L'Oreal • Color Gems • Hair Color
(55 reviews)
| Average Rating. | 3.9 |
| Would buy this product again. | 78% |
| Package Quality | 4.1 |
| Price | 2.2 |
| Ingredients | |
heh8787 on 1/22/2013 9:48:00 PM more reviews by heh8787
Age: 25-29 Skin: Normal, Fair-Medium, Neutral Hair: Brunette, Straight, Fine Eyes: Blue
I love L'Oreal Color Gems. I have been using it on and off for years. I started using it about 8 years ago based on the recommendation of a hairdresser. Back then I used 3N.
I recently had a hair disaster at a salon. To make a long story short, I was dealing with reddish light/medium brown hair. I wanted to get to a NATURAL looking brown that wouldn't make my very light brown roots very noticeable. After a lot of research and reading reviews, I chose 6N Light Neutral Brown. As far as everyone complaining that the colors turn out darker, you should do a strand test first to see how long you should leave the color on. 20 minutes is recommended in the instructions but that is also the maximum time. I applied a protein filler to my hair first and applied the color with a bowl and brush. I left it on for 10 minutes as my strand test indicated this would be plenty of time. My hair came out perfect. A very nice light/medium neutral brown. It has been about 2 1/2 weeks since I colored and I wash my hair every day with a sulfate free shampoo. I have seen very minimal fading so far. When the demi is applied to color treated hair, it will be more permanent and won't wash completely out. I think a lot of people are mislead by demi permanents and don't understand that using them on color treated hair is much different than using them on virgin hair. I definitely recommended this product to anyone looking to make a subtle change to their hair. I also recommend using a protein filler first to ensure that the color comes out even from root to tip.
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*TOP REVIEWER* XxPRINCESSAxX on 12/11/2012 10:54:00 AM more reviews by XxPRINCESSAxX
Age: 19-24 Skin: Combination, Tan, Warm Hair: Blond, Wavy, Coarse Eyes: Other
I've used Color Gems a few times, because it was one of the few demi-permanents that was available at the time. I will not repurchase this for the following reason: no matter what color you use (besides blondes) it will end up black or dark enough anyways.
It stains your hair and never washes out, therefore its not truly a demi-permanent. I know any hair color, demi or semi included stains your hair, but this one never lightened or faded or washed out. For anyone looking for this feature, this hair color would be really good since it's more gentle than a permanent but provides long lasting results.
Too many times have I ended up with unintentional black hair and will therefore not be returning to this product. No damage though.
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mich5chen on 4/10/2012 11:17:00 AM more reviews by mich5chen
Age: 44-55 Skin: Acne-prone, Medium Hair: Black Eyes: Brown
I'm Asian (very dark brown hair, almost black) & my hair permed great for years until I started coloring it. I used L'Oreal Feria permanent color, then tried switching to semi-permanent Clairol Natural Instincts & Garnier, no go. Finally tried L'Oreal Color Gems & grew out the old hair and NOW IT PERMS! I use Dark Burgundy Red & get great red highlights/color, I like it better than my natural color! Put on immediately after mixing, & I leave it for 30 minutes (I accidentally left it on for almost an hour & it was just as fine). It doesn't destroy your hair, no matter HOW LONG you leave it on, the color just gets a bit darker. Thank you, thank you, I LOVE IT! I haven't tried any other demi-permanents, I'm so happy with this.
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Skhlaw on 9/25/2011 9:02:00 PM more reviews by Skhlaw
Age: 30-35 Skin: Combination, Medium Hair: Brunette Eyes: Green
Just used color gems in burgundy. I had previously fried my dark brown hair to have it platinum blond. After being sick of frying my hair every two to three weeks I decided to go red. Paid $200 at an aveda salon only to have hot roots and the color wash out after few days!!! Tried other deposit only color from Sallys but was too light red, looked brassy. The previously dyed blond always was lighter and a different color. Looked gross. Tried color gems after reading reviews and my color is finally uniform. Feels fine. Darker Than it looked on the swatch but other reviews said that. Used 1:1 ratio with color gems activator. Still have enough left for another color and about 7 more from activator. I am super excited about color. Finally one color!! I will update how long the color lasts.
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*TOP REVIEWER* garstrieper on 7/14/2011 9:40:00 AM more reviews by garstrieper
Age: 19-24 Skin: Combination, Fair Hair: Red Eyes: Blue
I recently purchased and used this demi permanent haircolor in Dark Red, I think it was a 5CR....the results are nice, but nothing to really write home about. I wish this was a little shinier and more coppery. But the color is a lovely dark red, covered well, and did not smell too awful. I would use this again, although I'm always on the lookout for something a little better. This seemed a little more drying than Wella's color gem line.
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gz9gjg on 8/28/2010 12:47:00 PM more reviews by gz9gjg
Age: 44-55 Skin: Other Hair: Other Eyes: Other
I have used L'Oreal Color Gems Demi Permanent hair color for about 5 years. My hair is permed, and I have about 50% gray. I apply with a bottle to my roots, then apply the color through the rest of my hair. I get consistent results, but I do add "Gray Magic" drops to improve gray coverage. Recently L'Oreal has reduced the number of colors available (but online retailers still have many of the discontinued colors). I recently tried Clairol Premium Creme Demi Permanent and was NOT IMPRESSED. It colored too red and too dark initially, then faded rapidly.
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*TOP REVIEWER* gypcc on 5/7/2010 9:16:00 PM more reviews by gypcc
Age: 30-35 Skin: Very Dry Hair: Brunette Eyes: Green
Okay... I liked this the first time I tried it (i had virgin hair w/no strays). I now can say, with certainty.... if you have any "stray" hairs... this IS NOT FOR YOU... i just lost about 40 minutes of my life... now have stinky hair and my strays are mocking me... yup... at this very moment they are chuckling... like the chuckle patch in the magic garden. and there's not THAT many of them... just in enough places (like when i part to the left OR the right) that i can't avoid them.... SO... once again i gave this a shot... and i'm not impressed.
there is shine
easy enough to manage
definitely goes darker than you expect it too
it definitely toned down the RED that i got from some lightening attempts. i had a too dark dye job in a salon recently which has prompted my AT HOME attempts...(i dont wanna be the goth mommy pickin her lil roxtar up at preschool)... so while this did tone done the red... it wasnt really worth it.
lets see how it fades gradually. if it does it well enough... i'll finish the rest of it, and let my natural come thru (siiiigh eventually) i can live w/the strays for awhile... it's better than the goth mommy on me. (some people can rock that... i can't)
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Erischaos on 5/3/2010 1:22:00 PM more reviews by Erischaos
Age: 30-35 Skin: Normal Hair: Other Eyes: Hazel
Why oh why didn't someone tell me about demi color years ago! This was my first attempt. I dyed my hair last week with a permanent ash based color and it came out so uneven with hot roots. I didn't want to go to a salon because the whole reason I took dying into my own hands again was to save money. I had some great highlights, but they were almost a year grown out. I bought light golden brown, diamond gloss and the matching volume 9 developer. I really wanted to add the golden blond to the mix but sally's was out of stock. I did two different strand tests. One was equal parts gloss, color & developer. I left it on for 20 minutes but didn't think it was dark enough. I did a second test on another part of my hair with two parts color, one part gloss and three parts developer. I went with that mix. I left it on my hair for about 23 minutes. My hair came out a very dark rich and shiny brown. It is definitely darker that I wanted, but I was expecting that based on the other reviews. It looks so healthy and shiny and it didn't feel gross and dry (after I rinsed it I used some leftover conditioned I had from the permanent color I applied last week- but even before that it felt great). I will update in a couple of weeks after I have washed it a few times
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f4nt4st1c on 12/25/2009 10:26:00 PM more reviews by f4nt4st1c
Age: 19-24 Skin: Dry, Medium Hair: Brunette Eyes: Brown
I bought the L'Oreal Color Gems yesterday in Dark Ash Brown. I had been itching for quite some time to dye my hair again, as I had to wait 6 weeks from an intense perm job. I have been hesitant about re-dying it, due to the damaging nature of the perm I had done. I quite literally had hair following out for 2 weeks post-perm. Talk about traumatic for my already fine hair. Also, the perm had taken out my natural shine from my hair, and was hoping a demi-permanent would give me back some of that lustre.
Naturally I have an ash brown hair color, and a olive complexion. Unfortunately, The perm had significantly lifted the color in my hair, resulting in a medium brown with a reddy undertone. This is because of the high hydrogen peroxide content in the perming solution. Nonetheless, after a painstaking 6 weeks I rushed out to sallys to find a demi-permanent hair color. After perusing for a while, I was sold by the promise of "brilliant shine", on the back. Although the product cames to "slightly enhance" my color, I know that's bogus. I am no stranger to Demi-permanent color, and know that it would alter the color of my hair.
As instructed, I bought the volume 9 activator, and mixed equal parts activator, to color in a bowl. I sectioned my hair as usual and then applied to my hair with a brush (remember to purchase gloves if you are used to drugstore box dyes). I only waited 10 minutes before rinsing, as I heard that the color tends to go a bit dark from the other reviews. Since I got the 'dark ash brown' I was hoping it wouldn't turn out black.
The color turned out perfect, uniform as promised, and I have shine again in my hair. My color was true to the swatch, so I am pleased indeed. Mind you, I have not had the opportunity to wash my hair more than twice, since doing this, so I will update how the product holds up.
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Ohh2pretty on 12/5/2009 3:48:00 PM more reviews by Ohh2pretty
Age: 36-43 Skin: Combination, Tan, Neutral Hair: Brunette, Straight, Medium Eyes: Hazel
I used the clear color gems over my dark demi colored hair- hoping to preserve the color longer and add some gloss! What it did was LIGHTEN IT CONSIDERABLY and unevenly. I would not buy this again. I followed directions, purchased the developer etc...not the results I wanted. In fact, I had to use 4N demi color over it to even it out and get my rich color back. Ironically, after coloring with ION Brilliance, my hair was silky and SHINY...much more so than using this gloss. Needless to say will not purchase it again.
UPDATE**** I used Color Gems 601 with clear gloss (guess I forgot I used this before) BUT I really liked it! It evened out my color and I got compliments, people thought I had my hair done at a salon :-) So maybe the gloss by itself isn't the greatest- but paired with color it does a really great Job. I am giving it another lippie! :-)
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osunshine on 10/5/2009 2:16:00 PM more reviews by osunshine
Age: 36-43 Skin: Normal Hair: Blond Eyes: Brown
First time I used this I loved it, but after the 2nd time I will not again.
After having my hair professionally done a light/medium blonde for over a year I was ready to go a bit darker so I used L’Oreal Preference #8 natural blonde but it still did not go dark enough. So I picked up Color Gems in #6 light natural brown, I figured it would let me see if I liked having darker hair again.
The first time I used Color Gems I used two ounces of #6, one ounce of Clear Diamond Gloss & three ounces of #9 developer. I did not have any new root growth the first time I used this. I only left it only 10 minutes after reading the previous reviews of how dark the product turns out. The color came out wonderful.
The color faded back to a medium blonde within 3 weeks which I thought was fast even for a demi permanent.
The second time I used the product I had new root growth & used the exact same measurements as before. It only processed 12 minutes total this time and even with the diamond gloss the color came out way darker than a light natural brown, and my grays were still visible. (I only have about 10% grey!) My hair has become dry & breaking off since using this. I am very disappointed and can not wait till this color fades so I can go back to the preference in a dark blonde.
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sherryb0914 on 9/26/2009 1:18:00 PM more reviews by sherryb0914
Age: 25-29 Skin: Normal, Olive, Cool Hair: Brunette, Wavy Eyes: Brown
5 month update - this stuff rocks! (if you want permanent color, lol.) I haven't had to die my hair once since this. Since it started out darker than my natural color, I have been able to grow my hair out gracefully and you can barely see where my natural hair color ends and the died part begins. It really faded wonderfully to a nice medium brown that blends with my natural hair. It's been great to give my hair a break from all the abuse of dying it all the time! Now if your hair is damaged and porous like mine was, beware this may end up being permanent like it was for me!
I'm updating this again... after six weeks... I finally felt the need to re-color. I purchased this to cover a Natural Instincts "Golden Brown" that turned my hair RED. It would not, and still has not faded. After having great results with "Brass Free" that only lasted 2 weeks, I knew I needed a more serious product. This was definitely it. I mixed a level 6 ash with 5 Neutral and my hair turned a dark, dark brown (but not quite black.) It still had a little warmth but it looked very natural. The fading process was great. It wasn't til about week 4 that I thought too much of the gross red/orange undertones were showing through. I decided to wait a few more weeks, until now, allowing my hair maximum recovery time.
It did feel really drying... my hair felt rough for a few weeks.. even after some deep conditioning treatments. It's rare that none of my deep conditioners even made my hair feel nice. But, as the weeks went by my hair feels pretty good again.
The smell was strong and took forever to wear off. My hair smelled freshly dyed for at least a week or so!
I at first said I wouldn't buy it agian because it was drying... but after having poor results with Clairol's Professional Demi (Sally's) line, I decided to give this one more try. I just bought it so I'll post an update after round 2. Because it was dryin the first time around, I hope this time doesn't fry my hair off. The lady at Sally's said it couldn't possibly be that damaging... but then why did my hair feel so awful? I don't know, but I will give it one more shot because I loved the color! Yes, please buy a level or 2 lighter than you want. You can always go darker if it doesn't end up dark enough for you, but if you want to go lighter, you will have to wait a bit to fade it off.
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xsnowwhite on 7/20/2009 7:57:00 PM more reviews by xsnowwhite
Age: 19-24 Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium, Cool Hair: Brown, Curly, Medium Eyes: Hazel
I used this in light ash brown (level 6) to tone down brassy highlights. It did darken them however they are still somewhat gold, so I'm going to try it again tomorrow. It didnt change the rest of my hair at all (level 4ish) which was good. The thing I don't like about it is the strong smell. Even after washing my hair with very fragrant shampoo it is still strong. Also, I agree with other reviewers, this definitely does run dark. I almost couldve used a level 7, but my sallys didnt have any left. Overall, I'd probably buy again, it didnt make my hair really dry or anything, it just didnt cover as well as I wouldve liked.
EDIT: after one washing, it has completely faded!! My brassy highlights are back . I guess I have terrible luck with l'oreal haircolor. Will not repurchase!
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Katrinket on 7/18/2009 10:00:00 PM more reviews by Katrinket
Age: 36-43 Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Warm Hair: Brown, Curly, Fine Eyes: Hazel
I used colorgems clear diamond gloss. It did add a small amount of shine, BUT it did lighten my hair noticeably! And made it feel much drier. I wasn't expecting any lightening, since it's a labeled "clear." But the developer DOES contain hydrogen peroxide, which I noticed too late.
I have used the light brown before, to color highlights that ended up too red, and once in an attempt to cover grey. I see a lot of people are saying that the colors come out darker than they expected. This is true, and there is a good reason: this is a deposit-only color, which mean it adds pigment only. Imagine adding a clear glaze of light brown over dark brown hair. Will your hair turn light brown? No, the layer of color will only darken your hair.
For adding shine, I now use a henna gloss (you can google this for recipes.) Adds shine with just a little color. I add indigo to mine, which makes it more brown. Highly recommended!
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ezzyb on 7/16/2009 4:28:00 PM more reviews by ezzyb
Age: 25-29 Skin: Acne-prone Hair: Brunette Eyes: Green
After my summer highlights started looking outgrown and brassy, I decided to go darker but didn't want the flat all one color look. Since I did not want to kill my hair further, I decided on a deposit only color, since it does not lift and ruin my bleached hair.
I've used Clairol colorgloss before, and with MUA ready on my phone, I went to Sally's to get Natural Brown (as well as the crystal gloss and developer). This runs dark guys! Since my hair is pretty dark brown naturally I went with Natural Brown (medium shade). I had tons of red funky highlights before, so I knew I would have color variation where the color hit lighter hair.
After developing for 15 minutes, I rinsed and my hair was beautiful. It is in good condition, and after a few washes, it is now a natural dark brown with faint red highlights. I think I will mix this color with another color for this fall, perhaps a red or golden tone.
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BrunetteBelle on 4/4/2009 7:38:00 PM more reviews by BrunetteBelle
Age: 30-35 Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium Hair: Brunette Eyes: Blue
I recently went from blonde to brunette after being blonde a long, long time. I have blue eyes and fair skin. I went to a salon to go brunette but the color started to fade after just a week. I found the reviews here for color gems and I tried it in natural brown (level 5). It did go much darker, so about three weeks later I used one ounce of the natural brown and one ounce of diamond gloss, and it came out perfectly--just the right shade and glossy. It looks as good as it did in the salon. This is a great product.
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Jenls27 on 2/18/2009 2:55:00 PM more reviews by Jenls27
Age: 36-43 Skin: Combination Hair: Brunette Eyes: Green
Update: Yeah, not in love with. It faded quickly and the color was to dark without the shine I desiered.
I was laid off a few months ago and I can't afford to spend $100 on getting my hair highlighted so I decided to try to color it back to my natural color myself.
I did a lot of research including all of the comments on this and other color products and decided to go with the Gems. natural brown
First off I have very fine shoulder length hair between a level 4 and 5 brown. After everyone said that it goes darker I went with the level 8 medium natural blonde and left it on for the full 20 minutes. Sure enough it went quite a bit darker and matches my natural color. The color was still to dark and not a lot of shine. I ended up using the whole 2 oz. in the tube which resulted in 4 ounces of mixed product, I really needed most of the 4 ounces to completely cover my hair. I also used the Pureology masque in the purple pot which left my hair quite conditioned and soft.
I will update this in a few weeks because I'm interested in how much it fades over time. I'm sure I will be buying this again.
FYI: The colors listed on L'Oreal's website for Gems are different names than what is actually at Sally's.
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Weebs on 1/10/2009 6:39:00 PM more reviews by Weebs
Age: 30-35 Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium Hair: Brown, Wavy, Medium Eyes: Blue
My hair was pretty damaged from over processing with a flat iron/hair drying. I also have very naturally dry hair, but I wanted something to hide the gray strands that were starting to come in. A friend mentioned using a demi-premanent hair color. I went to Sally's and saw this and thought, why not? It came out better then expected. The color is a bit darker then the Natural Brown I was going for but it came out wonderful. My hair is soft and the shine is the best I've seen in my hair since I was a teen! Great product!
Update: 09/20/2009
Well, while all the above still holds true, the color doesn't quite last as long as I had hoped it would. I'm having to recolor to cover my grays in as little as three weeks after color.
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momto5armybrats on 12/31/2008 7:46:00 PM more reviews by momto5armybrats
Age: 36-43 Skin: Very Dry, Fair Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown
I have naturally dark brown hair. My mother talked me into lightening it a few shades and I hated it. Then I read the reviews on the color gems. I was off to sallys to try to get me back to normal. I read all the reviews which said in ran dark. I went with natural brown, I have cool undertones, instead of ash brown. I also added 1 oz of diamond gloss. It turned out really nice. I would have liked it a little, very little, bit darker. I may leave out the diamond gloss next time or add less. The fumes did not send me running with tears. They were very tolerable which is a huge plus. All in all so far i love it. Now I just have to see how long it last. Oh yea, It didn't do a great job blending my greys the way I wanted. I don't have a lot, but I have a few mostly on top and sides. Maybe without the diamond gloss I will have better luck. It's a definite keeper for me.
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PurpleElephants on 12/8/2008 11:41:00 PM more reviews by PurpleElephants
Age: 19-24 Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Neutral Hair: Blond, Straight, Medium Eyes: Blue
I really love Color Gems. I've tried Clairol's Natural Instincts and Wella's Color Charms demi-permanents, but this is my favorite. The colors seem to always come out very rich. They definitely do run dark though - I used 'medium natural blonde' the other day, and it came out a very dark blonde. I know that it will fade a bit as I wash it, so it will eventually be a bit more blonde, which is what I'm going for.