*I received this complimentary trio from Influenster for testing and reviewing purposes. Views on the product are of my own*
Ah…
I am SERIOUSLY swimming in hair care. I usually get something hair related in our monthly #BeautyUnited box, and it just so happened that I received the Influenster Garnier Fructis #ColorShield as well.
Colour protection hair care is important to me, as I have been dying my hair with Loreal HiColor since February (but have been dying it about 3 times year for a few years now). I didn’t go red, but it is still a colour that fades quite quickly if I don’t intervene.
I had dyed my hair about 2 weeks prior to receiving this kit, so I was pretty excited to check it out.
In this kit, I received the shampoo and conditioner. As a third option, I also received the Color Shield Shine and Care Leave In treatment (instead of the blonde, as I’m not blonde…though I still wish I went blonde at least once in my youth -___-).
My usual go to hair products have always been Pantene, even before the Beauty United program. I usually like it because of the smell and the way my hair looks sleek (when I go for proper trims…we won’t discuss the shaggy state of my hair right now). Anyway, that is why when I received this package, I went straight to the smell test.
Smell wise, you can definitely tell that it is a berry, however it is on the stronger side. Despite that, when you wash it out, and start drying, it isn’t too obnoxious. So really, they found a good balance. Plus the bathroom smells nice after the shower for a little bit! :P
It lathers nicely (so yup, not for the sulfate free using folks).
When used with the conditioner, my ends did feel softer (I only use on ends as most conditioners are too heavy for my hair. Once in awhile I will use it as a mini masque though).
In terms of colour protection, I want to say that it did try its best to preserve my colour. My hair usually bleeds for about a month, as I don’t wash my hair every day the first two weeks (every other day, with dry shampoo in between). Because of that, the bleeding lasts longer. The water didn’t seem as red as when I would use the regular shampoo, so I want to say that it did live up to that claim.
What I did notice, was that it didn’t bleed the full 4 weeks it usually does, so going by that alone, it must have helped!
The Shine and Care treatment was a little too heavy for my hair, at least if I were to spray it directly to my hair. So I used it as a finishing treatment, by spraying on my hands and gliding over the outermost part of my hair. This smelled like coconut to me, so I wasn’t completely sold on the scent (as I am not a fan of coconuts), but this is merely a personal preference!
In any case, it is an affordable system, as the Garnier Fructis lines go on sale quite frequently for $2.50-3CAN. On top of that, there are usually coupons floating about to bring the cost down even more. Seeing as it has added shine to my hair, when hair colour can get dull at this point, have to say that this is a mini win for me. But I wasn’t too surprised as I did like the Damage Eraser from their line as well.
in a nutshell... 