Clinique: Year of the Ox Cheek Pop Highlighter Review

This product is the cutest makeup item I’ve ever seen! The minute I saw this glittery, gold ox highlighter I knew I needed it in my life. This product was released as a limited edition item for Lunar New Year 2021. Clinique released a limited edition Lunar New Year highlight last year too. Though, 2020 was the year of the rat, so it wasn’t quite as endearing. But, the ox – this little guy is adorable to the freakin’ max! Let’s bust this product open and see if it pops like fireworks on Lunar New Year!

Clinique describes the Year of the Ox Cheek Pop Highliter as a “Limited-edition highlighter in Gold Celebration Pop. In an exclusive Chinese New Year design to celebrate the Year of the Ox. Our Clinique Clean Philosophy: No parabens. No phthalates. No fragrance. Just happy skin. 3g. Made in Italy.”

Shade

This Gold Celebration Pop highlighter is very pretty! Gold Celebration Pop is a medium gold with a lovely sheen to it. Once applied, the product looks very pretty on my skin. It gave nice dewy glow. This product is definitely a more subtle highlighter compared to some others I own. The product didn’t look as crazy gold as I worried it might. I really liked how it looked on my skin. This product didn’t enhance any texture or imperfections in my skin. I found the product lasted for a solid 6 hours on my skin before fading some.

The texture of this highlighter is quite firm. The product isn’t powdery at all. Some highlighters I own kick up a lot of product, but this one is more of a baked-gelle style. I don’t own many highlighter in this type of formula, so it took some getting used to for me. I usually use a fluffy highlighter brush. I found I couldn’t pick up product as well with my usual brush. I ended up using a large eyeshadow shader and it applied well with that. Overall, this highlighter isn’t as intense as I’m used to, but it can be built up to the desired amount of gold goodness.

This product contains .1oz/3 grams of product. This product was made in Italy.

Packaging

Could this highlighter be any cuter – said in my best Chandler Bing voice. The answer is, no. This highlighter could not be any cuter. The little ox is just perfect! I knew I needed this product as soon as I saw it. It’s such a fun and happy product! The little face of the ox is definitely what makes this product special. There’s also little embossed flowers in the product too. It’s just so pretty and adorable! It’s the only highlighter I want to use, but my little ox friend fades with every usage.

The compact its self is quite heavy. The plastic encasing the product is quite thick. The plastic is clear, so it’s easy to see the product. Personally, I think the plastic would be prettier in red. Lunar New Year is all red and gold, so it would match the theme a bit more if it were red. The box the product came in is red and gold. The box is more aesthetically pleasing to me. Eventually, the little ox’s face will fade away with continued use. The rest of the packaging and design aren’t much without that sweet face.

Thoughts

This product is very gold in the pan. I don’t gravitate towards gold often, so I was a little worried I bought something I wouldn’t wear because it was cute. I was pleasantly surprised the product wasn’t overly gold on my face. Gold Celebration Pop can definitely be built up to look more intensely gold. If you want a heavy gold highlighter you could have it with this. But, I’m very glad the product doesn’t go on as gold as it looks using a light hand, so I can still enjoy it.

It sounds silly, but the little ox face is so cute – I almost don’t want to use this product. I’ve used it a bunch of times and the poor little guy is fading away. I’m desperately trying to preserve him! I use a smaller brush, so I can pick up product without touching the ox’s face. I don’t want him to disappear! I do wish there was a little more to the outer packaging, so I wouldn’t feel so paranoid about wearing away the specialness of this product.

I purchased this product through Nordstorm.ca. I paid $31.00CAD and shipping was free through Nodstrom.ca. It has sold out in a few places online since I purchased mine. In Canada it is still available through The Bay. In the USA it was released at Macy’s alongside some other Lunar New Year products from Clinique. Clinique’s Year of the Ox Cheek Pop Highliter retails for $26.00USD.

In addition, Clinique also released an Even Better Clinical Radical Dark Spot Corrector and Interrupter and a Limited Edition Clinique iD base: Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion Plus in the limited edition Lunar New Year packaging.

The Lunar New Year takes place on February 12th, 2021. This is a fun product to celebrate a massive holiday. I love when brands release products that are joyful and cute. This was my first time trying a Clinique highlighter, so it was also nice to try something new.

Stay safe out there,

Kayla