Hard Candy Goes Drug Store!

The first time I ever stepped into Sephora (an historic and momentous day back in 1999), one of the first brands to catch my eye was Hard Candy. It was a teenage girl's dream: bright colours, cute packaging, and glitter everywhere. Looking past the girly aura, Hard Candy actually made some high-quality products. I owned a few of their eyeshadow quads, which were well-pigmented, perfectly coordinated palettes in shimmery silver sleeves (anyone remember them?).

A few years ago I was disappointed to hear that Sephora would no longer be carrying the brand... and was more recently excited to see that it had a new, more affordable incarnation. The line is now carried at Wal-Mart and most of the items go for $10 or less. They still sport the same glitzy and -dare I say- often over the top packaging but, like their original products, offer high-quality products, especially for the price. Plus, they have kept their anti-animal testing policy, touting the slogan "We <3 our animal friends. We don't test our products on them" on all of their products.

I recently bought two new Hard Candy products (both under $10) and thought I'd review them here:

The first is Hard Candy's So Baked Bronzer in shade Hula Hula. It's a sheer, but buildable bronze shade with subtle and natural shimmer. It gives my skin a gorgeous bronzy glow, with no hint of orange or fake-bake. It might be a bit too light for those with medium to dark skin tones, but it's perfect on my MAC NC20 skin.



Hard Candy So Baked Hula Hula Bronzer



And to make things even prettier, it has subtle gold veining throughout, for an extra touch of warmth. I will definitely be sporting this bronzer throughout the summer months. How refreshing to find a subtle, natural bronzer for less than $9!

Close-up: Bronze with gold veining

The second item I purchased was Hard Candy's Visibly Wet Shockingly Glossy Lip Pencil (a mouthful!) in the shade Inferno. The vibrant orange-fuchsia colour caught my eye right away, as did it's resemblance to NARS Velvet Gloss lip pencils, which I've reviewed here: http://vibrantbeautyblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/product-review-nars-velvet-gloss-lip.html?showComment=1300244630751#c8351848682692573170

Like the NARS, Hard Candy's Shockingly Glossy lip pencil offers rich colour and a truly shiny finish. As a one-up on NARS, Hard Candy's offers much more longer-lasting colour. While the NARS fades rather quickly, I think the Hard Candy would last for hours if left untouched. A huge downside, however, is that the texture of the Shockingly Glossy pencil is a lot thicker, making it fairly uncomfortable on lips. Plus, it contains pretty visible shimmer, bordering on glitter, so this level of boldness may not be for everyone.

Visibly Wet Shockingly Glossy  Lip Pencil in Inferno

Here is a picture of Inferno on my lips:

HC Inferno on lips

Overall, while the texture of Hard Candy's Visibly Wet Shockingly Glossy pencils isn't the greatest, these still pack an excellent colour punch for the $7 price tag. And the packaging is cute and convenient!

Although I don't prefer to spend my money at Wal-Mart often, checking out Hard Candy's frugal goodies gives me one good reason to visit the superstore once in a while. I'll keep you all posted if I find any other girly treats from the line!

Thanks for reading :)