bhcosmetics is a familiar name in the YouTube beauty world, but I have never really tried anything from them, mainly because the US-based company charges a lot of money for shipping and delivery to Singapore. Fortunately, Singsale was having a bhcosmetics deal a few months ago and I jumped at the opportunity! I heard itsjudytime rave on and on about how amazing the eyeshadow palettes and so I decided to get one!
The bh San Francisco California Makeup Palette Collection is available online for US$8.95.
The palette consists of 16 eyeshadows (both matte and shimmery) and 4 blushes. It's a really unique palette that combines browns and golds with blues and greens! I had high hopes for this palette and to be quite honest I was quite disappointed with some of the eyeshadow shades.
Packaging: It's a fancy one. That's for sure. The makeup palette packaging is made mostly out of cardboard and it comes with a handy mirror. I'm not one for fancy packaging but somehow I don't detest this. It's colourful and it will catch your attention but not obnoxious or too loud. I just really hate the white strings at both sides of the blush section. Overall, a cute and decent packaging that will not bother minimalists.
The left eyeshadow section consists of more neutral and smoky shades.
Pigmentation: The eyeshadows on this side have decent pigmentation. The shimmery black is amazing and I especially love the matte reddish brown. They are all very smooth eyeshadows and application using eyeshadow brushes will be better than using your fingers. I swatched using my fingers and it's not as pigmented as when I used a brush.
The right eyeshadow section has more eccentric shades - lavender blue, shimmery cool white with a purple undertone and a really gorgeous sparkly forest green.
Pigmentation: This section has eyeshadows that prove to be quite problematic, especially the matte light green and matte brown. These two colours are very light even after 3-4 applications. I was quite surprised because there are so many reviews online that have photos of the amazing pigmentation! Perhaps I received a palette from a bad batch. :( The shimmery lavender blue is really pretty though, it's an extremely lovely shade for inner corner highlighting.
The 4 blushes range from a pretty peach that will do well as a highlighter to a matte coral red for extra rosy cheeks.
Pigmentation: I love these blushes. I have been using the blushes more than the eyeshadows because they are all decently pigmented and the colours are not so in-your-face. The matte coral red is a clear winner for me because it's not crazily pigmented and it's very buildable.
Application (eyeshadow): Some of the matte shades are quite powdery and chalky. The matte black is especially prone to fall-outs so be extra careful there. The shimmery shades are great and they are smooth and very easy to apply and blend using the correct brushes.
Application (blush): These blushes are a dream to apply! Very smooth and easily picked up by a blush brush. It's also quite creamy. I know it sounds weird - how can a powder blush be creamy? It's one of those textures whereby it's a powder, but when you apply and blend, it blends so well like as if it's a cream! I hope I'm making sense here haha. But long story short - GOOD BLUSHES.
Longevity (eyeshadow): Not very long-wearing. I went out of my comfort zone and applied the matte light green and shimmery forest green on my eyelids and maybe 5-6 hours later, I could barely see the matte light green.
Longevity (blush): The matte coral red is the best performing blush in terms of longevity. The 3 other shimmery ones just disappear into thin air at the end of the day.
Will I buy it (or another similar palette) again? Maybe not. I have plenty of eyeshadow palettes and they all work better than this one. As abovementioned, I'm quite shocked at how average this palette is because I have read a lot of extremely positive reviews. I can only say that I'm unlucky and perhaps I have been sent a bad one. Oh well~
Hopefully this review's useful for you! Have a good day - make it better than yesterday!
