What were your favorite highlighters from 2023?
Reviewed this year… elf Halo Glow!
— Christine
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MAC Cream Color Base in Shell and Benefit High Beam
Rare Beauty’s liquid and pressed formulas in Exhilarate and Mesmerize. Just beautiful. I have to use a light hand though because I could go from twinkle to moonbeam real quick.
All-time favorites that did make an appearance this year, if only for one application:
Chanel Eclat du Desert
Estée Lauder X Victoria Beckham Modern Mercury
Laura Mercier Matte Highlight 01
MAC Soft & Gentle
Tom Ford Soleil Neige Glow Highlighter in 01 Rose Irise
Guerlain Meteorites Highlighter palette, not sure when this released but I purchased it this year and have really been loving it. I use it as a highlighter, blush topper, eye shadow and on my lips over a matte lipstick. All but one shade are too dark to use as a straight up highlighter. I really love the Guerlian Meteorites and have several iterations of the product. I know a lot of people don’t care for them and I imagine they are into a more blinding highlight but even the OG product finishing powder, just gives a nice healthy look to the skin. I also like the old lady scent of lilacs!
I love Guerlaine Meteorites. I only have the original pearls. I use it every day and have yet to finish the jar after like two or so years.
I have about 4 of the limited edition ones plus the regular Meteorites in Claire. I didn’t get the Christmas LE release the year it was gold and white with little stars in it and by the time I realized I had missed getting it they were long gone. That is the proverbial “one that got away”, for me! I found it on Ebay a few years later but they wanted $300 for it and although I am crazy, I am not that crazy. I keep hoping they will release it or something really similar!
I am praying that 2024 is a better year for all of us but especially for you, Helene.
Thank you so much, Deborah! Surgery is done, I’m still swollen and have pain in strange places like the side of my ribcage. I don’t need any painkillers during the day, but do take some for the night. During the day it’s more a question of changing how I sit.
There are times when being, or having been a nurse makes life easier, like now after surgery. Understanding what’s been done and how the body reacts takes away some of the nervousness, I think.
I think I recall the Meteorite LE you mentioned, it was gorgeous.
I hope we all will have a better year this year.
I agree about being a nurse making things easier most of the time. I do remember after my mastectomy, the surgeon called me on a Saturday while I was still in the hospital recuperating from the surgery and TRAM flap reconstruction. He was putting on a cheerful voice and told me that all of the 17 axillary lymph nodes they had taken were negative for cancer. I told him, ” That would be great if my tumor was on the other side but since it was at 9 o’clock, that means it drains into my mediastinal lymph nodes so unless you took some of those, there isn’t much point!” He said, “This is why I hate taking care of nurses!”
Wonderful!
Thanks for putting a huge smile on my lips. Just what I needed! 😀
Count me in as someone else who loves the Meteorites. I’ve also got the pearls and that spectacular Cruel Gardenia pressed one from probably more than a decade ago. It is almost too beautiful to use (but I do use it when I feel I need a lift).
The Dior highlighters (from back before they reformulated so much and moved it all to Craptown) are wonderful too – Glowing Pink from the Glowing Gardens release is one of the most perfect highlighters for me.
I had to Google Cruel Gardenia. I recognized it immediately when I saw photos of it. It’s beautiful.
Dior used to be so good, though I think it’s had some dips in quality quite a lot of years ago. One can just hope they’ll find the way back from whatever it is they are trying to do now. I mean, really, what are they trying to achieve?
They’ve always had heavily fragranced skincare products (Dior, that is) and I don’t know that they’re actually any better than skin care costing half as much but this reformulation of some formerly great products – I find it so disappointing.
I loved the Dior Highlighters and Glowing Pink is a favorite. It amazes me how many beauty insiders think the “clean” products from Dior are just as good, if not better, than the previous formula. Luckily, I still find their lipsticks to be nice and just recently purchased Rendez-vous. It is a rosewood pink in the Satin formula and I love it. Just the perfect color if I want a little something but not too much. I also like that they sell the refillable cartridges at a lower price point so I can get a break. I just saw that they dropped their Spring release and it includes 2 LE quints, 1 new permanent quint, a blush, a couple of lippies and nail varnishes. Nothing looks particularly groundbreaking and the colors appear pretty basic. I do have a couple of quints that I bought off of Mercari and they were untouched, in the new formula. I don’t love it but there were shades that I thought would be great for one and done looks which is my new normal, so I got them. So far, no Spring release has wowed me and nothing at Christmas did either so must mean I am good for awhile, LOL!
I’ve never had a Dior lipstick – I just find the prices hard to justify. As for this whole move to “clean” generally, honestly, WHAT does that even mean? I’m old enough to remember when you could label just about anything “organic” and then governments here and in the US brought in criteria for what could be labelled “organic”. I don’t think anything similar exists for the nebulous descriptor “clean” and at my age, heck, I’ve used so many of the ingredients that I guess are not considered “clean” and, so far, I’m living to tell the tale! I remember when everyone was turning away from things like Vaseline – almost holding up garlic and crucifix at the thought of putting it on your SKIN but now, it seems, it is being embraced by the beauty community.
I, like you, am old enough to remember Vaseline and I use to slather it on my hands and put white gloves on and slept that way. My sister use to laugh at me as we shared a bed. Now, she frequently remarks on how much better my hands look than hers! Surprisingly, her face has no hyperpigmentation and she used nothing on her face and for that matter, still doesn’t. She worked outside in the sun everyday and never used sunscreen or wore a hat. She worked for 25 years that way. I used decent skin care although not daily sunscreen and I worked graveyards so slept all day. Rarely saw the light of day. Something is up with the whole hyperpigmentation thing because if what they say the cause is, doesn’t jive with my actual experience. You know what they say, “Everything old is new again!”
As far as I know there are no criteria for “clean” when it comes to makeup, skincare or haircare. It’s just a word meaning that the product doesn’t contain what’s by some considered nasty ingredients, some list the nastiness they haven’t put in their products.
Just a word.
Some oldies but goodies:
1.)ABH Amrezy
2.) MAC Double Gleam EDSF
3.) PMG Labs Golden Nectar
4.) ND Love Cheek duo highlighter
5.) ColourPop Tinkerbell SS Cheek highlighter.
2023 releases: Tom Ford Rose Irise, MUFE Wherever Pearl, ColourPop Spotlight, Sydney Grace Prism
Older favorites: Becca Pearl, ND Super Glow Fair, Nars Capri
Becca Pearl is probably my favourite.
I forgot about Becca Pearl. I have it in the poured liquid and the powder form and they are in my highlighter drawer but towards the back. Seeing you and Helene mention them, I have to dig them out!! Our taste and skin tones are so similar that I know where to look for product recommendations!
I ordered and loved the formula of the RMS Beauty Hydra Luminizer highlighter powder but ended up giving it away because it is too dark (medium gold) for my fair skin tone…I wish they would come out with a lighter version because it is a beautiful shine and not at all glittery. Would be gorgeous on someone with medium or dark complexion.
Oh the same ol same ol workhorse. Laura Mercier Baked Powder Highlighter #1. Is it going to blind anyone? No. This isn’t glam highlighter, this is my only go-to brush it on and I look pulled together. I also use this as eyeshadow (inner tear duct and lid) because it’s that subtle and just a plain ol classy color. I think it’s 9 grams so you’ll have it forrrrrever. Happy 2024 all xxx
Hourglass Ambient highlighters from the Snake palette. The one on top right, Infinite Strobe Light (Warm Gold) and bottom left, Sun Beam (Rich Peach).
Very wearable highlights – buildable and when buffed in create the smoothest glow. I often use the peach shade as a one and done eyeshadow. The whole palette is fantastic, especially for med-deep skintones.
Charlotte Tilbury glow glide in champagne. Loved it!
Bobbi Brown Highlighting Powder. It gives beautiful shine to the cheeks.
I’m not in the habit of buying separate highlighters, but I’m very much into the gradiant Suqqu Pure Color Blushes, where the right-hand end of the palette is usually highlight-y. In this context, my favorite highlight bought in 2023 was the lavender highlight in the PCB no. 143 Kouroihonoka. Soooo finely milled, so beautiful for someone like me, who is looking for something subtle.
My favorite this year is an oldie—I realized one day that I so thoroughly enjoy my Nabla highlighters (privilege in particular on my fair skin, but also ozone and amnesia) that I didn’t need—or even want!—to buy anything new. It’s been nice enjoying what I have!
No highlighters for me – I don’t use them.
I’m on the verge of completely panning my Rare Beauty Positive Light Liquid Luminizer in Enchant. So gentle, goes great with any look I pair it with.
Was it this year?…
Pat McGrath Xtreme Gold (02?)
I’m loving the Makeup by Mario SOFT GLOW HIGHLIGHTER it’ so buttery. It gives the perfect glow.
The Rare Beauty Liquid Highlight in Enchant and Silky Touch Highlight in Mesmerise; the KVD Metalcrush Eyeshadow in Thunderstruck (very old, but still so good); the highlight shade from the SG Luminous Light palette
BUT, all that to say that I’ve really been using glowy blushes more than anything to get that blush/highlight effect with less effort.
Like you, I have been loving blushes with a more glowy finish. I had forgotten about KVD Thunderstruck but likely because I didn’t use it as a face highlighter but rather on the lids and cupids bow. I don’t know if it was just me or what but that particular shade always shattered really easily. I think I have purchased three of them and all three shattered so I don’t have it anymore. It was a lovely shade though and next to her liquid lips, they were the only KVD makeup I have tried.
Glamlite x Friday the 13th Jason Lives Highlighter!
Okay – now that I’m understanding the question better, here goes:
Sadly, most of these (perhaps ALL) are discontinued:
Urban Decay Aura Afterglow Highlighter
Dior Glowing Gardens Glowing Pink Highlighter
Dior Nude Air Luminizer – 02
Guerlain Cruel Gardenia Illuminating Powder (not sure if that counts as a highlighter)
and – still available, I hope – The Balm Mary Loumanizer – one of my first and still right up there with the best of them!
It’s not a showstopper but for a day friendly casual glow nothing beats Essence pure nude – the orignal shade!
Also, on a whim I took my busted Wet n wild Blosstomine glow and mixed it with my generously panned Precious Petals, the reset it in the pan with a few spray of Fixy and OMG. As a glam highlighlight its freaking glorious! Can’t wait to experiment with some other quality things I have that I’m interest in “tweaking”! High recommend, if you have the patience for it!