Olia Oil Powered Permanent Hair Color in Medium Golden Blonde

I color my hair about every three weeks, and the idea of an ammonia free permanent hair color is appealing.  Garnier recently introduced their Olia line of hair color, which uses an exclusive 60% oil blend with natural flower oils for maximum color performance, while claiming to visibly improve the smoothness and shine of your hair.  Sounds good, doesn't it? 

Pre-Olia

I typically use a medium golden blonde or just golden blonde shade, depending on the brand I'm using.  Olia has a Light Golden Blonde, which seemed too light, and a Medium Golden Blonde, which I was concerned might be a shade too dark.  Between the two, I decided on Medium Golden Blonde and plunged right in.

Pre-Olia

The black and yellow packaging is quite appealing and steps it up a notch from most hair color lines.  There are two ingredients that you mix together and an after color conditioner, all clearly labeled.  I did find the container that you mix the ingredients in a bit unwieldy when I was shaking it, as I needed to use two hands for a firm grip.

I applied to my roots and left on for 20 minutes, and then applied the rest of the mixture on down to the ends of my hair.  I usually only apply color to my roots to color the grow out portion, but since I was concerned the color was a bit darker than my current color, I did the second step as well to avoid a reverse ombre look.  I found the scent to be pleasant and on the mild side.

The instructions say to massage the mixtures around on your head just prior to rinsing, but I did not find that easy to do, as the cream is actually on the thicker side.  On the positive end of the spectrum, that meant I also had no problems with the solution dripping.

Post color

My roots did come out darker than I would have liked, so I was right that the Medium Golden Blonde was a shade darker than my current color.  I can also see a bit of the previous grow out area, so I may need to leave on longer than the recommended time.  However, I did received a comment on how natural the color looked, so it's not as obvious to others as it is to me.   I'm thinking a shade in between the two colors currently available would be perfect.

Post Olia

I've got the say, Olia definitely delivers with the shine and smoothness claims!  Even though I'm at the point where my hair desperately needs a trim, it looks really nice and healthy.  I'm glad I got to try this and can see using it again, although I may have to custom blend the Light and Medium Golden Blondes together to get the perfect color for me.

Post Olia

Disclaimer:  I'm a BzzAgent and received the Olia Oil Powered hair color as part of a Bzz campaign.  All opinions are my own.