Product Review: Hard Candy Mix-in Pigment Drops

Aaaaahhh...music to one's ears when we see the word "DUPE", atleast for makeup. :)

The Cover FX custom cover drops had been gaining popular reviews from beauty gurus the world over and us, mere mortals, have been salivating over this wonder product ever since the rave reviews came out.

What's not to like? The promise of full coverage with the power to take that "foundation you've accidentally bought in the wrong shade" out of the waste bin, is enough to make any makeup junkee swoon.

But, as spiderman would put it, with great power comes...a hefty price tag! Yes, this much talked about product from cover FX retails for US$44 a pop! As much as I long for it, I don't have that much blood and enough kidney to sell for it.

So, when Hard Candy released something of the same nature with a US$7 price tag, I forgot to breathe, went online and scour Walmart's page for this product. As expected, it went flying off the shelves as I've been reading about certain shades selling out and some not finding stocks of it in Walmarts around their area.

So when it actually became available online, I HAD TO GET IT. Luckily, a friend of my friend who currently resides in Los Angeles, was coming home to the Philippines. He was kind enough to agree to bring me some things from the US.

This was one of the things I ordered off of Walmart's page. I got two shades, Light4 and Medium3 because I thought I could just mix them together to achieve the right shade or so I could have options to use for foundations I have that are too dark and too light for me.

Like the one from Cover FX, this too comes with a dropper (hence, the name mix-in drops).

Now, I don't own the custom cover drops or have yet to try it but based on reviews I've seen from other bloggers, that one has a thicker formula than Hard Candy. Ingredients list of the mix in pigment drops are as follows:

One of the product's claim is full coverage. So why don't we test that out shall we? (I also did the same test with my first ever product from Hard Candy here)

I went ahead and drew lines using a waterproof black eyeliner and the lip ink in the shade red. Then, I used two equal drops of both shades to test out the extent of its coverage.

First layer was not able to totally hide the marks. They still seep through and you could still distinguish them both underneath so I went ahead and did another drop.

With the second drop you could now see an improvement coverage-wise. But still nothing too impressive.

Now let see what will happen if we mix it in with two different foundations.

I mixed the Light4 to my Milani conceal+perfect foundation in medium beige since it has become a bit darker for me every since I started on the Benzoyl Peroxide treatment.

And the medium3 with my revlon photoready foundation which is a bit light and too yellow for me.

I took a drop each and place it on a dish to mix.

I drew another red line on my arm using the lip ink smear proof lip product for the coverage test.

Here's the result:

At a drop each added on both foundations, there's only a minute difference on the coverage but the shade of the foundation you can clearly see a difference. The revlon which was a bit lighter and yellow for me became a bit darker more beige now. The milani one became a little bit lighter.

Conclusion:

Though both Hard Candy and Cover FX have the same purpose and objective, each one is a league on their own.

In terms of price, I believe you get what you pay for pigment-wise. If you're looking into just altering your foundation shade which already have a light or medium coverage and want to amp it up to a full, then by all means try the one from Hard Candy it'll get the job done without breaking the bank. You just have to put in more drops than you would with Cover FX.

The bottle with the separate dropper I'm not too fond of. It can get messy if you are not too careful and you get the dropper neck to touch the mouth of the bottle. I prefer a bottle with a dropper spout instead.

Another factor to consider, after swatching the Hard candy mix-in pigment drops, I took a bath but did not scour my hand with the swatch. I only let the suds drip over it then took a photo after.

Notice how it got darker? It somewhat oxidized on my skin. I Have no clue what happened. It is not waterproof either.

All in all, if the price points weren't that far apart, I would go and save up for the Cover FX custom cover drops instead. But the Hard Candy Mix-in pigment drop is worth trying out and experimenting with.

Have you tried this one out? What are your thoughts? Share it with me please. :)

Till then,

Concealers: Hard Candy Glamoflauge Heavy Duty Concealer

Hi Ladies! Another week is starting and I hope yours is going great so far. Today, I'm posting about a long over due review of a heavy duty concealer people are even comparing to the one from Makeup Forever, which I had reviewed before here. Hard Candy is not locally available here in the Philippines so I had to order this from Walmart thru a pre-order site. I prefer to order that way just to be certain my order will get to me.  So, keep on reading to know what I think of this product.

According to the Hard Candy website:

Glamoflauge - Heavy Duty Concealer

A heavy duty, highly pigmented, multi-use concealer that delivers ultimate coverage. The formula blends seamlessly into skin with plenty of play time creating a flawless and natural look perfect for any occasion. You can hide everything from dark circles and blemishes to tattoos!

The Glamoflauge concealer is only available in 3 shades: Light, Medium, and Tan. I was going back and forth between Medium and Tan but ended up getting the Tan instead. 

Each Glamoflauge concealer tube comes with a free concealer pencil in the same shade, something I think, is a great deal. :D

The spout of the tube is bit compared to that of the Makeup Forever Full concealer and the consistency is more liquid than that of the MUFE one, I think because that is Silicon-based as opposed to the Glamoflauge which ingredients include:

Here are the swatches:

The pencil is not as pigmented as the liquid concealer though decent enough. It is packaged free to be used hand in hand to cover tattoos. Now, I don't have tattoos but I thought I'd too a demo for you guys on how incredibly pigmented this concealer is.  With just that a dot of that concealer I would attempt to cover these marks.

See? You be the judge. The smell is similar to that of a ballpen ink (I should know as I've accidentally sucked the ink out of a pen a couple of times when I was younger :D). Though, very pigmented, probably more than the MUFE full cover, it does not dry matte and is not budge-proof. Think of it more like a cream concealer. It just sits on top of the skin and does not dry. You definitely have to set this with a light dusting of powder to stay in place. I don't recommend using this as a foundation as this can be a bit sticky when used too much of. Some of its ingredients can also be a bit comedogenic especially for those with oily skin. So I don't advise this for everyday use. This is better used sparingly. 

At the moment, my favorite use for this is mixing it with my OCC Lip tar in Hush to create a new shade to cover hyper-pigmentation around the lips. The pencil I tried using it around the waterline instead of the white eyeliner. So, far, no irritation has occurred. But for others, try it out first if it would work for you for that purpose.  The tube will last me a lifetime and probably won't be purchasing this again anytime soon. This is rated 3.9 out of 5 at www.makeupalley.com.

Anyone here had the chance to try Hard Candy's Glamoflauge Heavy Duty concealer too? Share your experience with us! Glamoflauge could be purchased at www.walmart.com for US$6.00 but you could also order like I did thru a pre-ordering site there are lots on multiply.com. 

Till then,