The Best & Worst of Fenty Beauty Killawatt Freestyle Highlighters

Fenty Beauty Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter ($34.00 for 0.24 oz./0.28 oz.) is available in two individual shades along with four duos. The formula is described ranging from “subtle dayglow to insanely supercharged” with a “cream-powder hybrid” formula that feels “weightless” and is long-wearing. They can also be used on the eyes, body, lips, and so forth, per the brand. They feel like a traditional powder, but they have a smooth, moderately dense texture that doesn’t kick up a lot of excess product in the pan but also does not feel stiff or difficult to pickup with the brush. The finishes varied from shade to shade; where Metal Moon was the most subtle and had a satin-to-pearl finish, Trophy Wife was the most over-the-top with chunky, obvious glitter and less base color compared to the other shades.

The duos featured a light-to-moderate highlighter on the left and then a more sparkly, metallic highlighter on the right with the exception of Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule, where the left shade (Ginger Binge) was more intense (possibly owing to the richer color and payoff). In general, I found the left, more subtle side of each duo to be sheer to semi-sheer, somewhat buildable, whereas the right, more metallic side was substantially more pigmented. All of the more intense highlighters (Trophy Wife and the right side of the duos) did accentuate the look of my skin’s natural texture to some degree.

For use on the eye, they worked better with a slightly dampened brush, as it gave the powder a bit more binding powder for better adherence to the lid, but the ones I tried on the lid were blendable and easy to apply with no real concerns from the application itself other than the potential for fallout over time.