Just need some advice (yet again)

This last weekend I dyed my hair using Wella Color Charm in Apricot.  I knew it may not turn out so well because my hair was already colored a medium brown color, and Apricot is pretty light!  But the color swatch at Sally's looked like the exact color I want, so I figured I'd at least give it a try.  I did a test strand first of course, and the strange thing was, it didn't even change!  There was no color difference.  So I figured I'd just go ahead and dye all of my hair because I knew nothing horrible would happen and I was hoping it would at least give me the coppery tones.

So I dyed it... and I nearly had a heart attack.  I put it on my roots for the first 15 minutes, then on the ends for the next 15 (suggested developing time was 30-45 minutes).  My roots looked SO yellow/orange as it was developing... I was sure I was gonna look like a total weirdo when I was done!  I did wash it out sooner than I had planned because I was so scared.  Luckily, it pretty much turned out okay.  The only thing was that my roots turned out lighter than the ends, which seems to be a common issue with home coloring.  It's by no means a huge difference, and I've gotten compliments on my color!  Plus I think it really suits my skin tone.  But the thing is, it does look somewhat unnatural in certain lighting.  The roots can take on a yellow/orange tinge, which I don't want.  And with the ends being darker, I kinda decided that I'd rather just dye it darker again and then wait until I'd want to go into a pro and have it done right (probably some time after Christmas). 

I've already got a box of Revlon High Dimension Sultry Chestnuts in Medium Warm Brown - Autumn (which I'm considering taking back for the Light Warm Brown because I've read that this has a tendency to turn out pretty dark).  The thing is, I'm not sure how to go about dying it.  Should I apply it to my roots first and leave it on for the first 5 minutes and then apply to the ends for the last 5, since the roots are lighter?  Or should I just apply it all at once and leave it all on for the same amount of time?   Should I use a protein filler?

Also, does anyone out there happen to have any experience with this shade?  I'm a little nervous about using it since I've read that it applies pretty dark.  I do plan on doing a test strand, but as I found out with this last dying experience, those don't always tell you a whole lot.


Edited by cambria - November 15 2006 at 1:07pm