Can a Cosmetic Chemist Tell Which Highlighter Is Cheap Vs. Expensive?

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So that already right there, quality.

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Not a quality I want in any cosmetic product,

so that's concerning.

I'm Ramon and I'm a cosmetic chemist.

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Cream highlighters.

With a quality cream highlighter,

specifically with stick highlighters,

I'm looking for really nice glide.

I don't want it to tug.

I also want a really easy deposition of the product.

And I want a really good fresh glow from it.

So let's start with the visual analysis

starting with product A.

Right off the bat, I see it's a nice

light opalescenty champagney color.

I'm not seeing any big glitter

interference pigment particulates.

I'm not seeing any deformation

or stability issues with the stick product.

Ideally, you don't wanna see like weird holes,

streaking, sweating from the product.

So overall, decent visual.

Also, the product smells like a dry erase marker,

which is not a quality I want in any cosmetic product.

So that's concerning.

But now looking at product B.

Right off the bat, this is already a very different color.

This is more of a true to form champagne.

We can see this actually does look

a little bit more luminous.

So I can see maybe a higher pigment concentration

in product B.

But that being said, looking at the actual

sides of the stick, we are seeing weird lines

kind of going to length along the sides of it,

which could denote maybe some stability issue,

but also, just maybe the impact

of the inside part of the packaging.

Doesn't necessarily mean a lower quality product.

But as you can see in product A, you can avoid that.

And smelling the product,

product B does not have a smell, which is good.

So now moving on to swatching the products,

starting with product A.

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We're getting a very icy opal color.

We're not getting really high pigment payoff.

So again, going back to what cream highlighters are.

Some of the glow's already coming

from the wax oil base of the stick product.

Some of it's coming from pigment depositing on the skin.

I'm seeing very low pigment deposition,

as in the main glow from the product's not coming

from the pigment necessarily.

Moving on to product B, on the arm, we see there,

that's pigment, that is glow, that's highlighter.

So we see a much higher deposition of pigment

or at least a bigger pigment load in product B.

It spread really well and that payoff is very even.

Product B is getting a very different impact.

It's a very different type of product overall.

That being said, just because it has

a higher pigment concentration

doesn't necessarily denote a higher quality.

So now we're gonna be doing a pigment analysis

to look at both the pigment load,

but also the pigment dispersion in product A and product B.

Starting with product A.

Okay, so there is pigment in product A,

contrary to popular belief.

And what I'm seeing is a pretty even distribution

of a low pigment load.

So we're not seeing a lot of pigment necessarily,

but what we're seeing is a good distribution

of the pigment throughout the swatch.

What's interesting is you can also see

a lot of multicolored pigments in here.

It's not just one straight color.

So while the color looks opalescent in the stick itself,

in the microscope, you're seeing

like a nice kaleidoscope rainbow effect.

And also notice very even pigment size distribution,

you don't have a wide size range.

And now going for product B.

So at this, a lot more pigment,

a higher concentration of pigment.

But two things to note is the distribution

of the pigments is not even,

and the size of the pigment particles

are also very widespread.

So we have little tiny ones, bigger flakes.

But we're still getting that rainbow kaleidoscope effect.

But we're noticing there's a higher pigment load as well.

And we noticed that with the swatch

and we're seeing it in the microscope.

We're also seeing agglomeration of pigments,

a.k.a. clumps of pigments.

So realistically, what's funny is product B

has a higher pigment load, which you're like more money,

but maybe the way that's incorporated into the product

or the way that that is dispersed in the product

might not be done with a lot of finesse,

which could indicate lower quality.

So now looking at the ingredients

for product A versus product B,

starting with A.

Shorter list, but when you don't have

a lot of pigment in the product,

you don't need a longer list.

We see diisostearyl malate, which is something

that helps to spread, octyldodecanol, spread,

and we see the waxes.

The waxes, you see that microcristallina,

hydrogenated microcrystalline wax, synthetic wax,

those give the structure.

So it's interesting, in a stick product,

those ingredients don't come first,

they're later on in the ingredients list.

And having those emollients

first thing on the ingredients list

could be a big factor in why product A

spreads so well and feels so buttery,

but also has more of a dewy effect in terms of skin effect.

And notice that the pigments are towards the end.

So tin oxide, and then you see iron oxides,

and titanium dioxides, and mica.

But overall, yeah, like very low pigment load on this one.

So now to product B.

First thing we see is this pentaerythrityl tetraisostearate.

It's a big word.

That is an emollient and it helps with spreading,

it helps with moisturizing,

and it also helps a little bit of water resistance.

It's not until later on we see like the waxes for structure.

We're seeing a lot more pigment,

which, obviously, product B just had

a lot more pigment load in there.

But overall, looking at the inkies,

while product B's ingredients list is a lot longer,

I'm not really getting anything

that would necessarily denote quality of the product.

To me, product B is giving more of a true makeup product,

and product A is giving more of a dewy glow balm.

So after looking at the swatches, pigment analysis

and ingredients list, I personally think product A

is the higher quality product.

But let's check the price starting with product A.

[cash register dings]

$48, which is really interesting

because again, the impact of what the product is,

it doesn't give you $48 immediately.

But I can tell, I know.

And now product B

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$10 and to me, it's giving $10 a little bit.

But again, what really gave away the quality of the products

is the fact that I could tell what kind of consumer

each product was going for.

And for me, in this regard, the higher end product

was giving a higher end consumer,

maybe more of a clean girl makeup moment,

but not someone who's gonna do a full Instagram beat.

Whereas, product B is for that makeup moment.

But product B is by no means a bad product,

it's just for a different type of consumer,

for a different effect.

Do I think A is worth the price though?

No, I really do not.

I think potentially you're paying

for what's the brand name behind product A is,

which I don't know.

But realistically, the effect from product A,

I have seen from very affordable products

and you don't need to spend a lot of money

on the ingredients to get that effect either.

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Liquid highlighters.

For a good liquid highlighter, for a quality one,

you want it to blend well, sit nicely on the skin.

You also want a degree of setting onto the skin as well.

You don't want it to stay oily

or stay suspended just on top of the skin.

So starting with product A.

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This is a sponge applicator,

the idea is there's actually a little hole

in the middle of that for the product to squeeze out of.

And then you stipple that on the areas you wanna apply it.

And the idea is you get a nice soft blend of the product

without disrupting the product underneath.

And I mean, this kind of packaging isn't cheap.

This actually has a lock mechanism

to make sure product doesn't come out

when you don't want it to.

So that already right there, quality.

So now product B, okay, so we have the same type

of sponge tip applicator, the size is a lot smaller.

So right there I'm like, is it a lower quality product?

Because realistically, if I'm applying this on

like the high points of my cheekbone,

this doesn't cover a lot of surface area

and therefore, the blend on that

could be a little bit weird.

In terms of cushion, this feels okay,

but it's not as soft and plushy as product A.

Swatching product A right now.

So already, just with that one swipe,

I see actually pretty good coverage,

pretty good pigment payoff.

And then if I blend that out, even with the blend,

I'm still getting a good amount of payoff,

a good amount of pigment, a good amount of opacity,

which realistically, I do want.

So now into product B.

This one doesn't have the locking mechanism.

We're just gonna squeeze some product out,

see how that comes out.

We're gonna do a swipe on the arm.

I'm seeing a good amount of pigment coming out.

It's not looking as evenly homogenous

as product A did in my opinion.

Again, this is a fresh squeeze out of a new tube.

Maybe it's also the pigment's

not evenly dispersed with the product.

I don't know yet.

But on the blend out, I'm seeing decent coverage.

The feel of this though, it's a little bit more rich,

it has a lot more pull than I would potentially like.

So when it comes to blending this out over,

for example, a full face of foundation,

this could potentially affect what's underneath.

This might also be a little bit too heavy

if you have maybe more oily skin.

It does blend out really clean.

But the feel of that, that's where I'm like, hmm.

And even comparing product A to product B,

I see product A, it's just more luminous,

more glowy, more dewy, which is the effect

I would like from a liquid highlighter.

Whereas, product B looks a little bit dull to me,

it's not giving that boom, that impact I would like.

So we're gonna test the wear

and the longevity of the liquid highlighter.

And then we're going to expose it to the elements,

see how it acts when water gets put on top of it

and then see if it transfers.

So we'll go ahead and begin the test,

starting with product A.

And we're going to blend that out

and then we're gonna give it a minute.

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So it's been a minute.

Let's first start with the transfers.

There's nothing on the tissue.

That to me is a good sign.

Ideally, with this, you have volatiles,

which are ingredients that just flash off the skin.

Within that minute, ideally, they're all gone,

the film is deposited, the pigment's going to stay.

Next, we're going to do a little drop of water.

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Okay, well, that's a good sign.

So realistically, a liquid highlighter

is fully made of silicones and silicone-like things.

And then there's also a film-forming aspect

that allows a film to be formed on the skin.

All of those are hydrophobic, meaning they don't love water.

So the water just beading up and staying there

on top of the liquid highlighter

is a really good sign in my mind

of this is a good long wear liquid highlighter.

Now, to product B, we're going to do a dot of product,

blend that out and then give it a minute.

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So it's been a minute.

We're gonna first start with the transfer test.

And we see no product, so, good sign.

There was a little bit of stick though

when I peeled off the paper, I will say that.

And now, the drop of water.

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Okay, overall the water is staying beaded up

on the liquid highlighter as well, so, good sign.

Comparing product A or product B,

the paper peel off for product B,

there was some tack, some stick,

which tells me it's maybe a more moisturizing texture.

So just based off that experience,

product B might be better suited

for someone with more dry skin.

Having more oily skin, I prefer product A

because there was no stickiness,

which tells me that product like really set down,

it could be more lightweight on the skin.

So now looking at the ingredients,

we're gonna start with product A first.

We see mica fairly high up

and that tells me more pigment payoff.

There's a higher concentration of mica.

And mica itself is not cheap.

So looking at the second and third ingredients

with the hydrogenated didecene, that's an ingredient

that just helps with giving good spread,

while the isododecane, that is a volatile that flashes off.

And we saw with product A, it did spread very nicely,

but it also set down really well

thanks to the volatiles flashing off,

allowing the film-formers, which you see here

is the hydrogenated styrene/isoprene copolymer

allowing that film to form on the skin

so the product stays put.

So now, over to product B, this is a long inky list.

Right off the bat, we see the same three first ingredients.

So we also see mica lower on the ingredients list,

but also it's next to synthetic fluorophlogopite,

which is synthetic mica could be a lot more cost effective.

And so seeing those two together,

they're already potentially mixing cheaper pigments

to get a higher pigment payoff or impact.

So based off the application, the challenge test,

and the ingredients list,

I'm gonna go and say that product A is the higher quality,

more expensive product.

And

[cash register dings]

it's $42.

That's actually like a pretty higher mid-tier

liquid highlighter price.

This is not a drugstore highlighter by any means.

And now product B

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$9, which I mean, that's actually very affordable.

Overall, it's not a bad product.

It just left something to be desired,

especially compared to product A.

This is definitely a drugstore.

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Pressed powder highlighters.

When it comes to powder highlighters,

quality, to me, is in the form of the coverage and payoff

you get from the powder highlighter.

You want it to give nice luminosity on the skin.

So maybe similar to a liquid highlighter,

but you don't want it to be chalky or ashy.

So now let's look at the product, starting with product A.

Kind of a frosty pink highlighter.

I'm seeing something, based off the fineness

of what I see in the pan,

this is going to give a little bit more

of a pearlescent to metallic finish on the skin

depending on how much product you build up.

It's also a small pan.

But that being said, highlighter goes in very few spots

on the face, not a full face product.

So pan size doesn't denote necessarily quality,

as well as the color itself doesn't necessarily

denote quality as well.

And now, to product B.

Same color, this is a little bit more of a high impact pink,

so it's not as frosty, as pastely.

And just off the look of this,

it's also gonna give like a high impact luminous shine.

Even in the pan itself, towards the edge here,

I see really nice brilliance, really nice luminosity.

Bigger pan.

A really good denotation of quality

is I want this highlighter to look the same

on a very fair skin tone,

have the same impact and overall coverage

as it would on a very deep skin tone.

If the brand can achieve that,

that to me is very high quality.

So now moving on to application, starting with product A.

I'm gonna do a few swirls and then a swipe.

First of all, that felt very buttery.

It feels very nice, very smooth, good slip.

And on the skin, it spread out really nicely.

It looks pretty opaque and it has good coverage.

So on the skin, that could translate

to a really nice color impact on the cheek.

So it's not giving the same pink

that we see in the pan necessarily.

On my skin, it's giving like a frosty highlighter effect,

which again, on anything from like a tan

to darker, deep skin tone,

would not be very flattering in my opinion,

unless you really want an icy look.

And now, to product B.

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And just with that, again, really good color payoff.

Look at how far that swatch went too.

That's really good pigment payoff, really good coverage.

In terms of the skin feel, this feels even more buttery.

This is actually one of those formulas

that's a little bit more cream to powder.

There's a specific difference in the concentration

of ingredients that hold all the powders together.

There's more of those liquid binders, cream binders.

So that's kind of giving a nice creamier effect,

and thus, affecting also how the product deposits

on the skin as well.

And then just blending out product B.

We can see actually in this, there's bigger,

more noticeable particles of shimmer,

those interference pigments.

So on the skin, it's gonna translate

to a more glittery highlighter.

But you can notice it's also still fairly pink,

which matches.

And you can see, comparing product A or product B,

product A still has, again, that more icy feel.

It's not giving pink pink.

Whereas product B, that's bold, that is pink

and it has really good payoff.

It's then we're gonna swatch products A and B

on different skin tones to compare payoff.

You can see on light versus medium versus dark skin tones,

how product A and product B perform very differently.

Product A on fair skin tones

has a lot more of a pronounced pinkness.

It looks a lot more chalky on a darker skin tone.

That's not an effect we want.

Whereas product B, that pinkness, that richness,

that luminosity translates really nicely and equally

on all three different skin tones across the range,

which that already is just a higher quality product

in my opinion.

So now, looking at the ingredients list,

starting with product A,

we have mica, synthetic mica,

those are pigments, those are luminosity, those are shine.

Isododecane is a volatile,

but it's also acting as a binding agent.

It's a liquid.

We also see boron nitride, magnesium stearate,

those are ingredients that help

to hold the pigment together, help with spreadability,

help with coverage, et cetera.

One thing worth noting is there's no talc in here.

That's really interesting to note

because talc is one of the most popular ingredients.

Talc for all pressed powder products

is something called a diluent.

And what that translates to is basically,

you know how in a serum you got all the ingredients

but they have to be dissolved in water?

For pressed powder products,

all the pigments have to be dissolved into talc.

That's the main medium.

And now, looking at the ingredients for product B,

the first ingredient for this is dimethicone.

As I mentioned earlier, product B compared to product A

has more of a cream to powder feel.

Having dimethicone being the primary ingredient

is a big factor in that.

Then we see talc is the second ingredient.

And talc, as I mentioned, is a diluent

for pressed powder products.

So we're seeing a lot of the same concept,

a functional filler in product B as well,

it's just the first part of the inky list is different.

Also, what's really interesting

is that noting the color difference

between product A and product B,

product A, you see Red Lake and iron oxides.

Product B though, we see carmine.

And carmine is those little beetles that can get crushed up.

So if you're vegan, product B is not for you.

But carmine also imparts a very rich redness,

which in cosmetics, is not the easiest

to replicate in certain mediums.

We see product B have a really good richness in the color

that could be 'cause of the carmine.

So based off the initial swatches and application,

the challenge test and the ingredients list,

I would guess product B is going

to be the higher quality product.

Let's verify, starting with product A.

[cash register dings] $12, we're getting

a drugstore price and semi drugstore performance.

This is a product I just, I don't see working

for like a wide demographic of people.

And now product B

[cash register dings]

$40, that's giving a $40 product.

It just gives luxury, it gives quality, it gives impact.

And so the price point does warrant that performance.

And when it comes to finding a good quality highlighter,

you don't have to break the bank,

you don't have to go high-end.

There are some really beautiful options at the drug store.

Whatever it is, always swatch the product,

see how it feels to you, see how it looks on your skin

and find what works best for you at your price point.

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