Overview
Of all my highlights, this is the most flattering and wearable. The magic of this beauty is that you can create a subtle, work appropriate glow to an intense highlight. Essentially, it's a your-skin-but-better, champagne sheen with refined shimmer. And because you get the sheen without obvious sparkle, you can apply it to all the points of the face you want to enhance, without having to worry about “over-highlighting.” It’s perfect for those with light to medium skin. If you have a deeper complexion, it might work for you. It is a champagne shade so it might look more intense, possibly ashy, against a deep skin tone. In terms of formula, it reminds me of the Hourglass ambient lighting powders, because it's super soft and blendable and allows you to create a natural highlight, suitable for any occasion. Yet, I feel you can get much more sheen from this than Hourglass. If you compare it to the Hourglass strobe powders, Laura Mercier is still a better buy, because there are no sparkles in the powder, just a champagne sheen with fine shimmer. Nine times out of ten, this is the highlight on my face.
Formula
The formula of this product is why I love it so much. The name: “matte-radiance” powder mystifies some people. How can a product be matte and radiant at the same time? But this is. There is shimmer in the pan and in a swatch, but it melts into the skin to give a luminous sheen. It is a super-soft baked formula that is very forgiving if you have mature skin or texture on your skin. Some highlights, especially metallic ones, can really emphasize any texture and imperfections you have on your cheekbones (or other areas you highlight.) And don't worry, it's a very fine shimmer- not chunky sparkle. With this, you can highlight with confidence. Below I compare this highlighter's champagne base with refined shimmer to a highlighter that's just pure sparkle.
Above you see the difference between Laura Mercier's Highlight 01 and Nars's Reckless. sheen vs. sparkle. Highlight 01 has a champagne base with fine shimmer & Reckless has no base or sheen, just iridescent sparkle.
Shade Range
Within the “matte radiance” powder line, this is the only highlighting powder. There are 4 bronzing shades available in this formula, which could serve as a bronzer, or perhaps even a face powder, if you have a very deep complexion. But they don't offer the highlighting impact and lit-from-within glow that Highlight 01 does. The brand more recently released their "face illuminator" powder line, which have the beautifully embossing in a baked gelee formula, such as the infamous Indiscretion. The face illuminator line offers a better range of shades for all skin tones, from Devotion, a cool pink, to Seduction, a topaz or deep bronze. These highlights are lovely, but in my opinion, they can't compare to the refined, soft-to-the-touch formula of Highlight 01. Honestly, I also owned Indiscretion, but returned the product; whereas, I use Highlight 01 pretty much every time I apply makeup.
Laura Mercier's Highlight 01 on top and Indiscretion on bottom.
Application
Because this product is pigmented, super-soft, and blendable, any highlighting brush should work. The Anastasia highlighting brush picks up the powder beautifully for a more intense highlight. Today I applied the Ulta cream highlighting stick and patted Highlight 01 on top, both with my fingers. Even that way, it blended out beautifully. That’s how good the formula is. To give you an idea of the product's versatility…for a while, I dusted this all over my face to set my makeup-using a large, fluffy powder brush and with just a light touch into the powder-to create an all over, luminous finish.
Purchase this if…
You want a lit-from-within-glow rather than a stark highlight, have texture or mature skin, or just want a gorgeous champagne highlighting powder. If you are under-whelmed with Hourglass’s ambient and strobing powders and Becca doesn’t strike your fancy, this is the powder for you.