I was browsing the reddits the other day… (I couldn’t resist, I love Letterkenny!)
Seriously though, I was stalking the beauty reddit communities in ninja mode and I came across a post about BH Cosmetics filing bankruptcy. Now, I’ve eyed their Take Me Back to Brazil set for the past 5 years but ingredients like PTFE always stopped me purchasing it. Also, Take Me Back to Brazil set was limited edition and I didn’t really feel the need to buy the individual palettes.
So, when I heard that BH might go under, I decided to purchase the palettes I had dragged my feet on — the travel palettes. While I really wanted the Passion in Paris palette, I wanted a palette that was unusual, and purchased the Lost in Los Angeles palette. I also wanted to test this pastel palette on my brown skin. Pastels usually look the best on fair or dark skin.
Update, Feb 2022: BH Cosmetics has been purchased by Revolution Beauty. No news on whether the company will exist as is or whether it will absorbed into Revolution.
Packaging
I love the packaging of this palettes. Having visited LA it’s a true representation of the city. Of course, people dressed up as Spiderman near the Chinese theater and the über rich living in their mansions in stark contrast to Skid Row would make it more authentic, but let’s not nit-pick (that’s my dry wit rearing it’s ugly head folks). But the one thing I didn’t like was that the image used on the cover of the palette wasn’t sharp. I know that’s how it’s designed, but my perfectionist tendencies didn’t like it.
Color-story & Formula
I love the color story. I love almost all the colors. Ones I thought were too bright, look so good on my brown skin. There are some exceptions of course, like the white; but if you are good at applying make up, you could use the white as a base for the colors to show up.
Shimmers: The shimmers were fallout city! They kept dropping into my eyes as I applied them and I had to use eye drops to ensure that they didn’t affect my eyes. They did not burn my eyes though. Keep in mind, I usually use my foundation as my eye primer. If I were using a primer or a glitter glue, there is a chance that the shimmers would adhere better to your lids. The problem I have with the shimmers is that it’s larger than normal shimmers but smaller than glitter; I think that makes it susceptible to fallout. Shadows like Rodeo Drive worked well when applied with fingers and had great payoff, while some like Malibu and Rush Hour were difficult to work with.
Mattes: The mattes were a bit dry but were easy to work with. The pinks, blues and greens just applied so easily on the lids, while the most disappointing shadow was the Matte Brown, Runyon Canyon. It’s a shade deeper than my skin color and it should have showed up on my lids. Be warned though, most of the brighter mattes tend to stain your eye lids.
Descriptions of the shadows:
- Malibu: Peachy orangy shimmer, this was a bit difficult to pick up
- Runyon Canyon: Matte Brown. This was a bit too dry for me. Took a while to get the desired saturation.
- LAX: Matte Aqua. I love this color. It looks chalky but it applies so well. It’s not my cup of tea and for a classic eye lover like me, it takes some getting used to. Having said that, it surprisingly looks good on me!
- 90210: Matte Pink. Like This shadow has to be my favorite shadow. I created a valentines day look with this and it looked so good.
- The 405: It’s a Matte Coral pink. Absolutely love it.
- Melrose: Purple shimmer. This shade performed well but there was fallout.
- Weho: Matte coral it’s a lighter version The 405. While it pulls pinker than 405, I’m not sure it was necessary.
- Rodeo Drive: This is another color I love. It’s an unusual bronzy green gold shimmer.
- Rush Hour: Silvery blue grey shimmer. This is such a beautiful color but the pigmentation was a bit lacking. I’m not sure if it’s because of the dry formula. This and Malibu had the most fallout.
- Abbot Kinney: Pinky Purple. This is a nice color and out of my comfort zone.
- Starstruck: Bright gold. This one was a bit too dry.
- Sunset Blvd: Bright Coral shimmer. It’s very similar to some Colourpop shimmer shadows. It’s mean to be layered on The 405. One of the shimmer shadows that applied well.
- The Abbey: Stark white matte. As mentioned before, it was chalky and I haven’t layered it yet, so I won’t comment on the performance.
- Dreamer: Matte green. This is probably the first green that actually looked good on my green skin. Love it!
- The Hills: Light pinky shimmer. I’m not very impressed with this. I tried using it as my inner corner highlight and it just fell into my eyes.
- City of Angels: Blue shimmer. I’m most excited about this shadow. I haven’t tried it yet but it’s been the butteriest of all of the shimmers. The base color of this shadow is a denim blue. I kinda wish that this was a Matte.
The shadows lasted the entire day and survived a workout!
All in all, loved Mattes more than the shimmers. I’ll try the shimmers a few more times and update the review if my opinions change.
BGF Friendly?
Yes it is! The colors show up so beautifully on my lids and some actually look good on my skin tone. Palettes like these are sometimes a hit or a miss, not because of the pigmentation but because of the tones in the palette. As a neutral, brown skinned girl, with asian yellow undertones most of this palette works for me.
Similar Palettes
The palette closest to this in my collection is the Sugar Rush Surf Babe palette. This palette blows the Sugar Rush palette out of the water; the quality is incomparable. The Sugar Rush palette was patchy and had no pay off. If you are tempted to buy the Sugar Rush palette, let me direct you to the pigmentation section and the BH cosmetics palette.
Another palette that is similar to this one, is the infamous Natasha Denona Circo Loco palette. Panned by the influencer community and loved by some make up lovers, it is one of my standout palettes. I find the formula in the Circo Loco easier to work with than BH cosmetics. I find the mattes easier to control. While there are some similar shimmer shades in the Circo Loco palette, I’d probably prefer Circo Loco over the BH cosmetics if we were judging the palettes purely by shimmers. Going by the tones of the palettes, I’d find it very difficult to choose because they are very different — Circo Loco is darker and grungier and contains more oranges and yellows that look awful on me. The oranges and aqua in this palette are more wearable, as compared to the Circo Loco. If it came down to price, I’d obviously choose BH; but if it came down to ease of use and ingredients it would have to be Natasha Denona.