My Highlighter Collection: Powders, with Video


Getting decent pictures of highlighters on my shockingly pale inner arm is harder than I realized. :) My arm is probably NC0-5, for reference. I made a couple videos blabbing about my highlighter collections too.

L to R: Elizabeth Arden, pixi, Physicians Formula,
NARS, pixi (Golden Energy)
I bought the Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish Highlighter in Rose Illumination because it had that magical phrase "rose gold" associated with it. It's a pink with a heavy dose of gold shimmer, when applied heavily in a swatch it looks like a good pink base with gold that flashes at angles - but on the cheeks it's mostly just a lovely gold.

Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish Highlighter in Rose Illumination
pixi All Over Magic in Brightening Radiance

Both the pixi All Over Magic in Brightening Radiance and Physicians Formula Happy Boosters powder in Translucent have a pearl effect, the Physicians Formula can be more pink if you swirl around the cute little heart or avoid it if you like.

Physicians Formula Happy Boosters Powder in Translucent

On the beige/bronze/gold end of the spectrum I have several. I prefer warmer tones in general, though I think for highlighting both work well with my skintone. But warmth works more naturally with my freckled cheeks!

L to R: theBalm, Wet 'N Wild, LORAC, Dior,
 Dior (light strips only)
theBalm Mary Lou-Manizer is a champagne light gold, very shimmery but not metallic. Very pretty and a great deal when you can pick it up discounted on hautelook.com or I believe TJ Maxx sometimes has theBalm? So I have heard at least, I have Marshalls and they rarely have any makeup.

theBalm Mary Lou-Manizer
I only recently picked up Wet 'N Wild ColorIcon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana, it's a light beige type highlighter and it has a nice level of sheen. It's not as shimmery as Mary Lou-Manizer or Dior Amber Diamond, more like the shine from the Physicians Formula Happy Boosters. It is a little powdery and if you really swirl a brush in there will be powder everywhere! But oh, the subtle shine on the cheeks. So worth the very affordable price!

Wet 'N Wild ColorIcon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana
Also in that kind of beige range is LORAC Perfectly Lit Luminizer in Spotlight - but it has an interesting level of seeming coverage. It can smooth out texture on your cheeks a tad, very lovely effect! It's less frosty than Mary Lou-Manizer but does have more shine than Reserve Your Cabana.

LORAC Perfectly Lit Luminzer in Spotlight
And of course, what everyone seems to love above all else - Dior Diorskin Shimmer Powder in Amber Diamond. Most just call it Amber Diamond. Surely you know what we mean! I'm not sure why this became such a blogger/youtuber sensation, it is gorgeous and finely milled - but so are many highlighters! I suspect it's the gorgeous packaging and design in the product, having the strips so you can customize a bit the shade you get. It is beautiful, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's an absolute must-have. It's very pigmented, when everything is swirled together it's fairly bronzed looking, extremely shimmery.

Dior Diorskin Shimmer Powder in Amber Diamond

Physicians Formula, NARS, pixi, theBalm
Lastly the light golds! Another popular higher end highlighter is NARS Albatross. It's a white light gold, you can see in the swatch it has a fairly strong gold flash while the base is more white. It's smooth, pigmented and quite beautiful! I just wish I hadn't bought this trio which has way more Laguna bronzer than I need and a difficult to use thin strip of Albatross.

NARS trio with Albatross in
the middle (Orgasm blush, Laguna bronzer)
Last thing, I completely forgot to mention in the video, pixi Energy Blush in Golden Energy! I've depotted it and it lives in my z-palette. It's the only highlighter that I have (argh! I just remembered I have a MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Pink Porcelain that's a highlighter with glitter, no less) that has visible sparkles. There are some larger pieces of shimmer and it's a little powdery. It's not my favorite, but it does have a nice light white gold shimmer.

pixi Energy Blush in Golden Energy
So, that's about it! Whew. Not including the Pink Porcelain MSF, oops. What are your favorite powder highlighters? Any that you're dying to try? Want to tempt me into buying something else since clearly I don't have enough?! ;)

Comments