Hard Candy Top Ten Eyeshadow Collection Palettes in Naturally Gorgeous and Smoke Out - pics, swatches, review

Hello, Beautiful!

I've had these two Hard Candy eyeshadow palettes for over a year now. I just remember picking them up when I first saw them pop up at my local Walmart. I took photos of them before I ever used them, but never got around to writing a review. Since you can still purchase these, and they're very affordable for 10 shadows - just $6 a palette - I thought I'd get this review up! I have two of the palettes (there are 5 total, I believe). The two I have are Naturally Gorgeous and Smoke Out. Check out all the product info, along with my full review, after the pics!

Hard Candy Top Ten Eyeshadow Collection
Shades: Naturally Gorgeous, Smoke Out
Continue scrolling down to see more pics of each individual shade.

Hard Candy Top Ten Eyeshadow Collection
Shade: Naturally Gorgeous

Hard Candy Top Ten Eyeshadow Collection
Shade: Smoke Out

Hard Candy Top Ten Eyeshadow Collection Info & Review:

Cost/Availability: $6.00 per palette (0.40 oz total size - each shadow being 0.04 oz full size). Available on the Walmart website and at all Walmart locations that sell Hard Candy cosmetics.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Kisses

Product Info...

Top Ten palettes let you coordinate with 10 shades in a variety of textures (glitter, shimmer and matte) to ensure a custom look with each application. Cased in chic lace, this mirrored compact is all you need for dozens of different looks. Includes two duo-ended sponge-tip applicators.


My Review...

Without a shadow primer, I'm not really fond of these palettes. The pigmentation isn't amazing on their own - especially when applied to the eye lids and you start to blend them. However, over an eyeshadow primer they can show up pretty nicely (I used Urban Decay's Primer Potion for the swatches on my hand that show the shadows over primer).

My Smoked Out palette had way worse pigmentation on its own then the Naturally Gorgeous palette. As you can see in the comparison photos of each palette, using over a shadow primer makes a HUGE difference in the way these shadows show up, especially in the Smoke Out palette. I'm not sure how much the other palettes show up, as I don't own those.

Some shades are a bit powdery while others were nicer in texture. My Naturally Gorgeous palette had way better textures than my Smoke Out palette - not sure why, but that was my experience with them.

I had initially picked these up to find dupes for higher end shadow palettes, and there are some dupes in there (I can't remember which at the moment, but I'll be doing some dupe posts coming up in the near future).

Do I reach for them often? No, not really. But I have a lot of eyeshadow and a lot of eyeshadow palettes. I think over the past year or so I've used these palettes maybe less then 10 times, and I mostly used the Naturally Gorgeous palette. But, that doesn't mean I don't like them. I do like them, but I sometimes forget I have them and don't pull them out to use them as often as maybe I should.

If I were to compare them to Wet n Wild, I think I prefer the Wet n Wild palettes - which are $5 for eight shades.


Final Thoughts...

For $6 you really can't complain about the quality of these palettes. You can get all five palettes they offer for less than the price of one high-end palette, and you'd have 50 shadows then to play around with for $30. Of course you don't need all five palettes - just choose the one, or ones, you like best. What I do like about their palettes is they are very color specific, so if you don't like blues then you can skip that one instead of getting a palette that includes blues you won't use.

They're definitely worth a try to see if you like them. However, I highly recommend only using these with an eyeshadow primer first. Without a shadow primer you may not be as happy with the pigmentation once applied to your lid, or the wear.

Now let me know what you think...

What do you think of these palettes? Have you tried them or are they on your beauty wish list? Discuss in the comments below.

NOTD: Crimson Flakes -- shiny & matte

Hello, Beautiful!

I did this NOTD a few weeks ago, before I had my surgery. I just haven't gotten around to sharing it with you all until today. On this particular day, I was in a red polish mood but also wanted to use flakies. I knew I'd reach for my Barielle polish in Elle's Spell, but it's rather sheer so I layered that over a red creme base. In addition, I wanted to use one of the Finger Paints Special Effects polishes, which I decided to layer over top everything. In the end, I liked the mani but I still wasn't satisfied. I went matte and loved it a lot more.

I prefer this look matte, but which do you like better? Matte or shiny?

Shown above matte, and below shiny.

To re-create this NOTD:

• One coat of Zoya Anchor base coat.
• One coat of China Glaze polish in Ruby Deer
• One coat of Barielle polish in Elle's Spell
• One coat of Finger Paints polish in Twisted
• One coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
• To go matte: one coat of Hard Candy Matte Top Coat

Then I went matte....

Hard Candy Glossaholic Lip Gloss in Gorgeous -- swatches, pics, review

Hello, Beautiful!

Every time I go to Wal-Mart I always stroll through the beauty section to see if there's anything new or on sale. The Hard Candy display always catches my attention, even though a lot of it seems to be marketed towards teens and those in their younger 20's. I'm still a glitter-aholic at heart, so Hard Candy makeup still appeals to me (and I remember when Hard Candy used to be sold in department stores; I still have some of those old eyeshadow quartlets). Their Glossaholic Lip Gloss has been a product that I've almost purchased a number of times, but would always put it back at the last second. Well I finally decided to purchase one, in the shade Gorgeous, and I don't think I'll be purchasing anymore of the Hard Candy Glossaholic lip glosses.

Check out my pics, swatches, stats and review...

Hard Candy Glossaholic Lip Gloss

Shade: Gorgeous

Shade Description: A sheer mid-tone warm pink with golden flakie glitter.


 














To show the size of the doe-foot applicator...

Basic stats for Hard Candy Glossaholic Lip Gloss:

Formula: liquid gloss with flakies

Coverage: sheer

Wear: average

Shade Info: 8 shades shown on the Hard Candy website; 7 available on Wal-Mart's website; not sure how many were at my local Wal-Mart (most were sold out). 

Cost/Availability: $5.00 (0.38 oz full size). Available at Wal-Mart store locations and on Wal-Mart's website.

Packaging: jumbo rounded tube; twist-off cap; jumbo doe-foot applicator

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Kisses

Formula:

This gloss is very glossy on your lips, and not too sticky at all. Infused with prisms of color that make lips appear fuller and plumper. Two of the Glossaholic sparkling clear top coats are infused with mood altering elixirs to help you chill out or rise & shine (although I haven't tried those).

Coverage:
Sheer color but lots of shine. I don't know how the coverage is of other shades; may get better color pay off from some of the brighter shades.


Wear:
Average gloss wear; the flakies stick around longer than the gloss.


Shade Info:
8 shades shown on the Hard Candy website; 7 available on Wal-Mart's website; not sure how many were at my local Wal-Mart (most were sold out). I picked the shade Gorgeous because it looked like a great mid-tone, warm pink but the color pay-off just isn't there.


Cost/Availability:
$5.00 (0.38 oz full size). Available at Wal-Mart store locations and on Wal-Mart's website.


Packaging:
Jumbo rounded tube with twist-off cap. This gloss has a jumbo doe-foot applicator, which I actually don't like. I did a comparison of this doe-foot applicator next to a Smashbox lip gloss doe-foot applicator. You can see how jumbo sized it really is. While yes, it will cover your lips in one dip, the application just seems a bit silly with the size of the doe-foot. However, I've seen other glosses (even one from Smashbox) that had that giant applicator; I hope it's not a sign of what's to come.


Hard Candy Glossaholic Lip Gloss Review:
I rated this lip gloss a 3 out of 5 kisses because it just didn't wow me, but I don't totally dislike it either. It's not an awful lip gloss, because it does give your lips tons of shine and the flakies in the formula are unique and pretty (it would make a gorgeous nail polish color, by the way). But the color pay-off is terrible, at least with the shade Gorgeous. It doesn't show up at all on my lips the way I thought; it comes across much lighter and definitely sheer. When you go to take off this lip gloss the flakies don't want to come off. They'll stick around as long as freakin possible. It's annoying.

The formula isn't very moisturizing and didn't feel all that comfortable on my lips. It was okay, but nothing that made me want to re-apply. You can't really feel the flakies on your lips, which is something I was worried about at first. The scent is very yummy if you're into the sweeter/bakery smelling type of glosses. To me it smells sort of like a vanilla cupcake.

The reason I rated this gloss a 3 is because I will use this as a top-coat gloss. The flakies are beautiful and I can see this over a number of lipsticks and even other glosses to add great shine and dimension. But it just wasn't a gloss that I went crazy for (like the Tarina Tarantino Gem Gloss in Neon Vanity), so I don't have any plans to buy additional shades. Although if I did, I'm learning that when it comes to Hard Candy lip products you should always choose the brightest looking shades because they have come across very sheer on me.

Not a gloss I would recommend to wear on its own, but it is a cheap gloss to use as a pretty top coat.

Now let me know what you think...

What do you think of this lip gloss? What about the shade? Have you tried this yet? Discuss in the comments below.



NOTD: Unicorn Dandruff -- two ways: shiny & matte

Hello, Beautiful!

Most of us nail polish crazies have used and/or heard of the phrase Unicorn Pee -- which refers to Clarins 230 polish. Well I decided to call my NOTD Unicorn Dandruff because of the flakies (aka the dandruff) and all the colors (from the base colors to the flashes of color the flakies create).

I decided to do this NOTD two ways; the first is a shiny version. Then I applied a matte top coat and that's how I'm currently wearing my nails. I like both ways but right now prefer the matte version. Which do you prefer?

 

To re-create this NOTD:

• 1 coat of Deborah Lippmann Hard Rock Hydrating Hardener, used as my base coat
• Using Wet n Wild Wild Shine polish in Black Creme, paint half of each nail black. For my thumb I painted a third of my nail instead of half my  nail.
• Using Sephora by OPI polish in Break A-Leg Warm, paint the other half of each nail gray. Again, for my thumb I painted a third of my nail instead of half of my nail.
• Then add China Glaze polish in Frost Bite, painting a blue stripe down the center of each nail.
• Once dry, apply 2 coats of Nubar 2010
• If you want a shiny finish you can leave it as it is or add a top coat (I skipped a top coat this time around because I knew I wanted to make it matte).
• If you want a matte finish, apply 2 coats of Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love.

NOTD: Unicorn Dandruff -- Shiny Version

NOTD: Unicorn Dandruff -- Matte Version