The generous people at Hard Candy sent this little baby to me for consideration, and I am eager to share my thoughts with you. Frankly, I am on the fence about this item, as there seems to be just as many pros as there are cons.
Here is what Hard Candy says about their baked eyeshadow duos on their
website:
Perfect palettes of highly pigmented, wet-dry shadows that instantly bring color & eyes to life! The formula has been baked (not pressed) on a terracotta disk, offering wet-dry benefits in a rich, colorful, long-lasting application that's never chalky. Apply "wet" for more dramatic, intense color, or "dry" for softer, more shimmery effect. When "wet" try the deeper tones as an eyeliner.
Packaging
For an affordable cosmetics brand, I am impressed by the sturdy packaging. The domed baked shadow is nestled in a white plastic base with a thick clear plastic lid that snaps close. The top has a clear window so you can see the colors, which I love. The silver reflective top and vine design is eye catching. This is not sophisticated and sleek packaging, but it is not supposed to be. Here we are talkin' about a purely flashy and edgy look. The product itself is a pleasure to stare at. The pan promises shimmery, complex, and complimentary shadows that just tempt me to swipe my fingers across them!
Performance
As much as I adore nice packaging, it doesn't amount to much if the product itself performs poorly. This is where I am still a bit torn about this duo. On one hand, I wanted more from these shadows and found I had to work with them more than I should have to get the look that I wanted. On the other hand, despite all the extra effort this duo required, I feel like it does something a bit magical for my eyes!
Rock n Roll is made up of two shades: an iridescent pink that leans lilac, and a metallic royal purple with a touch of pewter. Since Hard Candy insists these two shadows will be phenomenal both wet and dry, I tested them both ways. All swatches are without primer, but I did use primer before applying to the lid.
Dry
A dry swatch of these got me really excited! While initially a bit dry to the touch, these shadows turned out to be really pigmented, shimmery, and fairly soft.
When applied to my lids, the iridescent sheen of the pink shadow was sadly lost for the most part as you can see in the closeups below. It is still lovely, but I just couldn't get it to look on my eyes like it did in my swatch no matter how much I packed on. The dark pewter purple, however, made for a perfect versatile crease, outer v, and lash line shade.
Wet
Since the iridescent sheen of the pink shade didn't fully translate from swatch to lid, I was eager to see if applying it wet would intensify the color and shimmer. A wet swatch, pictured above, gave me exactly what I wanted! However, within a few moments, the shadows dried down and left me with this...
The gorgeous metallic shine disappears once the wet shadows dry, and I was left with a powdery, cakey swatch.
Sadly, the same thing happened when I applied the shadows wet to my lid: at first they were gorgeous and metallic, and then quickly returned to powder. They lost their shine, and I even had a fair amount of powdery fall out once they dried. Although pretty, my wet application look basically ended up looking just the same as when I applied the shadows dry.
Price
These duos, which come in a myriad of shades, will cost you around $6 each and can be found at your local Walmart.
Final Verdict
Ultimately, I found that I had to work harder with these shadows then I typically like to. Additionally, wet application was a bit of a let down. Even though I couldn't get these shadows to perform the way I wanted them to, I feel like the two shades really do make for a flattering eye look that makes my green(ish) peepers pop! And for that reason, I can't totally write off this duo. While I wish I could get these shadows to apply to my lids like they do in swatches, I can't deny that they do get my eyes looking bright and green.
This product was sent to me for consideration by PR. My review, as always, represents my experience alone with the product and is 100% honest.
10:57 AM
steve
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