Highlighters are one of the makeup trends that I wasn’t really too keen on. Sometimes they look too much, and on my oily skin they make my face look dirty at the end of the day. But I have to say that when done properly in the right amount, they make you look glowy and ethereal and sometimes I even like to layer them to make my cheekbones a bit more poppin’.
I love my Sundipped Glowkit from ABH especially the ‘Summer’ shade, but that could go too overboard at times. I found that for me powder highlighters are particularly a bit harder to navigate, especially the ones that have some intense sparkle like the Anastasia Glowkit ones. So I’ve been dabbling into cream highlighters to get a more controlled glow. The two that I’ve tried and love are City Color’s Illuminating Cream and L.A Girl’s Velvet Contour Stick in ‘Radiance’. They come in different texture and finish, and I love them for different reasons. Here’s why.
City Color’s Glowing
Complexion Illuminating Cream (long name) is a one-shade-fits-all type of
cream highlighter. When you swatch it on your hand, it looks a bit pearly
pink-ish with visible sparkles. Not too much, but enough to make your
cheekbones beaming to the next century. I love it when I want my highlighter to
look a little bit next level, and sometimes I even layer powder highlights on
top of it (shocking!). I recommend taking this product a tiiiiny bit on your
finger (this illuminating cream packs a lot of punch) and dab it on the tops of
your cheekbones and along the bones around your eyes all the way to your brow bone
(that ‘C’ shape all those beauty gurus are talking about, ya know?). Make sure
to blend well to avoid the stripy highlights look. Don’t worry, the Glowing
Complexion Illuminating Cream won’t blend away, instead it will give you a
healthy shine and glow.
Staying power is pretty nice but if you have oily skin, it
might won’t stay as long. I recommend layering it with a powder highlighter to ‘set’
it and stretch the staying power. But for day to day basis, I can still see my
highlighter at the end of the day, and it looks even more natural once I got my
grease on (gross? Lol ok). The problem is when you accidentally put on too much
at the get go, this one’s pretty hard to wipe away. So start small and build
your way up. Putting in on the back of your hand helps too, so you get a more
controlled application. All in all, I love this one and I read somewhere on
Pinterest that this is a dupe for MAC Strobe Cream. I never tried that one and I
doubt I ever will, but it’s nice to know since it’s really popular and looks
nice on Allana Davison (it’s her favorite to mix in with foundation).
Before I tried the City Color Illuminating Cream, I’ve dabbled in to the world of cream highlighters and tried the L.A. Girl Velvet Contour Stick in ‘Radiance’ which you know is my favorite for no makeup makeup days. They’re called contour stick but that range actually carries blushes and highlighters too, not just contour products. They are cream products in a stick with their shades on the packaging so you know what’s what. The only downside is that since L.A. Girl is on the more affordable end of the makeup spectrum, the quality of the packaging is not the best so the writings will eventually come off and you no longer know what’s what. But this one in ‘Radiance’ (I double-checked) is really pretty on the skin and if you are longing for that healthy, subtle, barely-there type of highlight, this one is your girl.
That being said, this one is not the best if you think you can just swipe it on the cheeks and head out the door. No, no. You need to be careful doing that because it can (and will—have, rather) mess up your base a bit, moving your foundation around and whatnot. Especially if you’ve powdered and then decide to apply this on—do not do that. Better scratch that plan. What you wanna do is rub it on your fingers, load it up there and then apply to the cheeks and the whole ‘C’ area business with said fingers. Tap, tap, tap, and dab, dab, dab. It will look as natural as the glow you get after a workout (or so people say, I don’t do workout all that much and when I do I don’t get that glow I get really hot and bothered). It look so subtle and so healthy, but you can build it up and make your cheeks look almost wet if you so desire. This is a pretty ‘safe’ product and you can also reapply if you feel your glow has dimmed a bit after a long day.
Have you tried these beauties before? How do you like them? I prefer them to my Anastasia Glowkit Highlighters these days especially for work (don’t wanna accidentally blind my coworkers with my glowing cheekbones, y’all). Before you go, let me know your favorite cream highlighters in the comments!
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