L'Oreal True Match Lumi Liquid Glow Illuminator Review & Swatches

L'Oreal True Match Lumi Liquid Glow Illuminator ($12.99 at drugstores and Ulta.com) is brand new for Summer/Fall 2015. It comes in three shades: Golden (to flatter warm skintones), Ice (to flatter cool skintones), and Rose which is neutral and flatters both warm and cool skintones. I recently posted about the powder version of these and I felt that they were too glittery for my taste...let's see if these are any better!  

L'oreal True Match Lumi Liquid Glow Illuminators
 in Ice and Rose.

The packaging claims that these are "multi use" including defining the face, opening the eyes, and even priming all over. They include a diagram on the back of the tube with suggestions on where to dot this, such as around the eye area, the bridge of the nose, and cupid's bow.

The tubes themselves are kind of small for the price (0.67oz.), especially if you're using this to prime all over. I think that the Hard Candy Sheer Glow All the Way highlighters I reviewed back in September are a much better deal at $8 for 2.7oz., especially because I like the finish of those better.

The True Match Lumi Liquid Glow Illuminators are frosty and full of shimmer, I'm sorry to say. I don't like them any better than the powders, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, they're beautiful to look at, but I feel like they're way too much *sparkle sparkle* for me personally.
Ice is a bright white while Rose is a really pretty rose gold.

L'oreal True Match Lumi Liquid Glow Illuminators in Ice and Rose.

Even blended out, you can see a lot of sparkle on my skin. These photos were taken indoors in natural light, so you can imagine how much more glittery they'd look in sunlight!

L'oreal True Match Lumi Liquid Glow
Illuminators in Ice and Rose.

I decided to try and test these as primer instead, as the packaging suggests. I added a layer of Urban Decay's Naked Skin Foundation on top of my two blended-out swatches from above. It definitely toned down the shimmer, but I could still see little sparkles here and there. With other Illuminating primers I've tried, such as the Hard Candy ones I mentioned above the shimmer was much finer and less chunky, so it translated to a "glow" vs. shimmer under foundation.

Overall, I don't really see myself reaching for these on a regular basis. The amount of sparkle in them is just too much for me, and the price is steep for a drugstore product. I would recommend the Hard Candy Sheer Glow All The Way versions of you're looking for a similar product. They're $8 for almost triple the amount of product and they don't have as much shimmer, yet still give a glow finish. I haven't tried the original Glow All The Way, but the sheer versions are great! 

Have you tried the new L'oreal True Match Lumi Liquid Glow Illuminators yet? What do you think of them?