That is a trick title. None of these are holographic.
The correct title of this post should be: Duo Chromatic and Multidimensional Highlighters
Most of these market themselves as duo-chrome, which is accurate for most of them. At least one of them claims to be iridescent. I have definitely seen iridescent makeup products, but the face product one I have that claims to be is not. And two of them market themselves as holographic. We know what holographic is. At least, I’d hope it is obvious to everyone the difference between duo-chrome vs metallic vs iridescent vs holographic. They are all different, yet articles and companies are using them interchangeably confusing the masses. It’s just a trendy buzz word to attract customers.
If you want something holographic you might as well buy some holographic foil to put on your face or some big chunky holographic glitter cause that’s the only way you’re gonna get a true holographic shine on your face. Here put this tape on your cheekbones. That’s holographic.
Cristine from SimplyNailogical is very strong in her opinion of what holographic and and damnit, she is NOT wrong! She has many videos on what is holo and what is not. In fact, at the time of writing this post she has posted a video on an her DIY holographic highlighter experiment. She’s on the right track, it’s not perfect but at least she tried.
Duo-chromatic is most of these highlighters are. They shift from one color to another, depending on the light and angle. They aren’t a show of all colors of the rainbow at once. You have to ask yourself, are they duo-chromes if they just shift to a lighter version of itself? I believe it needs a more obvious shift of color to be considered a duo-chrome, otherwise it’s just multidimensional.
But you didn’t need to read that because you are smart and already know. In this post I am showing you highlighters that are duo-chromatic, or just plain shimmery. There may be a color you are interested in, but aren’t sure if it’s close to something you already own. I hope my swatches will help you decide if you want to pick something up or not.
Not all of these claim to be holographic, iridescent, or duo-chromatic. Only 2 of them (as far as I have read) describe themselves as holographic and they are Milk Makeup’s Supernova and Cover FX’s Halo. Which coincidently are the same blue-lavender shift, definitely not holo. MAC’s Justine Skye describes itself iridescent. It’s definitely not iridescent. There are tiny shimmers inside, but not enough to be seen as iridescent. It’s pretty but you need iridescent cellophane on your face if you want that look. There are also iridescent flakes and “glitters” that you can stick on your face that will be truly iridescent.
Who reads my writing anyway? Here are the arm swatches of the duo-chromatic and multidimensional highlighters, grouped by color family.
I hope my swatches helped you figure out dupes or at least to determine which duo-chrome attracts you the most. I think if I were to make my swatches into a video, it would be easier for you to see the shift of colors. But I hope the different lighting situations at least gave you an idea of the color range and what highlighters may suit your skin tone. Mine is NC15 for reference.
