holiday wrap up: hard candy (the secret stash set)

It is difficult to resist Hard Candy. Especially when their holiday sets are released. Not only are they often sparkly and winter themed...but they are also ultra affordable. Need an example? The Secret Stash set cost $4.99 CDN and included three different beauty products. It was the perfect way to treat myself in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It was early December and I was at the store with my parents. We were trying to finish our holiday shopping ahead of time so we could avoid stores in the latter part of the month. While we were there, a few Hard Candy items caught my eye. Since they were so budget friendly and it was my last chance to be out and about for a while, they were added to my cart. One of those items was of course, The Secret Stash set. It included several different Hard Candy products that I was eager to put to the test. 

Wondering what was inside The Secret Stash set from Hard Candy? It included a glittery silver cosmetics bag, a black eyeliner pencil, a six-pan eyeshadow palette with lots and lots of glitter, and a Glosstopia clear lip gloss. Not bad at all for such an affordable price! With this particular Hard Candy holiday set, there were some hits and some misses, but overall, it was an awful lot of fun to put them all to the test. Ready to take a closer look at the items inside? Here goes...

Let's start with the cosmetics bag that was included in the set. This is compact, but fits all three of the beauty products and then some. It is the perfect on-the-go kind of item. If the world is ever safe again, this will absolutely be something that is thrown into my purse, since it is able to hold all of the essentials. From extra hair ties to makeup items and perfume samples, this is an easy and compact way to take everything I need with me. Then there is the eyeliner pencil. This is pretty standard, but has a rich black colour, and performs well. I've used different Hard Candy eyeliners in the past and some perform better than others...but this is a solid liner and it checks all the boxes. The Glosstopia is a clear lip gloss that comes in a mini size. The gloss smells really sweet (almost like vanilla) and is comfortable on the lips. It isn't overly sticky and has a beautiful finish. 

Now for the Look Pro! Hard Candy Guilty Pleasure eyeshadow palette. It included six ultra glittery eyeshadow shades in a variety of colours. I love the shade selection and the cute packaging, which has lots of silver snowflakes on the front. This is simple and sweet when it comes to the packaging and design. As for the eyeshadows themselves? This is where things are a bit tricky. The swatches shown above are lovely and glittery. However, it appears that a glitter overspray was used and the shadows themselves are actually not glitters eyeshadow shades. They are shimmer shadows. I would've been fine with a cute little shimmer palette! But since this appeared to be a glitter palette at first...that was a bit of a letdown. I personally do not like when there is a glitter overspray, because I believe the shadows should perform the same way every time you use them. 

Despite the glitter overspray debacle...it was still possible to create a cute and shimmery makeup look using the Guilty Pleasure eyeshadow palette, the black liner, and the Glosstopia lip gloss from the Hard Candy The Secret Stash set. 

Though the glitter overspray on the eyeshadow palette was less than ideal, this holiday set was affordable, shimmery, and nicely themed for the holiday season. I love that there are lots of new beauty products to put to good use this season...and that the price point for this set was so affordable. That is always a bonus!

Were you able to try any holiday beauty items this year? Are you a fan of Hard Candy products?