Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Highlighter Review
By Maychiri's Thoughts - December 01, 2024
I guess we are starting with some shimmeriness! That’s nice!
This is a classic powder highlighter in a pan, in, what appears to be rose gold
colour.
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Packaging: ooh, this looks expensive! The pan is the same
old Catrice highlighter one, but what sets this highlighter apart from others
is the intricate design in the pan. Fitting with the whole theme of the Advent
calendar, this is an art deco style design. I never expected it to be this
detailed and intricate, though! It looks like a work of art! Stunning! The lid
doesn’t close too tightly, sadly, and the hinge feels a bit loose. But overall
it seems to be decent quality. Information is in the back.
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Colour: dark rose gold in the pan, which worries me. However,
when swatched on skin, it becomes lighter. It’s bright rose gold, with more
gold than coppery tones. It looks like molten gold, tbh! I love this colour but
there is a problem: it is almost darker than my skin. I think I can use it, but
it’s verging on being too dark for me. Oh man... well, even if it’s too dark to
be used as a highlighter, it will make a stunning shimmery eyeshadow! I wish it
was a shade or two lighter...
For now, I just swatched it on my arm. It seems to be on the verge of being too dark for me. I would hate that to be the
case, but I am very pale and things are often too dark for me. I just don’t
want the very first item to be that...
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The formula is actually very smooth and silky! It feels super soft and lightweight when it’s applied, but it’s really not the most finely milled formula around. It actually looks rather chunky, so it has no chance of ever looking truly natural. It really looks like you put something very shiny on your skin, it doesn’t look like lived-in glow.
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And it doesn’t matter whether I apply it with my fingers or a brush, it looks all the same regardless. It requites a lot of blending to make it look somewhat natural, though I know that it will look much better and be easier to work with on darker skintones. I am just too light for this.
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Pigmentation is... wooow. It’s blindingly bright and shiny! Just one layer is more than enough to get cheekbones that are so bright you can see them from space! But, since it’s too dark for me, this is actually a problem for me because I cannot actually build it up slowly and blend it out. However, on darker skintones, this will be incredible! And it is just as extremely pigmented whether you apply it with a brush or with fingers! Absolutely bonkers pigmentation!
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Unfortunately, the texture of this highlighter is not very flattering if your skin isn’t absolutely impeccable. See, it is quite textured and, given the chunky shimmer, just looks off. It emphasises every pore and imperfection so much that it makes it harder to make it work. Not good. The finish is super metallic, though, which is the primary reason why it is so textured and unflattering. It doesn’t look natural. But man is it shiny! Coupled with the gold colour, this extreme shine makes this highlighter look like actual molten gold! On me, it looks too bronzed and ridiculous, as you can see. But I adore this level of shine – the more shine the better in my opinion! And this is as shiny as the most polished solid gold statue... fitting for the extravagance of the 1920’s, no? I just wish it was more finely milled...
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| Notice the unnatural dark patch near my eye - it's obvious how dark it is |
Okay, so, look, this highlighter is both easy and difficult to apply. Let me explain. The formula is super, super soft, so it pretty much just melts into the skin, but the extremely chunky shimmer makes it really hard to apply so that it looks good. It almost always ends up looking a bit patchy, it doesn’t matter whether I use a brush or my fingers. I think that the mica is way too large for the super soft base, so it ends up separating and that’s why it looks so chunky. Of course, it looks better if you use a dedicated highlighter brush, but it just doesn’t look like lived-in glow. And it’s very hard to make it look natural (and this is me ignoring the fact that it’s a bit too dark even). I’ve had way softer, way more finely milled highlighters from Catrice, so this one is disappointing in this regard, unfortunately.
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I was a bit worried when I swatched this highlighter that it would feel heavy on my skin, but it’s actually extremely lightweight and doesn’t feel comedogenic. But, then again, almost all powder highlighters are like this, so... nothing special, after all.
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Longevity is excellent, but almost all highlighters stay in incredible shape on my skin anyways. It’s still super shiny even 8 hours later; though there is sebum breaking through it, that actually enhances its appearance, as it now looks more natural, less like chunky glitter on the skin. But it stays the entire day and seems to be able to survive a shower, though it does get washed off to a degree. So, that’s nice, I guess.
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Despite being so chunky, this highlighter isn’t too hard to remove and doesn’t leave a lot of glitter behind on the skin. Although I do suggest using a specialised remover instead of micellar water!
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All in all, I am not very impressed with this highlighter, for two reasons. First, it is simply a bit too dark for me. Look, the colour is gorgeous, but, even when I blend it out, I can still see a darker strip where it is on the cheekbones. It looks fine in bright light, but it’s painfully obvious in darker lighting. Though I sure do love that golden colour, it’s so majestic! Second reason is that it’s far too chunky. No matter how I apply it, it just looks chunky and like it’s not blended in right. If you like chunkier highlight, then I am sure you’ll enjoy this one, but I prefer way more finely milled formulas. This looks... idk, obvious, on cheeks? Like, it doesn’t look like lived-in glow, it just looks kinda cheap. And this makes me very unhappy, as I was so looking forward to this highlighter... but, on the bright side, at least it is pretty easy to apply (the chunkiness notwithstanding). And it does blend well in general. And it is very shiny, I will absolutely give it that! It’s super shiny when you apply a slightly thicker layer, and the gold colour makes the cheeks look very elegant and rich! It wears phenomenally well, but, then again, most highlighters do on my skin, so it’s nothing special in this regard. It’s such a shame that it looks this cheap and that it’s too dark, but I guess it will look much better on darker skin. At least the colours will match, even if it will stay chunky. Really, this mediocrity is how we are starting the Advent calendar??? Man, hope this isn’t a bad omen...
Rating: 5.5/10
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