Hard Candy used to seem like a brand strictly for girls in high school looking for bright nail polish and glitter liner. Now-a-days, you can find products from the brand that rival collections 5x their price. Hard Candy makeup, found at Walmart, is affordable, fun, impressively pigmented and fit for all ages. Read on to see how I use these products in my daily routine.
I first featured these gift sets before Christmas in my stocking stuffers guide. I had so much fun with that post and I've been using all of the products since. Right off the bat, here are some highs and lows:
Best
- Eyes The Limit Eyeshadow Primer - A fantastic pick for those on a budget. My top choice is the Milani shadow primer.
- So Baked! Bronzer in Tiki - This is a classic product I bought years ago and I'm happy to now have a mini. This is actually a highlight colour, it is so pretty and has wonderful pigmentation.
- Glitter Eyeshadow Palette - Great pigmentation
- Brows Now! Brow Kit - Really nice shadow texture, wonderful selection of tools and shades
- Long Wear Setting Spray - lovely setting spray to layer over powder that helps to keep your makeup on all day
- Eye Def Cream Shadow - Convenient lipgloss style tube with a cream shadow that packs a huge punch. I love the metallic shade in this holiday set, it works so well and doesn't crease.
Worst
- Look Pro! Illuminate & Strobing Highlight Sticks - waxy texture, poor packaging and not the best pigment
- Face the Finish set of 3 Powder Duos - Very poor pigmentation overall, cheap glitter packaging
- Sheer Envy Perfecting Face Primer - classic silicone primer that does not work for my combo skin type - too thick and makeup felt like it never truly set on top
- Blender Sponge - too dense for my liking, go with Real Techniques instead
Here's a look I did using the mascara, contour creams, 6-colour shadow palette, liner, shadow primer, glamouflage, powder blush and velvet mousse lipstick.
Here are some preliminary swatches of some products from their Christmas collection:
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| Eyeshadows, Glamouflage Concealer (separated a bit at first), Face Primer (clear), Lip Mousse, Eye |
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| Glitter 6-Pan Eyeshadow Palette from Christmas Kit |
As you may know if you follow me on Instagram (@madeline_dm) I adore the Hard Candy 12 Days of Eye advent calendar. The shadows are all incredible, here's what I got.
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| Advent Calendar Eyeshadow Swatches |
I had so many metal boxes with product inside after this haul, I decided to consolidate into a double-sided MAC palette. It was slightly traumatic when the soft eyeshadows started to crack as I wedged them out of the plastic dividers, but it worked out beautifully in the end:
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| Hard Candy + some Essence shadows and highlighters |
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| 6 Cream Highlight and Contour shades and 2 Powders |
The complexion creams in general are a bit dry and very warm-toned, but they can be worked into the skin for a more natural look.
These are a bunch of powder swatches from my custom palette. Brow shades are OK in pigmentation, eyeshadows were great overall, and the blush/bronzers were bad in the matte shades but great in the shimmer options. Hard Candy excels in pigments with glitter, not in the matte category.
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| L to R: Look Pro! Illuminate & Strobing Highlight Sticks, Face the Finish set of 3 Powder Duos, mini So Baked! Trio, So Baked! Bronzer in Tiki |
I'm so happy to have tried some more permanent and holiday-themed products from Hard Candy. It's great to have first-hand experience with affordable makeup brands to help friends and family make well-informed decisions when the budget is tight.
Have you tried anything from Hard Candy? I featured them in my Halloween Unicorn Makeup, How to Hide Blemishes and Top 10 at the Drugstore posts.
xx
Press Samples featured.
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