A brand's own highlighter is a lovely start, but I like to know what else lives in the same neighborhood. Highlighters come in three moods, and I would pick by the skin you have on the day.

For lit-from-within skin, the liquids are easiest. Saie's Glowy Super Gel is a lightweight multipurpose illuminator that you can dot on wherever you want a little light. Rare Beauty's Positive Light Liquid Luminizer is softer and reads as healthy skin, not shimmer. Dior's Forever Glow Maximizer is the longwear liquid one, and I like it for an all-over radiance.

Fenty Beauty's Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Gloss Luminizer is the odd one out, since the name says it is a gloss, but I like it dabbed on the high points of the face as much as on lips.

For a stronger finish, powders are better. Anastasia Beverly Hills' Glow Seeker Champagne Gold is a warm, golden powder, the strongest glow of the group. Benefit's Cookie and Tickle Shimmer Finish Powder Highlighters are gentler and easy to build in layers.

Use a small fluffy brush for powder and your fingertip for liquid. Warm skin takes either one better, so press, do not swipe. If you wear a matte blush, put a liquid glow on top of it, not under it, and the finish will look layered on purpose. Mixing a dot of liquid highlighter into a tinted balm is another small trick that works on a rushed morning.

Lip oil sits between a gloss and a balm. It is thinner than gloss, it feels soft rather than sticky, and it can go over lipstick without dragging it.

Tower 28's ShineOn Lip Jelly is the non-sticky one, a hydrating oil with a wet-look shine. Gisou's Honey Infused Hydrating Lip Oil is glossier and slightly richer, a good option for a dry afternoon. Merit's Shade Slick is a tinted lip oil, and I like it when I want a little color without lining or blotting. Rare Beauty's Soft Pinch Lip Oil Stick is the tidiest of the group, since a stick does not touch your fingers or your hair on a windy day.

Fenty Beauty's Gloss Bomb Oil is the plumpest, a luminizing lip oil and gloss in one. Tom Ford's high-shine gloss, made with hydrating jojoba oil, is the high-shine finish for the times you do want to look polished and a bit dressed up.

What I would skip: stacking two thick glosses in a row, or putting a heavy gloss on before a scarf or a long hair day, when it will catch strands. Choose one glossy layer, blot once with a tissue if it feels too slick, and then add a little more only in the center of the lips.

When I pack a small makeup bag, I keep one product for each job and nothing that repeats. The r.e.m. beauty mascara and liner marker for eyes, one blush, one glow product, and one lip.

For a party, the easy formula is blush, topper, liner flick and gloss. For an office day, it is blush, a soft luminizer and a tinted oil, done in under five minutes. Glow products belong where light already hits: cheekbones, brow bones and the center of the lower lip. Anywhere else, they show pores.

Look at your face in a mirror in the natural light before you leave. Glow should look like skin that slept well, and glitter should stay in the pot. If you can see every piece of sparkle, wipe a little off with a clean fingertip and go on with your day.