Highlighters that double as blushers

When I was featuring (some of) my highlighter stash recently, I mentioned that I owned a few that doubled up as blushers, and I thought I'd show you those too. If you've followed my makeovers in any great detail, then at least one of these will be very familiar to you!

This is my Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips in Natural Glow which I won in a giveaway over at London Beauty Review quite recently. on the peachy side of natural, this gives great glowy definition where you want it, and is great for pure highlighting when you just want sheen.  The swatch on the right shows all the shades swirled together, but the darker two strips at the bottom are ones that I've used very successfully as a blush shade too.

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Apricot.  This isn't one I use much, as I think it needs a bit of tan to make it work properly, so it's one I'm going to make massive amounts of use of this summer, being coral is massive this year!  It's the same quality as my BB Beige shimmer brick, which I never miss an opportunity to use, and I'm sure this one won't let me down either! It's a little more on the gold-y side than the Physicians Formula above, not too sure if that's visible in the pics.

Finally, what is probably my favourite highlighter of all time, Cargo Plant Love Illuminator in Wind.  A swirled (baked) mix of bronze and two shade s of pink, this is something that I find never fails to lighten and brighten even the dullest of complexions. Plus, mad packaging aside, it's also very pretty to look at.  Applied with a light hand, it gives a very pretty flush of colour to the cheeks, but you can also use it to give a sunkissed look, as in this makeover here.

Do you have any multi-purpose blushers and highlighters?  What are your favourites?

Highlighters - Pressed Powders

Whoo, got here eventually!  Now, pressed powders are my favourite kind of highlighters, I just find them easier to apply, and they're more forgiving when you accidentally overapply.  first off, let's take a look at a highlighter I recently rediscovered as a result of my rummaging:

Trish McEvoy Blush Highlight: Oh, this is a pretty one.  Yes, it's a bit sparkly in the pan, but it applies very silkily (is that a word?), and it adds a very nice hint of colour to your cheekbones.  This one is especially good swirled over your blusher, or over a bronzer to bring it to life a little. Now I've rediscovered it, I'm going to use it more and more often.  I love the colours in my charger, and digging it back out has reminded me that there are a couple of slots free, and I'm thinking I might fill them with some more eyeshadows.  Trish McEvoy is a great brand - if you can avoid being sold the ENTIRE RANGE whenever you step near their counters - and I'll talk to you more about the rest of the things I have from her soon.

I've posted about this one before: YSL Y-Mail Palette.  Shall we play a game of spot the swatch?  It is there, I promise you, first one to tell me where it is gets a prize! Ironically, even though it hasn't photographed at all well, I do still like this one a lot, as you can tell from where the lettering has been wearing off! It's a subtle (if you avoid the glittery bit) brightening powder that just adds a hint of glow to your finished makeup, and stops your foundation looking too cake-y, in the same way a spritz of toner is meant to.  I don't do the toner thing, being a non-believer in it, and also, having a mild paranoia about spraying things on my face.  But yes, be wary of the glitter if you go for this one.

Saving what is probably my favourite for last: Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Beige. I don't know if you can tell from the pic but this is one battered piece of kit!  Several of the strips have fallen out over the years (and it is several years old), have been pushed back in, it's been dropped - a lot - and it was used practically every day for about three years, as a highlighter and an eyeshadow (can't do that with a liquid illuminator, alas!), and it's still going strong.  I thought it wouldn't be versatile when I bought it, but I was very wrong - I remember thinking "Urgh, beige, how boring!"  at the time, but it's great on most skin-tones, and the addition of the more pinky-golden shades mean you can use the individual strips as brow, cheek or eye colours, should you want to.  Highly recommended.

I'm away this weekend, so there won't be any posts - sorry! - but I'll be back on Monday with some Illuminators that double up as blushers.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Highlighters - loose powders

Following on from yesterday's post, here's some loose powder highlighters I have.  To be fair, there's only two, but there is a reason for that, as we'll see:

Revlon Skinlights highlighter: I'm not sure if this one is still available or not, but it's one I'm not that fond of, being a bit, well, gravelly, and exceedingly glittery. A little bit of it does go a very long way though, this pot is a couple of years old (it has seen regular use) and it's still very full.  It's great if you want to dress yourself up as a fairy, or need something with a little more pizazz. Subtle it isn't. It's also useful dusted very lightly over a matte eyeshadow look to give it a shimmery, glittery effect, which is what I mainly use it for. But it's far too glittery for use as a cheek highlight on my pale-custard coloured skin, alas.

Bare Escentuals Clear Radiance: I've had this little pot for a while, and I'll be honest, I don't use it very often.  It's not actually meant to be used as a highlighter proper (or what I think of as proper highlighter use, anyway, which might not be the same thing), it's more meant to  be used as an all-over "brightening" or radiance powder.  I find the lightly pinky peach shade is fairly flattering, more so than the more usual silvery pinks, but even so, I can't figure out a way to use this without it making me feel like I'm wearing a gauze-y mask.  Anyone else have this problem?

Am I missing a trick here?  Are there any loose highlighter powders around that are amazing? What are your recommendations?

Reader Request - Highlighters

When I wrote this post about the YSL Palette Y-Mail highlighter a few weeks ago, one of my lovely readers, Renata asked about my favourite highlighters, and what I'd recommend.  Well, my first thought, I have to admit was "I don't have many highlighters, I'll never get a full post out of that!".  I was wrong.  A quick scout around my makeup collections (yes, I have more than one) turned up 13 of the shimmery little suckers.  And, since I rounded them up and took pictures of them, I found a few more too.  Clearly, I have too much makeup.

I thought instead of one mahoosive post of various shiny strips of skin with barely any differences between them, I'd break up the posts into the different textures.  Today, it's liquids and creams:

Nars Copacabana: Much as I love my Nars multiples (and I do!) I have to say that this one doesn't really do much for me.  It's a little frosty on my skin, even when blended in really well.  A beautiful shade for cooler skintones, perhaps, but I end up looking a little metallic, which is never a good look. I've since swapped this one for something I love far, far more, and I'll show you what that is very soon.

Prescriptives Cream Highlight: Apologies for talking about a discontinued product from a discontinued brand, but this was, for a very long time, my very favourite highlighter!  The label has worn off, so I can't even tell you what it was called when it was available.  As you can see, it's a little more peach than the NARS, and so melds more with my skin-tone, rather than sits "on" it.  It's still, it has to be said, a little too metallic for my tastes these days.

Benefit High Beam: Again, another frosty one, I flip-flop  on Benefit products at the best of times (when they're good, they're very, very good, but when they're bad, they're infuriating!), this is one I like, the packaging is good, it's a nice texture, but the pinkish frostiness isn't one that suits as many people as Benefit always say they will.  It's nice to apply, but again, can make you look a little metallic.

No7 Skin Illuminator: This is one I picked up the week before last, and I really, really like the product. Unlike many highlighters, this actually comes in two shades, one pink, and one peach.  This one is peach.  As you can see, the colour of the highlighter almost disappears into my skin - or when it's not swatched this heavily for photographic purposes, it does, anyway!- I'm not, it must be said, a massive fan of the packaging, it seems purposely designed to make you waste the product (indeed, even the box states you should wipe the "excess" off onto your hand before using the brush to apply it to your cheeks) but the liquid inside is a good one, not metallic, not frosty, and not glittery.  It's a very glow-y natural kind of highlighter, and it's one I'll be getting back-ups of at the earliest opportunity.  It's also the cheapest highlighter on this page at £11, £6 if you have any Boots vouchers.

If you're unsure about how to use liquid or cream highlighters, then I suggest you watch this Lisa Eldridge video, she's amazingly talented, and gives great advice:

Tomorrow, loose powders. And I'll be guesting over at Zuneta again too!

The Small Print: I buyed dese.  I haz munny.