I Love Me Some Hard Candy

It takes a lot to coax me into coming along with you to Walmart. Between the bad fluorescent lighting, the screaming children, and lack of any regard for life shown by the little upside down floating fishies in their tupperwear homes... I just can't do it. But ever since Hard Candy has debuted there (and maybe because I realized there's a Sally's in the same plaza), it's become just that much easier to win my company. At first glance, nothing stood out to me. The tinted moisturizer looked fugly, I don't like to wear chemical laden lip products (don't quote me on this later), glitter isnt really my thing... so the whole Hard Candy at Walmart thing seemed like an epic fail to me. Then I saw the blushes. This has been said over and over, but the first thing that came to my mind was MAC msf's... I had to own one. I first purchased 'Living Doll', which I was skeptical about but ended up being extremely happy with. I later ended up getting 2 more, 'Bombshell' then 'Honeymoon'. I do not know what people are talking about when they complain about pigmentation of these blushes. I have to be extra careul with application as they are extremely pigmented for me, and not packed too tightly at all. I use a mac 116, sweeping the blush first on the side of the brush, patting it on, then buffing out with either that same brush or the 109.


First off, I love the packaging. It's really sturdy, not to mention adorable. No cheap blue plastic here. For seven bucks, 8 grams of product isn't too shabby. I'm normally weary of dome shaped powders, as they seem to magically dissapear within a month, but these are not like that at all. I've been using them all month and you can't even tell they've ever been swiped with a blush brush.

Here they are (swatched heavily):

Living Doll is a scary fuschia in the dome, but a really pretty sheer pink on application. I'm not sure I can see the effects of the golden yellow veining on my skin.. it just seems like a one dimentional pink to me. But it is gorgeous nonetheless and looks great with pink glosses. The finish is such a pretty sheen, shimmery without being too over the top or glittery. As good as can be expected of a well-made baked blush.

Bombshell is probably the best proof of the lesson to not judge a book by its cover. In the pan, its medium brown with hot pink veining. On the skin, it has become one of my favorite shades of blush that can be used in a multitude of looks. It gives a bronzed color, with enough pink to register this as a definite blush, not bronzer (although it may seem so in the picture.. I swear it has way more pink on application!). I always use this blush when I'm using browns and bronze colors on my eyes. It looks equally stunning with pink shadow, when used sheerly.

Honeymoon is a light peachy pink, with purple veining. I bought it to use as a highlighter, but on my skintone it doesn't highlight enough for me. I like to use this over bronzer, it's sheen and subtle pink tone makes my bronzers look really wow.

These blushes retail for $7 each.

The ingredients listed are: Mica, Talc, Mineral Oil, Dimethicone, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben.

The company does not test on animals :)

I've searched for swatches of these blushes, and there don't seem to be many, so hopefully these help you guys. I'm genuinely happy I found these, and I'm eyeing the line's bronzers next...