Too Faced Natural Eyes Vs. Hard Candy Natural Eyes

I'll start this off by saying I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart in ages. We live across town from the only one we have, Target is just down the street, and frankly I just love Target more. But when I heard that Hard Candy had a possible dupe for Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette, I decided to break my streak and  make the drive. (Why is Hard Candy only at Wal-Mart anyway?!)

Let's just get right on with the comparisons!

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Too Faced Natural Eyes retails for $36 USD at Sephora and Ulta, among other places.
Hard Candy Natural Eyes retails for $8 USA at Wal-Mart.

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As far as the packaging is concerned they are both made of metal. The Hard Candy palette has a strong magnetization. I'm not sure if my Too Faced palette has lost some since I have owned it for close to a year now, but the Hard Candy palette was attaching itself to my Too Faced palette when I stacked them. This obviously isn't important, but it could be a slight annoyance if it's attacking all your palettes where it lives. No one likes a bully.

 Upon opening the case up, Too Faced definitely holds the edge with the packaging design. It's made of nice hard, durable plastic where the shadow pans are anchored. The Hard Candy pans are anchored by flimsy cheap plastic that could bend and crack if too much pressure is applied in the wrong spot. Both come with look books, but the Hard Candy Natural Eyes is accompanied by eye shadow primer, a double ended sponge applicator and a black pencil eye liner.

One more thing that the Too Faced Naturals palette has going for it that Hard Candy doesn't, is that the shadows have names.  Luckily, Hard Candy lined up the colors symmetrically to make it easy for me, so the Hard Candy swatches below do not have names on them as the Too Faced swatches do. Let's get to the swatches.

  

Let me first forgive my paleness. Heaven is there, it's just the same color as my skin, sooooo....

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Heaven vs. Hard Candy

Heaven is a cream matte. It is definitely cream while the Hard Candy has peach tones. Hard Candy is a more buttery consistency, while Heaven took a little more finger power to get a good swatch.

Silk Teddy vs. Hard Candy

Silk Teddy is a beautiful champagne pink shimmer. Hard Candy definitely came close in color, but the texture and pigment is off. Silk Teddy applies effortlessly, while Hard Candy just gives a wash of color.

Nudie vs. Hard Candy

Nudie is a great warm buff matte, but it is definitely darker than the Hard Candy shadow. Funny enough, they have a similar consistency. Both have great pigment and texture.

Cashmere Bunny vs. Hard Candy

Cashmere Bunny is a medium taupe matte. Here we see the opposite of the above swatches, where the Hard Candy is darker than the Too Faced. Again, similar consistency, both with great pigment and texture.

Push-Up vs. Hard Candy

Push-Up is gorgeous mauvey brown with pearl shimmer. The Hard Candy is also a mauvey brown shimmer, but has gold sparkles instead. Without that tiny detail this would be pretty much a dead on dupe, but a cool versus a warm undertone turns these colors into two different colors once applied.

Honey Pot vs. Hard Candy

This is where I knew from sight these were two completely different colors. Honey Pot maybe be my most beloved shadow of all that I own. It's buttery and metallic and just the perfect neutral gold, shimmery without being sparkly. The Hard Candy has obvious chunks of reddish toned shimmer. The Hard Candy shadow is much warmer in nature.

Sexpresso vs. Hard Candy

Sexpresso is a matte dark chocolate. Hard Candy is also a matte dark chocolate. I say dupe.

Erotica vs. Hard Candy

Erotica is a deep chocolate brown with gold shimmer. Hard Candy is a deep chocolate brown with gold shimmer. The base color is slightly cooler than Erotica.

Chocolate Martini vs. Hard Candy

Chocolate Martini is a cool toned medium brown with green and gold reflective shimmer. The Hard Candy is a medium reddish brown, almost sepia with bigger chunks of green and gold reflective glitter.
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Overall, this is close to a dupe at first look. If you really want to get down into the nitty gritty details, I'd say the Too Faced Natural Eyes palette is more cool toned and the Hard Candy Natural Eyes palette leans warmer. Honestly, with the difference in price though, if you are loving the Too Faced palettte but can't justify the price tag, the Hard Candy palette is close enough.

MAC Bao Bao Wan Collection Review

My makeup hoarding and collecting has officially reached new levels. Yes, now I'm one of THOSE who stays up at all hours waiting for these collections to release so I can get my grubby paws on things that may or may not be available an hour later. The most recent collection that MAC released was Bao Bao Wan. If you aren't familiar with Bao Bao Wan, she's a Chinese socialite and jewelry designer. Her background in jewelry design is apparent in her color selections for this collection.
I didn't get the most highly coveted lipstick colors, Lavender Jade or Forbidden Sunrise. Maybe if I take another jump and grab these things for pure collective purposes, I'll start purchasing the more far out there colors I'd never dream of wearing on my pasty skin. For now I'll forgo the lavender and bright orange lipsticks.
What I did grab out of the collection was the profusion eyeshadow palette Bao's Jewels, the beauty powder Summer Opal, and two of the four lipsticks Burmese Kiss and Romantic Breakdown.

The standout from this collection that I've seen a lot of people wanting was the beauty powder, Summer Opal. On most of the blogs and swatches I've looked out it appeared much more like a bronzer than it is in actuality. It's a very nice highlighter, that could easily be compared to some of Becca's shade range. It swatched nicely, and had a great texture. I have yet to actually apply it, but I will update you all when I do.

I also purchased the deluxe pearl fusion eyeshadow palette in Bao's Jewels. Bao's Jewels are all considered a frost. I honestly don't know why there hasn't been more hype over this palette! It swatched gorgeously with the exception of the lightest color. The lightest color isn't awful, just sort of powdery. It's more for a great accent highlight for the inner eye or brow bone, and I think would be a great dupe for the shade Dust in Urban Decay's Naked 3.
The swatches are below. From left to right it's the lightest to the darkest shade in the palette, and then on the very far right is Summer Opal. Summer Opal doesn't show up all that well, but as I stated it just gives a great highlight and doesn't have a heavy bronze pigmentation.

I chose the two colors of lipsticks that I thought I could actually wear Romantic Breakdown and Burmese Kiss. Romantic Breakdown is a sheer nude luster and Burmese Kiss is a great bright coral pink matte. It doesn't look so much coral in the photographs, but in person it definitely is coral.

I'm extremely pleased with what I purchased out of this collection. The packaging is a beautiful matte duo chrome of chocolate brown and teal that just gives a hint of shimmer. The formulas are all great. As of this moment right now Bao's Jewels and Romantic Breakdown are still available for purchase on Mac's website. If you just click on the names it'll take you to the page for purchase.

**All products shown here were purchased with my own money. All images are my own. No affiliate links. Please link back if you choose to use any of my images.