Thanks to Kim Kardashian and many other celebs, there has been a spike in the trend of highlighting and contouring. We all know that contouring is essentially carving out areas of your face and creating shadows in order to look more sculpted and create a more desirable face shape. But then what about highlighting?
Ahh, highlighting. This is a technique used to bring LIGHT back to the face. To make you look dewey, like you’re glowing from within. It can be as simple as a little placed at the high points of your face, like the tops of the cheek bones or under the brow, to ‘strobing’, which is just highlighting anywhere and everywhere and skipping contouring altogether.
You DO NOT need super expensive products to achieve this look. I’ve rounded up some of my absolute favorite drugstore options that quite frankly I don’t think I could live without. Ranging from primers to powders to creams and liquids, these highlighters will work on ANY skin tone, guaranteed! Let’s get started!
HARD CANDY SO BAKED BRONZER in TIKI ($9/Walmart)
I know, bronzer. You may be thinking ‘I thought we were here for HIGHLIGHTERS?’ but this shade in particular, as far as I can tell, has NO bronzing power to it whatsoever. It’s a beautiful peach/gold highlight that its so versatile, I find myself using it just about everywhere – cheeks, cupids bow, the inner corner of my eyes, the brow bone, you name it. BECAUSE it’s got that warmer undertone to it, though, I tend to use this more in the late spring and through the summer when I’ve already got a little color going on in my face. It just enhances that summer glow, making you look like a beaming, glowy, bronzed goddess. It’s a staple in my collection, and one I reach for the most frequently.
WET N WILD COLOR ICON BRONZER in RESERVE YOUR CABANA ($4/Walgreens)
Another bronzer? Technically, yes. Again, this is far too light to be considered a bronzer, in my opinion. However after seeing it compared to Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm, and mentioned with great affection by YouTube’s Jessica Braun (jambeauty89 – go check her out – she’s awesome!) I finally went out and picked one up. It’s not quite as….shiny?….as the typical highligher, but it does have just enough punch to give a fresh, dewey effect that makes you look healthy. I was hesitant because I haven’t had much luck with Wet n Wild products in the past, but I have to say, they’ve really stepped up their game from being that cheap, poor quality middle/high school brand I remember! I’m definitely impressed with this one!
L’OREAL MAGIC LUMI LIGHT INFUSING PRIMER ($10/Walmart)
This is a great product for those with dry skin and a dull complexion. On someone with oily skin, like me, I would strongly advise that you use with caution. This, as with any other primer, goes on BEFORE your foundation, unlike all the other highlighters in this post. This product, however, will probably be the one that give the most NATURAL looking highlight. Here’s a tip for my combo or oily-skinned girls who are interested in trying this product out : MULTI-PRIME. It’s the same concept as multi-masking, but here you would use say, an oil control primer where you tend to get oily, like the t zone, and then the Magic Lumi primer in places that you want to look dewey, like maybe the tops of the cheek bones, or to brighten the area under your eyes.
PHYSICIAN’S FORMULA MINERAL GLOW PEARLS in BEIGE PEARL ($13/Target)
Physicians Formula makes some pretty amazing products. I’m the proud owner of many, and while they’re on the higher priced end of the drugstore beauty spectrum, they really are worth the buy. Something about this product though, when it touches the skin, literally almost takes my breath away. It’s a very neutral highlight – not too white, gold, pink, peach – just beautiful. It almost reminds me the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal. I don’t own the Becca product, so I couldn’t justifiably call it a dupe, but in pictures and swatches that I’ve seen, it looks strikingly similar to me.
e.l.f. SHIMMERING FACIAL WHIP in LILAC PETAL and SPOTLIGHT ($1/eyeslipsface.com)
Both of these are great options on any skin tone. They can be a tad on the pigmented side, so less is more, but considering they’re only $1 (yup, you read that right!) they literally last forever! They come in several shades, but if I were to pick two faves, and two that would work on any skin tone, these would be it. Lilac Petal is just what it sounds like – a very subtle lilac undertone, great on pale skin. And while I’ve yet to try it myself, is said to be a spot on dupe for Benefit High Beam, for so much less! Spotlight is a bright, frosty, snow white shade, also suitable for anyone, but really pops on medium to darker skin tones. They even have a shade called ‘Toasted’ which I haven’t tried yet, but looks to be a very neutral undertone, somewhere between gold and pink, like if they had a little dewey, shimmery baby. I’ll be tossing a few of those into my next e.l.f. order for sure! They have great lasting power for a $1 product (I know I didn’t expect much but was SUPER impressed!) and I happily recommend them to anyone!
REVLON HIGHLIGHTING PALETTE in ROSE GLOW and BRONZE GLOW ($12/ULTA)
Each of these palettes contains 5 individual shades, and in my eyes these are TOTAL dupes for the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks. You definitely get the rose and bronze tones from these, but they’re still very versatile and wearable on every skin tone. I even like to multitask with the Bronze Glow palette and use some of those shades as eyeshadows in the warmer months. These are probably a little more powdery than some of the other powder highlighting products mentioned about, but you don’t lose a TON of product when tapping of your brush. I would recommend a light handed application and then build on it to your desired intensity.
There are endless highlighting products out there on the market now, and more popping up every day! What are some that YOU guys love? Have you tried any of the ones I’ve mentioned above? Any new suggestions to expand my collection? Leave me comments below!
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