Last year I wanted to try some more BH Cosmetics, so for Black Friday I placed an order and in that order was their Holiday 2019 limited edition palette: Fairy Lights. I had already tried their Royal Affair palette which I liked, but the color story didn’t wow me, so I thought I could try some new things that intrigued me. And this palette intrigued me: featuring cool toned neutrals with a touch of warmth and some bright pinks and stunning navy blues, this palette had my name written all over it. Here is how I got on.
Review: BH Cosmetics Fairy Lights limited edition eyeshadow palette
Since this was a limited edition Holiday release, this palette was a bit more expensive at €20. Not too expensive, but it is more expensive than the €15 of the Love in London palette (which is still available at the German BH website at a huge discount!!) and that palette instantly shot to my top 15 favorite eyeshadow palettes of all time. You can of course no longer buy this, but I still wanted to post my review as I think it can inform you on the quality of BH Cosmetics eyeshadows.
What does this palette have to offer?
Where to start with this one? This is a 20-pan eyeshadow palette that features 50% neutrals and 50% colors. My main issue with the BH Cosmetics Royal Affair palette was that it was very neutral and featured lots of shades I already owned in my collection. This palette seemed to offer something more unique with some pops of blue and pink and lots of otherwise nicely cool toned neutral shades. If we are talking about makeup preferences and you know anything about mine, then you’ll understand why this palette intrigued me.
What is the color story like?
Unfortunately, this palette suffers from exactly the same thing as its sister, the Royal Affair. Why? This looked far more intriguing and interesting in terms of its color story than it did once I got this home. Why do brands do this? Making a mainly neutral palette look more interesting by laying out the colors in such a way that you’re drawn in but also by making the palette and shadows look more interesting in their marketing pictures? Not to mention the pretty shiny packaging that houses these shadows… Anywho, I can tell you that if I had been able to spot this palette in stores before buying it, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up.
What does this palette swatch like?
In terms of quality however, I have no complaints. The shadows are saturated and well pigmented. The variation of the pink selection could have been better (and more pink in my opinion) as three of the four pinks are a bit light and aren’t very distinct. The blues look stunning and I like how you get 11 shimmers and 9 mattes. To me that is a great ratio to be working with. In terms of their performance I think these shade blend really well and over a primer theses stayed on all day. The only thing I am missing? A good transition shade. These shades go from very very light to very very deep a bit too quickly. A good mid-toned brown would have rounded out this palette I feel.
4 Look, 1 Palette
You know I like to use every shade in the palette when I review my palettes. So with 20 shades to get through, I created 4 different looks. Of course there are a blue and a pink look, but I also worked in two neutral looks to show you the versatility of this palette.
Despite this being a very light toned palette for the most part (save for those 5 darker mattes), you are very capable of creating a more smokey glam look. How perfect is this navy smokey look for the Holiday season? The blues have a good deal of shimmer and look really stunning on the eye. To create the look I layered Divine over Passionate and used some of those deeper mattes in the crease. For the lower lash line I went in with Passionate and Twinkling. I think if I were to create this look again, I would definitely swop out Passionate in the crease for the brown because I think that would make this look even more stunning.
For the second look, I used the sprinkling of warm shadows you get in the right side of the palette. I used Bliss and Enamored in the crease and used Rare all over the lid. These shades are the best quality ones in the palette. It is of course no surprise that the brand can formulate a neutral. Most brands can, so this look is not a standout one for sure, but and easy go to one if you want a perfect for everyday glam look. You could easily switch up this look by pairing it with some of the blues on the lower lash line for a pop of something more interesting.
The third look ended up being the most disappointing one from this palette. I saw those pinks and knew I wanted to do a look. However, three out of the four pinks in this palette don’t do much. The deeper matte one is still okay and I used it (Adorn) in my crease here. I had just expected more depth from it. The lighter two pinks barely show up on my skin. No, where it is at in terms of pinks in this palette is Mesmerize which is easily the most stunning shade in the palette. I think if I were to use this again, I would certainly want to put that on the lower lashline or create an otherwise all blue look and use the pink all over the lid.
Finally, we are working our way further to the left side of the palette and I went in with all those gorgeous cool toned neutrals the palette has to offer. While the shade didn’t swatch the greatest, the icy blue shimmer called Enchanting ended up working well on the lower lash line. These kinds of looks are my favorites: they look effortless and go with everything, yet they aren’t boring. This is easily my favorite look I did with this palette.
My final thoughts
I am a bit on the fence about the BH Cosmetics Fairy Lights eyeshadow palette. It looked much better in the online pictures than it did once I got it home. In the end the palette worked well enough for me and I can easily come up with many other looks with some of my favorite shades in the palette. It is therefore not a total dud for me, but I will admit that I wanted more. Luckily I got more in my Love in London palette and this Holiday season I got myself the Blueberry Muffin palette too. So I may be good on the cool toned/ neutral/ blue toned front when it comes to BH’s palettes. This is therefore on the chopping block at the moment, but I may just keep it around as I have fallen a little bit in love with BH Cosmetics as a makeup brand.
Would I recommend the BH Cosmetics Fairy Lights eyeshadow palette?
No I would not. Simply because it is no longer available and I always think you should never chase things down on Ebay unless it is your absolute favorite thing in the world. I think if you buy one of the other blue-toned palettes that BH has released recently such as the Blueberry Muffin, you can still create a similar vibe if you also already own a pink shimmer (perhaps as a single?). I think you can easily dupe this with other shades in your collection.
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