color gems - (ps. y'all rock)

hey hair boutique forum-ners - first, thank you. as a lurker i had a bad episode with a garnier hair lightening kit, and thanks to some serious googling i found your forum and a quick fix for 4 shades of blonde, orange etc. etc home highlights. as i had my dad and stepmother coming in town to visit me and my sister, i was MORE than greatful to read your forum and come to the ultimate solution to use demi-permanant hair color to cover my awful home highlighting job.

the color i used - I think, light golden blonde - did an amazin g job of covering the totally efed up highlighting job - the 4 shades of "blonde" were gone and a nice even golden blonde was what i was left with. and really good shine - i loved the color. but, as the color fades, a bright, orange color is left. i'm not totally opposed to it, but i was thinking of going a little darker, and maybe this is a dumb question, but after a month and a half - is it wise to go to 'light goldn brown' with color gems after coloring with the same, but lighter a month and a half before?

and if i did go darker, can i lighten with highlights, or will it blow out all the color and destroy my hair?

normally, i'd go to a salon to get what i want, but i got laid off, and i'm still trying to keep my budget in control. it's really not in the budget now.

 thanks, for listening all.