Adore's shelf is a wall of three-digit numbers: 60, 104, 155, 193. If you've ever assumed those numbers work like a professional colorist's formula, something that tells you exactly how light, how dark, how warm or cool a shade runs, we get why. That's genuinely how the pros' system works. It's just not how this one works. We stock all 17 Adore semi-permanent shades, every single one at $6.99 and in stock right now, so the number on the bottle isn't costing you money or availability either way you slice it. What actually predicts your result is color family, your undertone, and whether your hair needs a pre-lightening step first, and that's the part worth five minutes of your time before you buy.
Why the Number on the Bottle Doesn't Tell You Anything
Professional hair color runs on a level-and-tone code. Colored Hair Care's breakdown of the system lays it out plainly: a shade like 9.2 means level 9 (a light blonde) with a .2 tone (violet reflect). The number before the decimal is lightness on a 1 to 10 scale; the digits after it are the tone.
Adore's own numbers don't follow that pattern at all. Open the bottle list and you'll find 60 Truly Red, 104 Sienna Brown, 155 Titanium: plain integers, no decimal point in sight. Neither of the two Adore-focused sites we could track down, Adore Hair Dye or Adore Hairdye (neither is confirmed as Creative Image Systems' own official site; the company that actually makes Adore doesn't appear to run a dedicated site of its own), explains what the numbers stand for or publishes any kind of decoder key. That tracks with the formula itself: every one of the 17 bottles we carry needs no developer at all, and the level-and-tone code was built to describe a category of color that mixes with one. Skip the number. Read the name and the color family instead, because that's what the rest of this guide actually works with.
Will It Actually Show Up on Your Hair? Unbleached vs. Pre-Lightened
Adore only adds color. It can't lift your natural color first, because there's no developer in the formula to do that job. Lime Crime's own explainer on pastel dye lays out what that means in practice: on hair that's already light or pre-lightened, a shade shows its full, true color. On darker, unbleached hair, a pale pastel barely shows up, while a deeper or warmer shade still leaves a visible tint even with zero lifting.
Sort our 17 in-stock shades by that rule and you get two real, buyable lists. Ten shades (nine that show real color, plus Crystal Clear, which just adds shine no matter what you start with) work on unbleached, never-colored dark hair with no lightening step required. The other seven, the pastel and true-vivid family, need pre-lightened hair to look like the bottle instead of a faint shadow of it.
| Shade | Color family | On unbleached hair | Shop it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Crystal Clear | Clear | No color change | Shop Crystal Clear |
| 30 Ginger | Orange/copper | Shows without lifting | Shop Ginger |
| 48 Honey Brown | Warm brown | Shows without lifting | Shop Honey Brown |
| 52 French Cognac | Warm brown | Shows without lifting | Shop French Cognac |
| 56 Cajun Spice | Warm copper-brown | Shows without lifting | Shop Cajun Spice |
| 60 Truly Red | Red | Shows without lifting | Shop Truly Red |
| 82 Pink Rose | Pastel pink | Needs pre-lightened hair | Shop Pink Rose |
| 85 Burgundy Bliss | Deep wine red | Shows without lifting | Shop Burgundy Bliss |
| 90 Lavender | Pastel purple | Needs pre-lightened hair | Shop Lavender |
| 104 Sienna Brown | Warm brown | Shows without lifting | Shop Sienna Brown |
| 107 Mocha | Warm brown | Shows without lifting | Shop Mocha |
| 121 Jet Black | Black | Shows without lifting | Shop Jet Black |
| 155 Titanium | Ash/silver pastel | Needs pre-lightened hair | Shop Titanium |
| 164 Electric Lime | Vivid green | Needs pre-lightened hair | Shop Electric Lime |
| 178 Royal Navy | Vivid blue | Needs pre-lightened hair | Shop Royal Navy |
| 193 Soft Lavender | Pastel purple | Needs pre-lightened hair | Shop Soft Lavender |
| 196 Sky Blue | Pastel/vivid blue | Needs pre-lightened hair | Shop Sky Blue |
Truly Red and Burgundy Bliss deserve one extra note: both will absolutely show up on unbleached dark hair, but they'll read as a richer, more muted version of themselves than they do on already-lightened hair. That's the deposit-only formula again, not a flaw in either shade.
Match Your Undertone, Not Just the Name
Once you know whether your hair needs lifting first, undertone narrows things further. Arctic Fox's own warm-vs-cool breakdown lays out the standard rule for this exact category of color: warm skin undertones generally pair best with golden, copper, orange, or red hair-color families, while cool undertones pair best with blue, violet, or ash-toned families.
Not sure which one you are? The same source gives two quick checks that still apply here. Look at the veins on your wrist in natural light: greenish reads warm, blue or purple reads cool. Or hold gold and silver jewelry up to your face and see which one actually makes your skin look better; gold usually means warm, silver usually means cool.
| Undertone | Shades that fit |
|---|---|
| Warm | Ginger, Honey Brown, French Cognac, Cajun Spice, Truly Red, Sienna Brown, Mocha |
| Cool | Pink Rose, Burgundy Bliss, Lavender, Titanium, Electric Lime, Royal Navy, Soft Lavender, Sky Blue |
| Works either way | Crystal Clear, Jet Black |
Put the two lists together and 17 bottles turn into a short list fast. Say you've got a warm undertone and dark, unbleached hair that's never been colored: cross-reference the two tables above and you land on Ginger, Honey Brown, French Cognac, Cajun Spice, Truly Red, Sienna Brown, or Mocha. Seven real options, not seventeen undifferentiated ones.
How Long It Actually Lasts
Here's the one spot where we're leaning on a source we can't confirm as official. Adore Hairdye, one of the few sites that talks specifically about this line (again, not confirmed as Creative Image Systems' own official site), puts typical wear at four to six weeks depending on hair type, wash frequency, and how saturated the shade is. Treat "about a month, fading faster the more you wash" as the honest expectation rather than a guarantee.
Quick Answers
Does a higher Adore number mean a lighter or bolder color?
No. The numbers don't run on a level system the way professional colorist codes do, so a higher or lower number by itself tells you nothing about lightness or boldness. Go by the color family and name instead.Can I use a pastel shade on dark hair without bleaching?
You can apply it, but don't expect the bottle's photo. Without pre-lightening, a pastel like Soft Lavender or Sky Blue will read as a faint tint at best on dark, unbleached hair rather than its true color.What if I don't know my undertone?
Check your wrist veins in natural light (greenish reads warm, blue or purple reads cool), or compare how gold versus silver jewelry looks against your skin. Gold flattering you usually means warm, silver usually means cool.Skip the number. Start with color family, cross-reference your undertone, and check whether your hair needs a pre-lightening step first if you're eyeing one of the seven pastel or true-vivid shades. Do that and you've narrowed 17 bottles down to the handful that will actually work for you, no decoder ring required. If warm copper is where you land, we've also broken down our full range of warm copper shades in more depth.
Hair So Good is a beauty supply store at 106 Hwy 17 S, North Myrtle Beach, SC — shop online or stop by.
