A premium highlighter stick helps you achieve a subtle glow or a classier look. The consistency makes it easy to blend for a natural-looking flush of color, so if you want a way to keep your skin glowing, a highlighting stick is your best bet. But, at the end of the day, choosing a quality highlighter stick requires significant consideration. So, to help you make a choice, we have prepared this buying guide to lead you to a highlighting stick that’ll provide the ideal glow.
Make sure you choose a highlighting stick one to two shades brighter than your skin tone. If your skin is yellow or warm, you might want to pick a highlighter with bronze or gold undertones that is easy to blend. But, if you’re on the cooler end of the spectrum, you can use highlighters in pearlescent white or opal.
Consider the color of your veins to figure out the right undertone. If your veins look greenish, your undertone is warm, but if they look blueish your undertone is cool. Fairer, more balanced undertones have veins that are both green and blue.
Highlighter sticks are available in numerous textures and formulations, some of which are meant to last all day, while others are more temporary. Powder finishes disappear or get absorbed by the base makeup, but cream-sheen highlighters tend to last longer and have a greater chance of becoming greasy.
As most highlighter sticks are creamier than their counterparts, you can consider the texture of the products after applying. If your skin type ranges from normal to oily, selecting a product with a drier finish will help minimize the intensity of the oiliness. If you have normal to dry skin, a well-hydrated highlighter will make you shine without breaking or separating.
Avoid products that have ingredients like phthalates, parabens, mineral oils, formaldehyde, and petroleum. The former enhances the life span of products but also incites new allergens, while the latter are hydration-inducing moisture substitutions. Consider products that include components like grapefruit oil, almond oil, wax, or beeswax, which are excellent for growing and nourishing your skin. Mica is the prime ingredient utilized in practically all highlighters, but you should always see if it contains synthetic Fluorphlogopite mica instead.
Your choice of finish will depend heavily on the kind of appearance you desire. Generally, dewy, silky, and glossy finishes are both safe and effective to use. Consider highlighter sticks that are pigmented, slightly sparkly, and provide you with a shiny, glamorous look.
The L’Oreal Paris Highlighter Stick features shining pigments in a creamy formulation that produces a dazzling shine and brightens your complexion effortlessly. This buildable, brilliant highlighter lasts up to 24 hours and can be easily blended for any necessary touch-ups. Even more, its creamy texture minimizes the appearance of facial wrinkles and creases while imparting a natural, healthy shine.
Effortlessly apply it to your face’s high points and blend it with your fingertips or a beauty sponge for a naturally enhanced complexion. Meanwhile, the formula’s high concentration of shea butter keeps your skin nourished throughout the day. This product is the best on our list due to its long-lasting effects, smooth texture, and glistening sheen, making it a wonderful choice.
The Maybelline New York Highlighter Stick enhances your skin’s radiance and confidence. It’s the ideal highlighter stick for brightening and adding texture while completing your appearance with a precise strobe effect. Best of all, this strobing stick is non-comedogenic, safe to use, perfect for all skin types, and suitable for people with sensitive skin.
The creamy formula itself is packaged in a spherical, chubby stick, and a small amount is sufficient to impart a natural but dazzling glow to the face. This highlighter stick is an excellent choice as it has a natural, radiant sheen that can be built up for a dramatic look.
The Physicians Formula Highlighter Stick is a multi-use, cream-to-powder highlighter loaded with nutrients to produce a naturally brighter appearance. This highlighter’s creamy texture minimizes the appearance of wrinkles on the face and is also ultra-blendable and buildable, so you don’t need to worry about over-application.
This highlighter stick’s formula contains organic jojoba oil, botanical cactus flower, and organic aloe vera to help achieve a naturally radiant look. Also, it’s free of parabens and gluten and doesn’t cause allergies, so it’s a pretty safe option for your skin.
The ONLYOILY Highlighter Stick features natural, waterproof, and non-toxic components, while its smooth and blendable texture makes creating the perfect makeup simple. With the modeling pen, you can easily apply the contouring shade to the cheek cavities, sides of the nose, and the chin line.
This waterproof highlighter dual-stick provides a perfect look, and with its thin and compact form, you can effortlessly keep it in your pocket. Even better, you don’t only have to create a natural 3D beauty look, but can also apply it to your body to highlight your abs or collarbone. When you’re done, you may easily wash it off with a cleanser or makeup remover.
The Thrive Causemetics Highlighting Stick is an eyeshadow pen-shaped stick that bends up and allows you to add extra glow and contour to your brow bone. This long-lasting, cream-to-powder highlighting stick offers depth and dimension to your entire look, blends well into your skin, and finishes with an all-natural bronzy glow and color. It’s easy to shade on the back of the hand and apply with your finger for an easygoing appearance with multi-dimensional shades and brightness. Also, it covers the effect of any wrinkles, dark spots, or lines and helps reduce the anti-aging effects, maintaining the natural glow for a long time.
A:
It depends on the type of finish you want. The creamy texture of highlighter sticks enables them to last longer without leaving you feeling chalky, like certain powder products do.
A: You can use a highlighter in many different ways. After putting on your base makeup, a dot of highlighter is usually all you need to cover up a spot. You can also use it by mixing a small amount of base and blending the two. This keeps light from moving around your face and makes the brightest parts of your face stand out more.
A: Generally, you should apply a highlighter to your cheekbones' high points. You can also apply it on the tip of the nose, cupid's bow, inner eye corners, and underneath the brow bone.