Any Manic Panic wizards here know how to achieve "rose gold" color?

[Hanamizu]

I have bleached medium-blond hair and want to get to a rosegold color similar to these (http://imgur.com/a/nkF3V).

I tried to do it myself by diluting a violet Special Effects dye with conditioner. I figured the violet mixed with the brassy/gold tones in my hair would make a rose color, but it basically just darked and "toned" my hair a little bit into a cooler grey-tone. So currently it's like this (http://imgur.com/a/cIgnt) (also not sure why you can see the purple on some strands..).

So I'm thinking I need to try with a pink/peach color instead? I'm thinking of trying Manic Panic - either Cotton Candy, Flaminco Pink, or Psychedelic Sunset, or some combination??

Any tips?

[wispe]

I used diluted cotton candy pink over my natural hair with some grown-out highlights a while back... let me grab a before&after.

http://i.imgur.com/FE3iPub.jpg http://i.imgur.com/erKiQWI.jpg

As you can see it stuck better to my (grown-out) highlights than my virgin hair but it was still pink-tinted overall, pretty subtle.....I think I used about a bowl of white conditioner to about 1/3 the tub of cotton candy pink. My current peachy color is a mix of SFX atomic pink, Adore ginger, and a ton of conditioner. I'd grab a more concentrated pink and an orange (I have... cleo rose on hand and that dilutes/fades down super pretty, and Pretty Flamingo is a pretty orange) and go to town with a mixing bowl. Err on the lighter side as you can always re-apply with a more concentrated mixture easier than you can fade a too-deep color. Especially since your blonde is processed hair, and in my experience that takes up these colors quicker/better than virgin hair does, and it fades slower than on virgin hair.

eta: looking at your pictures I definitely say go with a pinker mix over a more orange mix. Or pink with a tad teeny bit of purple to tone it a bit if it's too brassy for you.

[Hanamizu]

Thank you so much!!

Ok so maybe I'll drop the Psychedelic Sunset since that is very orange? Maybe the Pretty Flamingo will be enough "orange" mixed with the Cotton Candy or Cleo Rose (they kind of seem like the same shade of pink, just cotton candy is more pastel??).. hmm.

edit: Oh! I forgot to ask.. Do you usually apply the mixture to wet or dry hair?? I applied mine wet since it was mixed with conditioner I thought it didn't make a difference but maybe that's why it feels like it didn't do much??

[wispe]

I've used fuchsia shock also, I just have to superdilute it or it goes very, very bright neon. Fades pretty though! I've always just gone with deeper/concentrated versions of the color I want and diluted them in cheap white conditioner to make the tub last longer (I'm cheap! lol) You can always just mix a smaller amount of the orange than you do whatever pink, if you already have something you can't return. I found diluting stronger colors means less fading than using an already-pastel tub for some reason. I haven't bought new pink in over a year, since I use so little of the tub each time I refresh my color, which is about once every 4-6 weeks.

I've applied it every which way! I used to put it on damp/dry at night and rinse it out the next morning, but honestly these days I usually just apply it in the bath and let it sit for half an hour or so while I have a soak and I get pretty much the same results. I shampoo, rinse, squeeze the excess water into a towel, and slap my mix on. If it's too wet it'll soak in a little unevenly, in my experience.

If you have any saved shed hairs they're great for doing strand tests, by the way. I keep a tin of sheds for experimenting on. Or you can just test a strand behind the ear.

[OhSuzi]

If you're not tied in to only manic panic, there's a coral red by crazy colour I used to use it gave very intense orange red coral super bright, but I imagine if you watered it down with conditioner or mixed it with a white manic panic you might get a more pastel rose gold colour?

also I used to dye it bright teal blue and when I stopped re dying it and let it wash out it'd fade naturally to a soft lilacy silver. So I expect if you go too reddy orange, it'd naturally fade to something softer

[lapushka]

Try saving your shed hair for a few weeks to test strand on, before you do your hair, just to be sure. :flower:

[spidermom]

These deposit only dyes don't damage; that's a nice thing. My hair always felt like I'd given it a deep conditioning treatment after I dyed it.