Last summer, dip-dyed pastel hair started popping up everywhere, and though I admired from afar I was too chicken to mess up my natural strawberry blonde with something possibly staining. So when NYLON asked me to test out a temporary neon hair powder promising to wash out in one shampoo, I immediately said yes.

Hair Flairs’ Color Rub is an eyeshadow-looking tub that rubs onto locks easily, fades gradually, and washes out with one shampoo). Within 5 minutes I had purple-y fuschia lowlights (the red in my hair made it a little pinker than advertised). Sealed with leave-in conditioner, it’s lasted pretty well; it faded a bit yesterday, so I re-applied before bed, braided my hair, and woke up with fresh color intact and no pillow staining. 18 hours after first brush, I’m still plummy.

At only $13 a pop and with enough powder to last at least three applications, it a cheap way to try candy-colored strands without salon permanence. Perfect for a night out, a concert, or to ease yourself into a real dye job.

And with 10 bright shades to choose from, it’ll complement pretty much any skin tone or hair color. I’m sold. Next step: the real thing?

http://www.pinkdandychatter.com/2012/03/review-giveaway-hair-flairs-instant-hair-color-rub.html

Color Rub is the inexpensive answer to Kevin Murphy’s Color Bug. It is a fun, temporary coloring for your hair that applies very easily. It comes in 9 different shades! Today, I will review the “Teal Flash”. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it showed up in my super dark hair. It came with very simple-to-follow instructions. For detailed written instructions on how to apply, see here. Hair Flairs has also put out a great YouTube instructional here.

PROS: The teal showed up very nicely in my dark hair. The powder is very highly pigmented so a little bit goes a long way! Tons of color pay off. The shade has a little bit of glitter in it, which I was worried about at first, but I did not end up looking like the sparkle ferry took a big #$%^ in my hair so it was all good. It took me less than 10 minutes for the entire process from the prep (pre-styling with leave-in conditioner) to the final product (patting it dry and spraying it). I also love the fact that it comes in 9 different colors, so there is a shade to match my every outfit! At $13 a pop, it is also much cheaper than other hair rub products out there.

CONS: As the instructions warn, it can get quite messy! I highly recommend using gloves and not applying it on a carpeted area. If you have to do it on carpet, make sure you place towels or an old bed sheet on the floor. The color (and sparkles) still do rub off after your hair is dry, so I would avoid wearing a light colored top. Since my hair is dark, the color does fade pretty fast.

WHERE TO BUY: HairFlairs.com, some hair salons, $13.

BOTTOM LINE: Hair Flairs Color Rub is an inexpensive, simple way to temporarily transform your hair color. While application is messy and results don’t last for very long on dark hair, it still beats bleach and a dye job. I would definitely purchase again.

As I mentioned above, Hair Flairs sent me two of their Color Rubs. I decided to keep/review one, and give the other away!

One lucky reader will win a Hair Flairs Color Rub in Ultra Violet!! Here is how you enter to win:

• Like “Glitter and Vodka” on Facebook  (if you haven’t already!) and leave a comment on this post with your name and e-mail address.

• For an additional chance to win, Click here to tweet about this giveaway and leave another comment on this post with the link to your tweet or your twitter handle. Only one tweet per person will be counted.

•  One winner will be chosen at random (using Randomizer.org) on Thursday, March 22nd, 2012 at 5:00PM EST. All entries must be in by that day by 3:00pm EST. 

Contest open to legal U.S. residents only, ages 18 and older.  Subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.  The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have 3 days to respond with their mailing address. Failure to respond will result in forfeiting the prize and another winner will be chosen. 

Good luck!

XOXO

This is what it looks like once out of the package. I like how it is has little grippies on the side to make it easier to wipe it in your hair.

To apply, follow these tips:

• Second-day hair is better for applying than squeaky clean locks.
• Use a styling product such as hair spray, texturizing spray, or pomade on your hair where you want to apply the color. This helps the color stick, and give a brighter shade (especially important if you have dark hair like I do!)
• Place a towel around your shoulders. I also recommend applying it in the bathroom because I had powder fall out EVERYWHERE all over my dresser.
• Use gloves (or wash your hands right after cos it will get all over them), and rub the “bug” into your hair where you applied the styling product. You can layer it if you want a brighter, more intense color.
• Massage into your hair to make sure that the product is thoroughly worked through and evenly spread.
• Once dried into your hair, apply a setting spray for longer lasting color.

I was so excited to use it, I kind of rushed through the application. Here are my end results:

PROS: It worked on my dark hair! Though my hair is partially highlighted, it even colored the dark/black hair. I’m not very adept with hair and it was extremely easy to apply. Make sure to watch Kevin Murphy’s podcast/tutorial before applying. Since my hair is very long and thick, I thought I would end up using half the product for one application, but a little bit did go a long way. It took about 10 minutes to create this look. Much faster than it takes to curl my hair! It also easily washes out. I think this is so much fun to do for nights out or days when I’m feeling particularly wild.

CONS: Only comes in three colors — pink, purple, and orange. It can get very messy. I did not wear gloves and got it all over my hands (it did wash off quite easily,  however). The powder took forever to “set” in my hair, resulting in me getting a light dusting of pink all over my top. The staying power isn’t exactly the best either, a few hours at best on dark, thick hair (might be different if you have lighter colored hair). Every time my hair would touch something (like my shirt, a pillow, or a chair) the product would fade. It’s been 3-4 hours since I applied and have spent time since then leaning on a chair and lazing in bed. My hair still has pink in it, but not nearly as bright as it looked above. I’d also be worried about applying it and wearing a light colored top afterwards, because of the potential for continued fall out. The price is also a bit steep ($20-$25) for something that doesn’t last very long.

WHERE TO BUY: Any salon that sells Kevin Murphy products. If you don’t feel like hunting them down, eBay is your friend!

BOTTOM LINE: Don’t expect a miracle product. For a no-dye solution for coloring your hair, it’s pretty cool though. It’ll give you an evening of a burst of color! Just be careful about getting it on your clothes (I’d definitely wear something dark underneath for that reason). I’ve never been able to change the color of my jet black hair without the help of toner and bleach, so I found this stuff to be awesome for that reason. Application can get messy, and seriously, don’t drop it! While I really do like the concept, I don’t think I would purchase again only because of the high price tag. If you can stomach the cost (because this is STILL better than those god awful feather and tinsel extensions), I say go for it. YOLO!

Luckily another company, Hair Flairs, has come out with a similar product called  Color Rub. Best part about it is that it comes in a bunch of different colors and it is half the price of the Color Bug (because let’s be serious, for color bug you are paying for the Kevin Murphy name). Hair Flairs sent me two Color Rubs to review on here, so be on the look out for that this week!

Happy hair coloring my lovelies

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XOXO

BTW- my 1st choice was to be a roller derby player, but I didn’t have anything to wear. Then I thought of being a Ghost Hunter from TAPS, then a bobbing head turtle sales lady in Cozumel, a lottery winner… and I finally settled on a croc hunter in honor of Steve Irwin who died 3 years ago on last Friday. I would totally love to have his life… except for the dying part.

Hair n' Flair in action!

Y’all know that I am a fanatic when it comes to watching my kids play sports. I’ve written about games and my psycho cheering, coaching, etc… I’ve also mentioned in several posts and it’s obvious in pictures that I LOVE to wear hair flairs (colored hair extensions.) In fact, last basketball season I wore my maroon one to Tristan’s games every time and my red one to Alec’s and my green one to Izzy’s. Well, as I prepare for football season to start it hit me- Why don’t I wear 2 flairs?? I could easily wear blue and black for Tristan’s school and maroon and black for Alec’s. And once I know what color Izzy is I’m sure I can combine 2 of the 17 colors available thru Hair n’ Flair!! I’ve got my orange and white for UT and my blue and green for my Mavs. I AM SET!!!

Now, I only wear hair flairs from Hair n’ Flair. Why?? For several reasons:

1. They are removable.  If I wanted to show team spirit for all my kiddos teams and had to have salon colored extensions I’d look like I had a rainbow on my head!!
2. They are so easy to clip in and they stay put! All ages can wear the flairs. My 10 year old  loves to wear them.
3. They are made of 100% human hair which means I can wash, blow dry, curl, straighten… whatever I do to my own hair I can do to the flairs!
4. They are under $13. That’s a lot less expensive than salon extensions and other flairs.

Hair flairs can be used for so many different occasions. Prom, Weddings, to glamorize your look one nite or weekend fun… I wear mine usually 2-3 times a week just because I love the compliments I get. I absolutely love my Hair n’ Flair colored extensions. My 15 yr old sister is excited to wear the black and blue flair to all the school games and her cheerleader friends are ordering some too!

I actually had the opportunity to speak to the CEO of Hair n’ Flair and we talked about the 2 flairs for team spirit. And you know what he did? He set up a special promo code just for my readers!! Let me break it down for you:

Normal single flair price: $12.99
Online discount price: $9.99

But- if you order ONE flair right now and type in the promo code: BRAT  you will receive an additional $1 off. So, you can get one flair for $8.99!!

Hold on- it gets better than that!! If you order 2 colors to make up your team’s colors and then enter the promo code: TEAMSPIRIT you will get an automatic $4 off!!

Here’s the breakdown:

2 flairs at $12.99 each = $25.98 – the $3 off each special online discount = $19.98
Enter the promo code TEAMSPIRIT your new price for 2 flairs is: $15.98

This is such an awesome deal!!! That’s 2 flairs for under $8 each. You CANNOT and WILL NOT find a lower price. And shipping is only $5 no matter how many colored extensions you order. You can order 1, you can order 20… and still only pay $5 shipping!  But you have to hurry!! This deal is only thru December 31, 2009. You NEED your flairs for the football and basketball season.  So go check out Hair n’ Flair now.  And please- if you know anyone who may be interested in this deal: high school niece, cheerleader, booster club, drill team, etc… PASS ON THE LINK TO THIS POST!!!  ** Also, just to be clear: The chance to enter the promo code will appear after you enter your payment information, but before your card is charged.

It’s been a great visit and we sure miss them when they aren’t here. Our family doesn’t feel complete.

* We have 4 bedrooms. Ideally it’s suppose to be Isabel in her own room, Alec & Tristan share, Taj & Liv share and Sei & I obviously share. And when Kelsea and Karlea are here they are suppose to bunk in Isabel’s room. (She has a bunk with a full and twin.) Last nite these were our sleeping arrangements and this is pretty much the norm: Karlea and Livie on the bottom full size bunk in Isabel’s room until 5am when Liv came to my bed, Alec, Kelsea and Taj sprawled out on the hide-a-bed in the living room, Tristan in his bed, Izzy in Alec’s bed and then Sei & me in our bed. No one is Taj/Liv’s room. Why the kids like to sleep on the hide-a-bed is beyond me?!?

* Sometimes I feel like everyone sucks and then I remember what great friends I have and I remind myself it’s not EVERYONE that sucks, just a select few.

* Random? Why, yes I am.