Hard Candy Natural Eyes Neutral Eyeshadow Palette

As someone who grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s, Hard Candy evokes some extreme nostalgia for me. I still remember their colourful ads, which appeared in all my favourite teen magazines,and oh, how I coveted their iconic nail polish bottles with their matching plastic rings! So it's a little weird to me that Hard Candy, a line that was once sold in high end department stores, is now exclusive to Walmart. However, I do understand that the lower price point and product redesign makes the line much more accessible to today's teen market.

Being curious about the Hard Candy of today, their PR kindly sent over some products for me to try. What caught my eye immediately was this Natural Eyes Neutral Eyeshadow Palette. Does it look familiar? If you're thinking this looks suspiciously like a Too Faced eyeshadow palette, you'd be right. The metal tin, the 9 eyeshadows (not to mention their rather similar names), the 3 different looks and foldable instructions on how to create them... tell me this isn't just like the Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette.

There are some differences, of course. This Hard Candy palette is only $8 which is an absolute steal compared to Too Faced's $36. Plus, it comes with a primer, mini black eyeliner pencil, and sponge tip applicator. The casing is not as sturdy as the Too Faced palette (the inside bit is made of flexible black plastic) and does not have the names printed beside the eyeshadows. Instead, you have to check the instruction booklet for those.

Unfortunately I don't own the Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette (only the Natural Matte one) so I haven't personally been able to compare swatches. After some Googling, it looks like the shades are not exact dupes but they are quite close. The Hard Candy palette seems a little warmer toned.

The pigmentation and quality of the shadows varies depending on the colour. I found the matte ones (Tease, Toying, Minx, and Chatty) easier to work with. They were buttery soft and thus blended well. The other shadows (Bashful, Girlie, Philander, Coy, and Frisky) were more difficult to work with. The texture is harder and grittier, meaning I needed to layer them on to get my swatches right.

Overall, however, I am very impressed with this palette especially given the price. For everyday use, I would not recommend the primer (it was a bit difficult to blend) or the liner (not dark enough and did not apply smoothly) but both are great add-ons to rely on in a pinch. Besides, you are still getting your bang for your buck even with the eyeshadows alone.