My first eyeshadow palette from the affordable makeup brand BH Cosmetics is the Galaxy Chic Baked Eyeshadow Palette. It is a stunningly versatile, shimmery supernova of color and using it kind of blew me away. Given that it was only $15 for 18 pans of eyeshadow, it inspired a fierce need to figure out what BH Cosmetics, as a brand, was all about.
Let me be the first to admit that the tight-fisted skeptic in me is incredibly wary of the cheapest end of the affordable makeup spectrum. BH Cosmetics popped into my world a few months ago, and I’ve been wracked with a combo of suspicion and extreme interest. I was curious about BH Cosmetics, so I started diving into research about the best products to try.
BH Cosmetics’ popularity is largely fueled by the relationship that they have with social media. Makeup collaborations with influencers like Carli Bybel and Ashley Tisdale yield palettes that sell thousands of products on their release dates, thanks to promotion by their internet royalty collaborators. Their Instagram is 1.6 million followers strong, and I see why. I mean, I just followed them after checking to see how many followers they have. They know what they’re doing over there.
I scoured dozens of reviews and threads looking for all the good dirt on BH Cosmetics. I was looking for the typical makeup drama – lack of transparency, crappy product performance, sketchy ingredients… But there wasn’t any shadiness to speak of. Some of the palettes underperform – most commonly mentioned were the Party Girl palette, the 88 shadow palettes, and all of their attempts at matte eyeshadows.
In contrast, the raves were bountiful. Being that I already own a couple of their vegan makeup brushes, I can vouch for the decent quality of my $4 blending brushes, despite having to re-glue the ferrule to the handle. To my surprise, the collaboration palettes were some of the most lauded products amongst the makeup artist message boards and YouTube reviews I was seeing, with Carli Bybel’s eyeshadow palette being the overwhelming favorite.
Baked eyeshadows were one of the most mentioned products, with reviewers citing their incredible wet/dry capabilities and extreme shimmer. At this time, there are no matte baked eyeshadows at BH Cosmetics, but if they ever come out with one, it’s going straight in my cart.
It was the baked eyeshadow reviews that lead me to picking up the Galaxy Chic palette. There are a bunch of baked eyeshadow palettes, but the science nerd in me had to get this one. Galaxy Chic’s sister palette, the Supernova Palette, is next on my list. If it’s anything like Galaxy Chic, I’m going to be all about it.
The baked eyeshadows, like the ones in my Galaxy Chic palette, come in a deep 26mm pan with a beautiful rounded top. In the Galaxy Chic palette, most mounds of shadow are swirled with 2-4 shades of eyeshadow, all of which blend together when you swipe a brush or fingertip overtop.
Personally, I love the rounded tops and deep pans of the baked shadows for one specific reason. Due to the fact that these shadows are not creamy to the touch at all, you can expect a little fallout when used with a brush. The great thing about the deep pans is that the fallout collects around the edges of the pan forming a shadow-pool of loose, packable product. That also means you’re not floofing powder all over your palette and getting into other colors with every brush stroke. If you’re into packing foiled shimmer onto your lid with extremely high payoff, you’ll dig the effect of these mounded shadows.
BH Galaxy Chic Eyeshadow Palette Swatches
I swatched this palette over bare skin. First, I did finger swatches just so I could show you the wide variety of shades in the palette in indirect daylight.
BH Cosmetics Galaxy Chic Palette: Top row, middle row, bottom row.
The shades are definitely nebulous and fit the theme of “galaxy” quite well. The names, obviously, are like… planets and stuff. (#TeamPluto.) It’s weird that Venus is bright orange because Venus actually emits a pale yellow, but other than that, I’m impressed with the attempted accuracy!
Next, I grabbed some swatches applied with different techniques. I chose three colors and did four swatches each: one finger swatch, one dry brush swatch, one wet brush swatch, and one swatch over the incredibly sticky foiling medium, Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy.
Prometheus
Meteor
Moon
Each shadow behaves a little bit differently, but nearly all of them are impressively pigmented. I realize now that I chose three shadows that have silver shimmer, but there are more other reflective shades in the palette, I promise.
Believe it or not, BH Cosmetics is based on Los Angeles, CA. Many people believe this is a “Chinese wholesale” beauty company, and they are 100% wrong, though many if not all of Many of BH Cosmetics’ products are made in China but must adhere to the rules and regulations of the USA FDA. The product development, concepts, design, and marketing of BH Cosmetics are all coming out of L.A., USA. And yes, BH Cosmetics is 100% cruelty-free and Leaping Bunny certified.
Makeup palettes are how BH broke into the makeup scene. Another misconception about BH Cosmetics is that they were a private label makeup brush seller that eventually expanded into cosmetics “to boost profit.” Nope! In 2009, BH Cosmetics stepped out, palette first, and started offering affordable makeup to the world. They have a US warehouse for shipments along with a Germany-based warehouse to cut down on shipping times (and probably cost) for their international customers. BH is also sold in Ulta stores!
I suggest shopping on their website, however, because their shipping is reasonable (less than Ulta) and the prices are frequently lower. Plus, BH runs flash sales nearly every day, offering one or more products for incredibly large discounts like 50% off for two BH Cosmetics Marble palettes – remember that? Yeah, that happens a lot.
You can also find this palette on Amazon (Prime!) for $18.22, as well as Amazon.ca (also Prime!) for CDN$25.94.
Pick up the BH Cosmetics Galaxy Chic Palette for $15.99 at the BH Cosmetics website (+ $4.95 shipping).
If you have an experience with a BH Cosmetics palette or product, leave it in the comments!