A highlighter catches light on the high points of your face, and the format decides how it looks. Here are pressed powders, liquids and glassy sticks, with where each one works best.
Highlighter, From Strobe Cream to Glassy Sticks: Powders, Liquids and Balms
Contouring goes back to Elizabethan stage actors shaping their faces with chalk and soot, but the modern highlighter is younger. MAC launched Strobe Cream in 2000, widely credited as the first mass-market version in America, though the idea did not really catch on until strobing went viral around 2015 as a softer alternative to contour. Now every brand has one, in every texture. The first row is pressed. Fenty Beauty launched in September 2017 with 40 foundation shades, and Killawatt is a cream-powder hybrid you can use on face and eyes. Anastasia Soare emigrated from Romania in 1989, built a brow method on the golden ratio and opened her Beverly Hills salon in 1997; Glow Seeker is her champagne powder. Benefit began in 1976 when the twins Jean and Jane Ford opened The Face Place in San Francisco, choosing makeup over a casserole cafe by coin toss, and Cookie and Tickle are superfine powders. Yves Saint Laurent launched its first makeup in 1978, and Hyper Luminize comes in a couture clutch. Pressed formulas suit oily skin and last longest over foundation.
Liquids for a lit-from-within glow
Liquids blend into skin, so they read as glow rather than shimmer. Dior's Forever Glow Maximizer comes from the house Christian Dior founded in 1946. Laney Crowell started Saie from a blog called The Moment, naming it after asking readers what was missing, and Glowy Super Gel is a lightweight illuminator you can mix into moisturizer. MAC was created in Toronto in 1984 by the makeup artist Frank Toskan and the salon owner Frank Angelo to hold up under studio lights, which explains Lightstruck's gleam. Carisa Janes says Hourglass's Ambient powders were inspired by her mother's pink lightbulbs, and Unreal Liquid carries that same flattering light.
Glassy sticks and a balm, and the skip
Sticks are the fastest, one swipe on the cheekbones and done. Dior's Backstage Glow Stick goes from glossy to pearlescent, and the founder of Westman Atelier, who did makeup for Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, makes Lit Up without petrochemicals such as silicone. Milk Makeup grew out of Milk Studios in New York, and its stick adds hyaluronic acid. Violette Serrat, formerly a creative director at Dior, launched Violette_FR in 2021 with Baume Shine, inspired by how Neoclassical painters handled light. What I would skip is glitter on textured skin. Chunky shimmer sits in pores, so choose a fine pearl or a balm.
Where to place it
Tap it high on the cheeks, just above the blush, then along the brow bone and the center of the nose. Add a touch to the cupid's bow. Apply cream before powder, and powder over powder. Less is more in daylight. Check your face near a window before you leave, since indoor light hides a heavy hand. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together The Best Blush for Mature Skin, From Melting Balms to Sheer Liquids and Charlotte Tilbury Blush.
