August 24, 2011

Hard Candy Stroke of Gorgeous Eyeliner Review

Hard Candy has a brand new felt tip liquid eyeliner available in three shades with its Fall Collection.

I personally suck at liquid lining. I dream of the day I can work a cat eye like Dita Von Teese or at least apply one like her. Gorgeous!

There’s a little something that sets Hard Candy Stroke of Gorgeous Eyeliner apart from other liners of its kind though.

Take the jump to find out.


A felt tipped eyeliner with Hard Candy’s Growth Serum built right in to promote lash health.


Eyeliners nowadays, like mascaras, are embracing the growth serum technology so not only do you get a liner here but also a serum infused one that will help lashes to grow big and strong.

Hard Candy got a little funkier with its packaging this round of products and Stroke of Gorgeous reflects that. It has a fishnet design on the pencil that’s pretty Urban Decay-ish so if you put a heavier emphasis on brilliant packaging this will make you feel right at home.

I tested out Nautical which is aqua shade. The liner has a long felt tip for application. Formula wears quite well and proves very long wearing without issues of fading or flaking up, it’s pretty waterproof.

I didn’t like it because…


The color looks lovely on the tip of the pencil but when applied the color is a bit washed out and pigment is lacking.

I’m not expert at liquid liners like this but I felt like the product’s tip wasn’t dense enough and flopped around a bit.  Plus it frayed a little towards the tip after a single use which results in skipp-y, messy application during my second application round.

The next day the tip looked a little dry as well but I’ll have to keep it around for a while to determine whether or not it’ll dry out super fast or not.

  • Those on a beauty budget.
  • Those wanting a lash serum built right into their eyeliner.

  • Those looking for a dense, precise tipped liner.


This one failed to impress me. Even though I’m not an expert in the liquid liner department I can tell the difference between a good one and a rubbish one and this one kinda fell between the cracks due to the rather crummy faded out color application and less than stellar precise point. If you’re on a budget you might want to haul it but there are probably any number of options available at the drugstore that are considerably better.

It’s $5 and available exclusively at Walmart.

Will you indulge?

Tried anything from Hard Candy Fall 2011 yet?

Which products?

Any favs?

Share ’em!

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Cj

    Wow that’s a smart idea to include lash serum inside an eyeliner. I’m surprised no one else thought of it.

    • V

      Physicians’ Formula has one.

      The fishnet print is so appealing! I would love a fishnet-themed makeup collection.

  • Nene

    Looks promising =) Do you know if this is good for sensitive eyes? I’ve had some bad luck with eye irritations with liquid liners ):

      • Yanira

        Hi, I bought this eyeliner but I don’t know how to get the color on the tip…I twist it & also put a little pressure on the tip & nothing comes out.

    • Ruth

      I’ve experieced some burning on my eyelids with some liquid liners too. The ones that have worked for me are physicians formula and stila.

    • the Muse

      my pleasure sara you might wanna check ’em anyway…ya never know!

      • Sara

        Maybe, depends on what other colors there are. I already have the Physician’s Formula version of this in brown and black with few complaints. As pretty as blue/teal is, as I get older it doesn’t quite look…. “good”, like it did five years ago.

        • Sara

          Well, as “good” as blue ever looked on me. I think it was mostly the glow of youth and slightly off-beat look that pulled it off more than blue matching my skin in any way.

  • jeansco

    Good price to give it a try! thanks for sharing Muse!

    Cj: i think Physician’s Formula has a liquid liner with lash serum =)

  • JennaP

    I bought the one in Storm today (the purple) and I was rather bummed! I expected it to be bright and pigmented and it was (like you said) pretty washed out. Dang. I’ll have to try it anyway and see how it goes. I suck at liquid lining so these felt tip pens are the way to go for me!

    • the Muse

      the color wash out def disappointed jenna maybe it’s b/c of the serum!?

      • JennaP

        That better be some damn good serum, then That’s all I have to say 😉

  • Daisy

    Hi Muse. Thank you for the review. I was waiting to see the reviews for this one because I couldn’t decide if I wanted this or the KVD tattoo liquid liner. I couldn’t justify spending $18 but I think I’m going to do so. A quick tip I learned to apply liquid eyeliner is to position a mirror where you are looking down not straight into the mirror and draw your line. It works for me everytime and I stink at makeup application. Lol.

    • the Muse

      daisy I’m def trying this girl! thanks! I can’t speak for the black hun, that might prove better in pigment department but the point mmm it’s a little floppy and frayed at first use. the lash serum built in is a nice extra but without the pigment and dense point to back it up I had to nay it!

  • Tina

    I bought this the other day and you’re right about the lack of pigmentation. I bought the same color too.

    I was expecting a bold color but found that I had to go over the line a few times to get it to show.

    I had no idea it had lash serum in it!

    All in all, I think this is a bust and will not buy it in another color.

    • the Muse

      tina the lash serum is a plus but the color was really faded 🙁 le sigh! did u get the def eyeshadows? OMG girl so awesome!

  • Samantha

    I bought the black one and, for me at least, it’s very pigmented. Also, my brush wasn’t frayed… I think that because of the need to keep costs low, the product consistency isn’t brilliant, but I love mine. I say it’s worth the $5 risk

  • Daisy

    Ok…so I broke down and did purchase the black Hard Candy since I was closer to a Walmart rather than a Sephora. I can honestly say that the black is nicely pigmented and wears well. No fraying yet either. Yay…I just saved myself $13 dollars. 🙂

  • Joy

    I have the black and I love it. I am very picky about my eyeliner and I like this better than MAC that I spent 15.00 on. Now, I am trying to find some on eBay but no luck, guess I will make a trip to walmart and stock up. I want to try the colored eyeliner under my bottom lashes and keep the black to line with.

  • Paige

    I really liked this product. I have another felt tip eyeliner but not this one and it doesn’t work as good. What I like about this product is that since sometimes if you don’t have the most steady hand or not an “expert” with putting on eyeliner it is easy to remove un like the other brand I’m currently using. Another plus is that I liked how easy and quick and perfect looking this product is after 1 stroke/ application. I don’t have any cons for this product at all.

  • claire

    Does anybody else find that their colour smears really easily after it’s been applied? I wore this to work the other day and my eyes watered because of the sun outside and it wound up going everywhere / staining my skin. Not sure if I should try it again and it was just a one off, or if other people have experienced this? I do actually love the colour if I can make the formula work for me.. :/