This is going to be a review on the Hard Candy Fox In A Box Bronzing Duos and Blushing Quads. I flipped out when I saw these because they were so cute looking! That, and they reminded me of the Benefit Boxed Powders. I ended up buying every single one. You can find Hard Candy products at Walmarts. These duos and quads each cost $6.Of course, I bought them, used them a couple of times, and then promptly forgot about them. This seems to happen a lot. I buy all sorts of stuff and then continue using my old favorites. I apologize that this review took sooooo long for me to get to. :/
Hard Candy's website says:
A highly pigmented multi-color powder compact that will surely bring out your inner foxy lady. Each box contains coordinated shades that blend together perfectly and a custom Hard Candy applicator brush. Sweep across chin, cheeks, and forehead and unleash the foxiness in you!"
All of these blushes are really pigmented. There's a mix of shimmer and matte and they blend together nicely. You can use the colors separately or blend them together for a different shade. There are some unique colors offered in this line that you don't normally see in drugstores. They come w/ a cute little brush that is pretty ineffective but I don't hold the provided applicators against the product itself. I've purchased high end expensive products w/ crappy applicators before.
These blushes are pretty smooth; they're not dusty or chalky like some cheaper blushes can be. They aren't super long-wearing, but I get at least four or five hours of wear. The cute packaging is inconvenient due to the size - they're kind of bulky and awkward to store. But the cardboard box also makes them easy to depot and stick in a separate palette, if you wanted. Also, some of the individual colors are less pigmented than others.
Okay, here's the fun part! Let's start w/ the duos.
This is my favorite of the five. I wanted this the moment I saw it and there was no hesitation, haha. This is also one of the more pigmented powders. The orange-coral is fantastic and the bronzer is a bit too light for my skintone but it makes a pretty warm brown shimmery highlight!
Truth or Dare
This one is super nice and will probably appeal to a lot of people. The bronzer side is shimmery and is a bit darker than the one in "Skinny Dipping" and the pink is a lovely petal pink shade. It's a tad bit powdery but gives a natural sort of flush.
Now moving onto the Blushing Quads.
This is my personal second pick, but it's one of the more intense colors and I think that "Truth or Dare" is a bit more universal. "Hot Flash" has a shimmery peach shade, a matte peachy-brown, a shimmery medium pink, and finally a brilliant matte hot pink. Even though the pinks are very bright, the peachy browns help neutralize it when you swirl them together. The other cool thing is that the shimmers are on one side and the mattes are on the other. You have the option to use the two matte shades together or the shimmers. You can also use the two peach shades or the two pink shades together. This blush is definitely multi-tasking!
Smooth Talker
"Smooth Talker" is the bronze-neutral blush out of the five. It's entirely shimmery and has four shades of varying browns. The top two colors are more peachy and the bottom two are more rosy. This is too light for me to use as a bronzer but it's a nice neutral blush. I actually use it as a highlighter.
Sweet & Spicy
"Sweet & Spicy" is probably going to be another favorite. It's a rose-toned blush w/ a shimmery bronze square that makes it more natural. The two pinks at the bottom are very pigmented. The coral-ish shade at the top and the bronzer shade help tone this down. This blush is nice and all, but it's kind of boring to me.
So to round this up, these blushes are super cute and definitely nice for the price. They've got some unique-to-the-drugstore colors and they also look very cool. I think the bronzing duos were a bit misnamed...the bronzers are pretty light and they're also a bit less pigmented than their coordinating blushes but they do make nice highlights. I would recommend trying these out if you're interested!
