Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Ombré Shimmer

I've never heard of the brand PONi Cosmetics, but when I was sent this Unicorn Champagne Highlighting Powder by RY, I was intrigued. I'm still enjoying an extended love affair with highlighter, and the images and feelings I associate with unicorns immediately evoke whimsy, magic, glitter, pastels, enchanted forests and fairytales. Sure, unicorns and makeup might not be an entirely new thing (hello Lime Crime Airborne Unicorn), but still, not a bad starting point, right?












The Unicorn Champagne Highlighting Powder comes in a plastic, rose gold circular compact with a mirror. Retailing for $40, you get 7.14g of product, which is slightly less than a Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter (8g, $64) or theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer (8.5g, $29.95). For me, I've never come remotely close to finishing even half a full size highlighter, so the amount of product doesn't bother me. PONi Cosmetics is Australian owned but the highlighter is made in China.

PONi Cosmetics Unicorn Champagne Highlighting Powder

The colour is a soft peachy gold. It's nothing revolutionary, but I think we've become so spoiled for choice when it comes to highlighter that a product has to be really unique or exceptional in quality to distinguish itself. It is a bit of a drier consistency and not quite as smooth, densely pigmented and creamy as Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer or even Kat Von D Metal Crush Eyeshadow in Thunderstruck, however it's still a notch above "drugstore" quality, as you'd expect at $40.

Top to bottom: Bottom of the pan, top of the pan

What is meant to be special about this highlighter is that it's an "ombré pressed powder ranging from low shimmer champagne to high shimmer champagne". Rather than the ombré being from light to dark in colour, there's different intensities of shimmer on offer despite the pan itself being entirely uniform in appearance.

I tried experimenting with various areas of the pan to find out how different the highlighter was depending on where you swatched. The results were a little confusing. If I lightly touched the surface, I could see a distinct difference in finish and colour. As you can see from the above swatch, it was more orangey/gold and darker at the top of the pan, and more whitish yet reflective at the bottom of the pan. However, when I tried to swatch the bottom, middle and top of the pan in the same way (one swipe up and down the pan, then swatched directly onto my arm), I couldn't really tell the difference.

Top to bottom: Top, middle, bottom of pan

I mean, can you? The swatch at the top of my wrist might be fractionally darker in colour and more vibrant, and the swatch at the bottom might be slightly paler and more subdued, but the differences are barely discernible.

l-r: Charlotte Tilbury Highlight, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer, PONi Unicorn Champagne, Becca Champagne Pop

Compared with other popular highlighters, Unicorn Champagne is like a combination of the Highlight shade in Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow (lighter, more pink-toned), theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer (paler, more yellow-based), and Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter in Champagne Pop (peachier, brighter), in that I see a mix of pink, orange and gold. In colour, it's most similar to Champagne Pop, however not as bright or luminous. That may or may not be a good thing depending on your preferences and the occasion. Longevity is good and the powder lasted on my skin for the majority of the day. I especially enjoyed it applied down the bridge of the nose for a softly luminous but not too exaggerated/clownish effect.

While Unicorn Champagne professes to range from a soft sheen to high shimmer, it's probably a little too unpredictable to perform exactly as expected each time. Despite potential variability in tone and shimmer depending on where you place your brush and how much product you pick up, even at maximum impact, it's not as blindingly in-your-face as Becca Champagne Pop. When using it, I've been targeting the middle of the pan for a happy medium, but if I wanted to ensure a more consistent result, I would just swirl my brush around the whole pan to get an average of colour and glow.

Product was provided to me for review.

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