Shimmer

The particles in a shimmer finish are usually fine pearl or metallic pigments in a satin or gloss base. They scatter light in many directions, so a shimmer shade reads brighter and less flat than its hex and shifts with the angle of the light. Fine particles give a soft glow; larger ones give visible sparkle, and some formulas use particles of a second colour that change the shade’s look from different angles.

Because the reflections lighten the colour, a shimmer shade can look a step lighter on the lips than a matte shade of the same hex, so a ΔE match between a shimmer and a matte shade says less about how alike they look. Shimmer also tends to make lip texture more visible.

On this site, shimmer swatches show the colour with a soft sheen and a fine sparkle layer on top. The hex given for a shimmer shade is a single colour value and does not capture the sparkle itself.