Archived Post
Rant & Rave: Cheek Highlighters
This Week’s Topic: CHEEK HIGHLIGHTERS!
Your Mission: Tell us what you love, hate, or are otherwise indifferent to about cheek highlighters and all that those entail.
Explore Temptalia
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Compare Any Two
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
54 Comments
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
Comments on this post are closed.
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
I Love Revlon’s Skinlights 01 Natural light. Its a Face Iluminator Loose Powder .75oz and Last for years!
Also I like MAC Mineralize SkinFinish in Northern Light, this was a gift and It’s awsome too! Love it both!!!!
🙂
Hmm I think I’ll try to find that Revlon illuminator. Which drugstore did you find it at?
You can still buy it – esp. on eBay. I hope this helps.
oo i love it too! lasts forever and it’s so beautiful. definitely a drugstore gem! too bad its’ been discontinued for years
Make Up For Ever Uplight. This stuff is amazing. Comes in 8 different colours and textures and leaves a truly highlighted sheen to the cheeks, lips or eyes. Truly HG.
this sounds awesome – where do you buy it? I don’t see it on Sephora’s website?
I love highlighters! They add a beautiful glow to the face and really make you shine 😀 I just purchased one from Physician’s Formula and it’s gorgeous! I tend to prefer powder highlights over liquid ones just because they’re easier to blend and don’t take as much time. I really want to try Benefit’s High Beam and some of Mac’s MSFs in the future ^^
I hate how they enlarge the look of pores and most are shimmery instead of imparting a nice “glow”
You need to try Nars the Multiple in Copacabana then… it’s awesome..
I love them, because they add such a nice glow and it wakes up your look. I just bought Chez Chez Lame and it gives as soft or glamourous shimmer & glow as you like, and it’s huge.
I just bought that today too! I was debating whether to go to my MAC counter to look at rose ole as my MAC store had sold out, but I’m so happy that I just got chez chez lame as the other one is a bit too rosy for my taste and would bring out the pink undertones in my face
Cream colour base in pearl
MAC MSFs are the best highlighters in my opinion. I love Shimpagne and Blonde as cheek highlights 🙂
I personally never notice a difference when I use a highlighter, but I’m probably just applying it wrong 🙁
I only have one highlighter and that is all I need. ITs the Laura Mercier in bloom or something like that , it has 4 colors in it and looks beautiful . Why have more than one?
I absolutely love all things cheeks! Especially high lighters. I especially like Laura Mercier’s shimmer blocks. I still have my first MAC MSF in porcelain pink and I still love it. I’m not a fan of when high lighters are more powdery than shimmery.
I recently got a Lorac sample that is my new obsession. Its called spotlight powder or something like that. Anyway, in general highlighters are one of my favorite products and I prefer it to blush!
I love MAC’s porcelain pink skin finish. Its light and really picks up my cheek bones. It also looks great in pics
i love love love MAC minralised skinfinish in shrimpaign its such a beautiful light glod with a hint of peach colour 🙂 gives a beautiful glow to your skin xx
I just bought Too Chic from MACs stylishly Yours collection and I loooove it
I have NARS Albatross. I like it alot, though I don’t use it often!IDK how that works:)
Eversince I discovered MACs pearl CCB, I can’t live without it! I just bought Hush and Improper Copper. I love highlighters for the cheekbones.
MAC Mineralized SkinFinish! It is part of my make-up routine every day, be it added to a full face of makeup or brushed onto my cheeks quickly as I run out the door with a near-bare face.
I held off on trying this for a long time b/c my MUA said it’s often too glittery but I now can’t live without them! 😀
I like The Balms Mary Loumanizer, it works well even on my cool skin tone . It gives me that lovely candelight glow 🙂 …
I always try to focus on my cheeks, but, sadly, the highlighter ends up all over my face!
Rave: NARS Albatross (my all time fav); Smashbox Softlights and BECCA powders
Rant: All the MAC MSF – way too glittery & I have never understood the hype of these products.
I’ve never bought or used highlighters until about a month ago. I bought MAC MSF in Petticoat and Perfect topping and I LOVE THEM! I didn’t find them glitter at all, shimmer yes, but no glitter.
pearl cream color base
benefit high beam
What I hate – trying to find where on my darn cheeks to put the highlighter! I swear I have no cheek bones. lol But I have seen some worn so well, they can give you a beautiful glow.
ravin’ bout TheBalm’s Mary-lou manizer: the stuff is so shimmery and pigmented, one swatch will do all! it can also be used as eyeshadow, and it has a lot of product! 😀 another option is the new MAC special reserve powder in Chez Chez Lame, the colour is very similar to mary-lou manizer 😀
I LOVE smashbox soft lights deo in haute/coutour. I have not been able to duplicate it or find an alternative. It’s the best thing even in my opinion. Really cheap on eBay, it’s been discontinued for a while. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Diorskin Amber diamond by far is the best, also as eyeshadows for that really shimmery look =) MAC crem colour bases are awesome aswell, pearl and shell are my faves there =)
How do you apply your Amber Diamond? I never notice anything on my face, even though I use my 188…
The 188 is probably why your having that problem duo fibre brushes apply produts much lighter, try a denser brush like a 109 or a small blush brush.
Thank you! I tried my blush brush for it, and it’s gorgeous! Thanks a lot 🙂
I can’t live without NARS Albatross. I have really porcelain skin and with this I can even forego blush! People always compliment me on my “perfect” glowy skin and though I’ve asked, people insist they rarely see shimmer on my face unless if I’m in direct daylight. HG!
Love my Nars Albatross and Gold Member!! I don’t use a highlighter with every look, but they can really glam up a look or just add a fabulous glow to your look. I haven’t tried any of the MAC highlighters because the shimmer is just on the top, maybe it is different with their beauty powders…dunno.
i use benefit high beam, which i’ve had forever. it makes my skin look ethereal also, i don’t like nars orgasm blush (i know, i know. it’s sacrilege), but the orgasm multiple and illuminator are lovely on my skin. those give my skin a warm glow.
I really HATE when they have noticeable glitter! I usually use a matte white powder for highlighting, glitter / heavy shimmer makes me look oily. :/
i really like the highlighter that comes in the benefit bronzer combo. I don’t like the bronzo so much.
I hate how a lot of them are shimmery and throughout the day they just get all over your face.
All I need is 2 highlighters: 1 liquid and 1 powder! 😀 My fave liquid highlighter is Benefit Moon Beam. It gives a superrrr subtle and natural glow.
I’m not TOO picky about powder highlighters and have several ones I’m always grabbing for: anything shimmery and white or gold.
I’ve been dying to try a Mac Msf because they just look so pretty in the packaging
MAC Perfect Topping is BY FAR the best !
I love MAC Perfect Topping, and I ordered Chez Chez Lame yesterday. Hope I like it too!
let us know how you like chez chez lame when u get it and try it out
I don’t wear a highlighter every day, but when I do, I like to wear TooFaced Candlelight. It’s gives a nice golden sheen and isn’t too shimmery. It’s perfectly subtle. I love it!
I love them! I don’t constantly buy them because I don’t need a huge variety of colors, but I wear one every day!
I love cheek highlighters for the winter. They make the skin look dewy/glowy without being over the top. But in bright sun, the sparkles can be toooooo much. A coworker of mine highlights her entire face and chest/neck area. I talked to her in the by the sign-in door one summer day and O M G it was like shimmer bomb went off on her.
I like using my Stila kitten smudgepot as a highlighted on my cheeks as a standout night look. So glisteny!
I love highlighters! I use MAC by candlelight, but I saw some swatch of perfect topping and pink porcelain, I would like them to be reprobate very soon so I can buy and try them!
My “Holy Grail” powder highlighter is Kevyn Aucoin’s Celestial Powder in Candlelight. For liquid highlighter, I love Benefit’s High Beam.
I loove the benefit highbeam, its amazing stuff, also if you enjoy powers the bare escentuals gossamers are gorgeous, i have a gold gossamer and rose gossamer! check it out!
I Love The Body Shop Radiant Highlighter. It’s a liquid formula and its only $14 for a lot of product!
I think these days the best highlighter is dior shimmer powder its wonderful perfect and I highly recommend this product everyone