Even before I was a full time makeup artist, the M.A.C Cosmetics Mineralize Skinfinish highlighter in the shade "Soft & Gentle" was always my holy grail highlighter. It's always been the one product that when I pull it out of my kit, so many clients say "I have that one too". With out a doubt it's such a beautiful product and extremely easy to work with.
As I started to further build my makeup kit, I also added the shade "Lightscapade" to my collection and it's great for pale skin tones and those with a very cool or yellow undertone.
When I saw that M.A.C were releasing new highlighter powders I was super keen to get my hands on them to try out. During a recent trip back to Auckland I popped into the Britomart Pro Store and picked up "Double-Gleam" and "Show Gold".
I've been really keen to do a proper review of these Extra Dimension highlighters and compare them to the old Mineralize Skinfinish ones that we all know and love, so here are my thoughts:
THE FORMULA
When I started using the Extra Dimension highlighter, the first thing I noticed is the texture and consistency is different to the Mineralize Skinfinish ones. These new highlighters are much more creamy, which is because of their liquid-powder formula. Where the likes of "Soft & Gentle" is a mineralized powder, it is more chalky and light.
SHOW GOLD vs SOFT & GENTLE
The reason "Soft & Gentle" is so popular is because of its soft peachy bronze colour, which makes it such a wearable product as it's so flattering on so many different skin tones.
In comparison "Show Gold" which is one of the new Extra Dimension highlighters, is a beautiful peachy gold that breaks to an amazing pink colour when in the light.
After using both of these colours in my kit "Soft & Gentle is definitely still my go to colour especially when I'm creating a more natural makeup look. I love using "Show Gold" on those with a warmer skin tone or have recently had a spray tan.
DOUBLE-GLEAM vs LIGHTSCAPADE
Since getting "Double-Gleam" I have definitely been grabbing this one more, it's a subtle beige colour that breaks silver in the light and I love using it on paler skin tones.
I had originally purchased "Lightscapade" to predominantly use on my Chinese clients because of its soft candlelit beige & multidimensional shimmer, meaning it looks amazing on skin with a cool undertone.
The "Double-Gleam" is totally on its way to become a new favourite for me, especially for my lighter or cool skinned ladies. Personally I prefer the silver break that this ones creates, I think it looks amazing in photographs when it catches the light.
You can see in the image below that the Mineralize Skinfinish colour "Lightscapade" looks slightly different when it was swatched for the second time. This is because of the multidimensional shimmer in it.
Overall I love both of these highlighter products from M.A.C, I find with the Extra Dimension powders I can build them up a bit quicker to create a more dramatic effect, where the Mineralize Skinfinish is great if I want to start with a more natural look because the texture of the powder means it applies more lightly from the get go.
