Schwarzkopf Perfect Mousse Permanent Foam Colour 3-0 Dark brown 3.0 review/ swatch

I've been meaning to review this foam hair dye from Schwarzkopf for ages, I've used at least 5-6 bottles of this but just never remembered to take photos until now.

This has became my staple hair foam dye for this winter, firstly because of ease of access (sold in Priceline and supermarkets- though I find priceline has the most complete hair color options), secondly the price is great, Priceline often have these on sale for $10-11AUD each. (RRP is about 14-15AUD).

This shade is 3-0 Dark Brown. It looks like the most cool toned brown (with possibly slight green base for that 'ash brown' sort of look, but really subtle). Unfortunately most other shades in the Swarzkopf brown series are red based and warmer colors. This is about the darkest brown in all the available shades, the next shade is 1.0 black.

Usual contents below. 

The application is as usual. Put the content of the black bottle into the large white bottle. put nozzle on. Then squeeze pump to get the foams. Massage foam from roots then work to end of hair. Rinse, condition, then dry hair.

Also comes with a conditioner (which I thought was weak- after first two bottles, I end up never using these and stick with my usual Kerastase or any other brand hair masques).

Also comes with some cheap plastic gloves- they are gigantic and very difficult to use. On a few occasions when I remember, I actually buy those latex gloves from supermarket instead. 

Not much point in showing before color- I find this shade has excellent coverage and does not fade a lot. I mainly reapply each time to cover my few grey roots (I'd say I have maybe a few hundred grey hair, but it's not obvious yet- I'm just really picky about any grey roots).

Here's how it looks after about 2 weeks. 

Indoor light, this is as dark as it looks (I like it since it's a good color for winter, not too light, almost blackened brown so it's good for the office).

Under different lighting this is as light as it looks, a shiny dark brown.

Again here. with flash photography some strands look a bit more chestnut brown, but in reality I don't find it to be as warm and definitely does not fade to a brassy red or orange.

The shade also looks rather natural. I don't do highlights or any special techniques, but it's not flat looking or streaky.

I also want to add the grey coverage is excellent with this shade. It's probably due to the fact I often have to use two full bottles if I was doing my full head of hair. That's a major down point- there is simply insufficient content , you clearly need about 2 bottles for any hair length over the shoulder.  (Mine is just above armpit length). I have a lot of hair so it also means you need 2 bottles to ensure even foam coverage, otherwise 1 bottle may barely cover the roots, not even enough to work a bit to the ends to make it look natural.

I also leave this in for 30-40 minutes (I count the 30-40 minutes from the time AFTER I applied everything and massaged it in, so that excludes any application time. Though it only takes me 10-15 min to apply).

It also isn't too drying so my hair doesn't turn into straw afterwards. However would still strongly recommend using a hair masque regularly if you use foam hair dyes (just swap your conditioners with hair masques).

Overall:

Pros: - good grey hair coverage, relatively cheap, does not have strong odour, easy to apply.  Rinses out easily (instructions says rinse with water until water runs clear, then apply usual masque. i.e. do not shampoo. Also does not stain the skin very much. Very little fading. 

Cons-  too little product inside, compared to any other brand I have tried. The foam product is 35ml + 35ml mixed together so that's only 75ml.

Loreal sublime mousse only contains 39ml + 26ml so a total of 65ml- however the foams come out and feels like maybe 10-20% more than Schwarzkopf in terms of application areas.

- the gloves are rubbish- they are very loose and hard to use. Also very cheap and flimsy. Latex gloves are much easier to use (though I guess some people are allergic to latex).

Rating is still 4/5 since I just like this color. The fading is much better than a lot of other foam hair dyes and grey coverage is miles ahead of Liese and Prettia. Loreal sublime mousse has decent coverage too but I just didn't like any of the L'oreal colors.

Please note if you have anything other than naturally black hair or dark brown hair, this color may easily turn out way too dark for you, most foam hair colors really tend to go on darker than it looks.