Nicky Clarke Color Therapy Shampoo

I love chocolate, I love spoiling myself with gorgeous smelling creams and potions, and I am obsessed with my hair! I am on a never ending quest to make it ultra glossy and shiny. My sister kept going on about this amazing chocolate shampoo by Nicky Clarke but as a skint student I just ignored her and felt a tad jealous.On Saturday though, I felt my student loan burning a hole in my pocket, and wholst in Boots my beady eye spotted a BUY 2 GET 1 FREE deal on all Nicky Clarke Colour Therapy Products.

I bought a shampoo, conditioner and finishing balm, all in Sweet Like Chocolate (for dark hair) which came to just under £10. Normally it is £4.95 for a 250 ml bottle of shampoo. Quite pricey, I think, but it is so luxurious that maybe it is worth it, I haven't decided yet!

You can buy Nicky Clarke Colour Therapy in four different colours:

Sweet Like Chocolate (which I got)
Take it as Red (to enhance red tones)
Blonde Goddess (for blondes and mouses)
Goodness Greycious (well I am glad I don't have to use this one yet!)

**~~ The Packaging ~~**

The shampoo comes in a tall cylindrical plastic bottle. The bottle is clear, so you can see the lovely rich brown colour of the shampoo. The lid and label are a cream colour with classy writing- Nicky Clarke in silver and the other writing in shades of brown and black.The label says- "crave the attention.....be loved!" which is quite quirky and catches the eye.

The label on the back lists all the ingredients (don't worry, I will not list them all here) of which there are many, far more than I have noticed on any other shampoos.

Also, this product is not tested on animals..which can be a dubious claim as you do not know if individual ingredients are tested on animals..but that is another story...

**~~ The Smell ~~**

Oh wow. This is without doubt, the nicest smelling shampoo I have ever used. The shampoo contains a "blend of chocolate with mandarin and bitter orange, topped with geranium and rose". What that means in plain English is that it smells (to me) like a rich, dark chocolate orange. How can anyone find complaint with that? The smell is not overpowering, in fact after my hair was dry, the scent of chocolate can only be detected up close. So you will not be gagging everyone in the lift/bus/tube!

My boyfriend likes the smell, I LOVE the smell, and my hair would thank me for using this product if it could talk, I am sure!

**~~ The Consistency ~~**

I have quite thick, long hair and found I did not have to use a lot of this product to wash my entire head, and it created a satisfying mousse-like foam. The shampoo is of a medium consistency, perfect really as it does not drip off your head into your eyes. You can use the shampoo once or twice (I always wash my hair twice to get it squeaky clean) but obviously the bottle will be used up quicker if you wash twice. I think that one bottle would get you at least 10 washes judging by the small amount that I used.

** ~~ The Effect ~~**

Other than leaving my bath water a grubby looking brown and my bathroom a lovely chocolate smell, what did this shampoo actually do to my hair? Well, in order to get the full Colour Therapy effect, I also used the Sweet Like Chocolate conditioner and finishing cream, so the effects can not be solely placed on the shampoo.

My hair looked a lovely rich colour, very shiny, a bit like a mahogony peice of furniture! It smelt luscious....BUT-
it was not very soft, especially when compared to how it has felt when I have used other products (namely Superdrug intensive Henna conditioner). The label tells me that the shampoo has extracts of horsechestnut and rosemary to add depth and shine. Depth, I would agree with, shine yes. But my hair was quite difficult to brush, and had quite a few flyaway parts. Maybe that was down to the rain though?

I am very pleased with this shampoo on the whole, but in the future, I will use a different styling product to add softness to my hair afterwards.

Personally, I would not use this shampoo as my regular shampoo, although with colour enhancing shampoos it is a good idea to use it repeatedly to allow the colour to build up. I would save this for special occasions such as a meal out, or just to cheer me up when I am feeling a bit low. What woman (or man, let's not be sexist!) could feel bad about
themselves whilst slathering themselves with liquid chocolate?

Just one thing- don't eat it!! Although you may get offers to eat you, smelling this good....