Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 001 and 003 ::: Review & Comparison Swatches

Beware, long post with a lot of pics at unflattering angle but you will see the highlighters very closely :-) 

Not a while ago, I posted a collection photo of all my highlighters on Instagram. It was strictly to prove to myself that I don’t need another highlighter in my life. But then I got an itty-bitty raise at work accompanied by some encouraging words from my manager which conveniently occurred just before Sephora Spring 15% VIB sale. As soon as I knew about my raise, my inner-self immediately screamed “TREAT YO’SELF”. And what’s better way to treat yourself than splurging on highlighter, right? 

I had my eyes on Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer but could not decide between shade 001 or 003. I swear I tried to fight off my temptation and I waited to see if I can overcome the urge to buy it! By then, 003 already went out-of-stock online and you know how it is, if it is out-of-stock “we” must have it. I went to my local Sephora to see if 003 is available. After multiple swatches, I still could not decide but hesitantly grabbed 003. And then I ordered 001 online through Ebate. My apologies for such a long, unnecessary story but that’s how I ended up with 2 of these.

These are probably my very first full-size products from “luxury” brands. These are quite expensive products. I have used a few dior, YSL, Hourglass products before but they are all sample sizes that I got as GWP. Because of the hefty price tag, I was quite nervous about these!

Price & Packaging: Continuing the thoughts above, these will cost you a lot. There is a total of 0.21 oz. of product at a price tag of $56. It is housed in a beautiful quilted-looking reflective silver metallic compact very delicately placed in a rubber insert! It also comes with a mini kabuki brush. I have used the brush with the highlighter but I much prefer using my Real Techniques highlighter brush.

I have a peculiar view on luxury products. If the products work I am all for it. Even if there is a lesser priced product with comparable quality I don’t mind paying extra bucks for the luxury brand. Gorgeous packaging and the lavish, exotic feeling you get every time you apply these products makes it worth the price point for me. But if the product itself is crappy, no amount of pretty or cute packaging can change my mind. 

Fortunately, these highlighters fall on the first category. The perform very well and I quite enjoy the luxurious packaging. The imprint on the powder itself is a very adorable too! Sure, the imprint will wear off with usage eventually but it sure does makes the product look pretty. Overall with the sale price, I think I will get my money’s worth.

Quality & Weartime: the formula of these highlighters is quite unique compared to other highlighters I have in my collection! It’s a baked gelee formula and not all brushes work same with it. The powder is a bit hard on the pan and hence needs a stiffer brush to get the product picked up. I am still experimenting to find out the best tool to use with it. You can use the Kabuki brush but I think it applies the powder rather intensely. 

You can apply just a sheer layer to get the most neutral highlight but you can also layer to get that va-va-voom, highlighter on fleek look. In the morning within the first 3 second of application, I feel like it is giving me a subtle look. But then, I realize it’s not subtle :-). The powder on the pan seems to have minuscule glitters; very, very minuscule. From a distance of say 2 ft., this appears to have a soft gleam; its effective, eye catching but not too over the top! When I look closely I can see the semi densely packed micro-mini glitters on my skin as well. I saw similar glitter particle on Laura Mercier (see comparison swatches below) but they were sparsely placed and would not show up that prominently upon application. Anyway, the way diorskin shows up is quite unique to what I have. After the 6-7 hrs., it is kind of starts to melt into the skin and becomes more and more wet and glossy looking. This look may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I think I am growing fond of it.

Also, if I apply my coconut spray or MAC Fix+, I immediately that almostwet skin look. I love my RMS Living Luminizer (reviewed here); it gives me very soft, wet-looking, glow from within look! It is a lot of sheen but it is colorless. These luminizer is almost similar in finish and appearance but it has color. I have to agree, it feels different than a regular powder highlight. When I applied 2 layer, it sometimes emphasizes some of textures (see pictures). Average weartime is 7 to 9 hrs. The other day I took a nap while wearing it wrapped up in a comforter! The highlighter fed off obviously but left a very healthy looking soft sheen; I quite liked it.

Shades: 

001: For me it is very uncommon shade. It almost is an extremely pale “nude” shade! May be my eyes are deceiving, but I see a lot of “taupe” in it :-) Does not sound right, right? But thats what I see :-) It also appears a bit weaker in terms of opacity and glow compared to 003.

003: It is a pure gold shade, not too yellow not too olive. It definitely flatters my skin tone better than 001. And as I already mentioned, the shine and pigment on this one is a bit stronger than 001.

I initially planned to try out both shades and keep only one. But I am now having the hardest time in deciding which one gives me the most joy.  To a beauty lover eye the difference is quite noticeable. 003 is distinctly golden with neutral to warm undertone. Whereas 001 is much cooler, and very neutral beige-y taupe-y shade. Both works excellently on my skin! 003 immediately flatters the olive golden undertone on my skin whereas 001 is a unique shade to my collection! I thought Becca Champagne Pop will be very similar to 003 but the formula is different! I have worn both on the same day, one on one cheek and the other on the other cheek. The difference is not obvious to the uneducated eye. But if you are as obsessed with beauty as I am, you can surely see that they are different. (check pictures at the very end). Champagne Pop has a little bit more yellow in it and it is a little bit drier in texture.

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 001 (lighter application)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 001 (lighter application)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 001 (still lighter application but you can see the skin texture)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 001 (with mac fix plus sprayed over)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 003 (lighter swatch)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 003 (lighter swatch)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 003 (lighter swatch)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 003 (heavy swatch)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 003 (heavy swatch with mac fix plus sprayed over)

Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer 003 vs Becca Champagne Pop

Here are some comparison swatches!

I know that at this point I am being repetitive, but again - I had a lot of expectation as well as apprehension about this simply because of the price. I had a skeptical mind. I loved the effect the first time I used it but I was having mixed reaction overall. I felt like it highlighted my texture, but at the same time it was just not punchy enough; I was expecting something unbelievably unique. I think, I did not get that on my first use. But over the past 2-3 weeks, I have fallen in love with it. I have used it over bare-just moisturized skin and over foundation and I really enjoy it now. I also prefer using light layer, I think it looks more beautiful that way! At the end of the day, it meshes with your skin and almost looks like wet but healthy-sweaty look. It may sound gross, but I personally love that. It is a more realistic "glow-from-within" type of look. 

Which shade do you think looks better on my skin? Help me decide which one to keep? Or should I just keep both?

Love,

~Arrru