Kristin Ess Hair Gloss in Bittersweet Dark Brunette - 4 Wk Semi Permanent Hair Color for Women - Dark Brown Color Depositing Conditioner & Toner for Vibrant Color + Shine - Hair Dye Glaze - Vegan

I’ve purchased the Kristin Ess Hair Gloss in Chocolate Cosmo Dark Golden Brown three times since October 2025, and I honestly don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. Forget paying $300 and spending hours in a salon chair—this takes under 30 minutes at home and delivers beautiful results. It leaves my hair incredibly shiny, smooth, and healthy-looking, like I just walked out of a professional gloss appointment. The color refresh is subtle but noticeable, perfect for reviving dull or faded hair without commitment. Important to note: this does not cover grays, but that’s not what I use it for. As a gloss and tone refresher, it’s amazing. If you want salon-quality shine without the salon price or time commitment, this is 100% worth it. 💇🏽‍♀️✨

I have brunette hair on the dark side of medium brown. I had been getting it professionally dyed but regular salon visits just aren’t in the budget right now so I picked this up after reviews on TikTok. I got Bittersweet Dark Brunette as it’s about the salon color I get. There are gloves in the box and the two bottles mixed easily enough. I’d recommend swirling instead of vigorously shaking it, let it sit for a minute then give it a gentle shake again as the product gets thicker as it mixes. I washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo first to get any product and build up out of my hair and rinsed throughly, rough towel dried my hair then applied the product. It applied easily enough and the smell wasn’t super strong but not overly pleasant (smelled mildly of wet dog). I let it sit on my hair for about 30 minutes then washed it out with Kristen Ess shampoo and conditioner. I got it EVERYWHERE on my skin and it washed right off but where I touched my shower with a dye covered hand did stain my shower. Rinsing didn’t stain my shower and it didn’t have any bleed out on the towel afterward. I used very tepid water to rinse it and wash my hair. It covered grays and previously lightened areas and it left my hair soft. I put a random leave in conditioner in afterward as a precaution since other reviews said it made their hair dry. I will probably do a hair mask before my next wash too. One bottle was more than enough to get all of my fine, thick, mid back length hair. I would absolutely use this again.

GOT ORANGE HAIR? GREAT HAIR DYE FAIL SOLUTION! Love this gloss. I plan to buy it every month for the next two years while I grow out a hair dye fail. I have orangey hair that can't be bleached because my strand test turns green, gets hot, and smokes... My only choice is to cover it up, grow it out, and cut it off incrementally. I wanted something that would cover up the orange and not dye the roots. I saw this in a Brad Mondo video, so I decided to give it a try: - Before photo: My hair fail... I have level 8 blonde hair which I accidentally dyed orange, then had to cover up with black for a couple of years. I got the black out during quarantine using Metally B + 10 peroxide and washing with Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo over and over again. I then covered it up with level 8 Clairol Natural Instincts, but it grabbed an uneven level 4, lifted my hair too much, and turned the new growth orange too. - Round 1 - Middle photo - I did an intermediary step of using the Smokey Topaz color to tame the orange. It did a little.. but still looked orange in the sun. I let it wash out and was relieved to find that my roots had not lifted to the point they were orange. The roots stayed the same color and washed out completely in about 3 weeks. The rest of my hair was back to orange in about 6 weeks. So it basically went back to the before photo. It is important to note that they have a video online on how to apply this gloss... Watch very carefully exactly how they handle the hair while it is applied and how they let it sit. I had a hard time getting started the first time and wasn't careful enough on the first section... There was a considerable amount of mid-strand breakage there. Not a big deal since I was planning on cutting it off anyway... But if you are trying to save the length, have a friend help you. It might even be worth getting it cut first so none of the dead dry ends tangle and cause breakage further up the strands. - Round 2 - No photo - This time I used Bittersweet (I knew from the Brad Mondo video it wouldn't be black... it's a really pretty ash blonde color... but it will take the brass out of anything which is probably why the model is black... that hair type has a lot of orange hair issues.) I loved it as soon as I saw it, even when it was wet. It evenly coated the roots and the new growth. I also loved it when it washed out 4 weeks later and left my roots unlifted. I almost thought about just leaving it and not dying it, but it would have probably kept washing out and I wanted what was left to be filler for the next layer. I will say that the dyed part I cut off looked very "flat" once the gloss part was gone. I had so much mid-strand breakage round 1, I decided to cut off as much as I could first, then apply the gloss. When I cut off 4 inches at the salon yesterday, I looked at it on the floor and the color was so flat and even I had a hard time seeing the individual strands on top of each other. The roots I had covered up were still "normal" though... So once the dyed part is all gone, flat color won't be an issue. I did notice that the color was a little streaky in spots the first week. Probably needed a second coat. - Round 3: After photo. 3 weeks in on Round 2, so the first box of Bittersweet was a good primer for the second box. No streakiness. I applied the gloss 2 days ago and took a shower yesterday. This is my result. I have about 3 inches of the old hair color that can't be bleached left to grow out. I have a few strands of grey here and there that the dye doesn't stick to, but not a big deal. I don't see any of the streakiness this time around... Probably because I did the second box 3 weeks after the first box so it was a primer. Also, it came off my bathtub very easily with Comet.

This product really surprised me! I have been box dying my hair brown for many years and it always fades red and brassy. I was looking for something to tone it and gloss my hair but wasn’t expecting too much from this. Not only did it completely fade any brassiness, it left my hair glossy and silky. Truly a glossing treatment! I will say it deposits a lot more color than I expected and could almost be considered a dye so if you’re not looking for color then I’d pick a clear gloss instead. Overall this product is really great and I felt like I got a salon glossing treatment for a fraction of the price.

This will turn your hair a nice brunette color. Very glossy and soft. Nice product for the price. It takes awhile to fade out. Overall I was very happy with it!

I get SO many compliments! This color is sooooo pretty and it makes my hair so soft. I see less split ends too because it seems to coat the hair and protect from my straighter. And believe it or not it kinda covers greys by making them kinda like highlights. AND this stuff LASTS. the first time i put it on dry cause it was winter and it made my hair VERY dark. which i loved because there were NO grays at all, and I got SO many compliments on that too. lol. If you are a natural brunette and need a gloss or a color boost, this is it! Make sure to follow the instructions.

The gloss worked beautifully! I love how it made my hair look. One issue I’ve noticed is that the scent of the gloss will not leave my hair. I’ve washed my hair multiple times since using it and I still have a “chemical” smell to my hair. I shampoo twice, use conditioner, use oils, and a leave in conditioner every time I shower and I STILL smell the “chemical” smell of the gloss.

Easy to use and leaves a beautiful shine, with no damage to the hair. Definitely, I must buy it again.

Love this stuff! My hair was naturally a silly colour to this but it’s been going grey and dull. I followed the directions exactly and left it one the least amount of time suggested. It was more orange than I expected but after one extra was I love it! The package states it does not cover gray, but it did cover all of mine. I hope they keep making it! My hair does. It seem dry or damaged at all, it feels great!

Fantastic stuff, brings back the vibrancy to my auburn hair now I am getting a little older.

it’s alright as a hair dye i guess but it didn’t really do much to my hair colour- but got some fun seeing my hair auburn. for a few days. but to be fair i had dark blonde hair before using it i noticed i lost a bit of hair after using it but that could just be stress from life - or me constantly fixing my hair parting . also if you’re in the uk it’s shipped from america, so takes a long time to be delivered. And you can only use this dye once , as you need to mix two bottles together and once the chemical reaction happens you can’t reuse it. plus you only use like a quarter or half of the dye so it’s really expensive but it was hard to find other auburn hair dyes, so it’s alright i guess. if was cheaper and shipped from uk i’d give it a 4 star rating

Unfortunately this product did not change the colour or tone of my hair. I was expecting it to cancel out the brassy tones and be overall a darker shade of brown but it almost looks more red than before. What a waste and it wasnt cheap. I paid almost $60 for this product.