eSalon Custom Color Subscription Review + Coupon – First Box $10!

eSalon’s Custom Color service provides individual hair color, crafted just for you, with personalized instructions for an easy at-home application.  The advanced formula is developed by renowned master colorists with high-quality ingredients for rich, long lasting color and superior gray coverage.  A single application of eSalon’s Custom Color is $24.95 per box; however, you can save 20% ($19.95) by enrolling in the auto delivery service.  My account is set up with an 8 week interval between deliveries; this can be changed for more or less frequency.  Orders can also be skipped, if desired.  Try your first box for $10!

eSalon’s Color Philosophy:

“eSalon was inspired by the idea that beautiful, quality hair color can be accessible without the uncertainties of retail products and the excessive expense of salons.  We take into account natural hair color, amount of gray hair, previous color applications, hair texture and condition, desired color, and other variables, so you get custom formulated hair color that you could never get off the shelf.”

Before selecting your color, eSalon has you complete a hair profile to get a better understanding of your hair (condition, color desires, texture, etc.) and information on your skin tone and eye color.  This helps to customize a color that complementary to you.  I’m sure you’ve all seen someone whose “natural” hair color just didn’t seem natural to them, and I don’t mean when they’ve got rainbow colors (c’mon, nobody is born with electric blue hair).

Everything comes packed in a molded plastic tray – no rattling around during shipment.  My personalized instructions and color were tagged “for Brandy”.  Even eSalon confuses me with my evil twin (Brandy & I have the same birthday).  I created the profile, but we had a slight hiccup at checkout (our fault).

Apart from the personalized instructions, the kit comes with hair color & developer, color tint brush, and color accessories.  I was a little confused as to why the enhancing gloss was tagged a a free gift.  In my personalized instructions, it is the hair color required for the second half of my process.  

Everything in the color accessories kit!  Not only did I receive shampoo & conditioner, the kit also had 2 pairs of gloves, stain guard, and stain remover.  I really liked the inclusion of the stain guard and remover – I usually use petroleum jelly and alcohol for those purposes (sometimes they work and sometimes not so much).  These were nice, unexpected extras that you don’t find in color kits from the store.  

So, the kit had a color tint brush… I guess they assumed I have a non-metal bowl already.  You can use the developer bottles to apply the color, but since the brush was there, it got used.  The color bowl can be included as an add-on at check out if you want one.

To try and get some pictures of the process, I had my sister color my hair and my niece played photographer.  Note to self, do not trust a 13 year old with a camera unless you’re trying to get the most unflattering pictures of yourself ever or a bunch of useless pictures.  My color selection was Darkest Brown Natural Golden.  This color had a 2-step process.  The first was a color applied to my roots.  

Then, 20 minutes later, the enhancing gloss was added to my ends.  There was a slight ammonia smell with both colors, but it’s not overwhelming.  If you prefer an ammonia-free color, choose the demi-permanent color option.

Then came the rinse, shampoo, and condition.  The directions were a little iffy for the rinse section.  They said to add the remaining hair color to my hair and let it sit for a minute to get some color dimension before completely rinsing my hair.  I didn’t know if it meant the color from step 1 or step 2 (step 1 was poured down the drain so the bowl could be used for step 2).  So, we used what was left from step 2.  

The Heart Lock It Shampoo lathered really well and smelled SO good!  It completely killed the ammonia scent.  The Love Unconditionally Conditioner left my hair feeling soft, but wasn’t as strongly scented as the shampoo which was a little bit of a let down.  

And I almost forgot about the stain remover.  This was amazeballs!  No one at work could see any hint of misplaced color along my hairline.  Seriously, these should be included in all at-home coloring kits because even the most skilled home colorist manages to get a little drop here or there.

Are you ready for the results?  Here are my before pics.

And here’s the after.  What do you think?

Thank you eSalon!!!  I love how my hair turned out.  The shade is definitely darker, but I wanted to get closer to my natural color and still have a little vibrancy.  When it’s curly, you can see more of the golden undertones in my hair.  I am super happy that the brassiness is gone and the color is more even.  The whole process took less time and WAY less money than going to a salon.  Plus, it was convenient – I didn’t need to schedule an appointment around someone else and could do some housework (aka catch up on DVR shows) while the color developed.

Visit eSalon Custom Hair Color to subscribe or find out more!