In some ways, Hard Candy lip stain and gloss is the best lip gloss ever. However, it has some serious drawbacks.

The Good: it’s translucent, yet lasts for hours. It is NOT opaque — it looks nothing like lipstick — it really is a permanent lip gloss. It’s gorgeous stuff. If you’re like me, and are totally addicted to lip gloss, but hate lipstick, this stuff is perfect. You can eat with it on and the color won’t rub off — you just reapply the clear lip gloss after you eat, and you’re good to go. It will never flake off in that disgusting manner the way permanent lipsticks do. You can apply it first thing in the morning (with a rollerball applicator that works really well), make sure you get the edges perfectly placed, and then you can be slap-happy with the clear gloss for the rest of the day, and always have perfect lip gloss. (You might have to touch up once more in the evening if you’re going out — it only lasted on me about eight hours.)

The Bad: it comes in an (I kid you not) frightening purple color. I got it in “piglet” color which looks rosy pink on Hard Candy’s webpage, but is really very purple (it also comes in “stop” which is a siren red berry color). It’s one of those if you can wear a purple colored lip gloss, I would highly recommend this stuff. I can’t — I look like I just painted my lips with grape koolaid. Even if I apply it on very, very faintly I look kind of blue-lipped and like I’m losing oxygen. (That being said, I always wear ultra-pale-pink lip glosses because very faint colors look very bright on me, and anything that isn’t pink-pink-pink looks orange on me. Really. I’m unlucky that way. I’m jealous of people who go around wearing plum shades of lipstick. You’re so lucky!) So I’m taking half a star off because I don’t like the colors Hard Candy Stain and Shine comes in. (Hello Hard Candy? What are you thinking only having purple and red colors of lip stain? Red also looks frightening on me. I ‘d love to do that retro moviestar red lipstick/white complexion thing, but it just does not work for me). Also I’m taking another half a star off because Hard Candy Stain and Shine has no UVA ray protection, so it will not protect you from skin cancer.

On MakeupAlley a lot of people seem to have the same views I do about this lip gloss — it gets an overall 4.05/5 from 23 reviewers. A lot of people remarked on how oddly purple the piglet color was, but how natural the stain looked, and how it really does stay on for a long time. The good news is many people recommended the “stop” color as a nice red shade, so if you can wear red lipstick, it’s probably a good choice. (Though there were a few complaints about the rollerball — a lot of people seemed to like it, some did not. I like it, anyway.)

(Hard Candy products seem to be related to Urban Decay products, and they are vegan and of course 100%-cruelty-free. Unfortunately they are not organic.)

Hard Candy Stain and Shine is available in purple or red for $15 from HardCandy.com. (Hard Candy products were no longer available at Sephora the last time I checked.)

Ingredients:

Stain Ingredients:
Aqua (Water), Glycerine, Polysorbate-20, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Acrylates Copolymer, Isobutylparaben, Propylparaben. May Contain: CI 17200 (Red 33), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake)

Citylights Ingredients:Polybutene, Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Silica Silylate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Propylparaben, BHT. May Contain:
CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide)

Tags : Hard Candy, lip gloss, lip stain, vegan
Categories : 4/5 stars, Hard Candy, cruelty free, cruelty free companies, cruelty free product reviews, lips, vegan