Dew Drops Coconut Gel Highlighter, £32, Marc Jacobs
This glowy God-send is essentially dewy-skin in a bottle. It’s a high-shine pearlescent liquid, and a little goes a loooooong way. Dab a small amount in a ‘c’ shape from the top of your cheekbone to your temple and gently buff into the skin.
Hollywood Beauty Light Wand, £29, Charlotte Tilbury
Super simple to use, just wave this wand (OK, obviously it has to touch the skin, but you get the point…) over cheekbones, brow bones and temples for a high gloss but glitter-free effect. Sheer and neutral, it will work on any skin tone, too.
Bronze Sands 3D Highlight Palette, £40, Huda Beauty
We can’t help but go a bit teenager-at-a-Justin-Bieber-concert giddy when Huda drops a new product, and this had us screaming. In a good way. Great for darker skin tones, use it to contour and highlight to your heart’s content. And then selfie the sh*t out of it.
Custom Enhancer Drops, £34, Cover FX
Formulated to mix into your skincare or foundation, or layer on top of powder, this cult product adds an extra dimension to a dull or flat base. The liquid is smooth not sticky, and doesn’t clog pores or cake on the skin. There’s a colour for everyone, from the subtle bronze of ‘Moonlight’ to the Mermaid-y, iridescent ‘Halo’.
Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter, £26, Fenty Beauty
Want subtle? Natural? Just a hint of a glow? Look away now. This stuff is GOLD girl. Brilliant, buildable, long-wearing, shiny, blingy, unashamedly GOLD. Light-catching, eye-catching, mega stuff.
Nudies All Over Face Colour Glow, £30, Nudestix
This creamy stick of glowing goodness is a staple in our beauty writer’s makeup bag. It’s available in three shades: ‘Brown Sugar, Baby’, ‘Hey, Honey’ and ‘Illumi-naughty’. The latter is the silvery shade pictured, which blends into a fair complexion to add a super-dewy sheen. It’s far from powdery or glittery, and looks particularly lush when applied on the cupid’s bow.
Illuminating Powder, £42, Chanel
Kinda creamy, kinda powdery, this sits beautifully on the skin giving the tiniest hint of shimmer and a teeny touch of bronze, gold or pink colour. Tres chic, as you would expect from Chanel.
Magic Luminizer, £36, RMS Beauty
Not only does this cream – loved by celebrities and beauty editors – give a flawless, luminous, seamlessly blendable finish, but it also nourishes skin with jojoba and coconut oil. A beauty boffin’s must-have.
Strobe of Genius Illuminating Highlighter Palette, £16, NYX
You can’t really go wrong with 7 highlighters for the price of one, and especially when they’re as good as these. Illuminating and velvety-smooth, mix-and-match them to go beaming-bronze or glistening-glow.
Copacabana Illuminator, £23, NARS
Glide this over the cheekbones for a pop of perfectly pink and pearlescent shine. Or mix a drop into your base product for an all-over glow. Or just enjoy Barry Manilow’s crowd-pleasing song which is undoubtedly now playing in your head.
Gleam, £25, Illamasqua
This creamy formula adds an iridescent glow rather than a blinding shine. If you’ve got oily skin, this one – buffed in so there’s no ‘slick’ – is for you.
Ambient Lighting Powder, £40, Hourglass
If you want to use highlighter but don’t want to look like you use highlighter, give this a try. The golden-beige shade gives a sun-kissed glow, and the finely milled pigment blurs pores whilst reflecting light.
Strobe Cream, £25, MAC
One of the first and still one of the best, brighten up dull skin with a sneaky strobe. A tiny bit – patted on with your fingertips – goes a long way, so expect the tube to last forever. And ever. And ever.
‘Love Lights’ Prismatic Highlighter, £25 each, Too Faced
Giving us serious Polly Pocket vibes, these give radiance with a touch of shimmer. Our fave is ‘Ray of Light’, because we’re suckers for a bit of rose gold.
‘Moonstone’ Shimmering Skin Perfector Best Highlighter, £32, Becca
The ultimate in iridescent pressed powder glow, ‘Moonstone’ is a pale honey tone that suits both fair and darker complexions. Expect all-day highlight with a light dusting.
