Hardcandy Ombre Baked Blush and Highlighter Duo

June 1, 2015June 1, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 3 Comments

Hey lovelies,

Today I wanted to share a few products that I have had for awhile and have been meaning to review and swatch. If you’re new here, there’s something you should know: I love Hard Candy makeup. I think they’re an underrated drugstore brand and I wish I saw more people talking about their products! There are some misses, but lately they have been coming out with some stellar and affordable products, and I want to share a few with you all today.

The two products I want to share are an ombre baked blush and a highlighter duo. The baked blush I believe is permanent, but the heart shaped highlighter is not, sadly.

If you’re unfamiliar with Hard Candy, they’re a Walmart exclusive brand that is also cruelty free. I have done a review of their new Natural Eyes palette that I will link at the end of this post.

First up, this baked blush. Can we just admire it for a second? It’s so gorgeous. I love baked blushes in general because I find them to be pigmented and shimmery, so many times they act as a highlighter-blush in one. No need for extra steps in my routine on a busy morning? Score! What’s unique about this ombre blush though is that you can kind of “customize” the shade you want based on where you apply your brush. You can go to the white side for just a highlight. You could go on the other side for an intense pink, or somewhere in the middle for a very pretty pink glow. It’s up to you!

This product is very pigmented and swatches very well. It looks beautiful on the cheeks. I have the shade “punch” but I’m really tempted to go and pick up the other shade as well. I find that it doesn’t take much at all to get color to your cheeks, so be wary of that if you’re not into the intense Snow White kind of look (I am, not gonna lie).

Swatches shown left to right: highlight side alone, everything swirled together, pink side alone

See, it’s totally like getting 3 colors in one product! I love this little baked blush.

Highlighter duo: First off, the cute little heart tin packaging spoke to me. So reminiscent of the Too Faced heart-shaped boxed blushes. It’s not as fancy as the Too Faced ones, but it’s still cute in terms of drugstore packaging. This was part of the collection Hard Candy released for their 20th anniversary.

There are two sides, obviously. A lighter and darker side. I didn’t know how the darker side would look on my fair skin, but surprisingly this product leans more on the “natural glow” side than the “wam bam highlighter in yo face” side. There’s no visible glitter in it. The texture and finish reminds me much of Physician’s Formula highlighters, and those are my absolute favorite highlighters in the drugstore.

This duo felt very soft and buttery to the touch. You can tell when you touch it that it is finely milled. I’ve also seen people depot the heart very easily by just popping the little booger out and into a z-palette, if that’s something you would want to do.

Because this is a duo, you can use either side or mix both shades together. The swatches I have are of just each side.

I had to go over each swatch a few times simply because this product really does give a natural glow and it’s pretty hard to overdo it.

It lasted fairly well on my face, but I will say that after about 8 hours it seemed to fade away. I don’t touch up many times throughout the day, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re wanting to wear this all day…it might fade after awhile. Would this be work appropriate? Yes. Appropriate for a night out at the club? Maybe not.

I will say that overall I’m happy with this little tin of prettiness, and I think this will look pretty in the Fall when I want a more toned done “glow from within” type of look. It’s a very pretty champagne highlighter that is pretty good quality in terms of drugstore highlights. Do I like this more than my holy grail Physicians Formula?? No, but I do think this is a nice and cute thing to add to your collection if you’re a Hard Candy lover.

As always, thanks for reading this post if you made it this far, and if you’re new here I hope you stay awhile!

Hard Candy Natural Eyes Review: https://lunafayebeauty.com/2015/03/11/hard-candy-natural-eyes-potential-dupe/

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March Favorites

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 4 Comments

Hello, and welcome back!

Can I please say that I am not ready for April? This year is going way too fast, which means in 2 short months I will have a 3 year old and a 1 year old 😦

Someone get me a cold cloth, I think I feel baby fever hitting me.Just kidding, my hands are full enough at the moment.

I don’t have an empties post this month because I want to continue to save up all my trash and do a huge review of all my empties at the end of April!
I do have a favorites video this month, and I talk about a lot of new Nyx products because I took advantage of their 30% off snapchat deal a few weeks back.

If this is your first time on my blog…hey! I do have a youtube channel that you can subscribe to. I am still trying to figure out an exact uploading schedule, but I think I want to upload every wednesday and friday/saturday. I’m working on it. New subscribers make me so happy though!

Favorites Friday

March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / Leave a comment

YES! THE WEEKEND IS ALMOST HERE!

I’m not going to lie, I’ve had a rough week. I have a teething baby and I’m recovering from an intense stomach bug. Someone dear to me also passed away this week, but I know he would want me to keep doing what I love even though I am sad, so here I am. I love blogging. I really and truly do. Not for money or anything, because it’s probably obvious that I don’t make money from this. I’ve loved makeup and art since I was 2. My very first memories are of me drawing on my mom with eyeliner and singing my little heart out all the time. Creating is my passion. I’ve created music, makeup looks, babies, paintings…this is who I am, and this is what makes me happy.

You all make me so happy. I just wanted to say that this week.

I will never stop creating. I will never stop singing.

Here are some of my favorite moments and things for the week, I hope you all enjoy!

1. Favorite Piper Moment Okay, so every time I look at this picture I bust out laughing. We went to Jeremy’s grandparents house last week because it was his grandma’s birthday, and Grandma Patsy made some us a good southern dinner. I’m talking rolls, potatoes, green beans, cabbage, fried okra…the works. I gave Piper some mashed potatoes and green beans and I have never seen a baby shove food in their mouth the way Piper did. This was her face afterwards. It screams:

“I’ve made a mistake. I misjudged my own stomach. Too full.”

Let’s just say we all had an amazing family nap once we got home.

2. So, I got an email from Kat Von D’s Beauty Page saying that the website had been updated. I was scrolling through it looking at all the new photos…and look at how I found! ME! I’m honestly so excited, and I don’t care if anyone finds that to be odd. Kat Von D is one of my beauty inspirations, and this was such a cool moment for me. My review of the Innerstellar palette can be found here for anyone interested.

3. Makeup Faves I’ve been loving the new Hard Candy Natural Eyes Palette. I have a review here and a video using this palette here.

I’ve also rediscovered my love for Too Faced Melted Lipstick in “Fig.” It’s the perfect neutral plum color. I die over it. I’ve been using elf smudge pots all week to prime my eyes. They are so perfect! If you’re looking for a cruelty free dupe of the maybelline color tattoos, pick up a few elf smudge pots. They’re also half the price!

4. Favorite Jewelry piece The Ghost Milk necklace from Worship 13. It’s so gorgeous, and it actually shifts color in different lighting. I can’t get over how perfect it is. I’ve mentioned Worship 13 several times before, but I really love her shop. Her items are so well put together and beautiful.

5. Favorite Shirt I love Pink Floyd. I picked this shirt up at Kohl’s for $2 a few weeks ago, and it’s so comfy. It’s a Men’s shirt, technically, but I don’t give a damn. It’s a woman’s big baggy badass shirt now. I live in band tees and shorts/skirts in the spring and summer.

On my lips: Lasplash “Lady” topped with Milani’s “Florence” Fierced Foil Gloss

Those are the favorites I wanted to share with you all this week! I will see you all again next Friday with more favorites!

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Hard Candy Natural Eyes + Potential Dupe

March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 / Kayla Hutchison / 13 Comments

Let me start off by saying I rarely venture into Walmart. I live in Tennessee, and just trust me when I say you never know what’s going to happen when you venture into a Walmart. I’ve had some weird experiences. However, I went in to scope out their clearance and browse around since I was bored and feeling antsy.

I ended up coming across a few gems that I can’t believe I haven’t seen many reviews on yet! I don’t own many Hard Candy things since what I have tried by them has been bad (for me) but I saw they had some really cool new things, including new eyeshadow palettes!

What caught my eye the most about these palettes was how similar they looked to the Too Faced tin palettes…and I had a hunch that the one called “Natural Eyes” may be a dupe for the Natural Eyes palette by Too Faced.

My hunch was correct.

See:

The packaging is obviously different, but still it’s the same concept.

ARE YOU ALL SEEING THIS? They look so similar! I’m so blown away by this right now!
The Too Faced palette retails at $36
Hard Candy: a wallet busting $8

The Hard Candy palette actually comes with more goodies though. It comes with a primer and an eyeliner. The eyeliner is meh (they usually are) but the primer is actually really nice!

I decided to do true side by side swatches…and the two palettes are truly very similar! Are they exact dupes? No. But if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, try this palette out. While I was swatching the Hard Candy one I noticed the shades are very creamy and buttery, which is unusual for drugstore shadows. A few shades were a bit patchy, but not too bad. I’m overall super impressed with them.

This is the side by side swatches, and I did put an awkward line down the middle to differentiate.
The Too Faced Natural Eyes palette is always going to have a special place in my heart, but I really love the Hard Candy one as well. I did swatch these over primer since that’s how most people wear shadows, and because I’m so pale that if I don’t some shades just don’t show up.
I may end up going back and picking up the Sassy one as well…because I’m sassy, that’s why.

This is a quick look I put together with the palette to test out how well they work with brushes. They blended beautifully! The matte shades are so pigmented and buttery, I’m in love already. The primer was really nice as well, and my shadows did not crease at all!
My overall thoughts are if you come across this, buy it. You can’t really go wrong with a palette like this that’s also cheap.

I had a hard time finding reviews of the new Hard Candy stuff, but if you have reviews of your own, please feel free to link them in my comments section! Or suggest something for me to try!

I did pick up one of their new foundations since the shade looked paper white (my perfect shade, yes!) so if you’re fair skinned and want to see my thoughts, make sure to follow me for updates!

As always, thanks for reading. Have a great day, lovelies.