It’s the story of my life that I’m inevitably drawn to pretty powders (even more so if they’re embossed or come in a pretty compact), while at the same time I’m the most boring highlighter user ever. I also prefer my highlighters to be on the subtle side. If I don’t consciously remind myself that I own approximately twenty, I’d wear MAC’s Lightscapade day in, day out. So why did I ever think that Becca Opal and MAC’s Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Double-Gleam would ever be for me?!

Well, the internet made me buy it. So there’s that. I’ve owned both now for quite a while, and, newsflash, I do actually like them both and use them both.

MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Double-Gleam

MAC Double-Gleam review
MAC Extra Dimension highlighter in Double-Gleam, a light gold highlighter

Double-Gleam is a light golden highlighter. The official description says ‘beige that breaks silver’. I’m well known to love the ED formula especially in its eyeshadow and blush iterations, and I shockingly haven’t owned a highlighter in this formula before. The ED formula is supposed to have a tri-brid formula, made from powder, gel and liquid and, of course, being the best of three worlds.

“A liquid-powder highlighter with prismatic reflections that sculpts, highlights and models the face. The cool, creamy near-fluid formula creates a luminous, well-defined finish. Wears 10 hours.“ says MAC.

I say rubbish – touch the powder and it’ll feel like regular powder highlighter. The Becca one I’ll talk about below feels creamier. BUT: Stupid as the PR-speak is, this is still a great highlighter, especially for light and warm-leaning skintones. I apply it gently with a MAC 168 on my cheekbones and love the effect. And please, don’t believe any of the beauty bullshit that tells you that a highlighter doesn’t draw attention to pores and skin imperfections. Please. You’re HIGHLIGHTING, of course you’re drawing attention to certain areas of your face. If those are in some way ‘imperfect’, they will stand out. Period. Although – there were the bad, really bad highlighters of yesteryear (I haven’t seen any in a long while) that seemed to pool in pores and generally had a yucky effect. This isn’t one of those. On a highlight-o-meter, Double-Gleam isn’t visible from outer space. Even if you’d pile it on you won’t get turn into tinman, so I’d give it a six or maybe seven.

It lasts about 10 hours on my skin as well. I’m very happy that it doesn’t contain any glitter particles, but is solid shimmer instead.

MAC’s four Extra Dimension Skinfinishes (of which Double-Gleam is one) are permanent (finally!!!) and I paid 33€ for 9g of product.

 

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal

Becca Opal review
Becca Opal – a gorgeous warm shimmery champagne highlighter

Ever since the Jaclyn Hill collab with Becca that resulted in iconic highlighter Champagne Pop, you’d think that Becca’s highlighters are the second coming of all highlighters. I’m quite fair, and I didn’t like Champagne Pop on me. Therefore I opted for Opal that is a bit lighter in comparison. Nevertheless, it still leans warmer and more gold than Double-Gleam. Becca’s official description says “high-shine finish”, and boy, does it deliver. It’s very creamy, although a powder formula, and very easy to go overboard with. I used the same MAC 168 with it like I used with MAC’s Double-Gleam, and I felt like a Christmas ornament gone wrong. Some trial and error later, I found that for me, a fan brush is the tool of choice, and I dip that once (!) into the powder. Like I said above, this will highlight imperfections in areas you highlight, but it’s a very sophisticated formula. No pooling in pores or fine lines, no large glitter particles.

This is definitely a highlighter that I use a) with warm blushes to avoid a jarring effect. I also use it b) only in winter. As the sun is lowest in winter, there’s not much of a natural highlight in form of light hitting the planes of your face and make them stand out. If you want to bring attention to them, you’ll need some little help from your shiny friends in little pots. In summer, though, the bright light of the sun will mostly do that for you, which is why I often choose a shimmery blush in summer and call it a day.

On the highlighter-o-meter this is easily an eight. This also comes in a cream or liquid version and is permanent. I paid 38$ for 8g at Sephora.

 

Becca Opal vs MAC Double-Gleam

NC15 swatch of Becca Opal
Swatches (heavily swatched)! Left, Becca Opal, right MAC Double-Gleam

For my skin (very fair, warm toned, slighter older, with some imperfections) MAC’s Double-Gleam is the easier one to wear. If I’m perfectly honest, I could’ve done without Becca’s Opal, but that doesn’t reflect the quality of the product, which is stellar. It’s just not something I’ll incorporate into my makeup routine easily. Lesson learned.