Beauty on a Budget: My Experience with the Hush App

Using apps to purchase products is nothing new these days. With a few clicks on your smartphone screen, you can have everything from computers to toilet paper to groceries delivered quickly and without human interaction. At this point, Amazon has become the go-to app for almost all purchasing. But while Amazon sells a bit of everything, some apps have decided to go with a more focused approach.

​Case-in-point: Shop Hush.

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This website and app promises cosmetics at ridiculously low prices. Lip colors for $1, nail polishes for $3, and eyeshadow palettes that seem impossibly cheap. After hearing about the brand Bad Habit Beauty [Link to former article?], I decided to try some of their newest palettes. The catch? They only sell on Hush. 

​So I decided that while I was at it, I would test a few more of the app’s perks and products. I purchased three Bad Habit Beauty palettes: Inferno, Aphrodite, and Midsummer Night. Along with the bulk of my purchase, I was gifted an item of my choice from a long list of already cheap products. I chose a nail polish (the color was random) that normally retailed for $5, and then was gifted an additional lip color (again, the color was random) that normally retails for $1.

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From the beginning, I noticed an interesting “feature.” On the website, several of the items were shown as sold out. However, once I downloaded the app, they were miraculously available. Is it a case of updating systems? Or did their ploy work because I now have the app on my phone? Regardless, I got what I wanted and paid (delightfully) with Apple Pay! That meant my card number was safe and secure, as the retailer only gets a one-time use token and none of my information aside from my shipping address.

Immediately, I got the standard information about my order and a notice that delivery might be delayed 8-10 days because of the holidays. It was January, but I guessed everyone has to play catch-up at some point and shrugged it off. 

Imagine my surprise when the next day I get an alert on the app that my order was being packaged. And by that afternoon, it had shipped! My delivery date was a mere four business days away! A total of six days from ordering to arrival. 

And the best part? It arrived on time, and Hush notified me (much like Amazon) every step of the way. The app would quietly ping me to let me know that my order was leaving the warehouse, that it was in transit, and that it was out for delivery. The notifications were unobtrusive and informative. So I knew exactly when to run down to my mailbox to receive my goodies. In fact, the notifications were so accurate that the post man was just closing my mail box as I jogged up to open it. Talk about timing! 

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Now, if you’ve ever ordered makeup online, you know there is always a risk. Something could broken, missing, or incorrect. But I really and truly had zero issues with my Hush order, even though the shipping was free. The items were packaged really well with tons of bubble wrap, snuggled together to prevent any bouncing around. 

As for the products: Bad Habit Beauty is a brand I trust, so I knew those palettes would be good (and they absolutely are, especially for the price). But what about the rest of the products on the app? 

The lip color I got is an unnamed warm red made by KleanColor. This brand is known for being sold in most drugstores (notably Walmart), so it’s not normally known for quality. The smell is a pretty intense artificially sweet smell that I can’t identify.This liquid lipstick is quite pigmented, and stays well, although it doesn’t ever truly dry down. It stays sticky while it’s on. I might layer it with something, but hey, it was free.

The nail polish is a mirror effect color called “Champagne” by the company Santee. This is a brand that doesn’t seem to have much of a presence outside of online marketplaces. But the nail polish is a lovely color, a shimmery beige that is work appropriate while still being fun. 

Hush also sells some brands that I know and love, like Skinfood, My Beauty Diary, Holika Holika, and Scinic. I feel that as long as you research the individual brands, Hush is a great resource for buying cosmetics and skincare ingredients. Unlike Amazon, it seems that everything is done through Hush so there is no worry about shady vendors selling counterfeit goods. My items arrived in pristine condition, packaged well, and with free shipping to boot.
All in all, shopping on the Hush app was a delightful experience, and I will happily buy from their marketplace again.