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Best and worst semi-permanent dye brands
I will preface this by saying this is strictly based on my opinion. These are the dyes that worked best (or worst) for me. You may have different experiences.
I have tried 16 different brands of crazy colored semi-permanent to date. I will be listing them all here and ranking them into categories. I will give a brief summary of each dye. The colors I have used from that brand will be in parentheses next to the brand name.
The Worst
N Rage (Twisted Teal): I hate this brand so much. The color result was very pretty and it smelled wonderful, but the dye was messy and hard to work with. This is the only dye that has left permanent stains in my shower. 3 years after using it, I still have teal stains in my shower grout. It bled on everything. The dye smelled like delicious bubblegum, but it was thick and very difficult to get out of the bottle.
Beyond the Zone Color Jamz (Party Time Pink, Huckleberry Blue, and 2 discontinued shades): This is a fun little brand you can pick up at Sally Beauty Supply for a few dollars. It is a great temporary (lasts for 1-3 washes) dye, but it will not last. It was the first crazy color dye I ever used.
Stargazer (Tropical Green, Turquoise): I was not a fan of this brand. The consistency was very difficult to spread. I actually ended up missing spots, which I haven't done since I was just starting out at age 14. The vibrancy and staying power did not impress me either.
The Okay
Manic Panic (Hot Hot Pink, Cotton Candy Pink, Virgin Snow, Fuschia Shock, Wildfire, Vampire Red): This is arguably the most common semi-permanent crazy hair dye on the market. It is loved by some and hated by others. I feel slightly neutral about it. It is powerful and easy to work with. The staying power is on the low side. It is good for people who like to change colors often. Just a few points about some specific colors: Vampire Red bleeds when it gets the slightest bit wet, so bad for humid summers. Fuschia Shock is the messiest dye I have ever touched. It stained my hands and nails pink for 12 washes. I'm not kidding. Hot Hot Pink is good but very hard to remove.
Argan Oil One N Only Color Intensity (Scarlet Red): I dont know if I can give a completely fair review for this dye because I used red over brown, but it was not vibrant at all and faded quickly. I tried 7 different brands of red over brown, and this was the weakest.
Kuul Funny Colors (Magenta): This Mexico-based brand is not so well-known. I found the Magenta to be beautiful, but not very pigmented and very short-lasting. I have heard that their other colors are better, but I cannot confirm.
La Riche Directions (Mandarin): This brand was strange. The color turned out very bright, but it had almost no shine to it. It did last a long time, though. Because of overseas shipping costs, I won't be purchasing this again.
The Good
Special Effects (Cotton Candy Pink, Atomic Pink, Nuclear Red, Virgin Rose): This brand is very vibrant and very long-lasting. It is insanely thick and impossible to spread without dilution. My biggest problem with it is that a lot of their colors are really hard to remove. The pink I was struggling so hard to remove in my hair fading journey was Virgin Rose. So, if you don't like to change colors often, this is a good brand for you
Crazy Color (Fire): I used Fire over unbleached red-brown hair and it looked great. The dye is a little thin, but overall a good brand.
Ion Brights (Red, Radiant Orchid): Of the 7+ reds I have tried, I liked Ion's Red the best. It works great over unbleached hair, too. It is insanely thick coming out of the tube. I dilute it with conditioner. I think it would be impossible to use if you didn't.
Pravana (Silver, Red, Blue, Violet): Pravana is a professional brand and is very long lasting. It is insanely vibrant, too. Unfortunately, it's one of the messiest brands I have tried, in terms of color bleed. It is also too difficult to remove for my tastes.
The Best
Jerome Russell Punky Color (Violet, Flame, Apple Green, Yellow, Alpine Green, Midnight Blue, Spring Green, Plum, Turquoise): I'm a huge fan of Punky Color. The dyes are long-lasting, good quality, and inexpensive. Since the bottles are fairly small and they are cheap, I love buying Punky Color for mixing my own custom shades. I don't recommend Bright Yellow or Flame, though. They were insanely difficult to remove from my hair and they ended up showing through the colors I put on over them.
Rusk DeepShine Direct (Red): I only tried one color from this Salon brand, but I was highly impressed. I would like to try it again, but it has gotten much more expensive since I first tried it.
Sparks (Orange Crush): I only tried one shade from Sparks, but I really liked it. It was vibrant and it stuck around for a while. I am open to trying new shades in the future.
IroIro (Yellow, Pink, Plum): This brand is new on the market and I absolutely love it. It comes in easy-to-use and environmentally conscious squeezable bags. It is vibrant and long-lasting. You can even get away with a few warm water washes with Iroiro. they are kind of expensive, but they have a lot of special sales.
Lunatik (Killer Candy): I only tried one color from this new-on-the-scene brand, but I love it. it is vibrant and long-lasting. Amazon reviews said that it bled very badly, but I found quite the opposite to be true (it may have to do with the conditioner dilution I did). It is very thin, so that means that one bottle should be enough for just about anyone. I normally use 8oz of dye to cover all of my hair. I used 4 oz of Lunatik and conditioner mix. It's the only brand that I can get two uses out of one bottle. their current shade line-up is limited, but they are supposed to be developing new shades.
What are your favorite or least favorite brands?