Finding The Right Highlight

To say that highlighting is a big deal right now is a bit of an understatement. The hashtag #highlightonfleek has almost 100k posts on Instagram! Many brands are jumping on this trend, for example Benefit Cosmetics alone has six different highlighting products! There’s a good reason why people are still crazy about finding products to create a beautiful glow. Highlighters are an easy way to help your complexion look healthy and vibrant even if your skin is looking a little dull. And who doesn’t want that?

I’m a new mom and lack of sleep comes with the job description. Along with my (permanent) dark circles, my overall skin tone is looking a little lack lustre these days. If you are anything like me and your skin isn’t naturally radiant this is a great tip to fake a healthy glow. Here are a few of the highlighters that I am really liking right now!

Most highlighters tend to fit into three categories – gold, silver and pink. I tend to gravitate towards ones with more pink undertones but occasionally I will wear ones with a gold shimmer. Variety is the spice of life, right? 🙂 The three products I’m highlighting today (come on, I had to!) are the Smashbox Soft Lights Shimmer, TheBalm Cindy Lou-Manizer and the Josie Maran Argan Enlightening Illuminizer.

Smashbox Soft Lights Shimmer (similar)

This is my all time favourite! It definitely has a pink hue and gives your skin that “lit from within” glow. It’s very pigmented so you’ll get a fairly dramatic highlight from this one. Don’t worry, it’s not going to make you look like a disco ball but it will definitely be a noticeable highlight. I picked this up at Shopper’s Drugmart back when I was living in Canada but it looks like it’s been discontinued at Sephora (boo!) Smashbox has another highlighter called Fusion Soft Lights that’s similar if you can’t get your hands on this one!

Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illuminizing Veil

This pretty illuminizer is quite subtle and great for people just starting to experiment with highlighters. In fact, it’s so sheer it can actually be used all over your face as a setting powder! It will give your skin a barely-there glow that looks super natural. Compared to the Smashbox Soft Lights this powder is much more gold-toned, so if that’s your jam I’d highly suggest this one.

TheBalm Cindy-Lou Manizer Highlighter, Shadow & Shimmer

This peachy-pink highlighter can also be used as a blush or an eyeshadow. This is another highly pigmented powder, so a little goes a very long way. It does look quite pink on the skin so if you are using this as a highlighter be sure to match your blush shade accordingly. A coral blush might not be a good pairing for this highlighter so maybe reach for a pink blush instead. Or you can skip blush altogether and use this as a blush/highlighter combo!

What is your favourite highlighter at the moment? Let me know in the comments!