Splat! Arctic Fox & Manic Panic Review

Picking up my oldest daughter from school the other day, I laughed when someone asked me if I was going through a mid-life crisis.  Me?  At 27 years old?  What on earth would make you think that?  Ohhh, possibly because I finally got bored of the standard "mom" look of blonde and red highlights so I bleached my entire head and turned it into, as my best friend calls it, mermaid hair?  Nope, that's just me being me, but thanks for thinking I'm having a mental breakdown!!
I actually decided to use my boredom with my hair as an opportunity to experiment with different non-traditional brands of hair color.  I got my inspiration browsing through Pinterest, and my initial goal was to do pink on top, a layer of purple, and then blue underneath.  I've dyed my hair more times then I can count, including rainbow colors, but this was a first for layering (I hate roots growing out, to be honest).  After searching Youtube, found some videos to give me an idea on how to successfully do it.
So the first step was collecting all the dye.  Like I said, I wanted to try the top 3 brands that are sold locally.  The first one, a brand I steadily follow on Facebook to see others' beautiful creations, is Arctic Fox.  Their site says their dye "is vibrant, long-lasting, semi-permanent hair dye that is made in the USA.  We are vegan, cruelty-free and contain added conditioners."  A brand I definitely feel good using.  I have actually used them on my 5 year old's hair before because of it being a "healthier" brand of hair dye and didn't require her hair to be pre-treated in order for color to show.  I chose the color Wrath, which is a reddish-pink according to their site.  You can purchase through their site directly and through Amazon; I picked my bottle up from our local mall at Hot Topic.
The next shade I wanted was a purple shade, and while I was at Hot Topic picking up the first bottle, I noticed they also sold Manic Panic.  They are also a semi-permanent dye that is vegan and has additional conditioners.  Now, I've used Manic Panic previously, and have a love hate relationship with them.  I've had multiple successes with their dyes...but also multiple failures.  In my experience, the dye is definitely not close to the shade they say it will be (your hair apparently has to be white in order to get those).  I've had pink not show up at all, a red that stayed red for two days and then turned pink (shortly after the initial pink fail, so I was happy with this outcome), a black that was actually blue, and I've had a purple that was a beautiful shade of purple.  One thing I noticed with EVERY experience with Manic Panic was the lack of staying power.  I could keep the dye in my hair for 6+ hours and it still would be faded or all out by the end of the second week.  But to be fair, I chose to get their Velvety Violet since I'd had success with their purple before.  They have limited colors on their site, but Amazon has many, and they are also carried at Sally Beauty Supply (where I had normally purchased it).
My last color of choice required a trip to Walmart.  The third brand I chose was Splat, who claims to be the longest-lasting and most vibrant colors on the market.  I wanted blue, but not dark, so their Aqua Rush was my go-to color.  Now, their brand comes with instructions and bleach to pre-lighten your hair.  The others do not.  My hair is thick and long, and I'm happy I had a second box to finish up with because that mix was nowhere near enough to lighten my entire head...it was enough to do the roots area, that was it!

So, time to dye.  I started off by sectioning my hair.  The top I pulled up for pink.  Then I pulled up the part that I wanted purple, wrapped each side up separately around the top part.  Then I separated my hair into smaller sections and started doing the blue around the bottom.  Once I was satisfied with that, moved on to the purple, then finally the pink.  (Sorry, no picture of the in-progress...didn't want dye all over my Iphone.)

I let it in for an hour from the completion time, which is what the Splat recommended.  Technically blue and purple had longer to set, but the pink was in for an hour.  Then came rinsing.  I don't have a second set of hands to help me (husband was taking care of our 2-month-old son while I was doing my hair).  So I got to take the most miserable shower ever, because rinsing with warm water is a big no-no (rinses out the color faster).  Cue cold shower to rinse.  I felt like I was going to freeze to death, I swear.  And after 20 minutes, even though the water still wasn't rinsing clear, it was diluted enough that I was no longer concerned about ruining my towels or bed sheets.
Took a picture of the "wet" fresh out of the shower look, and noticed something right away.  My hair didn't look purple.  Gave it the benefit of the doubt...it was a pastel purple after all.  When my hair was completely dry, I checked again.  Nope, no purple [Manic Panic] AT ALL.  It was still completely blonde.
The blue [Splat] was very bright and vibrant, as was the Pink [Arctic Fox].  I was actually really pleased with the pink.  Expected it to be more of a red based off the bottle and the "sample" in store, but it is a beautiful hot pink.

Next day, I ended up redoing the section that was supposed to be done with Manic Panic, I mixed a bit of the Splat and Arctic Fox that I had left and created my own purple.  My brother says it reminds him of how a fish's scales change color (in a good way, he says).  Apparently, my hair is very aquatic...but I was quite happy with how that turned out.

So for color and vibrancy, I give Arctic Fox a 10/10 (and definitely recommend them...the dye alone smells SO GOOD!!!).
Manic Panic gets a 0/10 (seriously, I used the entire tub on a small section of hair and NOTHING).
Splat will get a 7/10.  You can still see the blonde shining through the blue tint from close up, but the color worked great and is very bright.

Staying power will be the next competition?  As of right now, we're a week in.  Honestly, parts of the blue have started to fade away already, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and letting time pass without re-coloring it.