Review: BH Cosmetics Pop Art Brush Set

Hi everyone!

Here is the last post in the current series of my BH reviews. Yay! Today's post will be over the BH Cosmetics Pop Art Brush Set.

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First off, sorry that some of the brushes look so dirty! I had been using them for a couple of days before I got around to taking the pictures. They have been cleaned, but they stain very easily... one of the downfalls that I'm not too happy about.

So as you can see, the the handles of these brushes are so bright and colorful! I have to admit... that was really the main reason I bought these... Ok well this set had a couple of types of brushes that I didn't have, or have very good quality of... so that's more justifiable than just handle color right? They also came in this adorable snap together brush cup, which I thought would be perfect for traveling.

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Here we have the 5 face brushes in the set. From top down there is a powder/blush brush, an angled blush/bronzing brush, a larger foundation brush, a smaller foundation brush, and a rounded complexion brush I believe is what they called it.

Here is an up-close of the bristles:

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Here are the 5 smaller brushes in the set, from top to bottom: Rounded blending eyeshadow brush, angled eyeshadow brush, angled eyeliner brush, spoolie, and a lip brush.

And an up-close of the bristles:

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So.... as excited as I was to order this brush set as soon as I saw it... I have to say it is probably one of my least favorite purchases. The brushes are not bad quality by any means, in fact, I think they are actually pretty good. I really just got caught up in the fact of how attractive I thought the overall set was, that I didn't pay attention to the fact that the bristles on all of these brushes are synthetic. I personally prefer real hair brushes, or at least the ones that feel like real hair. These are the ones that are very synthetic feeling; very slick and somewhat plastic-y. When it comes to applying cream and liquid products, these kinds of bristles are the best, but I mainly bought these with the intent of using them with powder products.

Of the face brushes, I have found the rounded complexion brush has come in handy for doing some detailed foundation/concealer application, but I really don't like the rest of them. I don't like the traditional flat foundation brushes (which this set has two of), the angled blush/bronzing brush seemed to wipe all of my powder off when I tried using it for bronzer, and the larger powder brush did the same thing when I tried to use it for blush. I've never had any of my real hair brushes do that.

I do use all of the eye brushes from this set however. The blending brush doesn't really apply a large amount of color compared to real hair brushes of the same sort, but that's just the nature of this kind of bristle; it does do a nice job buffing colors out though.. I have been using the angled brush for my under-brow highlighter for the fact that it doesn't apply color heavily and it fits the shape under my brow really nicely. The eyeliner brush in this set has to be the best one that I own. I mainly use it for lining under my bottom eyelid, and I have to say it makes the closest and smoothest line out of any brush I have ever tried to use for that purpose. The spoolie is just a regular spoolie and the lip brush is also nothing out of the ordinary.

Pricing:

This brush set retails for $24.95 and I got it on sale for $21.21. As a reminder, BH is always having sales on their website, there is no need to pay full price for anything.

With this price point for 10 brushes, that makes each one a little over $2 a piece and you also get the brush cup for essentially free.

The Bottom Line:

This set is priced very affordably for the amount of good quality brushes you get. Even though most of the brushes in this set are not my favorite, that is because my personal preferences on bristle type. If you are a fan of synthetic bristles, I think this would be a wonderful set for you, as it comes with a good variety of brushes. Of the ones I do use regularly now, I think the overall price was worth it just for the few I really enjoy.

Hope everyone is having a beautiful day!

**Note: This review is solely my own personal opinion. This item was purchased by me and I was in no way asked to write this review.
**All images are my own (c)bargainbeaute

Review: BH Cosmetics Floral Blush Duo in Lilac

Hi everyone!

Almost done with my BH Cosmetics review series, yay! Today's review will be about the BH Cosmetics Floral Blush Duo in the color Lilac.

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As with the last BH Blush Duo I reviewed, this one too has adorable packaging, made from sturdy cardboard featuring flowers on the front, which the blush is named for. The compact has a magnetic closure and a decently large mirror for a blush.

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The blush in this duo is a frosted baby pink and the highlighter is pale frosted off-white. When I ordered the blush online, it didn't appear to be as light and frosty as it looks in person, so when I opened it, I was a bit worried. I don't normally wear really light and frosty blushes, but  this one actually doesn't go on too shiny.

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As you can see, it is fairly pigmented, but I don't think overly so. It's not a color I wear often, I prefer blushes on the peachy side more often than not, but for a pink, I think this is my favorite. I may start wearing it more since I think this color is supposed to be "in" this spring. Why not mix it up?

Pricing:

This blush retails on BH's website for $9.95. As stated in all my BH reviews, they are ALWAYS having a sale! I got mine for FREE with the purchase of the Take Me to Brazil palette. I did purchase another shade (Daisy - which I reviewed a few days ago) for $3.95 during the same sale, so either way, very affordable.

The Bottom Line:

If you are looking to expand your blush collection, I think these floral blush duos are a great way to do it. I love that there is both a blush and highlighter in each set, and they are so big that I don't feel like I'm being cheated by having the two products in the same compact.  Both the blush and highlighter have great pigmentation and apply wonderfully.

 Hope everyone is having a beautiful day!

**Note: This review is solely my own personal opinion. This item was purchased by me and I was in no way asked to write this review.
**All images are my own (c)bargainbeaute

Review: BH Cosmetics - Take Me to Brazil Palette

Hi everyone!

Going along with my BH Cosmetics review series... today's review is over the Take Me to Brazil Palette.

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As with the last eyeshadow palette I reviewed by BH, this one has absolutely adorable packaging! I just love how bright it is! This palette is made from sturdy cardboard, features a magnetic closure, and a decent sized mirror.

While I could probably obsess about how cute this packaging is all day, the best part of the palette is...

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... the eyeshadows of course. Can we say holy color rainbow Batman?!?! 

I have numbered each of the shades so you can match  them up with my swatches below since they do not have individual names.

The first set of swatches are done by swirling my finger in each shadow just once and then the second set is made by swiping the shadow from my finder to my forearm with no primer or base of any kind so you can see the true pigmentation of the product.

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Sorry the color of my arm looks crazy in each section of the swatches... the flash on my camera was acting all wonky. From what I can see though, the color of each shadow is true to life.

So as you can see, most of these shadows are crazy pigmented! There is a variety of matte and shimmery shades in pretty much every color of the rainbow. A couple of the lighter colored shadows are a little powdery, but not so much that they can't be worked with. 

I really like that BH included a black and white shadow along with all the crazy bright colors to somewhat balance the palette out, but I can't say that I love the fact that they are like three times as big as the rest... That's just me nit picking...

In real life, I always wear my eyeshadow with a primer, which makes these colors pop even more than they do in the swatches.... yeah... that can happen.... plus it helps them to last all day (14-18 hours). 

Pricing:

This palette retails on BH Cosmetics' website for $19.95 and I got it on sale for $10 plus a free blush duo of my choice. As stated in all my reviews, BH is ALWAYS having sales, so there is no need to pay full price for most any of their products.

At regular price, each shadow is $0.67 a piece and on sale, I got them for $0.33 a piece!

The Bottom Line:

If you are looking to add a lot of color to your eyeshadow collection, this is a great way to do it! You are getting 30 super bright, super pigmented shades at a ridiculously amazing price! I would definitely compare the quality of this product to some of the higher end ones I own. Main difference, this leaves you a little extra green in the pocket :)

What's your favorite bright eyeshadow color?

Hope everyone is have a beautiful day!!

**Note: This review is solely my own personal opinion. This item was purchased by me and I was in no way asked to write this review.
**All images are my own (c)barginbeaute

Review: BH Cosmetics Stippling Brush

Hi everyone!

Continuing yet another BH Cosmetics product review, here is today's review featuring the BH Cosmetics stippling brush!

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Recently I have been on the hunt for a new foundation brush and while I was ordering some other products from BH, I figured I'd give this one a try. It is a synthetic fiber, flat top brush, which is ideal for working with cream and liquid products. I've used two brushes similar to this one in the past, and I have really loved them, but they always end up shedding or falling apart... including my Sigma brush which exploded.... but that's a different story.

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As you can see, the bristles on this this brush are nice and compact, which is one of the main reasons I love it. I use liquid foundation, so with the bristles being super tight together, a lot of foundation is able to be picked up by the brush (without it going down in between the bristles) and the bristles are able to really buff the product into the skin (which makes for a more flawless look).

I have been using this brush every day for a little over two weeks now, and I have experienced no problems of shedding or anything else weird that could happen to a brush. While this may not be long enough to really test the lasting power of the bristles of this brush, it is a good first impression for a tool which is a lot cheaper than ones I have used in the past. 

Pricing:

This brush retails on BH's site for $6.95 and I got it on sale for $5.56. As stated before, BH is always having sales, so there is really no need to pay full price for anything from their site.

The Bottom Line:

I love this brush! This is by far the best brush I have used for my foundation hands down, even over similar, more expensive brushes such as ones by Sigma and Sonia Kashuk. If you want a great brush to use with your cream/liquid foundation that gives you a nicely buffed and flawless look, definitely give this one a try. The quality for the price of this brush is really hard to beat. 

Hope everyone is having a beautiful day!

**Note: This review is solely my own personal opinion. This item was purchased by me and I was in no way asked to write this review.

**All images are my own (c)barginbeaute

Review: BH Cosmetics Jumbo Concealer Pencil

Hi everyone!

Continuing my BH Cosmetics review series I have been doing the past few days, today's review will feature the BH Cosmetics Jumbo Concealer Pencil.

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 As you can see, I purchase the color Olive. Sorry the tip is a little on the bottom pic isn't all nice and pristine.... I had been using this for a few days when I took the picture lol.

Anyway, if you've seen my swatches from my other reviews, you can probably tell my skin tone is quite fair, making this concealer a bit too dark for me (also as seen below). I purchased it purposely darker and more on the yellow side to use as an under eye concealer. I have pretty dark under eye circles, and darker yellow toned colors have been working well to conceal them under my foundation. Unfortunately, the product I had been using ran out and has been discontinued.

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The concealer does go on quite smooth... well everywhere but under the eye... The skin under the eye is really quite different from the skin on the rest of the face, which makes it a little difficult sometimes to find products that work well in that area. I found when I tried to apply this under my eye, it pulled a little (big no no) and it didn't go on as creamy and thick in that area as is did elsewhere.

 I don't think I can really say how well this product covers, considering it is in a color that is quite darker than I am... so naturally it is going to cover something on me that it may not on a person with the skin tone the shade was intended for.

I really don't know what I'm going to be doing with this pencil since it doesn't fulfill my intended purpose. Maybe I'll try using it as an eyeshadow base... I'll try out a couple of things and provide an update. 

Pricing:

The regular price for this pencil is $5.95 and I got it on sale for $3.50. As usual, BH has sales all of the time, so you never need to pay full price for anything you order from them

The Bottom Line:

This concealer pencil seems like it would work well (except for under the eye area) if it were in my correct shade. Like I said, since it's too dark... I don't think I can honestly tell. If you are already ordering some products from their site, it's a good price if you feel like you want to go ahead and give it a try.

Hope everyone is having a beautiful day!

**Note: This review is solely my own personal opinion. This item was purchased by me and I was in no way asked to write this review.

**All images are my own (c)barginbeaute

Review: BH Cosmetics - Floral Blush Duo in Daisy

Hi everyone!

Here's the second review in my BH Cosmetics series. Today I will be sharing my thoughts on my new go to blush: the Floral Blush Duo in the color Daisy.

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In my opinion, the packaging is quite attractive, featuring daisies in the same color as the blush and highlight shades the set is named for. As with their eyeshadow palette in my last review, this palette is too made from sturdy cardboard and has a magnetic closure. It also features a fairly decent sized mirror for a blush compact.

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The blush in the Daisy duo is a soft, mostly matte, peachy-pink and the highlighter is a shimmery gold. 

Lately I have been using both the blush and the highlighter from this duo on almost a daily basis, as I find it gives me a nice, natural look for every day wear. Previously I had been using MAC's Flower Fantasy as my everyday blush... well until it shattered. I find this color to be almost the exactly the same and wears just as comparably; for a far better price. 

Below are two sets of swatches. The first is a single fingertip swirl in each color with no form of primer or base, and the second is each color swiped on to the back of my hand. Sorry if you can't see the highlighter swatch on my hand too well, I should have done it on my forearm :/

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Pricing:

 The Floral Blush Duos retail for $9.95 on BH Cosmetics' website. When I purchased mine, it was on sale for $3.95. As I've said before, they are always having a sale of some sort (I just checked and in fact they are having one right now), so I would never pay full price for something off of their site. 

The Bottom Line:

I absolutely am in love with this blush duo! You get a fairly large amount of an amazing product for a ridiculously amazing price. As I said, I've been wearing it almost everyday for the past couple of weeks, and I have no complaints. It goes on very smoothly and stays put all day! Definitely comparable to  high end blushes I have used (MAC, NARS, Urban Decay).

If you are in the market for a new blush and/or highlighter, pick one of these up and give it a try. With 5 different shades to choose from, I think there is at least one that would flatter every skin tone.

 Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!

**Note: This review is solely my own personal opinion. This item was purchased by me and I was in no way asked to write this review.

**All images are my own (c)barginbeaute

Review: BH Cosmetics - Eyes on the '60s Palette

Hello everyone!

As promised, here is the first of my in-depth reviews on the BH Cosmetics items that I featured in my last post. I thought I'd start with what is probably my favorite item of the lot; the Eyes on the '60s palette.

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I think this palette is so adorable! The packaging honestly is what first drew me in. I just love the bubbles and how you can see some of the colors peeking through the clear ones.

I assumed there was plastic covering the holes to protect the shadow... 

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However, as you can see, that is not exactly the case. There is a plastic covering over the shadows, I don't know if you can tell from this picture:

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But it is attached to the side of the package and has to be folded back every time you use the palette.... and it doesn't like to stay folded over. I have found I have to completely tuck the plastic under the palette for it to be out of the way.

One thing that concerns me about doing that is this:

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The edge where the plastic is attached to is perforated, which leads me to believe that one day after folding it backwards, it may rip off. Though my boyfriend did suggest if that happened to just take the plastic off and glue it to the top where the holes are... pretty good idea on his part... just wish the company would have thought of that.

Ok enough of my complaining about something I said was a favorite product of mine! Other than this somewhat agitating flaw in design, the rest of the packaging is quite good; made out of heavy cardboard and featuring a magnetic closure. The palette overall is also quite larger than I expected. Hopefully you can get somewhat of a size reference from the pic with my hand above.

Now on to the best part... the actual eyeshadow!

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There are 30 different shades in both matte and shimmery finishes, ranging from pastels, to neutrals, to bright, bold pops of color; perfect for everyday to a girls night out. I have numbered them in this picture so you can match them up to the swatches below since none of the colors feature any names.

All finger swatches below were done without a primer and by swirling my finger in each color just once:

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As you can see, all of the colors are quite pigmented. Some of the lighter matte shades are a little powdery, and while I haven't worn all the shades yet, I haven't encountered a problem in any of them.

The following swatches were all done by making one swipe from what I had on my finger onto my forearm with no primer:

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First off, sorry about the funky colors of my arm in the various shots, my flash was acting a fool, I assure you the colors of the swatches are really true to color. Secondly, viewing the larger version of this image will definitely help you get a better view of the swatches.

Most of the colors transfer really beautifully! In real life, I always use an eyeshadow primer when doing my makeup, which makes them pop even more than they do here; I just wanted you to be able to see how pigmented they were on their own.

With a primer, all of the shades I have worn so far have last all day (14-18 hours), with barely any fading or creasing.

Pricing:

This palette regularly retails for $19.95 and I got it on sale for $8.95. As I mentioned previously, BH Cosmetics has sales ALL of the time, so I would never pay full price for something from them. 

For 30 shadows at $19.95, each shade only costs 67 cents and at $8.95, only 30 cents per shadow!

The bottom line:

I have to say that this palette has amazing quality, color variety, and pricing! If you are on a budget and want some amazing colors at an amazing price, this is definitely a palette to pick up.

**Note: This review is solely my own personal opinion. This item was purchased by me and I was in no way asked to write this review.

**All images are my own (c)barginbeaute

BH Cosmetics - Big Bang for Your Buck!

Hi everyone!

To officially start this blog off I thought I'd post something about a newly discovered love of mine... BH Cosmetics.

A few years ago, when the "120 palettes" were really popular and a lot of off-brand companies started making them, I discovered BH Cosmetics. I ordered the 88 Shimmer palette from them and well... it was just kind of ok. It came with a ton of colors, it got the job done, but I can't say I was in love with it.

About a year ago, one of my friends, who is in the makeup industry, said she started purchasing products from them and loved them. Since she works with a lot of high-end products on a regular basis, I figured the quality of their products must have improved.

About 2 weeks ago I got an email from the company announcing a new sale. Once you order from them, they will send you emails ALL the time... and they are ALWAYS having sales. I saw a couple of new products that looked unlike anything that I currently own at the moment so I decided why not, I'll take the chance and test out some new products.... and this is what I got:

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Take me to Brazil Eyeshadow Palette (30 colors) - Regular price $19.95 - Sale price $10
Eyes on the 60's Eyeshadow Palette (30 colors) - Regular price $19.95 - Sale price $8.95
Pop Art Brush Set (10 pc) - Regular price $24.95 - Sale price $21.21
Floral Blush Duo in Daisy - Regular price $9.95 - Sale price $3.36
Floral Blush Duo in Lilac - Regular price $9.95 - Sale price - Free with Brazil Palette
Round Stipling Brush - Regular price $6.95 - Sale price $5.56
Jumbo Concealer Pencil - Regular price $5.95 - Sale price $3.50
Plus: FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50!

 As you can see, most of the products regular prices are pretty good, but the sale prices are what makes them really worth it. Like I said, they always have sales, so I would never purchase anything from them full price when you don't have to. If they aren't running a sale when you look, just wait a few days and there will be one.

They are currently running a "March Madness" sale that I think ends tomorrow (3/21/14) if you want to check them out.

I will have full reviews with many more pictures on each item shows here in the coming days. I will say right now in case you do want to order something from them asap is that I do like everything I purchased, especially the eyeshadow palettes and blushes; I've been using them every day for the past couple of weeks.

Look out for full reviews with swatches starting tomorrow :)

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!

P.S. Sorry about the kind of dirty looking brushes.... only downfall with these is they stain badly :/

Intro... First post!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to take a quick moment to say hello and introduce myself a little while I'm still fidgeting with everything on here and making it look the way I want.

My name is Heather and as my little "About Me" section says, I am really into makeup, nails, skin care, etc. This blog will mainly reflect those interests as well as hopefully helpful tips and tricks to all of you that will save you both time and money. I've been wearing makeup for over half my life now (began at age 11 and now I'm almost 26), so I have tested a ton of products, both high end and drugstore, and have learned a lot of techniques over the years. I am by no means a "professional" in this field; just a girl with a passionate hobby who wants to pass a little info on to you.

Enough of my ramblings... I will have a real makeup post up later today when I get home from work... I know... shame on me...

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!