Hard Candy "Blush Crush" Baked Blushes are super soft & blendable blushes that come in a variety of four (4) marbleized shades. There is Honeymoon, Bombshell, Living Doll and Pin Up. Of the four blushes, two (Honeymoon and Pin Up) are very light & are most suitable as highlights/pearly sheens for the face, rather than an actual "blush". Bombshell is a deep bronze, and is more like a frosty bronzer. Living Doll is a cotton candy pink, and is the only blush of the four that I would actually call a "blush".
I owned Honeymoon already, but I was interested in trying Living Doll. So, I ended up purchasing at the same time I purchased the Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer (review here).
Living Doll is a light/mid-tone cotton candy pink with yellow veining. Although the color is quite cool, it doesn't seem to look ashy on my warm skintone. The blush itself is very soft, and has the consistency of an average "baked" blush. In comparison to MAC Mineralized Skinfinishes, I would say they are quite similar, but MAC is a little more dense, whereas Hard Candy is a bit more sheer and powdery. Because the texture is so soft, the color blends effortlessly on the cheeks. That's the main reason I love baked blushes, powder and eye shadows & gravitate towards them when I'm shopping for makeup. This blush is sheer with a light coat, and can built very easily. I wasn't at all disappointed with the color payoff. The finish is quite frosty, but I personally don't mind frost on the cheeks as long as it's not too frosty, where it will give my cheeks a silvery/gray cast. It's ultimately up to you preference wise. I know there are people who hate MAC Mineralized Skinfinishes because they are frosty, but I love them and wished I owned every one of them.. haha!
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| Hard Candy "Living Doll" Baked Blush |
This is the color swatched heavily on my hand so you can see the color well. With a much lighter hand, this color is very nice on the cheeks for a pink glow.
I figured since I own Honeymoon as well, I'd swatch both. Honeymoon is a light, frosted peach with pale purple veining. It doesn't show up prominent on my cheeks, so I like to dust it over my blushes to add a peachy sheen.
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| Hard Candy "Honeymoon" and "Living Doll" Baked Blushes |
Here are both colors swatched on my hand.
Left: Honeymoon, Right: Living Doll
The only downside with the blushes is, they aren't very long lasting. Within a few hours, the color has faded drastically. Next time I wear Living Doll, I'll apply a creme blush prior as a base and see how that works. I'll also wear it in a FOTD to show you how it looks on my cheeks very soon!
Here is Rocky today enjoying the weather outside. Yesterday he turned 6 months old.. :) He's looking extra shaggy, so I'll be setting up an appointment at the groomers sometime this week.
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