, but wasn’t overpowering and didn’t bother me one bit. After applying to my entire midsection, front pieces, and money piece, I mixed the rest into my ends and combed through to make sure every strand was evenly coated. I wrapped it up in a microfiber towel (since they are not very absorbent. But a shower cap, plastic wrap, or even a plastic bag work better! I just didn’t have any on me). I saw a few videos where girls rinsed after 10 minutes and didn’t see any results, so I decided to leave mine on for roughly 25-30 minutes, since my brass was BRASSIN. Next, I hopped in the shower and used shampoo as normal. I have very oily roots and dry, knotty hair, so I was surprised when I was able to run my fingers through my hair after just adding the shampoo! It felt like I was rinsing out a deep conditioner, rather than my shampoo. I then conditioned as normal. I let my hair towel/air dry for accurate before & after photos. Results: it definitely toned down the less severe brass, and darkened the blonde more than I thought it would. However, it got rid of ALL yellow and light orangey pieces. The darker brass is still there, perhaps toned down just a bit. This stuff did make my hair super soft and shiny! I shared 2 before photos and 2 after, each with the flash on and with just natural lighting. Hair looks much brassier in the flash photos, but is more subtle in person. I labeled the photos in case they upload out of order. All said and done, I would definitely use this product again, although maybe in a different shade. I think I’d try a darker neutralizer on the midsection, then blend with a lighter toner gloss on the ends. I do love that this isn’t damaging to my hair like other toners (I do enough of that on my own with the bleach) and that it will wash out in 8 weeks or so. I would recommend this particular shade for those with medium brown hair who want to get rid of yellowing or brassy highlights, or for those who just freshly bleached and want a more natural color (keep in mind, this *did* darken my level 8 or 9 ends to a 6 or 7, so not recommended for bleach blondes looking to just get rid of yellowing- try a much lighter shade!)

Easy, easy in your hair and great coverage. I colored my hair just two weeks ago with an amethyst hair color (not this products brand) and not only did it fry my hair. It stripped all of the color out of my hair and left it gray annd orange with bright purple roots. This product fixed all of those issues and left my hair feeling amazing. I could not be happier. In the photos below, the first picture was taken just before I colored my hair with the other brand and I did it just to cover my roots. The second photo was taken after coloring my hair with the other brand literally days later and the third photo was taken one day after using this product

Okay so I used a mix of Overtone’s Ginger and Honey Blonde for ever to get a slightly more vibrant ginger color from my natural ginger, until they discontinued Honey Blonde. Then I went to Keracolor’s Copper and Honey, but the price for the honey recently skyrocketed from like $20 per 33oz bottle to nearly $60! I also had a lot of trouble with both transferring on my pillows or knit hats, even when I wasn’t sweating and my hair wasn’t wet, and the color faded quickly with washes. I was really nervous to try the Kristen Ess Copper Penny, especially because I was only buying the 1 bottle and not mixing anything since I’m sick of doing that. I was nervous it would come out orange like the other two brands when not mixed. But, it’s winter and I’m not going out much so I figured what do I have to lose. When I first saw the color in the bottle I was very nervous- it was a DARK orangey color. It also had an odd lemony chemical smell which I didn’t love. The texture is definitely runny, im used to a thicker conditioner like consistency. The only bottle was plenty for my very thin hair, but if I had any more hair than I do I would need at least another bottle to get full coverage. I did apply it dry even though the directions say to do it wet, so that probably affected how far it went. For my hair applying glosses dry helps them last a lot longer. I left it on for the recommended amount of time, and rinsed with cold water. It took for EVER to rise out fully, which surprised me, but no biggie. I used an old orange pool towel to dry, and some color definitely transferred to that, but once it was dry I was OBSESSED. It’s the perfect shade of ginger for me. I’ve gotten tons of compliments on it from family and friends. I try not to wash my hair too much in general, but I have washed it once pretty thoroughly with hot water since applying. It did transfer to the towel again, but I don’t notice any difference in the color of my hair since then. It also has not transferred to any of my sheets or anything while I’m sleeping- Mega win!! My hair is soft, shiny and feels very healthy. If you’re looking for a solid, decently lasting Cowboy Copper type color, Kristen Ess is where it’s at.

The gloss worked beautifully! I love how it made my hair look. One issue I’ve noticed is that the scent of the gloss will not leave my hair. I’ve washed my hair multiple times since using it and I still have a “chemical” smell to my hair. I shampoo twice, use conditioner, use oils, and a leave in conditioner every time I shower and I STILL smell the “chemical” smell of the gloss.

This gloss left my hair looking so shiny and refreshed! The Bittersweet Dark Brunette shade gave my dark brown hair a rich, even tone without feeling heavy or damaging. It made my color look salon-fresh in just one use and added a soft, healthy feel to my hair. Easy to apply, smells great, and perfect for in-between color appointments.