REVIEW: Hard Candy Make The First Mauve Baked Highlighter Trio

by - April 25, 2019


You know how some brands have a type of product that you're absolutely always down to try because they've historically done it so well? When it comes to Hard Candy, that hype of product is any kind of baked powder. Years ago now they released these two limited edition baked duos, a bronzer and a highlighter, in heart shaped tins and I obsessively searched until I found them and I actually still use both of them to this day. Since then, anything baked that Hard Candy releases, I'm eager to try, and there have definitely been some hits and misses. So, of course, I was eager to try out the new Hard Candy Just Glow Make The First Mauve Baked Highlighter Trio*.

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About:
Instantly lights up your skin while warming your complexion.  Inspired by the romantic tones of natural pinks and mauves, this marbleized palette contains 3 baked face powders that leave skin looking radiant, naturally luminous and all-a-glow. It’s everything you need to finish, brighten, contour and highlight your skin in a single compact.  Includes a professional brush to blend effortlessly. 


As soon as I saw these shades, I absolutely wanted this in my collection - if even only for the beautiful mauve blush on the right. These shades might not be for everyone, but I've always liked really cool toned products on my complexion. Because I'm quite light skinned with neutral undertones, I feel like these kinds of colours give a really nice, youthful look to my skin.


As far as the formula is concerned, I think this is actually a pretty nice one. Like a lot of baked products, I would recommend going in with a fairly stiff brush and working the top layer of the bake off because that layer can get a little bit stiff and dry and underneath the product will be a little bit creamier and pick up better on a brush. While I did just use the word "creamier", I wouldn't say that this a creamy formula. It's quite thin and a little bit dry to the touch, but it picks up, transfers and blends quite well on the skin. As far as wear time is concerned, I think you're going to maintain glow longer than you are pigment, but I do find that it lasts fairly well on the skin (though I wouldn't say I'm writing home about it.) Overall, I think this is a nice formula, for the most part, and it really comes down to the shades for me.


For my skin and preferences, I'd say that I really genuinely enjoy two out of the three shades. 

The lightest shade on the left is definitely a highlighter shade. It's a very icy pale pink shade, not super pigmented, and contains some microglitters that do show up on the skin. I don't think anyone will be surprised that this is the shade in this trio that just doesn't do it for me. It's definitely the least pigmented and the dustiest of the three shades as well.


The middle shade is much lighter on the skin than it looks in the pan and it's quite pigmented. While there may be a few little shimmers in it, they don't really show up on the skin and I find that this gives more of a sheen than a sparkle, which is definitely my preference. I also feel like this would make a really nice blush topper, to bring some glow to a matte blush. 

The final shade in the trio is probably my personal favorite. On my skin tone, this is most definitely a very glowy blush and I just think it's stunning. It gives a really nice luminosity to the cheeks that catches the light really well and gives a nice luminosity. It's really, really pigmented though, so if you're fair I'd recommend a light hand to build it because it can get to be too much quickly. 


Something that I'm genuinely a little surprised but distinctly impressed by about this palette is the brush that's included. I feel like this is actually a really solid brush to apply highlighter with. It's quite small with a domed head, it's very fluffy, and it has quite soft bristles. It's obviously not the highest quality brush and I don't know how it'll hold up to multiple washes, but for a brush included in an affordably priced palette I'm quite impressed with it. I actually think this would be a really great brush for a beginner or someone who doesn't have a large collection of brushes like some people named Me.


Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this palette. I don't love the lightest of the three shades, both as far as the formula and the inclusion of the microglitters goes, but the other two shades are really quite lovely and work well on my skin tone as very ethereal pink toned blush and highlighter. I have to say, this still doesn't live up to those limited edition baked duos for me (Hey, Hard Candy, can you bring those back and make them permanent???) but they're solid, easy to use, and really affordable.

The Hard Candy Make The First Mauve Baked Highlighter Trio* is available exclusively at Walmart and retails for $9.98CAD ($9.00USD). 

Thanks for reading!


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