The Sephora Collection Luminizers come in 6 different shades and retail for $14, but the Sephora Collection often goes on sale for 30% off, making these $9.80 during those sales. These sales are only open to Sephota Beauty Insiders, but joining is free. The two shades that I have are 01 Glitzy Gold and 02 Sparkling Honey. Before we jump into the review, I want to warn you that the images of these highlighters on Sephora’s website are inaccurate. It took me many tries to find the best lighting to get my pictures to match what I see in person. Even then, my images do not match what I see on the Sephora website. That is not uncommon, but I feel like these are more off than usual, so I wanted to mention it. It is also important to remember that we all see color differently and that our skin tone and other colors within an image can alter how shades appear.
The Sephora Collection Colorful Powder Lumizers are beautiful and smooth and don’t accentuate texture any more than a highlighting product naturally will. A lot of pigment does pick up on my brush with one dip, but it still isn’t overwhelming or blinding. It can be built up, but I don’t think these will be the right formula if you like an intense highlight. For me, however, this is very much my type of highlight. I initially only bought 02 Sparkling Honey, and based on the website images, I was hoping to be able to wear it with warm-toned blushes, but it is more pink-toned than I was expecting. So, after testing it a bit, I did purchase the 01 Glitzy Gold shade.
Unfortunately, 01 Glitzy Gold is too close to my skin tone (Estee Lauder 4W4/NARS Tahoe), so it just disappears. I can see a little reflection in a photo, but in person, all I can see are the mica particles without much impact. And it definitely doesn’t have the same impact as 02 Sparkling Honey.
Sephora Colorful Powder Luminizers ($14, 3.5g) Comparisons
When I first wore 02 Sparkling Honey, it immediately reminded me of MAC’s Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Superb. They are both a baked gelee formula. However, the Sephora Luminizer has more of a white base than Superb, so Superb looks better on me than 02 Sparkling Honey. I can see mica particles more noticeably than when I wear the MAC formula, but it doesn’t look unflattering when I wear 02 Sparkling Honey. On the other hand, when I wear 01 Glitzy Gold if I catch myself in harsh overhead lighting, it looks like glitter. It does worry me that 01 Glitzy Gold may not look great in the sun. For now, when sunny days are at a minimum, I don’t have to worry too much. However, it may be an issue depending on lighting, so it is something to keep in mind.
Since I mentioned the MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish ($43) comparison, let’s talk about some products that are closer in price. I like the Sephora Powder Luminzers better than Milani’s Baked Highlighter in Rosa Italia ($11.99, 8g), which is the closest item I can reference for both price and being a baked formula. The Sephora Collection Luminzers are more subtle and don’t accentuate my texture as much as Milani’s Baked Highlighter. They are more finely milled and have a more refined formula, in my opinion. However, I’ve only tried one shade of the Milani baked formula, so the other shades could be different.
It is not a baked formula, but I also like these luminizers better than the Colourpop Supershock formula ($9.00, 4.2g), which accentuates more texture on me than many other formulas.
When you consider the price for the amount of product, the Sephora Collection Colorful Powder Luminizer (even with 30% off) is the worst value compared to Milani and Colurpop. I still like this product for my particular preference, even for the full $14. However, if you are ok with more texture showing and like something with a little more bling, I’d check out the Colourpop Supershock Highlighter formula. The color options for Colourpop will also be more varied, especially considering the limited edition collections that the brand releases. The Sephora Collection also discontinues products more frequently than Colourpop’s permanent line of products.
I’m off to enjoy my Christmas holiday, so I’ll see you in the new year! Happy Holidays!
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Nikki From HR 