Beauty Care: Kaleidos Ray Rider Space Age Highlighter Review & Swatches

Ray Rider

Kaleidos Ray Rider Space Age Highlighter ($14.00 for 0.10 oz.) is a light, peachy gold with warmer undertones and a metallic finish. The shimmer seemed more frosted, slightly chunky, which resulted in emphasis of my skin’s natural texture and less of a smooth sheen.

The consistency was drier, crumbly, and felt like an old powder (which stood out to me because that’s really not a texture I come across much!), and I had a fair amount of powder that did not adhere to my skin when initially applied and blended out, so it was messier to work with. It had mostly opaque, buildable pigmentation that lasted for six hours on my skin before fading visibly.

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

Top Dupes

View Swatches View All Dupes

Natasha Denona Light (01) (P, $38.00) is warmer (95% similar).
Laura Mercier Affection (LE, $45.00) is more shimmery, lighter (95% similar).
Huda Beauty Light #1 (PiP, ) is more shimmery, lighter, cooler (90% similar).
Huda Beauty Light #3 (PiP, ) is more shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
ColourPop So Healthy (PiP, $8.00) is more shimmery, lighter (90% similar).
OFRA Moondance (LE, $29.00) is more shimmery, lighter (90% similar).
MAC Wonder Who (LE, ) is less shimmery, lighter, cooler (90% similar).
LORAC Daylight (P, $23.00) is more shimmery, lighter, cooler (90% similar).
Urban Decay Now's the Time (LE, $26.00) is more shimmery, cooler (85% similar).
ColourPop You're a Trip (LE, $8.00) is more shimmery, lighter, cooler (85% similar).

View Swatches

Formula Overview

$14.00/0.1 oz. - $140.00 Per Ounce

The formula is supposed to have "vibrant, color-shifting" shades that have an "ultra-lightweight, smooth texture that practically melts onto skin." They are described as being "translucent yet highlight reflective" with a "multi-chrome finish." I had different experiences across the range, so it was not the most consistent of ranges. They did, on average, apply a little better in practice than they appeared initially swatched.

For the most part, the regularly-priced ($14 at the time of publishing) shades were more like intense duochromes than true multi-chromes to me, and I do think the price reflects that (as their true multichromes are $36 each). They had translucent bases across the board with some shades having stronger initial coverage than others, but they produced a noticeable sheen and shift on my skin.

The texture was what varied from shade to shade with some shades feeling drier, almost crumbly, and being particularly prone to emphasizing skin texture, even though I don't have that much visible texture on my cheeks (this is not a common issue for me, it can happen but it is infrequent that I really feel a highlighter emphasizes my texture!) while other shades were firmer but applied more smoothly on my skin.

I liked the tones and shade range more so than the formula, but a couple of shades were really lovely to work with. They tended to wear around eight hours on my skin before fading visibly, though the chunkier, more sparkly shades had visible migration around the six-hour mark.

Browse all of our Kaleidos Space Age Highlighter swatches.

Ingredients

Mica, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Talc, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Octyldodecanol, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Paraffin, Silica, Boron Nitride, Phenoxyethanol, Hydrogen Dimethicone, Tin Oxide, Hydrated Silica, Decylene Glycol, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Methicone, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492).

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.