Review: HARD CANDY Reawakens at Walmart

Remember when Hard Candy used to be sold in department stores or Sephora? Well, the line is now offered at Walmart at a more affordable price, and if you're lucky enough to find a display that isn't ravaged - like mine was - you'll see that they have a wide range of products, such as eyeshadow palettes, baked eyeshadow duos, lipsticks, glosses, nail polish, blushes, bronzers and eyeliners. They also had body glitter, a tinted moisturizer (?), a double-ended loose eyeshadow stick, and some metallic shadestick thingy. There was something called "Eye Tattoo" but I wasn't too sure what that was - something like an eyeshadow on a sheet that you rub onto your eye. The prices ranged from about $5 to $10 and Hard Candy does not test on animals.

JUST NAILS Nail Color

This deep and mysterious blackened emerald green with lighter green shimmer is called Envy, and I envy it so. The polish went on a little streaky on the first two strokes, but after that it was quite pigmented and very smooth (I used two coats in the swatch). All the nail polishes ($5) come with a plastic ring shaped either like a hemisphere or a puffed heart (I wish Envy came with a heart-shaped one). They have a small selection of glittery finishes, cremes and shimmers. Their polish contains Formaldehyde Resin, which some people like to stay away from so that can be a con. Each nail polish contains 0.35 fl. oz., which is less than your usual 0.5 fl. oz. =/

I have to go back and get this peachy-pink color with golden shimmer. I had it in my hands but decided to put it back. I hope it's still there!

MOUTHING OFF Sheer Lip Shine

• PRICE: $6
• AMOUNT: 7.5 g or 0.26 oz
• APPLICATOR: Sponge-tip
  
• OPAQUENESS: Sheer, as the product states
• TEXTURE: Smooth and moist without feeling oily; absolutely NOT STICKY like MAC Lipglasses
• SMELL: Vanilla, like MAC Lipglasses
• SHININESS: Almost as shiny as a MAC Lipglass
• PACKAGING: Cardboard handle and bottom, which I didn't notice at the store because it was shrink-wrapped, but it has a waxy coating. I don't like how the bottom of the tube is covered with the cardboard because I won't be able to tell how much product is left.
• LIPGLOSS FINAL THOUGHTS: If you like MAC Lipglasses minus the stickiness, then go and get these Hard Candy ones. But remember, these are very sheer (like a lot of MAC Lipglasses, anyway) and look better over lipsticks. I wish they were more opaque but I would definitely try out another color.
• FINAL GRADE: B, if it were more opaque, I'd give it an A. But I can't complain about something being sheer when it's advertised as such.

Gossip is a sheer peachy-pink with golden shimmer, like a light Expensive Pink eyeshadow in a tube. When blended out, the color is sheerer than in the pic.

IN THE SHADOWS Eyeshadow Collection

SPECS

• PRICE: $7
• AMOUNT: 8 g total
• PRODUCT: A palette of 5 shadows with a mini-sized primer
• PACKAGING: Cardboard with a shiny coating, hidden magnetic closure, small double-ended sponge tip applicator (the good kind like in NYX trios), see-through plastic film window, has small elastic band to hold primer to the palette
  
• PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: "This ensemble sizzles with five pigment drenched, blendable shades. Shadow primer is a superbly effective way to instantly eliminate creasing, fading and smudging." (Yeah, right.)

Ingredients (Click to enlarge)

Notice the embossed design

PRIMER REVIEW

• AMOUNT: 4.3 ml or 0.14 oz
• TEXTURE: Like a watery, starchy glob. It dries clear but basically leaves a sticky, tacky residue on your lid and takes a long time to dry.
• SMELL: Kind of like when you mix water and flour together, or water and cornstarch. I don't like it.
• INGREDIENTS: Water-based; click picture below
• CREASING: Definitely did not help with creasing because after 3 hours of wearing this alone on my lids, the colors creased and practically disappeared off my lids. It did not crease when I used it as a base over TFSI (Too Faced Shadow Insurance). That's why I love TFSI on my oily eyelids!
• MAKING COLORS POP: In the swatches below, it actually made the first two colors look better than on the other two bases, but I think that was only because it was still somewhat wet when I swatched the shadows over them. It's better than nothing but it's not the best base to make your eyeshadows pop. I used the primer under some other drugstore eyeshadows and it just did ok. I really don't like using it and it will probably just sit in my drawer.
• PRIMER FINAL GRADE: C, I'm not going to use it again

Click to enlarge

EYESHADOW REVIEW - VICE PALETTE
Pictured from bottom to top

• COLOR DESCRIPTIONS: 1) shimmery, taupey-silver, 2) shimmery mid-tone warm purple, 3) matte light beige, 4) shimmery light mint green, 5) shimmery dark steely gray
• TEXTURE: I love the smooth texture and the product easily gets into the bristles of your brush, but wait for the pigmentation comments...
• PIGMENTATION: A major disappointment for the first two colors, especially the purple. The matte light beige is what it is, so I can't really complain about that one. The most pigmented color is the dark gray, followed by the mint. It's a 2 out of 5 for me. You'll definitely need to use a better base like a cream shadow or shadestick to bring out the colors.
• VICE PALETTE FINAL THOUGHTS: I wish I could return it and get my $7 back. LoL! But since the dark gray was nicely pigmented, I wonder if the other palettes with the darker bronzey colors would be more pigmented than this palette. These colors are fairly light, you know.
• VICE PALETTE GRADE: C-, but if you like softer colors, you may like it. Otherwise, pass on by!
  

The HC Primer isn't that good, even though the first two colors look better than on the other two primers. The primer was still a little wet when I swatched the shadows, so maybe that's why. Plus, I kept packing on those first two colors to make them show up.

Even over my trusty Scandalous Eyeshadow Magnet, the first 2 or 3 colors are so washed out.

Finger swatches are so misleading. That's why I don't do them!

HARD CANDY OVERALL

Did I mention that I love the designs on the packaging? The lipsticks have tattoo-like designs on them and I was going to buy one called Perfect, but decided to wait on someone else's swatches before I buy more Hard Candy. I just wish that the Vice Palette was more pigmented because I love the packaging and the idea that it came with a mini primer. Most of the items on my display were completely gone, so I hope you find a well-stocked one. Well, for now, I'll be going back for more nail polish!

Have you tried any new Hard Candy stuff?

I found my old skool HC Jewel Box from 4 years ago...hardly touched. Tsk.

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UPDATE: I got two more polishes...yay! I think the rings are size 7.

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