Hard Candy "Birthday Suit" Eye Shadow Palette; Review & Swatches

Hard Candy "Birthday Suit" Top Ten Trendsetters Eye Shadow 

New for Fall 2014

Price: $6 for 10 shades

CRUELTY FREE!!!

Hard Candy recently added 5 new "Trendsetters" Palettes to their original line up of only 3 "Top Ten" Eye Shadow Palettes. (Shown on right) The Trendsetters Palettes come in an assortment of shades and finishes which range from shimmery and glitzy, to full on glam,  bold colors. Hard Candy also added one more palette (which I'm sure will be getting a significant amount of attention from eyeshadow fanatics) "Birthday Suit"- a collection of neutral matte eye shadows which are becoming increasingly popular and almost impossible to find at the drugstore!

I want to cover the price quickly. I know the $6 price tag is shocking by itself, but when you consider how much product you're actually getting for the $6 it becomes pretty insane. The total weight of eyeshadow you get with Birthday Suit is 13 grams. That's almost 1/2 ounce! So it's about $.48 per 1.3 grams of eye shadow, or $.40 per gram. That's just crazy and even cheaper than many discount brands like Wet 'N Wild or e.l.f.!

Matte eye shadows aren't easy for cosmetic companies to make. It's incredibly difficult to get the right level of pigmentation without sacrificing the smooth, buttery texture that consumers want and most often, you end up sacrificing ease of use and blendability in order to get that matte finish.

Hard Candy did do a pretty good job with Birthday Suit; especially when you consider that this was uncharted territory for Hard Candy. The darker shades all swatch beautifully while some of the lighter ones are a little tricky and will require some effort to build them up. The formula isn't identical to Paula's Choice The Nude Matte's Palette, and although it's pretty close, Hard Candy probably would have done well to add some more dimethicone to Birthday Suit to give it that texture.

The interesting thing is, while the 90% of eye shadows that range from sheen to glittery fair better with a silicone based eyeshadow primer underneath them, many matte shades don't. This is because the Mica or other ingredient in the shimmery shades grabs well to a silicone primer, but talc-based matte shades, tend to want to grab on to some moisture and absorb some oil. That's what Talc does and it wants to do its job!

***Think about it; if you spill baby powder on the floor and you go to clean it up, the LAST thing you want to do is add moisture of any kind to the mess. You want to simply sweep it up which is only possible to do if it's on a DRY surface. Eye shadow application is the oposite. You don't want to be able to "sweep" it away so often times adding an emollient underneath is preceisely what you need to get matte eye shadow to "stick".***

I'm not a matte eye shadow person in general because they're just too much hassle to work with. Sometimes I will use a dark matte ofcourse, but an all-matte look just isn't my thing so I really am not an expert on them, but I have enough of them to be able to say that Hard Candy Birthday Suit (while it may not be life changing) is a solid contender amonst matte eye shadow and if you're looking for a palette of low-budget mattes, Birthday Suit may be the Top-Ten Trend Setting Palette for you!

Hard Candy Birthday Suit Eye Shadow Swatches
Top-Ten Trendsetter Palette
*w/silicone primer

Hard Candy Birthday Suit Eye Shadow Swatches,
 Top-Ten Trendsetter, Nude Matte Palette
*on moisturized skin