Dial up the brightness with 7 must-have highlighters
The highlight of every cosmetic collection, which of our #CultBeautyEdit of glow-giving crème, gel and powder confections do you trust to dial up the brightness? Whether you like your glow subtle or strobe-lit, these major players are perfectly scene-stealing... GLOW forth but be warned: these traffic-stopping formulas aren't fit for shrinking violets...
"If you love blinding highlights with glitter, Milk Makeup's {Highlighter} is not for you" says one Cult Beauty devotee. "However, if you like more of a natural glow, this is *the one*. I really love how my skin looks and have applied it over and under foundation. It has a balm type texture but I don't find it sticky. I also love this on days when I don't feel like wearing foundation but want my skin to look good. It makes skin look beautiful, especially in sunlight."
On the flip side, Too Faced's phenomenal {Diamond Highlighter} is laced with light-scattering pigments to dazzle more brightly than anything winking in Tiffany's window. With a trio of shade-shifting colours to choose from, this bling will ensure you eclipse any ring... (move over Star of Africa).
We don't think you're ready for THIS jelly... With its bootylicious texture, Farsàli's incredible {Jelly Beam} (t)werks extra hard for its space in your gleam-granting arsenal. Beautifully buildable, this can be layered from lit-from-within to a don't-gaze-to-long-on-it sheen that is blindingly brilliant. Can *you* handle it?
"My looooong search for the perfect, golden highlighter to suit my pale complexion has now ended. NARS {Highlighting Powder} builds easily - from casual to captivating - to match my mood (and the occasion). And so far, I think this might last forever, even though I've had it for while. Worth every penny!"
The Hourglass {Vanish Flash Highlight Stick} defines 'glow goals'. Perfectly angled to emphasise cheekbones (and easily access your Cupid's Bow), this stick lends your skin a light, luminous lustre - melting imperceptibly to leave you looking naturally radiant. Just imagine a lightbulb in place of your brain *angels sing*.
Hip hip JOUER! For skin that looks strobe-lit, highlighter doesn't come brighter than Jouer's intense {Powder} formula. Velvety textured and so finely milled it diffuses with ease for a 'soft focus' finish, this glimmering pan of light-scattering pearls and crushed, luminous pigments ensures an ethereal sheen.
Are you even a make up obsessive without BECCA's {Shimmering Skin Perfector}? From best-loved 'Champagne Pop' to multi-tonal 'Ocean Glow', this 'Holy Grail' highlighter is the jewel in almost every make up crown you'd care to gaze upon. Winner of innumerable accolades (it scooped the 'Best Highlighter' title in Glamour's 2018 Power List), this perfect powder deserves pride of place in your highlighter shrine.
Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...
