Molton Brown Cloudberry Shampoo & Conditioner - review

The Cloudberry Shampoo and Conditioner are designed with colour-treated hair in mind.  As a colour enthusiast who has not laid eyes on her own naturally mousy mane in almost twenty years I reckon I fit the bill as guinea pig here.

What the frick is a cloudberry I hear you ask (or was that just me?).  If you'll permit a brief nature lesson, it's a berry native to the Arctic circle.  Also referred to as "Norwegian gold", it is much sought after, not commercially grown and is a moisturising deity in the beauty world (isn't Google great?)

Molton Brown Cloudberry Shampoo & Conditioner

These two boast anti-fade properties, amino acids to improve shine, aforementioned arctic cloudberry for moisture and UV filters for protection.  I was surprised by the fragrance choices - they both declare to have aromas of red fruits (yum), carnation (don't carnations smell a bit like wee?) and patchouli (woohooo I love patchouli), yet the shampoo and conditioner smell nothing alike.  Nor could I detect any patchouli.  The shampoo smells quite perfume-y, not unpleasant exactly but not quite the springy or zesty freshness I prefer from my shampoo.  I had an inkling that the scent was quite familiar to me so after a bit of research (snooping) I saw that others had compared it to Gucci Rush.  The conditioner on the other hand had a much lighter floral scent. 

A little smidgen of shampoo created a glorious creamy lather.  There is just something so luxurious about millions of teeny tiny bubbles being massaged into your tresses.  I have no complaints there, the shampoo felt wonderful. It was with the conditioner that I had "issues". 

Okay, so... you know when you're in the shower and you're working conditioner through the lengths of your hair with your fingers?  And they glide through so effortlessly because it's all silky and smooth?  And you're imagining you're a mermaid under a waterfall?  Well scratch all that.  It didn't feel silky smooth and there was a little bit of work involved in raking the conditioner through to the ends (and that's saying something seeing as I have quite short hair!).

After blow drying there was no shine, it was all a bit dull.  I initially figured the fault must be my own, perhaps I hadn't rinsed it out properly, yup that must be it.  I get quite distracted in the shower with my mental to-do lists.  It's my office space.  I've been known to shampoo three times because I can't remember if I did it all, forget to rinse the suds off, shave only one leg.  Things like that.  So not rinsing my conditioner out properly wasn't completely unlikely.  I remained focused the following day and rinsed it out really well (and then again, just in case I'd forgotten to).  And still no shine.  My hair is actually in pretty good condition, even when I don't condition it, it usually shines regardless.  The only explanation I can think of is that there was a lingering residue.  I tried using the shampoo alone and lo and behold, the shine returned.  There wasn't any colour fade while using these products, but for me that's not enough.  For €22 a pop I would also like the glossy vibrancy it claims to deliver.  Please and thank you :)

I generally love Molton Brown products but I felt this duo fell a little short of the usual standard.  I won't be repurchasing, I think I'll stick to my Aussie hair care.  For those of you who'd like to give them a whirl, all info can be found here on the Molton Brown site.

Until next time, don't let anyone or anything dull your shine!

Emer x