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Top 10: Summer Highlighters
When I think of summer, I think gorgeous, glowing cheeks, and one of my weaknesses is a good highlighter. This post features ten of my favorite permanent highlighters, and some of them may be more blush-like on certain skin tones (and some are highlighting blushes on my medium skin tone), and I can’t wait to hear what your personal favorites are (share your skin tone!). I love liquid highlighters for mixing in with my moisturizer or foundation (typically the latter for me), while cream highlighters are lovely for a more dewy finish or to layer blush on top with for better hold and intensity.
Ballerina! <3
Such a pretty shade!
I looooove Cindy Lou!
It’s a nice one!
I love Becca Opal, I wear it under my foundation, it has added beautiful radiance to my dry to normal skin. I wear Nars Gobi/Mac NC 15.
It is really a gorgeous color!
Oh, no! I don’t own any of these. Not that I own that many highlighters to be honest! Hmmm, I should add at least one to my collection, huh? Maybe Kevyn Aucoin Starlight?
I loveeee Starlight so much! It is just enough color to be worn on its own but not too much color that it can still be layered! (On my skin tone, of course.)
I love the sound of this, it looks like the perfect item to add a bit of color and highlight at the same time. Your enthusiasm for it is contagious, too. I’ll have to give this a try when I can. Thanks, Christine!
Ohhh..this post speaks to my heart Christine! You know I share your love of highlighters. I have lost count of how many I have and that is one thing I think I will never say, enough. They are just so unique and do so much for your look IMO. I love the tip about layering a bream under a blush! I love all these- have all of them minus the CDP sand beige and Mary Lou.I may have to just buy them! lol. I want them both so badly! I must say,I love all of my highlighter and picking a favorite is almost like picking a favorite child to me, lol. But, I have been wearing ColourPop luminizers like they are going to drop off the face of the earth. I just love them! The cream-like consistency blends in so nicely with my skin and they last so nice with the hot weather. Plus, I love the ease of application and versatility of fingertip or brush application. My faves probably are highly waisted, Butterfly Beach, Monster, Hippo, and sticky Sweet. I also really am digging Tom ford’s Firelust. I think it was form last year’s collection. but, I actually just got mine this summer. So, it may still be available. So gorgeous! 😀
I totally blanked on the ColourPop highlighters once I started choosing! I have them categorized as a blush rather than a highlighter (I think I did that because a lot of them are more highlighting blushes, and I knew I would forget to look through for dupes for blushes in the future), but since I was only looking at highlighters, they skipped my mind. It is funny, too, because when I decided to do highlighters this morning, I was like, “Oh, I’ll have to make sure not to pick ALL ColourPop and ALL Becca!”
Haha..it’s really funny because I slathered on Starlight today!:D
I was gonna say, “no Colourpop??” 😉
Hello again! 😀 Ugh.. I’m like you here! But I caved long ago with CdP Pastel.. Luckily, all of them have a similar ColourPop highlighter so I can stop! LOL! 🙂
This thread is inspiring me to try ColourPop…. 🙂
I want all of the Becca and theBalm highlighters.
Yay!
Thank you for labeling the photos as well, so I don’t have to keep scrolling up and down to see what each thing is! (I know, it’s a little thing, and it’s probably more work for you, but I appreciate the effort! Thanks!)
Glad I could help!
I’m a surprised that Colour Pop didn’t make the cut
That’s a good question, LOL! I usually just sort through the Swatch Gallery to recall my favorites, and I remember going “Limit yourself to only a few,” and somehow they must have been categorized as something else. I just checked, and they come up under blush, which is why beyond my initial thought, I completely blanked after I started going, “Yes, I love that, and that… and that… oh that’s 15, put some back!”
I really want Ballerina, but I don’t know why the packaging just bothers me so much! So cheap looking for a mid-range product. I love Golden Honey, so I’ll probably end up getting Ballerina!
If it’s any consolation, keep in mind that most mid-to-high-end highlighters would actually cost more, I think. Like MAC MSFs/Extra Dimension (and Extra Dimension is a very comparable formula).
What! I don’t have any of them!!!!
No way!
I know!
I do have Mary Lou, though 🙂
It makes me so happy to see thebalm make your list. I think they’re one of the most underrated brands so it’s nice to see them get some love 🙂
They have some good products!
When would you decide to wear the Becca Rose Gold in pressed versus poured on a given day? For example if it’s more warm would you go the poured look? Or if you wanted a dewier appearance?
Poured if you want a dewier finish.
All gorgeous, but most are too dark for me. I have Cindy-Lou, and I have to wear it as a blush. lol The Kevin Aucoin Candlelight might work on me.
What are some of your favorites for your skin, Rachel? I picked ones that I wear a lot for my skin tone but was hoping to hear from readers on what works for them! 🙂
Well, I have very fair and oily skin, so my highlighters don’t change for the summer. I wear powdered highlighters year round. In no particular order: Too Faced Candlelight, The Balm Mary Lou-manizer, Notoriously Morbid Osteomancy, City Color Intense Exposure Highlighting Powder, e.l.f. Blush in Gotta Glow, e.l.f. Studio Baked Highlighters (all 3 shades, but Moonlight Pearls is my favorite), e.l.f. Studio Baked Blush in Pinktastic, Wet n Wild Fergie Glow To Reflect Shimmer Palette in Rose Champagne.
I still haven’t gotten the chance to try the Colour Pop highlighters.
Thank youuu!
Like them all but Becca Rose Gold would be a strong blush for me. Is Laura Geller’s a creme powder?
It’s more like a baked powder, though it’s the powder-gel-liquid formula (like MAC Extra Dimension, Estee Lauder Gelee, NARS Dual Intensity).
I’m a big fan of highlighters, and have several, but 2 of my favorites for hpt weather are Wet N’ Wild Reserve Your Cabana & Prestige Skin Loving Minerals Sun Baked Bronzing Powder in Pure Shimmer. Both provide a subtle, luminous glow that isn’t OTT, and absolutely no sparkle. They’re also talc-free, so when I reapply sunscreen throughout the day, nothing gets “cakey”. I’m fair/neutral, but I think both can be used by those with slightly deeper complexions.
An added bonus-both are under $10!
Thanks for the heads up, Amy! 🙂
I’m all for the glowing skin! I’m torn between the hourglass ethereal light (I have the diffusion light and I love it, but it is the same as my face color) and Cle de Peau Pastel (11)
Luminizing Face Enhancer. Any suggestions?
I think Cle de Peau would give you a more diversified highlighter stash, as it is less subtle than the Hourglass powders.
I just picked up all three of The Balm’s Loumanizers and they are really outstanding, plus they are so inexpensive compared to the other highlighters on your top 10 list. Cle de Peau’s highlighters are still my holy grail highlighters but The Balm’s prove you don’t need to go high end for a killer highlighter!
They have a great texture!
HIGHLIGHTER LOVE! Oh yeah! Temptalia Style! I think all of these are quality and GREAT picks for highlighters if one has medium- deeper skin tones, but the fairest can enjoy them in multiple ways as well! Or if you are really fair, just look at these and choose the same one in the lightest color offered! Everyone’s happy! Or enjoy the bronze-rosy glow they’ll give paler skin! In my world, I can’t say no to highlighters. Nope, just can’t.. I can hold off buying ones too expensive when I find dupes, thank you to Christine, but whether it’s an eyeshadow or blush, or truly a highlighter.. It’s all sooooo good to me! Great post! <3 XOXO!! Gorgeous!
Glad you liked my picks, Lotus!
I need one of those Becca highlights in my life! I’m torn between Topaz and Opal right now. They’re both just so pretty
I bet Topaz would be stunning on you!
I’ve been wearing Becca Poured Pearl — which is white, maybe considered more of a winter shade (?) — apologetically since it came out 😀
Nice 😀 What do you use to apply it, Vanessa?
Wohoooo
have half of these … want laura geller now 🙂
Yay!
Great post, does any find Cle de Peau highlighter really glittery? I have it at home and i have to say the texture and colour are amazing. I’ve heard people say that it isn’t glittery at all.
Christine would you say the Becca pressed powder highlighters are less shimmery than the Cle de Peau?
More shimmery than Cle de Peau.
I recently purchased “starlight” and it was a game changer, I may never buy another highlighter again,
Bare minerals, pure radiance is another good one.
It’s SO pretty!