All that glitters really isn't gold.

Cake Hi-light Luminous Body Lotion is a paraben-free body lotion made in Canada. This lotion is appropriate for all users, unless you are sensitive to glycerin or any of the other ingredients. It can be used all over the body, but is designed to look especially good on bare legs, arms, shoulders and cleavage. It is designed to work for a quick freshen up, a fun night out, a special occasion, or just a sexy night in with that special someone. It is not an extremely thick lotion, so would not be the best choice for especially dry or thick skin, like the heels of your feet. It is more of an all over body lotion.

Cake’s Hi-light Body Lotion is not an extremely thick lotion, though it does a nice job of moisturizing. I would consider it a light moisturizer that rubs in and absorbs quickly without leaving a greasy feel. It does a surprisingly good job of moisturizing, especially since it does not have a heavy cream texture. It does give my skin a nice sheen, but the sheen is more from being moisturized, rather than from the luminous quality of the lotion.

You can see a lot of tiny sparkles in the lotion that do catch the light from time to time, but the sheen they give is fairly subtle. The mica sparkles seem to be very evenly distributed in the lotion, but unfortunately they do rub off on my clothing, or anything else I touch (laptop, phone, face, etc.). I would advise that users put this lotion on after they get dressed, and try to avoid applying it to the skin that will come into direct contact with your clothing. It doesn’t stain the material it touches, but the sparkles do rub off very easily.

Hi-light lotion is a light pink color in the bottle, but does not leave any color on your skin. It goes on completely sheer.

This lotion should not be ingested by humans or animals, so be sure to keep it out of reach of children and pets.

The smell is pleasantly light. When I first opened the bottle, it smelled just like yellow cake cupcakes baking. Delicious! When I applied it, the aroma did change just a bit. When applying, I did still smell the yellow cake smell; in addition I also smelled a very slight lemony smell. It’s fresh and clean and not overpowering. After about 30 minutes the smell had virtually completely dissipated. If you are very sensitive to fragrances, you may want to avoid this just to be sure, though the smell is not incredibly strong.

About 30 minutes after putting this lotion on, I no longer smelled the lemony cake aroma, but I did notice a slightly bitter, or “make-upy” smell when I put my nose to my skin. While I couldn’t smell it in the air, I could smell it on my skin, and I found that unpleasant. I've never encountered that in a lotion before.

The moisturizers in this lotion lasted a long time! My skin stayed soft and smooth all day. The sparkle in the product did not last as long; it washes off and rubs off easily throughout the day.

For example, when I washed my hands with soap in the bathroom sink, I found that my hands remained well moisturized, but I washed off almost all of the sparkles. If you were caught in the rain while wearing this product, your skin would remain soft and smooth, but you would definitely lose most of your sparkle.

After a shower, however, that included a thorough scrubbing and rinsing, I still found stray bits of sparkly glitter on my arms. I wasn’t thrilled with that; I prefer a product I can completely remove at the end of the day.

It was a frustrating lotion! When I wanted it to stay on, it came off. When I wanted it to come off, it stayed on.

The Cake Hi-light Body Lotion bottle comes in an iridescent pink cardboard box that measures: 2.25” wide, 2.25” deep and 5.5” tall. You can see how it compares to a standard deck of cards in the photos.



As you can see it has the cake hi-light logo on the front, has English and French versions of “pearlescent & luminous” on both sides, a brief blurb about the product on the back (in both English and French), and the ingredients in English and French on the bottom.

The bottom also states that it is paraben-free, made in Canada, and includes the company’s website: www.cakebeauty.com.

The blurb on the back of the box says:

“Step into the spot-light with this luminous skin perfecting lotion designed to smooth, nourish, enhance and hi-light your skin. Light reflecting sheer pink mica helps to soften the look of contours and leaves skin glistening with just the right amoung of sophisticated sheen. Shea and mango butters and aloe vera oil moisturize leaving skin sensationally soft. Enjoy supple skin kissed with a pearlescent & luminous glow. Shine like a celebrity at your next event or get noticed everyday of the week. Go on, hi-light your glorious gams, your strong shoulders & delightful decolleté. Hi-light all that is you. Indulge.”

The lotion bottle itself is a round, 8.5 oz bottle with a flip-top lid. The bottle is a very heavy white plastic, and the lid is shiny silver plastic, while the part you flip open is white plastic. The bottle measures 4.5” tall without the lid, 5.5” tall with the lid. (That’s a couple of inches taller than a standard deck of cards.) The front of the bottle has the Cake hi-light logo with some stars, and the back shows the ingredients in French and English.



The bottle is definitely suitable for travel, as the flip-top lid closes very securely. Remember airline regulations however, and don’t pack this in your carry-on bag if you’re flying since it does not meet the 3.4 oz restriction. This bottle should only go in your checked luggage if you’re flying.

It can be difficult to squeeze this lotion out of the bottle. I think the design would be much better if Cake used a pump dispenser, rather than a flip top lid that you have to squeeze the lotion out of. If they did make it with a pump dispenser, you would probably pump out a little too much lotion though, so at least by squeezing the bottle you can get out a small amount instead of too much. (You really don’t need to apply a lot of this lotion at a time to get the job done.) It may be a difficult product for those with arthritis or hand strength issues to use. I can imagine that since it’s difficult to squeeze out when the bottle is full, it’s only going to get more difficult as the bottle empties. That’s a big con for me.

I thought it would be nice to talk about the ingredients in this section. To find out more information about the ingredients in any of your cosmetics products, visit the Cosmetics Info website.

The ingredients in Cake hi-light luminous body lotion are as follows:

Water

Caprylic Capric Triglycerides – An oily liquid made from coconut oil that forms a barrier on the skin’s surface, and thereby slows the loss of water from skin, it also improves the texture in lotions

Glycerin – a sugar alcohol that is used as a humectant in beauty products, it retains moisture and improves the texture of liquid products like lotion

Polyquaternium-7 – used in a wide variety of cosmetics designed to inhibit the build up of static electricity and forms a thin coating when dry

Polysorbate 60 – helps the various lotion components to stay well mixed

Carbomer – helps the various lotion components to stay well mixed

Phenoxyethanol – keeps cosmetic products from spoiling by inhibiting microbial growth

Caprylyl Glycol – a skin conditioner with some antimicrobial properties, used as a preservative

Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil – an edible vegetable oil that conditions skin, leaving it with a soft and smooth appearance

PEG-150 Stearate – cleans the skin by allowing water to mix with oil and dirt so they can be washed away

Steareth 20 – helps keep all the various components of the lotion well mixed

Benzophenone 3 – helps protect the skin from UV rays

Tetrasodium EDTA – helps prevent the deterioration of cosmetic products

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract (Aloe Leaf Extract) – helps skin look smooth and soft by reducing flaking and restoring suppleness

Sorbic Acid – keeps cosmetics from spoiling by reducing microbial growth

Cetearyl Alcohol – a fatty alcohol that is designed to keep a lotion from separating into its oil and liquid components that also increases the thickness of the lotion

Stearic Acid – fatty acid that is reported to reduce the transparent appearance of the lotion and help the lotion components stay well mixed

Aroma

Dimethicone – a silicone based polymer that is reported to protect and condition skin

Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Jojoba Oil) – thickens the texture of the lotion and serves as a skin conditioner

Glyceryl Stearate – protects the skin’s surface by preventing water loss and gives the skin a soft, smooth appearance

PEG-100 Stearate – cleans the skin by allowing water to mix with oil and dirt so they can be washed away

Triethanolamine – a clear liquid that helps the different components of the lotion to stay well mixed that can also be used to control the pH of the mixture

Mangifera Indica Seed Oil (Mango Seed Oil) – softens and smooths skin


Below the ingredients list is a “May Contain” list. That list is as follows:

Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, D&C Red #6 Lake, D&C Red #7 Lake, D&C Red #27 Lake, FD & C Blue #1 Lake, FD & C Yellow #5 Lake, FD & C Yellow #6 Lake, Bismuth Oxychloride, Chromium Oxide Green, Chromium Hydroxide Green, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Manganese Violet, Ultramarines, Tin Oxide

Mica is what gives this product its sparkle, and the remaining possible ingredients are all used to give cosmetic products their color.

The lotion itself seems very nice. It does moisturize well, and the scent when you first put it on is pleasant. It absorbs quickly and does not leave your skin with a greasy feel. So, as a normal lotion I would probably rate it at about 4 stars. This lotion, however, makes claims of smoothing the look of contours with the sparkling mica in it; on that claim it fails to deliver. The mica rubs off on everything, and I did not feel that it improved the look of my skin. It makes your skin a little sparkly, but doesn’t impact the overall look of your skin or body. After about 30 minutes it also has a strange and unpleasant after-smell that I did not enjoy at all.

Taking into consideration the facts that I don’t think it lives up to its claims of improving the look of your skin and camouflaging slight imperfections, I don’t like the after-smell it develops and I have a hard time squeezing it out from the bottle, I am giving Cake’s Hi-light Luminous Body Lotion 3 stars.

I think I would like this luminous lotion more if the sparkly bits of mica were more finely milled. Many years ago I used a luminous lotion (of course, I can’t remember what brand it was now) that I really liked. I liked it because the glitter was milled so finely, it was tiny. You couldn’t actually see the individual sparkles from it, it just looked like your skin was shiny. With the Cake Hi-light Lotion you can actually see each of the little pieces of glitter on your skin. This lotion looks more like a lotion with some glitter in it, rather than actually making your skin look luminous and glowy.

I will probably continue to use this lotion when I go out of the house with bare legs, but I am not going to become a huge fan of it. I do think it seems like very nice quality lotion, outside of the issues I've mentioned, so I am definitely looking forward to trying out the rest of Cake’s cream and lotion products.