Cosmetic chemist Ramón Pagán has been challenged to compare different types of highlighters. Can he figure out which are the most expensive products? Ramón uses his high-level expertise in visual analysis, application and ingredients to put together an extremely educated guess. From cream sticks to pressed powders, how many will he get right? Watch to find out!
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00:00So that already right there, quality.
00:04Not a quality I want in any cosmetic product, so that's concerning.
00:08I'm Ramon, and I'm a cosmetic chemist.
00:19Cream highlighters.
00:20With a quality cream highlighter, specifically with stick highlighters, I'm looking for really
00:25nice glide.
00:26I don't want it to tug.
00:27I also want a really easy deposition of the product, and I want a really good, fresh glow
00:34from it.
00:35So let's start with the visual analysis, starting with product A. Right off the bat, I see it's
00:39a nice, light, opalescent-y, champagne-y color.
00:43I'm not seeing any big glitter, interference, pigment particulates.
00:46I'm not seeing any deformation or stability issues with the stick product.
00:51Ideally, you don't want to see weird holes, streaking, sweating from the product.
00:55So overall, decent visual.
00:58Also the product smells like a dry-erase marker, which is not a quality I want in any cosmetic
01:02product, so that's concerning.
01:03But now looking at product B. Right off the bat, this is already a very different color.
01:10This is more of a true-to-form champagne.
01:12We can see this actually does look a little bit more luminous.
01:16So I can see maybe a higher pigment concentration in product B. But that being said, looking
01:21at the actual sides of the stick, we're seeing weird lines kind of going the length along
01:28the sides of it, which could denote maybe some stability issue, but also just maybe
01:33the impact of the inside part of the packaging.
01:35It doesn't necessarily mean a lower-quality product, but as you can see in product A,
01:39you can avoid that.
01:40In smelling the product, product B does not have a smell, which is good.
01:44So now moving on to swatching the products, starting with product A. We're getting a very
01:52icy, opal color.
01:54We're not getting really high pigment payoff.
01:56So again, going back to what cream highlighters are.
01:58Some of the glow is already coming from the wax oil base of the stick product.
02:03Some of it's coming from pigment depositing on the skin.
02:05I'm seeing very low pigment deposition, as in the main glow from the product's not coming
02:09from the pigment necessarily.
02:11Moving on to product B on the arm.
02:14We see there, that's pigment, that is glow, that's highlighter.
02:17So we see a much higher deposition of pigment, or at least a bigger pigment load in product
02:21B. It spread really well, and that payoff is very even.
02:25Product B is getting a very different impact.
02:26It's a very different type of product overall.
02:30That being said, just because it has a higher pigment concentration doesn't necessarily
02:33denote a higher quality.
02:35So now we're going to be doing a pigment analysis to look at both the pigment load, but also
02:39the pigment dispersion in product A and product B.
02:42Starting with product A. Okay, so there is pigment in product A, contrary to popular
02:48belief.
02:49And what I'm seeing is a pretty even distribution of a low pigment load.
02:55So we're not seeing a lot of pigment necessarily, but what we're seeing is a good distribution
02:58of the pigment throughout the swatch.
03:00What's interesting is you can also see a lot of multicolored pigments in here.
03:03It's not just one straight color.
03:04So while the color looks opalescent in the stick itself, in the microscope, you're seeing
03:09like a nice kaleidoscope rainbow effect.
03:11You can also notice very even pigment size distribution.
03:15You don't have a wide size range.
03:17And now going for product B. So with this, a lot more pigment, a higher concentration
03:23of pigment.
03:24But two things to note is the distribution of the pigments is not even, and the size
03:29of the pigment particles are also very widespread.
03:31So we have little tiny ones, bigger flakes, but we're still getting that rainbow kaleidoscope
03:36effect.
03:37But we're noticing there's a higher pigment load as well.
03:39We notice that with the swatch and we're seeing it in the microscope, we're also seeing
03:43agglomeration of pigments, aka clumps of pigments.
03:46So realistically, what's funny is product B has a higher pigment load, which you're
03:50like more money, but maybe the way that's incorporated into the product or the way that
03:54that is dispersed in the product might not be done with a lot of finesse, which could
03:59indicate lower quality.
04:00So now looking at the ingredients for product A versus product B, starting with A, shorter
04:05lists.
04:06But when you don't have a lot of pigment in the product, you don't need a longer list.
04:08We see diisostearyl malate, which is something that helps to spread, octyldodecanol, spread.
04:15Then we see the waxes.
04:16The waxes, you see that microcrystallina, hydrogenated microcrystalline wax, synthetic
04:21wax.
04:22Those give the structure.
04:23So it's interesting in a stick product, those ingredients don't come first, they're later
04:26on in the ingredients list.
04:27And having those emollients first thing on the ingredients list could be a big factor
04:31in why product A spreads so well and feels so buttery, but also has more of a dewy effect
04:36in terms of skin effect.
04:37And notice that the pigments are towards the end.
04:40So tin oxide, and then you see iron oxides and titanium dioxides and mica.
04:45But overall, yeah, like very low pigment load on this one.
04:48So now to product B, first thing we see is this pentaerythritol tetraisostearate, it's
04:53a big word, that is an emollient, and it helps with spreading, it helps with moisturizing,
04:59and it also has a little bit of water resistance.
05:00So not until later on, we see like the waxes for structure, we're seeing a lot more pigment,
05:04which obviously product B just had a lot more pigment load in there.
05:07But overall, looking at the inkies, while product B's ingredients list is a lot longer,
05:11I'm not really getting anything that would necessarily denote quality of the product.
05:15To me, product B is giving more of a true makeup product.
05:19And product A is giving more of a dewy glow bomb.
05:23So after looking at the swatches, pigment analysis, and ingredients list, I personally
05:27think product A is the higher quality product.
05:29Well, let's check the price, starting with product A, $48, which is really interesting
05:35because again, the impact of what the product is, it doesn't give you $48 immediately.
05:40But I can tell, I know.
05:42And now product B, $10.
05:45And to me, it's giving $10 a little bit.
05:48But again, what really gave away the quality of the products is the fact that I could tell
05:52what kind of consumer each product was going for.
05:55And for me in this regard, the higher end product was giving a higher end consumer,
05:58giving more of a clean girl makeup moment, but not someone who's going to do a full Instagram
06:02beat, whereas product B is for that makeup moment.
06:06But product B is by no means a bad product, it's just for a different type of consumer,
06:09for a different effect.
06:10Do I think A is worth the price though?
06:11No, I really do not.
06:13I think potentially you're paying for what the brand name behind product A is, which
06:16I don't know.
06:18But realistically, the effect from product A, I have seen from very affordable products,
06:21and you don't need to spend a lot of money on the ingredients to get that effect either.
06:25Liquid highlighters.
06:27For a good liquid highlighter, for a quality one, you want it to blend well, sit nicely
06:32on the skin.
06:33You also want a degree of like setting onto the skin as well.
06:35You don't want it to stay oily or stay suspended just on top of the skin.
06:39So starting with product A, this is a sponge applicator.
06:44The idea is there's actually a little hole in the middle of that for the product to squeeze
06:47out of, and then you stipple that on the areas you want to apply it.
06:50And the idea is you get a nice soft blend of the product without disrupting the product
06:53underneath.
06:54And I mean, this kind of packaging isn't cheap.
06:56This actually has a lock mechanism to make sure product doesn't come out when you don't
06:59want it to.
07:00So that already right there.
07:01Quality.
07:02So now product B. Okay, so we have the same type of sponge tip applicator.
07:06The size is a lot smaller.
07:07So right there, I'm like, is it a lower quality product?
07:09Because realistically, if I'm applying this on like the high points of my cheekbone, this
07:12doesn't cover a lot of surface area, and therefore the blend on that could be a little bit weird.
07:16In terms of cushion, this feels okay, but it's not as soft and plushy as product A.
07:22Swatching product A right now.
07:25So already, just with that one swipe, I see actually pretty good coverage, pretty good
07:29pigment payoff.
07:30And then if I blend that out, even with the blend, I'm still getting a good amount of
07:35payoff, a good amount of pigment, a good amount of opacity, which realistically I do want.
07:39So now onto product B. This one doesn't have the locking mechanism.
07:43I'm just going to squeeze some product out.
07:46See how that comes out.
07:47We're going to do a swipe on the arm.
07:49I'm seeing a good amount of pigment coming out.
07:52It's not looking as evenly homogenous as product A did, in my opinion.
07:56Again, this is a fresh squeeze out of a new tube.
07:58Maybe it's also the pigments not evenly dispersed with the product.
08:01I don't know yet.
08:02But on the blend out, I'm seeing decent coverage.
08:05The feel of this though, it's a little bit more rich.
08:07It has a lot more pull than I potentially like.
08:10So when it comes to blending this out over, for example, a full face of foundation, this
08:14could potentially affect what's underneath.
08:17This might also be a little bit too heavy if you have maybe more oily skin.
08:20It does blend out really clean, but the feel of that, that's where I'm like, hmm.
08:25And even comparing product A to product B, I see product A, it's just more luminous,
08:28more glowy, more dewy, which is the effect I would like from a liquid highlighter, whereas
08:32product B looks a little bit dull to me.
08:34It's not giving that boom, that impact I would like.
08:37So we're going to test the wear and the longevity of the liquid highlighter.
08:41And then we're going to expose it to the elements, see how it acts when water gets put on top
08:44of it, and then see if it transfers.
08:47So we'll go ahead and begin the test starting with product A.
08:50And we're going to blend that out and then we're going to give it a minute.
08:54So it's been a minute.
08:55Let's first start with the transfers.
09:00There's nothing on the tissue.
09:01That to me is a good sign.
09:02Ideally with this, you have volatiles, which are ingredients that just flash off the skin
09:06within that minute.
09:07Ideally, they're all gone.
09:08The film is deposited.
09:09The pigment's going to stay.
09:10Next, we're going to do a little drop of water.
09:16Okay, well, that's a good sign.
09:17So realistically, a liquid highlighter is fully made of silicones and silicone-like
09:22things.
09:24And then there's also a film forming aspect that allows a film to be formed on the skin.
09:28All of those are hydrophobic, meaning they don't love water.
09:31So the water just beating up and staying there on top of the liquid highlighter is a really
09:35good sign in my mind of this is a good long wear liquid highlighter.
09:40Now to product B.
09:41We're going to do a dot of product, blend that out, and then give it a minute.
09:47So it's been a minute.
09:48We're going to first start with the transfer test, and we see no product.
09:53So good sign.
09:54There was a little bit of stick, though, when I peeled off the paper.
09:56I will say that.
09:57And now the drop of water.
10:00Okay, overall, the water is staying beaded up on the liquid highlighter as well, so good
10:06sign.
10:07Comparing product A to product B, the paper peel off of product B, there was some tack,
10:11some stick, which tells me it's maybe a more moisturizing texture.
10:14So just based off that experience, product B might be better suited for someone with
10:17more dry skin, having more oily skin.
10:19I prefer product A because there was no stickiness, which tells me that product like really set
10:23down.
10:24It's going to be more lightweight on the skin.
10:26So now looking at the ingredients, we're going to start with product A first.
10:29We see mica fairly high up, and that tells me more pigment payoff.
10:32There's a higher concentration of mica, and mica itself is not cheap.
10:35So looking at the second and third ingredients, with the hydrogenated didescene, that's an
10:39ingredient that just helps with giving good spread, while the isododecane, that is a volatile
10:43that flashes off.
10:44And we saw with product A, it did spread very nicely, but it also set down really well thanks
10:49to the volatiles flashing off, allowing the film formers, which we see here is the hydrogenated
10:54styrene isoprene copolymer, allowing that film to form on the skin so the product stays
10:58put.
10:59So now we're at product B. This is a long inky list.
11:01Right off the bat, we see the same three first ingredients.
11:04So we have to see mica lower on the ingredients list, but also it's next to synthetic fluorophlogopite,
11:10which is synthetic mica.
11:11Could be a lot more cost effective.
11:13And so seeing those two together, they're already potentially mixing cheaper pigments
11:17to get a higher pigment payoff or impact.
11:19So based off the application, the challenge test, and the ingredients list, I'm going
11:24to go and say that product A is the higher quality, more expensive product.
11:28And it's $42.
11:30It's actually like a pretty higher mid-tier liquid highlighter price.
11:33This is not a drugstore highlighter by any means.
11:36And now product B, $9, which I mean, that's actually very affordable.
11:40Overall, it's not a bad product.
11:42It just left something to be desired, especially compared to product A. This is definitely
11:46a drugstore.
11:47Press powder highlighters.
11:48When it comes to powder highlighters, quality to me is in the form of the coverage and payoff
11:54you get from the powder highlighter.
11:55You want it to give nice luminosity on the skin.
11:58So maybe similar to a liquid highlighter, but you don't want it to be chalky or ashy.
12:02So now let's look at the product, starting with product A. Kind of a frosty pink highlighter.
12:07I'm seeing something, based off like the fineness of what I see in the pan, this is
12:12going to get a little bit more of a pearlescent to metallic finish on the skin, depending
12:15on how much product you build up.
12:17It's also a small pan, but that being said, highlighter goes in very few spots on the
12:21face.
12:22It's not a full face product.
12:23So pan size doesn't denote necessarily quality, as well as the color itself doesn't necessarily
12:27denote quality as well.
12:28And now to product B. Same color, this is a little bit more of a high impact pink.
12:33So it's not as frosty as pastel-y.
12:36And just off the look of this, it's also going to give like a high impact luminous shine.
12:39Even in the pan itself, towards the edge here, I see really nice brilliance, really nice
12:43luminosity.
12:44Bigger pan.
12:45A really good denotation of quality is, I want this highlighter to look the same on
12:49a very fair skin tone, have the same impact and overall coverage as it would on a very
12:54deep skin tone.
12:55If the brand can achieve that, that to me is very high quality.
12:58So now moving on to application, starting with product A. I'm going to do a few swirls
13:04and then a swipe.
13:07First of all, that felt very buttery.
13:09It feels very nice, very smooth, good slip.
13:12And on the skin, it spread out really nicely.
13:14It looks pretty opaque and it has good coverage.
13:17So on the skin, that could translate to a really nice color impact on the cheek.
13:20So it's not giving the same pink that we see in the pan necessarily.
13:23On my skin, it's giving like a frosty highlighter effect, which again, on anything from like
13:29a tan to darker, deep skin tone would not be very flattering in my opinion, unless you
13:33really want an icy look.
13:34And now to product B.
13:42And just with that again, really good color payoff.
13:44Look at how far that swatch went too.
13:45That's really good pigment payoff, really good coverage.
13:49In terms of the skin feel, this feels even more buttery.
13:52This is actually one of those formulas that's a little bit more cream to powder.
13:56There's a specific difference in the concentration of ingredients that hold all the powders together.
14:02There's more of those liquid binders, cream binders.
14:05So that's kind of giving a nice creamier effect and thus affecting also how the product deposits
14:10on the skin as well.
14:11And then just blending out product B, we can see actually in this, there's bigger, more
14:16noticeable particles of shimmer, those interference pigments.
14:19So on the skin, it's going to translate to a more glittery highlighter.
14:23You can notice it's also still fairly pink, which matches.
14:26And you can see comparing product A to product B, product A still has, again, that more icy
14:31feel.
14:32It's still pink.
14:33Whereas product B, that's bold, that is pink, and it has really good payoff.
14:36So then we're going to swatch products A and B on different skin tones to compare payoff.
14:41You can see on light versus medium versus dark skin tones, how product A and product
14:45B perform very differently.
14:48Product A on fair skin tones has a lot more of a pronounced pinkness.
14:51It looks a lot more chalky on a darker skin tone.
14:55That's not an effect we want.
14:56Whereas product B, that pinkness, that richness, that luminosity translates really nicely and
15:01equally on all three different skin tones across the range, which that already is just
15:06a higher quality product, in my opinion.
15:08So now looking at the ingredients list, starting with product A, we have mica, synthetic mica.
15:13Those are pigments.
15:14Those are luminosity.
15:15Those are shine.
15:16Isododecane is a volatile, but it's also acting as a binding agent.
15:21It's a liquid.
15:22We also see boron nitride, magnesium stearate.
15:25Those are ingredients that help to hold the pigment together, help with spreadability,
15:29help with coverage, et cetera.
15:30One thing worth noting is there's no talc in here.
15:33That's really interesting to note because talc is one of the most popular ingredients.
15:36Talc for all pressed powder products is something called a diluent.
15:39And what that translates to is basically, you know how in a serum you got all the ingredients,
15:42but they have to be dissolved in water?
15:44For pressed powder products, all the pigments have to be dissolved into talc.
15:48That's the main medium.
15:50And now looking at the ingredients for product B, the first ingredient for this is dimethicone.
15:54As I mentioned earlier, product B compared to product A has more of a cream to powder
15:58feel.
15:59Having dimethicone being the primary ingredient is a big factor in that.
16:03Then we see talc as a second ingredient.
16:05And talc, as I mentioned, is a diluent for pressed powder products.
16:09So we're seeing a lot of the same concept of functional filler in product B as well.
16:12It's just the first part of the inky list is different.
16:15Also what's really interesting is that noting the color difference between product A and
16:18product B, product A, you see red lake and iron oxides.
16:23Product B though, we see carmine.
16:25And carmine is those little beetles that can get crushed up.
16:28So if you're vegan, product B is not for you.
16:30But carmine also imparts a very rich redness, which in cosmetics is not the easiest to replicate
16:36in certain mediums.
16:37We see products B have a really good richness in the color that could be because of the
16:41carmine.
16:42So based off the initial swatches and application, the challenge test and the ingredients list,
16:47I would guess product B is going to be the higher quality products.
16:50Let's verify starting with product A.
16:52$12 for getting a drugstore price and semi-drugstore performance.
16:56This is a product I just, I don't see working for like a wide demographic of people.
17:00And now product B, $40.
17:04That's giving a $40 product.
17:05It just gives luxury.
17:06It gives quality.
17:07It gives impact.
17:09And so the price point does warrant that performance.
17:11And when it comes to finding a good quality highlighter, you don't have to break the bank.
17:15You don't have to go high end.
17:17There are some really beautiful options at the drugstore.
17:19Whatever it is, always swatch the product.
17:21See how it feels to you.
17:22See how it looks on your skin.
17:23And find what works best for you at your price point.