MAC Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension Skinfinish/Highlighter Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:20:56 +0000

MAC Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension Skinfinish/Highlighter

MAC Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension Skinfinish/Highlighter

MAC Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension Skinfinish/Highlighter ($29.00 for 0.31 oz.) is described as a “light, soft white gold.” It’s a soft yellowy gold with a metallic finish. Gilded, soft, glowy, with a definite yellow undertone, but it’s not orange-y at all. Guerlain Terracotta Sun in the City is deeper, more molten gold. Estee Lauder Opulence is very similar. Chanel Shimmering Tweed is similar but darker.

Of the three shades that were released, I actually liked the texture of this one the best–it had the smoothest feel. The texture is dry but soft, and it applies smoothly so it really enhances the metallic finish. You can see it “in real life” in this video as well. If this is your first read-through of a review on this new formula, then if you’re familiar with Estee Lauder’s Powder Gelee formula, you’ll find this extremely comparable, if not dead-on. MAC may not describe this as a liquid, powder, and gel powder, but it’s very, very similar. There’s an $11 price difference, and with MAC, you actually get nearly twice the product.

So far, MAC’s product seems to wear a wee bit better as well. Yesterday, I tested out the wear of this shade specifically, and it held up well after eight hours with very slight fading around the edges. Even after ten hours, there was a little more fading, but it was still surprisingly intact for as long of a period as that was. As with anything with a really metallic finish, it will emphasize the skin’s texture, but this does so very, very slightly. MAC’s Mineralize Skinfinishes tend to emphasize pores on me, but this seemed like a fair trade off between emphasis and glowy goodness.

I see this working well on yellow-toned skin, those with warmer undertones overall, but because it lacks an orange/red undertone, it shouldn’t turn particularly orange on pinker undertones. Between this and Superb, I don’t think I’d grab both unless you’re major fiend for highlighters or really love the finish of these. I suspect they will all sell well, so you won’t have a lot of time to think about it, but nonetheless, I do feel you could survive with one and not both.