Everyone is always looking for the next best drugstore cosmetic find. Today, I’m going to be sharing with you some new items from a “drugstore” brand you may be familiar with: Hard Candy. These products are exclusively sold at Wal-Mart. This review will contain several products ranging from concealers, to eyeshadows to lip products.
I’ve personally only tried a few of Hard Candy’s products prior to this review. Two of them I extremely disliked, and one I fell in love with. So, I was eager to begin testing out these products the moment I received them.
First, my favorite out of the bunch, the Hard Candy Shockingly Glossy Visibly Wet Lip Pencil ($6.00). I have this in the shade Baby Doll, which is a mid-toned rosy pink; it is has a creamy and opaque finish. The promo cards I received said these were sheer, but I found this product to be actually quite pigmented. It applied smoothly, and the wear time was significantly good. It does not dry the lips out or anything. You will have to reapply eventually at some point throughout the day, depending on how much you eat/drink/talk and what not. But, overall, it’s amazing! I love the shade particularly — it’s a very wearable color for everyday use.
The packaging is like a typical, chubby lip pencil. The finish does provide some shine, but it is not comparable to an actual lipgloss. The only downside is that you have to sharpen these as you do with most other pencil-like products. I wish it was a retractable though.
The next product is the Hard Candy Glossaholic Lipgloss ($5.00) in Sweet Peach. The packaging is cute, however, the lipgloss wand is huge! Even Hard Candy’s description of the product states that the applicator is ginormous. This is your standard doe-foot applicator, although it’s probably 3-4 times larger than a typical doe-foot applicator.
The tube itself is also rather large. These glosses are intended to be super-lustrous and infused with prisms of color to cause your lips to appear fuller and more plump. They are not an actual plumping gloss, so you will not feel that stinging, tingly sensation when you apply them.
I found this gloss to be quite sheer, however, the shimmer suspended in the gloss is actually quite beautiful; it’s a nice sheer peach shade to apply over a nude lip to give it a kicked-up and glossy finish. The formula is actually quite nice, too: It’s not the least bit sticky. Due to the fact that it’s not sticky, you may find yourself reapplying throughout the day. Overall, I think this gloss is fantastic. It’s definitely the largest lipgloss I own now!
Finally, for lip products, I have the Hard Candy Megawatt Smile Lipstick + Tooth Whitener ($6.00) in Superficial. This shade is not that flattering on my skin tone, but, it is all in all a beautiful shade. It’s a deeper toned, bright pink. The core of the lip product side has a clear-ish shimmery gloss inside of it that definitely makes the product much more moisturizing on the lips.
The formula of the actual lip color though is not bad at all. The shimmery core is also infused with blue pearls to make your teeth appear more white. I’m not sure if it’s the shade that I have, but I felt like this particular shade actually did the opposite. I love the color, but this shade is not for me. It might work amazing on someone else though. I would definitely buy this product in a shade better suited for my skin tone though!
As for the teeth whitener, I’m not sure about this. I think it’s a little gimmicky if you ask me: this product comes with no directions, so I just kind of used it once a day. I didn’t notice a difference. I’m not sure how strong the product is, or how long you have to use it to experience results. I think if you’re seeking to whiten your teeth, your best bet is to visit the dentist or invest in some Crest 3D Professional Effects White Strips ($47.99) rather than a lip product with a whitener attached to the bottom… just my opinion.
The next product is phenomenal! It’s the Hard Candy Walk the Line Liquid Liner ($6.00). The shade I have is a deep emerald green. I cannot find the name anywhere on the actual packaging though. I compared it with the shades on the promo card and it looks closet to the shade Glitzy. It’s perfect for the holidays! This product is not going to give you a super-opaque line for your eyeliner, but, it will add tons of fun glitter.
What I would definitely recommend is using this over top another eyeliner of your choice, so that you have a base color underneath it if you’re seeking an opaque line. Otherwise, it’s fine to use on its own. The formula dries quickly; I didn’t notice any clumping, peeling or flaking of the product throughout the day.
The brush is not too thin but not too thick. I’d say it’s a perfect medium of the two; you can still achieve a precise application with this product. I would definitely purchase other colors of this particular item.
Next are the eyeshadows. This next product is something I’m not so crazy about. The Hard Candy Top Ten Eyeshadow palette ($6.00) in Smoke Out, which is the purple palette. I was so excited to try this! The packaging really is lovely, but the shadows inside are just not that great. There is great lace detailing on the package, and I think it looks really well put together and thought out by Hard Candy, but I just couldn’t find myself liking the shadows.
I must also add that the dark black in this palette broke while it was being shipped to me, so I had a ton of black shadow everywhere. It was all over the other colors, and all over the other products inside of the box. It was quite a mess! In fact, it basically ruined the highlight shade in this palette.
As for the eyeshadows, you’re going to get ten of them. So for $6.00, that really would be a great deal. This product does appear to come in a variety of other shades as well. My issues with these shadows are that while some of them are nicely pigmented, there are a few duds in here.
The third shade from the left, and the fifth shade, have no pigmentation whatsoever. The swatches photographed are me going over the color several times trying to build it up. That becomes a nuisance when trying to apply it to your eyelids. If you’re going to use those colors in the crease, it just doesn’t work.
Another thing is that some of the colors are too similar. It’s almost like having the same color twice. Lastly, there really is no nice matte shade in here. They are all shimmery, with the exception of the fifth one from the right which has a more satin-type finish, but that shade doesn’t apply well at all. I wish that they had included a nude shade for blending or a matte crease shade. I give Hard Candy serious props for the packaging! I only hope that they can reformulate the eyeshadows to give us a better product as far as the eyeshadows are concerned.
The Hard Candy Single & Loving It Eyeshadows ($3.00). The shade I have is Night Out: It’s a black, matte shade with flecks of what looks like to be a reddish glitter in it. This is not a shimmery shadow by any means; it’s a matte base with glitter in the eye shadow. During application, the glitter is not that prominent in the eyeshadow once it’s on the lid, so it’s not going to leave you looking like a disco ball.
The formula is nice; this particular shade is decently pigmented. I didn’t notice any skipping in the crease, or difficulty in blending this eyeshadow. Just make sure you have a good blending color when working with such darker shades like this one. They do come in a variety of finishes: pearl, glitter and shimmer. The packaging is relatively sturdy and does not feel cheap. I would be interested in trying out other colors of this product.
Lastly, the concealers. These are my favorite products of the bunch. One of these I actually have already owned for a while now. It is the Hard Candy Heavy Duty Glamoflauge Concealer ($6.00). This product also comes with a little mini-concealer in the form of a pencil. I think the pencil is relatively useless; it is very difficult to apply and you have to press pretty hard. The consistency is just not there. I would use this to outline your lips when wearing a bold lip color at most. However, the Glamoflauge Concealer is amazing. Probably one of the best, most pigmented drugstore concealers you can find.
Please believe me when I say you only need the tiniest amount of this stuff! Literally, a drop, smaller than the size of a pea is probably enough to conceal underneath both of your eyes. You can use this on blemishes as well as dark circles, even tattoos according to Hard Candy. The formula blends well and it creates a flawless look.
It’s not difficult to work with at all. The shade that I have is Light, which works perfect for under my eyes. It doesn’t excessively crease throughout the day, but I would recommend to use a light powder to set it for longer wear time. The product comes in a squeeze tube with a twist-off cap.
The next concealer is the Hard Candy Lite Bright Concealer ($6.00). This is in the standard click-pen form. It allows for precise application without having to use your fingers (of course, if you’re using a brush to blend). The formula for this is a little on the thicker side, but I like it actually. It does brighten under the eyes well, and, as with the Glamoflauge Concealer, you only need a small amount. Mine happened to ooze out a bit into the cap, so that’s why it looks a little messy. I think this is perfect for under the eyes and highlighting the cheek bones, if you get it in the right shade for your skin tone.
It’s not too bad for concealing, but I find that the brightening effect can sometimes cause more attention to be drawn to your blemishes than you would like. The formula claims that it will help to reduce your dark circles over time, but I don’t think I’ve been using it long enough to notice a difference.
The last concealer is the Hard Candy The Perfect Cover Up Skin Clarifying Concealer ($6.00). This has a twist-up concealer stick, which is actually pretty creamy for being a stick form concealer. The shade was a little off for my skin tone, but, with a little blending, it matched decently.
There is a brush on the other end that I’m not a huge fan of. I don’t think this works quite as well at covering blemishes as the Glamoflauge Concealer, so, if you’re looking to conceal acne scars, dark marks or anything like that, I would not recommend this concealer. I would recommend this concealer for someone who just uses it sparingly and doesn’t have serious skin problems.
All in all, I do think most of the products from Hard Candy are rather impressive. I would skip on the eyeshadow palettes, just because some of them are misses rather than hits. I’m very impressed with most of the products that I’ve tried from this line. Be sure to check them out at your local Wal-Mart. I think everything is reasonably priced, especially for those who are “beauty on a budget” divas.
What do you lovely ladies think of these products from Hard Candy? Let us know by commenting below, which will automatically be posted to our Community Forum (click here to check it out!) where you can find other beauty related discussions! Don’t forget to also submit a photo to our Photo Of The Day (click here!) feature, where a new photo will be picked daily. Your photo just might be selected, so get going!
– Dawn Santamarina, check out Dawn’s YouTube beauty channel here!
For more giveaways, free samples and contests, sign up for our newsletter HERE.
If you like this post, share it with your friends and give it a LIKE on Facebook.
