Is that a warm brown or a golden brown?

So tonight was my very first attempt at home hair colouring. I think. It was a bad decision on my part but it really isn't terrible. No more grey! but my hair is a weird reddish brown colour instead of the pretty chestnut brown that the girl on the front of the box had. I'm also upset that those little pieces of fake hair that they show you as a color sample are deceiving. It is obviously not human hair and I'm not sure what colour they started with. So after staring at all the boxes of colour at the store for what felt like an hour but was really only about 15 minutes, I decided for a first timer I should go with a semi-permanent colour. That narrowed. My choices to only 3 brands. This is a big relief to someone who is indecisive. I decided on this stuff (mainly, I think, because the girl on the box was pretty and the box had pink on it and I'm drawn to pink):

Now I know very little about colouring hair.  I know you can't dye blonde hair black or black hair blonde without going green or orange.  I know that if you are working with reds and blondes that you have to take the red foils out first because it will turn the blonde pink.  I also know that my hair grows far too fast to pay $160 every time I get overwhelmed with grey.  I don't know if colouring hair at home is a good choice or if some things are better left to the professionals.

I figured I would make less mess with a cream version but in reality I don't know if that's right or wrong because my bathroom looks like someone took a dog in who had just rolled in a mud puddle and let it shake itself off 5 or 6 times. 

The tub (where I chose to rinse the color) got the worst of it and I totally don't feel like cleaning the bathtub right now.  Hopefully it doesn't stain. 

So, in the end, my hair is a weird shade of reddish brown that is obviously not natural but doesn't look totally horrible.  They should totally have a professional colourist standing in the hair colour aisle at every drug store to tell people what colour their hair will turn.  This was not my ideal shade.  On the positive side, it was only $12 rather than $160; took 1/2 hour instead of 2 hours (the box said 10 minutes but I don't think they account for beginners); and the little bottle of conditioner they throw in with it is absolutely fantastic.  I've paid more than $12 for conditioner before so that is my justification.  Now if only I can find the justification to buy the awesome $300 boots I saw at Browns this week......sigh.