Category Archives: Swatches
Hard Candy Liquid Sparklers (Review & Swatches)
There are a lot of brands trying to capture the magic of the Stila Glitter & Glow Liquid Eyeshadows… but none of them are drugstore brands. So imagine my surprise and delight when I realized Hard Candy had a new product called Glitterazzi!
The Hard Candy Glitterazzi Liquid Sparklers are defined by the brand as a glitter top coat for eyes, lips or cheeks. They can be worn alone (and definitely have enough pigment to do so) or layered on top of other products to enhance their duochrome effect (all three I tried are either pearlescent with changing colour reflects, or truly duochromatic).
The brand also indicates that they’re longwearing and, interestingly, that they feel lightweight and *dry*. I was intrigued to read that as most brands don’t point that out. I think most of us EXPECT our liquid shadows to dry down, but that isn’t always the case. I was happy to discover that these do in fact completely dry down to a foiled yet slightly textured-appearing base. These are the CLOSEST liquid eyeshadows I have ever encountered at the drugstore that are damn near crease-proof. I experienced no creasing on one shade, extremely minor creasing on another, and slight creasing on the last shade. I’m exceptionally prone to creasing even with regular eyeshadows, so this was an extremely impressive display by these products and I’d venture to say that they wouldn’t crease on someone with normal eyelids (and by normal, I mean anyone that can use a single eyeshadow primer and have no issues with powder eyeshadows).
The Glitterazzi applicator is a standard paddle-foot applicator with a decent amount of flex. It works well *enough* to apply the shadow to your lid, but I found I struggled a little bit with fading the colour out from my lid out to my outer corner. A brush may help to disperse the colour a bit better.
As you can see in the swatch the colours are more pigmented than a product of this nature would suggest, and the shades have a ton of dimension. There’s actually so much reflect that my auto-focus struggled a bit to get decent eye shots (sorry in advance for below!).
- Twinkle is a stunning lavender with teal reflect.
- Aurora is mostly a pale white, but it has hints of pink and purple shimmer in the base.
- Star is wild – it’s a nude/slight rose base with gold shimmers. So pretty!
Twinkle was definitely more pigmented than I was expecting. I love how it shifts from lavender to teal. I had the faintest whisper of creasing with this shade after having worn it for 8 hours.
Aurora was definitely the most sheer on application in comparison to the swatch. I applied it over a pale lavender eyeshadow and I would say that mostly sparks of pink showed up depending on how the light hit my eye. This one didn’t crease on me at all.
Star was easily my favourite shade. It looks gold/champagne in the look above, but in person it was shooting off gold, silver or pink depending on the light.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’m incredibly impressed with the Hard Candy Glitterazzi Liquid Sparklers. I know I mentioned some minor creasing, but I truly expected so much more with this kind of product (especially given that it’s drug store). I tried out three shades in this post, but Hard Candy has four additional shades in case you’re looking for something a little bit different. I’d also say that these are more of a shimmer topcoat than they are a glittery ones, and that’s simply because the glitter specks are smaller and end up giving your eye a bit more of a foiled look. If you want to create more of a softer glitter look, try dabbing your fingertip on the applicator and then lightly tapping it on to your eye (or wherever you’re putting it) for a more dispersed look. I applied it straight from the tube in the looks above and it definitely gave a more solid and opaque shimmer look than a glittery one.
TL;DR – These are the most impressive liquid shimmer/glitter eyeshadows I’ve seen at the drugstore and I’m extremely impressed. Well done, Hard Candy!
The Hard Candy Glitterazzi Liquid Sparklers can be purchase on walmart.ca for $7.98 CAD and on walmart.com for $6 USD each.
The products in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
5 Red(ish) Lipsticks for the Colder Months
It’s that time of the year when I start busting out all of my reds and burnt oranges. Fall and winter practically scream red(ish) lips to me, so I thought I’d let you know the ones I’ve been reaching for the most lately.
Some of these are old favourites (look at the nub left on that MAC lipstick!!), whereas some are a bit newer in my collection. New or old though… they’re all amazing lipsticks and I’ve been reaching for them constantly. And I just noticed a theme too (aside from the colour), they’re all pretty much matte finishes!
Bourjois‘ Rouge Buzz is definitely the brightest of the bunch! It’s an interesting orange/red mix. Some days I think it’s red, and some days I think it’s orange. Either way it’s a shade that lights up my face – I feel like my features come alive when I’m wearing this colour! It goes on a bit glossy but dries down over time to more of a matte finish.
Too Faced‘s Chill Pill is newer to me. They just launched it as part of a shade extension to their Peach Kiss range (lip swatch video here) and it’s glorious! It’s a burnt, rusty brick colour and it’s so perfectly seasonally appropriate that I keep grabbing for it over and over again. The Peach Kiss formula is a knock out too – smooth and comfortable to wear, it packs a ton of pigment AND smells like peaches and cream!
Oddly, I didn’t have a standalone photo of me wearing Bite Beauty‘s Crushed Chili, so I had to snag a screenshot from my Spice collection lip swatch video. That entire lipstick range was a solid home run, and I’ve found myself reaching for different shades depending on the season. Now that it’s November, it’s time for Crushed Chili to shine! It’s a deep red with a hint of brown to it and looks absolutely killer with a super simple eye look (think a warm crease, champagne lid and winged liner).
QUO‘s Date Night was just released in their Fall 2018 collection and it really surprised me. In the bullet it looked more like a pink, but on the lips it goes much more burnt red with maybe a hint of pink to it. I feel like it comes across slightly more muted in comparison to Bite‘s Crushed Chili and Too Faced‘s Chill Pill, so this might be for you if you’re looking for something a bit softer in the red family.
And what would a post about red lips be without mentioning MAC‘s Russian Red? This red is an absolute staple in my collection. It’s THE red to end all red.s I’m convinced there isn’t a person out there that can’t wear this shade. You can dress it up with a smokey eye, go vibrant with a bright orange and red eye, or dress it down with a simple eye – either way, Russian Red is foolproof. If I had to recommend one shade to you in this entire post, this would be it – because I feel like everyone needs to experience Russian Red at some point in their life!
Swatched out you can see that they’re all really heckin’ pigmented! The Bourjois and MAC shades are the extremes in this round up, but the three shades in the middle are all somewhat the same with slight tonal changes. If you like a red with a bit more pink – grab the QUO one. Like it with a little more orange? The Too Faced one is for you. And if you really want a burnt brick colour, then Bite‘s Crushed Chili is perfect.
Let me know if you start gravitating towards these kinds of shades in the cooler months! And if you do, let me know what shades you’ve been enjoying lately!
All of the lipsticks were sent to me over the years for consideration except for MAC's Russian Red which I purchased myself. Post contains affiliate links.
Swatch Sunday: Maybelline Soda Pop
I was so excited to see the Maybelline Soda Pop palette in stores at a CVS when I was on vacation in New York City last month because it was nowhere to be found in Canada! There was a sticker on the display that said “display until December 18th” (not positive on that date, but it was something like that), so I don’t think this is a permanent palette. Which is a bit of a shame, I have to say – I want to see more colour stories like this Maybelline!
This palette definitely gives me Too Faced Peanut Butter & Jelly vibes (which seems to have been discontinued???), but there’s a faint hint of a soda pop scent to the shadows. It’s really not that obvious, but a reader pointed it out to me and I kiiiind of smell it if I stick my nose right in there.
Maybelline Soda Pop Swatches
The Maybelline Soda Pop can be purchased at ulta.com for $13.99 USD.
This post contains affiliate links.
Holiday 2018: Bite Beauty Sets (Review & Swatches)
Bite Beauty‘s holiday launches are always a sweet treat! Whether you’re already an avid Bite-a-holic like me, or gifting to a Bite newbie, their holidays sets always offer old favourites with a new surprise in the mix.
Hands down the item that I was the most excited for this year was Bite‘s brand new Agave Lip Mask in the scent Candy Cane. CANDY CANE??? Oh heck yesssss! Not only did they launch Candy Cane in a full sized tube, but they also put it into a mini trio set of their Agave Lip Masks ($20 CAD/$18 USD). The trio set includes their original agave mask alongside the new Candy Cane scent and (my personal favourite) the Maple lip mask. Giftable or keepable, the trio set will delight anyone that gets their hands on it.
As for the Candy Cane Agave Lip Mask ($30 CAD/$26 USD)… it’s as good as you would image: luscious and balmy with a translucent candy red colour. The scent is bang on too – this isn’t any kind of fake candy cane scent. This truly smells like you cracked open a fresh candy cane and started sucking on it. You *will* find it hard not to eat it out of the tube outright. But hey… all of Bite‘s formulas are edible so if you end up snacking on your lips, it’s not that bad… right? 😉
Need a stocking stuffer that’ll knock it out of the park AND not set your wallet back by much? The Sweet Treats Agave Lip Care Sets are only $15 CAD/$12 USD and have a ton of product in them. Each set contains a mini Agave Lip Balm in Natural, a single use Agave Sugar Lip Scrub packet and a mini Agave Lip Mask. The only difference between the two sets is that the Party Prep pack comes with the Agave Lip Mask in Champagne, and the Holiday Hangover (lol) pack comes with their Lavender Lip Mask. Sidenote: these are sold out in stores at Sephora constantly but there’s still plenty of stock online!
Bite‘s mini lipsticks are an absolute godsend and I’m always happy to own these! They’ve repeated their mini four pack over the last few years and I’m always a bit worried that they’re going to repeat too many shades over the course of the years, but thankfully, this year’s Four Little Bites Amuse Bouche Lipstick Set ($29 CAD/$25 USD) was a total shock to me – with one exception, I hadn’t ever encountered these shades before!
The duplicated shade is Nori (they had it in the 2016 holiday set), but the rest are all brand new shades to me and they’ve quickly become new favourites!
Nori is the replicated shade, but it’s a stunner. This one does have a bit of a purple base so you may find there’s a slight bit of patchiness with this one. It goes on very smoothly and creamy – almost a touch too much, so I find this one is best blotted down a touch.
Tannin is a freaking stunner! It’s bright and luminescent – it’s the kind of red I adore wearing at Christmas time.
Date absolutely surprised me because it looked so boring in the tube. But as soon as I got it on my lips it was utterly transformative. Bite calls this shade a light brown, but on me it turned into more of a light-medium pink with warm undertones. I love, love, LOVE this one!
Sake was another surprising favourite in this bunch. I love how it’s not a traditional holiday colour because it’s got that edge of purple in it. It reminds me a bit of KVD’s Lovesick, which is great because I’ve been needing a replacement for that shade! This will pair nicely with bright cool toned eyeshadow looks.
So what are your picks from Bite‘s 2018 holiday collection? Will you be picking anything up? Or gifting anything? Let me know! I’m personally dead pleased with that Four Little Bites set – I love the shades in there!
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.