This silky fluid is the definition of ‘strobe’ finish. You only need the tiniest drop for an impactful, metallic sheen.
If you like your skin dewy and mermaid-like, wear on its own, or layer with a golden powder to take it to Jlo-level.
Soleil Glow Drops, £33, Tom Ford
Highlighter, £14, Morphe
Available in six mesmerizing shades, this finely milled highlighter is guaranteed to give a true-to-skin glow.
Twilight Radiance Palette, £30, Bareminerals
The creamy trio may look punchy in the pan, but they blend like a dream to leave the skin with a natural sheen of colour. More illuminator than highlighter, you can layer for a fully lit effect, or mix and match the colours depending on whether you’re after a rosy glow or golden halo.
Doll Light Duo, £25, Doll Beauty
This highlighter went viral after beauty bloggers praised its glowing prowess, catapulting it to sell-out status. The GLAMOUR team tried it and can confirm it’s one-swipe of blinding light. Lucky for us, the shades are also available singularly, so snap them up now if you like your highlighter to be seen from space.
Face Illuminator, £32, Laura Mercier
Mesmerising in the pan, and even more mesmerising on the skin, Laura Mercier’s highlighter is powder in texture but dewy in finish. It’s also easily buildable, so you can go from subtle to woah glow, depending on your mood.
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.
