Review: Hard Candy Fierce Effects Eye Shadow Duos.

Good Morning lovelies! i hope you all are well!

Today I bring you a review on a new product from the Walmart exclusive brand Hard Candy! Every time I go to Walmart I always check out the beauty section and check to see if there is anything new, so I was so glad a few weeks ago to see that some of the newest Hard Candy products had made its way to my local Walmart shelves.

The first product I picked up that caught my eye was these new eye shadow duos called Fierce Effects. From what I saw at Walmart they have four different duos to choose from. Plus they all look like each color compliments the other in the pack.

The duo I picked up is called Slow and Steady, one shadow is a shimmery champagne color and the other is a dark brown.

Here is what the packaging looks like from Hard Candy's Website. (I accidentally threw mine out before taking a photo of it.)

Credit: Hard Candy Makeup. 

"Hard Candy Fierce Effects Shadow Duo Eyeshadow features a unique hybrid texture that is not a powder or a cream and provides velvety texture with luminous color. Each shade is intensified with a second pigment for a multi-dimensional pearl finish. With intense staying power, these cushiony silky pigments offer a comfortable, long-wearing formula." --Hard Candy's Description from their website. 

I would have to agree with Hard Candy's description of the Fierce effect duos, they are very soft and velvety smooth, and are very pigmented. As for saying whether they are a cross between a powder or a cream, I would say they lean more towards a loose powder pigment. 

These eye shadows remind me greatly of the L'oreal Infallible 24 hour loose eye shadows. The packaging is very similar and after doing some research I didn't see any information that L'oreal (or their parent company) owns Hard Candy. 

Here is what the L'oreal Infallible Eye Shadow I have looks like. 

And here are the Hard Candy Fierce Effects duos.

Inside the shadows the set up is the same too where you have a little disk with a handle pressing the pigment down so it doesn't go all over the place.

If you guys follow me on here or on Instagram or Twitter, you know I love my neutral eye shadows and its my go-to look 90 percent of the time. So it was no clue that I would love these eye shadows.

These are perfect for me when I go to work early in the morning, I don't have to keep switching back between different palettes and rummaging through my stash at 5am.

Lets take a look at swatches.

The first photo is of the duo in sunlight. The champagne color is my favorite of the duo. Its not just a shadow for your lid but I love using it in other looks as an inner corner highlight. 

Here are the colors swatched in the shade. I should also say that these are swatched over no eye shadow primer! How awesome is that? 

As for staying power, without primer, I've noticed with my combination skin they last about 4-5 hours. If I use primer I get about 6-8 hours of wear, especially if I don't touch my face. I have this tendency to hold my head in my hands or if I get an itch on my eye, I forget I'm wearing makeup and tend to rub. 

I think these duo's are great. I do have one request though and that is maybe making more colors available. Out of the four duos they have Slow and Steady and one other called Lost and Found are ones I would wear. Who knows though, maybe in 2015 Hard Candy will come out with more options. 

If you want to get your hands on these Fierce Effects Duos they are available at Walmart for $5 bucks! 

See you guys in the next post, <3 Nicole. 

*All products mentioned in my post are purchased by me unless otherwise stated. I am not affiliated with any companies mentioned above and I am not being compensated.*

Urban Decay Cosmetics Naked 3 Palette!

Hi guys! Its Monday again, but that means its also new blog post day!!

I apologize for my post going up so late, but we all know real life can get in the way. I so wish that blogging was kind of my full time job.. I love it so much!

Today I bring you a post that I have been putting off because I think its my favorite one yet, and if you saw the title then you already know where this is headed.

Back in March I placed a Sephora order and bought myself the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I did this after much consideration of other eye shadow palette from other companies. I literally did research for months on what palette I wanted.

How important is doing research on a beauty product you want to purchase?

So in the end I'm pretty sure that I made the right decision, I have used this palette almost every day since I got it and now after a couple months of using it I want to tell you what I think.

 
First off, the packaging... I have said over and over I am a sucker for anything rose gold... and this makes no exception. I love that its a metal case that snaps shut so you don't have to worry about it opening up during travel. Its slim so it will also travel nicely as well. Its not as thin as my LORAC Pro Palette but its compact enough. I like that this palette has a texture top to it, I think it adds a little something extra that we don't always see.

All these shadows for the most part are warm rose toned shadows. I'll be the first to admit I never wore much pink eye shadow when I started playing with makeup with I was a kid. I always thought it washed me out. Turns out I was just using to pale of a pink.

Formula wise these are all soft and easily blendable. I found them all really easy to work with except Dust which is a little too sheer for me. 


Lets take a look at swatches:  All swatches are photographed in sunlight with no primer underneath.

Here we have the first three shades, Strange, Dust and Burnout. Strange is a shade I use most definitely for highlighting. Its not a complete matte, more of a satin finish. Dust is a very light shimmery pink, its a nice color but too light for me and it doesn't really show up on my eyes. Burnout is slightly darker than Dust, and I love using this as an all over lid color and blend it out with a nice light brown in the crease for a wearable look for work.

Next up we have Limit, which is one of the two only matte shades in this palette. I like using it as a transition color when I'm working with some of the darker colors. Next is Buzz again a medium pink that is kind of like Burnout but a little less pigmented, I still like it as an overall lid color. Lastly in this set is Trick. Trick is one of my favorite colors in the palette. Its a warm peach, color that is super shimmery/glittery and its just looks like foil on the lid, ( at least for me it does). I would beware the fallout with Trick, when I tap off any excess I can see the glitter go everywhere!

Now we are getting to the darker side of the Naked 3. We have Nooner, Liar, and Factory. Nooner is the only other matte shade in the palette. I like to use it as a crease shade when I don't want a smokey eye or to use a brown. Its a nice change of pace when I need a different look. Liar is a rose gold shade that I just can't believe I never used earlier.

I can successfully say I have used all the shades in this palette at the time of this post! I have aways been fearful of darker colors for fallout and the fact I suck at blending darker shadows without getting it everywhere.

Factory is a mid tone brown shade that I used on my outer corner most of the time.

Finally we have the last three shades, the ones that are the most pigmented, Mugshot, Darkside, and Blackheart. Mugshot and Darkside are darker brown shades that have a pink undertone to them, once again I use these as outer corner colors and in my lower lash line. Blackheart is a really dark brown with red shimmer running throughout. The red shimmer doesn't transfer to the eye as well though. That doesn't bother me so much but if its something you look for you can always add red glitter on top to bring it out more.

You can see even without primer these shadows can pack a punch, but sadly they don't stay long on my lid without primer. When you purchase the Naked 3 ( It retails for $52 at Sephora, and $54 on Urban Decay's website) you also get a four pack of UD Primer Potion samples. You get original, Sin, Anti-aging, and Eden which is a long wear primer. You don't necessarily need the UD primers to get the shadows to strut there stuff. The Hard Candy long wear primer does just fine.

You also get a double ended brush with your purchase. It's just as adorable as the palette. One side is a small paddle brush the other a larger fluffy blending/paddle brush. The smaller paddle brush is not my favorite, it's stuff and I have a hard time packing on color. The fluffier end however is amazing for blending out color and placing color in my outer corner! 

Overall I love this palette, I get pretty much everyday use out of it, and I never get tired of pairing it with other eye shadows I have. The price point is a little iffy for me. I never spent $52 bucks on make up before. I can see why now though, you definitely get what you pay for!

If you are looking to purchase the Naked 3 you can do so at Sephora stores or online and I'm sure they have it at Ulta, and also on UD's website! I hope maybe this review swayed you on whether or not you wanted to purchase it or not!

I'll talk to you all on Wednesday! <3 Nicole

Sephora Event Entry Palette

Good Morning my fellow beauty lovers!!! Spring has finally made its way to New York! It was 60 degrees yesterday and about the same today! It feels so good not to have to wear a heavy jacket outside!

Today I have to show you a palette I got in my Sephora order I placed at the beginning of March. When browsing Sephora one can definitely say that sometimes Sephora suggest products and you wind up getting suckered into buying them. Honestly thought this palette was well worth the...wait for it.. FIVE DOLLARS I paid for it!

This is the Sephora Event Entry Palette. Its cute and sleek, oh and did I mention glittery??? I would show you the outside but its kind of got some make up on it from me using this so much. Originally this palette was $11 but when I got it, it was on clearance for $5.

You get eight eye shadows and these eight shadows can create a great neutral look or a smokey with the use of only a couple of shadows.

These shadows don't have names so from top to bottom in the photo above we have a satin cream shade that's great for a highlight, next is a shimmery peachy nude, (I love pairing that shade with one of my Maybelline Nude Color Tattoos), Next is a shimmery medium brown and the last is a matte dark brown. I love using the browns in my crease and outer corner to create a work appropriate smokey eye.

In the second row of shadows we have a shimmery silver, next is a slate color and then you have two blacks, one that is shimmery and one that is matte. I have used the matte black as a liner but I haven't yet created a look with this row of shadows.

These shadows are super blendable even if they are a bit powdery without primer. Using a primer or a cream base really helps the color pop out and stay put for a long time. Without the primer sadly these shadows do not last long on my oily lids.

I can see myself using the palette a lot when I go on vacation or travel. Its about the size of my palm and can be tucked easily into a small makeup bag or purse. It also has a magnetic closure so it stays shut. The only thing I wish maybe Sephora had put into this palette was a small mirror.

I hope you guys enjoyed this look at the Sephora Event Entry Palette. At the time of this post the Event Entry Palette is not in stock and I don't know if they will ever re-release it. But who knows they may always come out with something better!

I'll see you all next time! <3 Nicole

New Spring 2014 Hard Candy Cosmetics!! (Photo Heavy!)

Hi guys!! Happy Friday!! I hope you all have been well!! I've been doing okay, little bit stressed out with some stuff at home but I'm slowly starting to feel better. I am also counting down the next 8 weeks until school is officially done with. I'm not graduating but after this semester I only have three classes left to take and I figure I can take them one at a time so they are less stressful.

Any way I'm sure that you did not come to the blog today to hear me rant about school or work, you came for whats in the title!

That's right Hard Candy put out a ton of new products for Spring 2014 and after seeing a master post on Nouveau Cheap  (Clicky click the link so you can see too!! ) I made a mental note of some of the products I most definitely wanted to try!

I have been a huge fan of Hard Candy when they hit Wal-Mart stores what seems like forever ago! The first thing I ever bought from them and sadly don't have anymore is a five shade eye shadow palette that came with a shadow primer. I thought I was so cool to finally have a shadow primer, and one that work well too!

Well with that said, Hard Candy has done a major upgrade to their eye shadow primer and has released it to be sold on its own not just with eye shadow sets.

Their new eye shadow primer is called Eyes The Limit and it claims to be a long wear eye shadow primer. The tube itself reminds me of the Too Faced Eye Shadow Insurance packaging but I think the Too Faced one is shorter and a little wider. I don't own the Too Faced Primer but I have seen it many times.

The tube contains just under half a fluid ounce of product, and a little goes a long way with this so I don't think I'll be running out anytime soon. The primer is skin toned colored, unlike the original primer that Hard Candy had where it was just a whitish-translucent silicone primer. This one feels silicone-y too but it sinks in to the skin nice and doesn't leave a slippery surface where your eye shadow would fall off.

Yesterday I did put the primer to a first impression  under some shadows from my new Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette. ( I just got it in my Sephora order!) I did a simple look for school yesterday morning since I don't normally have a ton of time to invest in to a detailed makeup look. Any how being at school for three hours by the time  I got home I noticed the shadow was still in place and the color was still visible even though I know I had been touching my face throughout the morning. You know how it is trying to stay awake! Before I ran out to do errands later that afternoon I touched up my makeup a bit more, adding a little bit more shadow and then proceeded to wear the look for about 8 hours, so around 915PM I went to take it off and there was no creasing, or fading, everything was still intact!! That makes me so happy! It outlasted my LORAC Behind the Scenes Primer!

For $5.00 I would totally recommend this eye shadow primer, its totally worth it!!

Next I was impressed when I saw that Hard Candy was introducing new Ombre Lipsticks. Just from the blog post I saw them in I knew I wanted to try them.

I picked up two # 759 Confidence which is a red and hot pink ombre and # 837 Faithful which is a hot pink and light rosy pink ombre. These lipsticks will run you $6.00 a piece if you want to try them and there are 10 shades to choose from!!

# 759 Confidence 

# 837 Faithful 

As you can see these don't look like traditional lipsticks, they are indeed square, with the darker shade being only about a quarter of the lipstick. I'm still unsure how to apply these to my lips, I tried the other night and I had the darker color on the outer portion of my lips, and to me it just didn't look right. I may have to try it with the larger color part as the outermost part and the darker color on the inside of the lips.

Here are some swatches.

Faithful 

Confidence 

The only downside I see with these is the shape of the lipstick, the square shape does kind of make applying it tricky. I found it hard staying on the  inside the lines of my lips and that these have a lot of shimmer and or glitter particles in it. Once I took it off I could see the glitter all over my face, even when I applied it some pieces fell out. . Otherwise the texture of the lipsticks are super creamy which is always nice, the colors are vivid and even if I  can't get the ombre effect and they just blend to one color I'm sure they will look really cool!

Lastly I got two cheek products. They are aptly named Cheeks and Balances, they are a cream blush and highlighter duo. There are three shades to choose from, with two I got being the only blush shades and the third is a contour/highlighter duo. The are $7.00 a piece.

I picked up # 767 Cheeky Pink and # 805 Sweet Cheeks. Both are rosy mauve pinks with a highlighter on top. I initially thought that the highlighter was the same on each, that was until I swatched it.

Sweet Cheeks

Cheeky Pink 

Now the blushes are very similar but Sweet Cheeks is tad bit darker and more rosy then Cheeky Pink, and as for the highlighters, Cheeky Pink's highlighter has a golden tone to it where Sweet Cheeks has a pink pearl tone to it.

Cheeky Pink 

Sweet Cheeks 

You can definitely see the difference in the photos above. I haven't tested these out on my face but when I did blend it out on my hand the color wasn't super prominent but the highlighter took over and made it look like a nice overall highlight. I'm not sure if I just didn't put enough on to really get it going. I will have to update this post the second I put them on my face!!

So that's it for today's post! I hope you found it useful and maybe peek your interest as to see if you would like any of these new products! These are just a handful remember so make sure you check out Nouveau Cheap's blog post linked above to see her master post, there are also new concealers and eye shadow and mascaras!!!

Talk to you all soon! Nicole <3