So I’m sure you heard already, but Max Factor is discontinuing sales in the US. This means that a nice chunk of shelf space in some major retailers is left  open and waiting to be filled with something else fun and enticing.  At WalMart (at least in our local area), I was happily surprised to see this space filled with Hard Candy Cosmetics, a brand that’s been so difficult to find in recent years that I’ve heard many people asking if they’re even still around. Not only are they still here, their offerings have expanded greatly and the price point is exceptionally reasonable, averaging 6 bucks with a few slightly more expensive products.

After hemming and hawing a bit I finally decided to adopt a Walk The Line liquid eyeliner in Night Sky, a silvery gray liner loaded with multicolored glitter. The packaging claims two things: Dries fast, and stays put. I wouldn’t say I’m 100% behind either of those statements. I applied this liner as I usually do with a liquid liner, and by the time I left for work 20 minutes later it still wasn’t dry. I ended up with a line on my upper eyelid and I was not pleased. Next time a shot of cool air from my blow dryer will definitely be called for. If you have time and patience this could work better for you, but I work at 4 in the morning and thus have very little of either. I have to say that the glitter did seem to last pretty well, though the silvery base color faded quickly. Perhaps a regular liner not loaded with glitter would stay better, but I wasn’t what you’d call nuts about this one at all.
Never one to give up easily, I went back to the store to try something else. There was more hemming and hawing because, well, there are a LOT of products. I think I counted 4 or 5 different kinds of lip gloss alone. The packaging is fun and bold, but all that color and pattern can be overwhelming and makes it hard to focus for people like me. I finally settled on two more eye products, the Take Me Out eyeliner pencil and the Curl Up & Dye mascara. The eye liner pencil is a little sticky and the color isn’t quite as densely pigmented as I’d prefer, though it smudges nicely and stays put reasonably well. The mascara isn’t too bad, it didn’t add much volume for me but it gave me some nice length and didn’t clump exceptionally easily. At the end of a shift I had some minor smudging under my eyes, but I wouldn’t say it was any worse than most other mascaras I’ve tried.

I’d love to point you to the website for more info, but it’s currently under construction and features only some cute graphics and an Enter button that doesn’t click through. If you want anything more than that you’re going to have to go to your local Wally world and check it out for yourself. Ultimately, the only thing I recognize from the line are the cute polish bottles. Many of the lipsticks seem a bit orange and there’s a bit of redundancy in the product offerings, I almost hope that they end up paring the line down a little to knock out some of the lesser performers. Having already spent the money for 3 products, I just haven’t been thrilled enough with them to keep trying for something I love. Good color selection, cute packaging, mediocre performance. Not quite what I’d hoped for from Hard Candy’s mass market debut.

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