On Being the Redhead in the L’Oréal Garnier Olia TV Advert

Just a quick one today as not everyone may have seen my Instagram post about this…

Back in March I wrote about going to Prague and working on a hair campaign for L’Oréal – well, the final product is out there, people! It has been for a while now (since the beginning of June): the exciting content we were shooting was for an Olia hair colourant advert for British TV. To say that I’m excited about this is an understatement: I’ll do my best to keep the exclamation marks to a minimum. Just read this in your head with lots of exclamations at the end of every sentence, and you’ll be somewhere at the level I’m at while writing this.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Had to get them off my chest. Now I can continue.)

So yeah… it’s kinda weird saying I’m on the telly (though I have to mention here that that’s what the British say when they are. I mentioned on Insta that my mum abhors the word “telly”, but I told her that if you’re on TV/on television, you HAVE to say “telly”).

 

Disclosure: I was paid by L’Oréal to shoot the ad but was not obligated to write this post (all content is original and opinions are 100% honest). This blog uses affiliate links (no cost to you). Full disclosure

 

I’ve only actually seen the advert just pop up unexpectedly about twice (one time I was sick as a dog with a 24-hour norovirus vomiting bug, looking like utter crap with unwashed hair and up I popped looking all glam and smug, and I actually told myself to Just **** off, lol). But from the messages I’ve received from friends, family and followers it seems it’s on TV a lot more than I think it is.

As far as I know it’s not on L’Oréal’s YouTube channel yet, but here it is as published on my Instagram feed…

It is REALLY freaky to see yourself in a TV advert, knowing that it’s on when you don’t know about it, and popping up in people’s living rooms when they least expect it (I’ve had people say they were just in their living room not looking at the TV when they just heard me start talking).

In case you’re wondering – yes, this is the actual box colour I am currently using to dye my hair. So since March, my hair colour has been Garnier Olia Bold Shade 7.4 Intense Copper (available at Boots and Superdrug).

Not that I was contracted or obligated to keep it this colour or say that that’s what I use on my hair, but it is. And I’m also not obligated to say that for a permanent home dye it doesn’t stink, but it doesn’t stink. AT ALL. None of that “it smells so bad it makes me gag” ammonia smell, just… a neutral hair dye smell, really.

And the colour is CRAZY bright. I love it.

So a 100% honest review: the colour is great, the condition of my hair is great, the smell is non-existent. So all the time I want this shade of red, I’m going to continue using Olia.

Photo credits: L’Oréal

I can honestly say it’s one of my proudest moments – the last thing I ever, ever expected when starting on this blogging lark (and yes, it was a lark in The Old Days) was that I’d end up on TV, and doing anything even VAGUELY connecting to “modelling”. I say modelling with my tongue firmly in my cheek, because I am NOT model material, and I’m fully aware of that. But I know (and am glad) that times are changing, and thankfully brands are slowly coming round to the fact that consumers want to see more everyday, regular women rather than supermodel types.

A while ago I wrote about how brands should use fashion bloggers to model for them. It makes sense because we’re used to being in front of the camera, but we come in just about every shape, size and colour imaginable. And it seems brands are doing this more and more – I did a photo shoot last week for JD Williams along with another blogger and two professional (curve) models. Brands are slowly catching on, some more so than others.

But until sometime in Summer 2020, I can say that I’m on the telly. My 15 minutes of fame.

Have you seen me on the telly (if you’re UK based)? Tell me in the comments!

P.S. One day very soon I’ll also write a post about the actual experience of the video and photo shoot in Prague – four days of intense hair dyeing, wardrobe fittings, make up and shooting for L’Oréal (which happens to be the world’s biggest beauty brand). More than a little bit of imposter syndrome may have crept in that week (well, rather a lot actually)…

So all that’s left to say is – I’ve shared my thoughts/stories/tuppence-worth this week, now it’s time to share yours… LET’S GET THIS [LINK UP] PARTY STARTED!

 

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