What I love about this brand is that it's a non-chemical staining so the hair is not damaged during the dying process. Also, the colors are SO vibrant!! They stay relatively true to color for 6-8 weeks, which is way better than Manic Panic that comes in at 1-3. The fade with Special Effects takes awhile to start , but does fade slowly and evenly and stays a nice color instead of going all splotchy and gross. Definitely use vasoline on your hairline to keep staining off your skin as it will stick around through a couple showers! Rubbing alcohol will remove stains from the sink and counter tops. Bleach hair before application for best and brightest results. If you use it over dark hair the color will just add a tint or a colored sheen to your hair. Dye is super pigmented and very thick, feel free to mix in a smidge of water to thin it out a bit for easier application. Super pigmentation will keep it from getting too weak. Add a tablespoon at a time to bowl an mix to ensure it doesn't get too runny. Effectiveness GREAT color super vibrant, bright,and long lasting. Ease of Application Use gloves and a brush for sure! Also since product comes in a squeeze bottle be sure to have a bowl handy, unless you're dying your whole head then just go to town.

JerseyJinx

USA

This is a red based purple. It's nice. It faded absolutely beautifully and eventually turned shades of raspberry and then pink. Like the the other purple, the only thing that got stained was my wood table. I would like to add at this point that the best purple ever is Pimpin Purple with a tad of Deep Purple mixed in. When I did this, it turned out the color of royalty. It was a beautiful color and lasted longer then either purple by itself. It also faded lovely. Ease of Application its easy to apply and not too messy if you know what you're doing.

kya111311

USA

I have used nearly every shade of Special Effects hair color, and Pimpin' Purple is by far one of my favorites. It is so easy to use, doesn't have an odor and does not drip too easily. You will want to use gloves, a towel and some petroleum jelly to protect your hands, clothes and skin from getting stained in the coloring process, however. The darker your hair before application, the less noticeable the results of this hair color. For the most vivid shade, it is recommended that you bleach your hair beforehand. After bleaching, skip the conditioner and apply this cream to your freshly bleached DRY hair. If you have very long or thick hair, it may be best to invest in two bottles, and no matter what kind of hair you have, a mixing bowl and an applicator brush make the whole process go much more smoothly. Thirty-five to forty-five minutes later, after rinsing and finally conditioning, you will be the proud new owner of some of the most amazing purple hair ever. This shade is VERY noticeable and even more vibrant in sunlight. Effectiveness Assuming your hair is already blonde or you have bleached it out, this color works like a charm. Ease of Application The only difficult part of application is the ease with which you can make a mess and stain clothes, skin or furniture.

AlisaWebb

USA

I have been doing hair in spectacular colors for quite a few years. I guess I am at a disadvantage because I remember using the bright hair dyes that first came out- back in the day when Punky Colors stayed in hair for MONTHS and not days. When my son wanted to do a purple look in his hair, I decided that I was tired of so much work ending up in dismal failure of one or more colors fading in a week or less, so we did some serious research. Over and over Special Effects was recommended to us as being a really fantastic hair dye that would stay in bleached hair for a long time. I came upon a display of Special Effects being sold out as it was being replaced by another brand, so we purchased a few colors, including Pimpin' Purple. Although it was not nearly as nice as I remember the old original bright dyes to be, it was clearly better than some of the others out there, such as Manic Panic, the newer Punky Colors, and some of the drug store alternatives. We did find better results with longer set times and adding a bit of heat which I will address in the Ease of Application section. Effectiveness Although the hair was carefully bleached before application, I have to say that the purple color faded a bit too fast for my liking. I have had it where bright colors last in the hair up to two months at an acceptable level of color. This color only lasted a few weeks tops before it faded so severely it looked awful. The color is supposed to be a brilliant purple, which it is, but then it faded very badly to a dull purple-almost pastel color. The purple color is a very nice violet purple at first which is just what we wanted. If only it would stay that way for long time. I found Splat to work a little bit better than this one did. Ease of Application The application of this dye was great. We put it on the hair and not only left it in, but wrapped it up on plastic and applied heat and left it in for the entire day at one point, which did help it to stay in a little better than just applying as per instructions.

Caprig

Podunk, NY