getting the color red takes awhile! you need to add ALOT of color. It will deepen as it sits. I mix a combo of reds when I do mine, I use chinese red, christmas red and red red. I end up with a nice shade of red. You can see it in some of my pics. Just be patient it will turn red! Some people start with pink, I have never tried that but it makes sense. Good luck don't give up, just keep mixing and mixing....
it does indeed darken over time. I left my red sit for about 2 hours for the marine corps cake I did, then decided it was ok to use! I hate using red. I try to avoid it at all costs but sometimes there is no way around it as you'll see in some of my cakes there was nothing I could do t avoid using red!
It's true that it will darken as it sits, even if you use it right away, cover the cake and go to bed... next morning it's more red. But also, when using a piping bag to do decorations... the heat of your hands will darken it a bit. I use a combo of no-taste red with a little red-red and Xmas red stirred in for depth of color, but mainly use the no taste so it doesn't taste nasty! Good luck!
I red in one of the forums here on CC that if you color your icing hot pink then add red you will get a good red. I was very sceptical (sp?) about trying it, but figured I didn't have anything to lose. I tried it and it worked great. I started with BC icing and added pink and rose (not sure how much, but a pretty good dolop on the toothpick) and mixed that in and got a pretty good hot pink. I then added americolors super red a few drops (knowing me it was probably 5) at a time until I got the red. I think it only took about 5-10 drops, but I'm not sure. 
HTH,
Chelle
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