Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight Review & Swatches

1 of 10
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight
Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight

Morning Star

Melt Cosmetics Morning Star Digital Dust Highlight ($39.00 for 0.28 oz.) is a bright, pale gold with warmer undertones and pink and gold micro-sparkle over a metallic finish. It had opaque pigmentation in a single layer, which was easily blended out for sheerer coverage or applied with a lighter hand (or more feathery brush) for more buildable coverage. It had a moderate glow in one layer, and it built up to more metallic, lit-from-space kind of glow with two layers of product.

The texture was smooth to the touch, firmer and denser without being heavy or thick, so it needed a more rounded, moderately dense brush to pick up product evenly (as it had more of a gel-powder formula). The powder applied evenly to my skin and blended out without difficulty. It didn’t emphasize my skin’s texture unless worn at high coverage and built up for a more intense glow, but one layer (and blended) of product was luminous without accentuating my skin’s texture. It wore well for eight and a half hours (though it was marketed as 12-hour wear) on my skin before fading noticeably.

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).

Formula Overview

$39.00/0.28 oz. - $139.29 Per Ounce

The brand doesn't have a great description of the highlighter formula generally, just descriptions of each shade. The lightest shade--Stargazer--is described as "buildable" but the other two are silent with respect to pigmentation, and the lightest shade was quite pigmented. Since there was no general description, I'm holding the formula to the average powder highlighter's claims--pigmented, long-wearing, and blendable, except Stargazer, which I would expect to have "buildable" pigmentation. The formula has a denser, firmer texture, but it never felt stiff nor was it difficult to blend out on the skin. The coverage was semi-opaque and buildable with a high-shine to metallic finish. All three lasted eight hours on me.

Browse all of our Melt Cosmetics Digital Dust Highlight swatches.

Ingredients

Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Squalane, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Glycerin, Polysorbate 20, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tin Oxide, 1,2-Hexanediol, Iron Oxides (Ci 77491), Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Chondrus Crispus (Carrageenan), Xanthan Gum, Silica, Dicalcium Phosphate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite.

Disclaimer: Ingredient lists are as available by the brand (or retailer) at the time of publishing. Please always check product packaging, if it exists, for the ingredient list applicable to the product you're purchasing, or the brand or retailer's website for the most up-to-date ingredient list.

Morning Star

PPermanent. $39.00.
A-
A-
9
Product
10
Pigmentation
9
Texture
8
Longevity
5
Application
91%
Total

10 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Kitty Avatar

Dumb question, but do you place the highlighter on the apple of your cheek too? If so, is this more so for the highlighter to show in your photo, or do you do that all the time?

Reason I ask is I apply it just on the very top of my cheeks (in a half arc circle going toward the skin on side of the eye), as I have some bagginess on the upper cheeks. I’m wondering if I should try going around the bagginess (which I don’t want to highlight) and go down towards the apple a bit, or if that would look odd). If you have any thoughts about this, please share (if not, that’s okay too :)).

Christine Avatar

Hi Kitty,

In order to show the color for reviews, I apply to my cheek and cheekbone (so it is a larger area). Similarly, I show products more heavily so that all skin tones can get a better idea of intensity/coverage/finish.

Makeup washes off 😉 No harm in trying a different application method for your highlighter and seeing what you like best!

Z Avatar

I need this and one other Melt highlight to complete my collection. Of all their offerings this one looks to be light enough for my skin tone and I can’t wait to pick it up.

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!