Make Up For Ever H106 Artist Face Color (Highlighter) Review, Photos, Swatches
H106
Make Up For Ever H106 Artist Face Color ($23.00 for 0.17 oz.) is brilliant, blinding medium gold with warm, yellow undertones and a metallic sheen. It was intensely pigmented with a very smooth, almost cream-like texture that was moderately dense but easily blended out on the skin. The powder diffused nicely along the cheeks, and the more I blended it out, the less metallic it became. At full coverage, it did emphasize my skin’s natural texture just slightly, though. On me, this highlighter wore well for eight and a half hours.
Overview of the Formula
The formula is supposed to have “intense color payoff” with a “long-lasting finish.” The range is split into three types–Highlighters, Sculpting Powders, and Blushes–that is easy to determine by the first letter of the shade name (H for Highlighter, S for Sculpting, and B for Blush). There are three finishes–matte, shimmer, and pearl but was less obvious. In fact, the majority of the “matte” shades were more like semi-matte or natural matte where there were no distinctive shimmer particles but they seemed to take on the natural finish of the skin, which gave the “mattes” a particularly seamless finish on the skin but might be dewier on oilier skin types than desired. None of the 34 shades available were frosted or metallic except three of the highlighters (H100, H106, H312).
The pigmentation ranged from medium to opaque, depending largely on the shade, though they were always buildable if they were not opaque in a single layer. Some of the deeper, more matte shades were less forgiving and took more effort to diffuse and blend, even when I used a lighter hand or a more feathery brush. The texture was smooth, velvety, and moderately dense without any powderiness or dustiness in the pan. The formula has lasted between eight and ten hours on me.
You can view swatches of all of the blushes, all of the highlighters, and all of the sculpting powders in the Swatch Gallery.
FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).
Top Dupes
- Too Faced Pineapple Paradise (Highlighter) (PiP, ) is less shimmery (95% similar).
- Chantecaille Eclat Brilliant (LE, $92.00) is less shimmery (95% similar).
- Looxi Beauty Luxe (P, $7.50) is warmer (95% similar).
- MAC Gold Coasting (LE, ) is lighter (95% similar).
- Tarte Spotlight (LE, ) is less shimmery (95% similar).
- ColourPop Starflower (LE, $12.00) is darker, warmer (95% similar).
- Makeup Geek Midnight Sun (P, $20.00) is lighter (95% similar).
- Jouer Molten Glow (LE, $28.00) is more muted (95% similar).
- Estee Lauder Heat Wave (LE, $47.00) is darker (90% similar).
- Anastasia Lyra (PiP, ) is cooler (90% similar).
Formula Overview
$23.00/0.17 oz. - $135.29 Per Ounce
The formula is supposed to have "intense color payoff" with a "long-lasting finish." The range is split into three types--Highlighters, Sculpting Powders, and Blushes--that is easy to determine by the first letter of the shade name (H for Highlighter, S for Sculpting, and B for Blush). There are three finishes--matte, shimmer, and pearl but was less obvious. In fact, the majority of the "matte" shades were more like semi-matte or natural matte where there were no distinctive shimmer particles but they seemed to take on the natural finish of the skin, which gave the "mattes" a particularly seamless finish on the skin but might be dewier on oilier skin types than desired. None of the 34 shades available were frosted or metallic except three of the highlighters (H100, H106, H312).
The pigmentation ranged from medium to opaque, depending largely on the shade, though they were always buildable if they were not opaque in a single layer. Some of the deeper, more matte shades were less forgiving and took more effort to diffuse and blend, even when I used a lighter hand or a more feathery brush. The texture was smooth, velvety, and moderately dense without any powderiness or dustiness in the pan. The formula has lasted between eight and ten hours on me.
You can view swatches of all of the blushes, all of the highlighters, and all of the sculpting powders in the Swatch Gallery.
Browse all of our Make Up For Ever Artist Face Color - Highlighter swatches.
My biggest complaint about all of these (the blushes, highlighters, etc.) is that at least here in Canada, they’re “online only” at Sephora. For the most part, I need to see stuff like this on me, on my skin and with my own eyes, to be able to choose from the myriad of colours. With all the other choices that are available in-store (at Sephora, MAC or the department store counters), where I can test them out, I will be passing on these.
Hopefully, they will make it to stores eventually!
They have them in-store at my local Sephora. I am in Canada (Winnipeg).
Some of them are now available in-store but they weren’t when they first launched. Some shades are still “not available within 150 km of your postal code”.
I like this one, really nice.
It is!
This shade is so pretty, but since it’s a dupe for Laura Geller Gilded Honey I’ll probably pass. 😉
Gilded Honey is close enough, IMO!
OMG blinding is right! Need sunglasses for this one, so pretty!!!
Haha!
Iv been the most curious about this one! I wasn’t sure if it would be too deep, but since you and I are the same skin tone/depth (I’m just more yellow aha!) And it works on you, and looks stunning. It should work for me! 😀
Glad to hear you like it, Shannon!
Even though I have MAC Whisper Of Gilt and Estee Edit 14k, I love the sunstruck brilliance of this one! Yeah, I’m a sucker for true gold highlighters, so H106 just made it onto the WL. I may have put my 1st trio together! LOL
Aww! Whisper of Gilt is so close though!
Wow – this is such a gorgeous shade of gold. Even though it would not suit me, I just love that colour.
It is a gorgeous shade!
Too warm for me but really great esp for warm dark skin!