Happy weekend, friends! I’ve been wanting to make this blog post all week, but when I finally sat down to write it and take all the photos for it, the weather betrayed me. I rely on natural sunlight to take my pictures for instagram and this blog so they are the most accurate as possible and do not get washed out by my yellowish room light, but it’s been overcast all weekend (boo). Either way, we are persevering and I am continuing on with my blogging plan! ❤︎

Today we will be talking about one of my favorite things to put on my face: duochrome and “unnatural’ colored highlighters! I am going to be honest, when highlighting first became a thing in the makeup world, I didn’t get it. There were two main factors to this, the first being how pale I am and how golden/deep most of the extremely raved about highlighters tended to be, and two, I wear glasses so I have to apply highlight a little more strategically and don’t really get that gleaming bony cheekbone look (plus my face is absurdly round).

BUT! When colorful, duochrome, space alien/unicorn-y highlighters started to become a thing I was 100% on board. I’ve said it before, but I love colorful makeup looks, so these types of fun, “unwearable” highlighters are really what got me to love highlighting in general (if you follow me on instagram you’ve seen my collection, it’s unnecessary).

Besides my eye makeup, my highlight is the top thing I tend to get compliments/questions on when I do my makeup. As my friend Tyler so lovingly put it – “whoa, how did you get your cheeks to do that?”. I love looking glowy without oily, and I love what a subtle, colored tint can do to bring a whole look together (literally, I brought 6 highlighters with me on my trip last weekend to Pittsburgh, and it was a 4 day trip). That is why for today’s post I am going to be going through my own personal collection of duochrome and colorful highlighters to help you maybe better understand how to wear them and which ones are worth your money.

First, I am going to go through some of the single highlighters I own:

Makeup Revolution Strobe Highlighter in Holographic Lights
Available From Ulta – $6
(sorry about the awful swatch, the lighting has really killed me for this post)

This first highlighter is fairly new on the market and very affordable. It has a white base with a yellow to green shift that really catches the light nicely, and I think if you wet your brush you could really achieve an intense highlight.

It is extremely subtle, as you can see in my awful swatch above. I think this would be a good option for someone who wants to try a fun colored highlighter, but is weary looking too crazy. Texture and quality wise – it is not the most luxurious feeling highlighter, it feels kind of stiff and a little powdery, but itdoes not contain any chunky glitter which is awesome. For six bucks, you are getting a subtle but fun highlight  – I would just make sure to tap off your brush before applying because of how powdering it can feel.  Overall, not bad at all!

Lorac Light Source Illuminating Highlighter in Limelight
Available from Ulta, Kohl’s, and Lorac Cosmetics for $23

This is yet another fairly new highlighter that is part of Lorac’s  limited edition “Beauties Who Brunch” spring collection. Also a very, VERY subtle highlight, which is good because in the pan it looks very intimidatingly minty.Despite being called “Limelight”, it looks much more baby blue than green to me. There isn’t a shift to this one – it is straight up the color that it looks like in the pan.

This is a very soft formula that can build up easily, and it feels no different than the other Lorac Light Source highlighters that I raved about in my yearly favorites for 2016. The thing that I’ve noticed about these Lorac highlighters, though, is you need to get past the top layer of stiff powder to really experience how finely milled and soft these highlighters feel, because if you don’t then they feel no different than the Makeup Revolution formula mentioned above (again, no chunky glitter which is a win for me). For this one I would also recommend going in with a light hand, or else you might look like a smurf (a mistake I made when I first got this). Maybe not the best highlighter to wear over a bold a blush, so instead try lightly dusting this over bare cheeks to get the effect of a fun color without looking completely green.

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Amethyst
Available From Sephora and Becca Cosmetics – $38

This is the newest Shimmering Skin Perfector from Becca in a limited edition, duochrome lavender shade. It is so very lightly duochrome, with the most gentle possible shift from pink to lavender. I love these kinds of highlights because of how buildable they are while still being “wearable”. Again, a very soft, finely milled, buttery highlight with no glitter – but as you can see by my swatch it is SO subtle. For almost forty dollars this might not be a good option if you are new to colorful highlights or want to experiment with something bold, but if you’re a highlighter junkie and like the everyday appeal this one has combined with a killer formula, then this might be worth the money to you.

Please head to Sephora to swatch it, though, before purchasing!

Milk Makeup Holographic Stick
Available from Sephora and Milk Makeup – $28

So this one is a little different – this is a holographic cream highlighter stick from Milk Makeup. I majorly forced myself out of my comfort zone when buying this not because of the color, but because I am terrible at applying cream face products. However, this product is beautiful – it is kind of like a bolder, more duochrome-y version of the Becca highlighter (a lavender/pink shift). Apply this straight to the cheeks on bare skin, or rub your fingers directly onto the product then pat onto cheeks if you already have a full face of makeup on. You can also use this on the eyes and lips too, which is amazing for using as an eyeshadow or eyeshadow base to intensify colors, or to instantly foil any lip color.

(Bonus – layering a powder lavender highlighter over this will make you be seen from space!)

If you’re going to try this one I would recommend hanging onto the receipt just in case you can’t get the whole cream thing to work out for you – it’s been taking me a lot of practice and patience.

Makeup Geek Duochrome Highlighers in (top to bottom) Celestrial, Moon Phase, and Electrify
Available from Makeup Geek – $20

Okay, so this is my first single highlighter “series” that I am going to be talking about. If you click on the Makeup Geek link above you can see that MG has a TON of highlighters and way more duochrome highlighters than the three I own. Another really awesome thing MG does is divide the products by what skin tones they would best be suited for (porcelain, fair, medium, and deep).

This formula reminds me a lot of the Becca’s Shimmering Skin Perfectors. They are soft, and subtle, and can also be built up to desired intensity. These, to me, are true duochromes. They do have a definite color shift in all of them. However, like the Lorac Illuminators, you have to kind of scrap off the top, stiff layer of product to get to the buttery highlighter goodness below, which is mildly annoying, but worth it.

MG also has killer customer service by the way – one of my highlighters arrived broken and they immediately sent me out a new one at no cost, and were very friendly about it!

I would definitely recommend these 100% to both new makeup users and highlight junkies, they are fun and ethereal and very wearable!

Nyx Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder in (top to bottom) Crushed Bloom, Synthetica, Lavander Steel, Snow Rose, and Twilight Tint
(again, these swatches are awful and do not do them justice at all!)
Available from Ulta, Target, and Nyx Cosmetics – $8

These are hands down my favorite highlighters EVER. Not even my favorite duochrome highlighters – just my favorite highlighters out of everything I own. They are a little stiff formula wise, definitely not as buttery as the more expensive highlighters mentioned, but they are bold and very intense (no glitter!) and truly duochromatic while being very affordable.

Honestly, I wear these almost everyday (check out my makeup of the day posts on instagram, I’m not lying). They are just so good,I could rant all day about them! The two reddish ones are a little too deep for me, so I like to use them as blush toppers, but I still love them. Go check them out, seriously, whether you are a beginner or a makeup hoarder, they are amazing. They will satisfy every ethereal, alien need you have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that I’ve thrown some single highlighters at you, let’s look at palettes!

Kat Von D Alchemist Palette
Available from Sephora and Kat Von D Beauty – $32
(this was a limited edition palette that I think is out of stock on KVD but still available at Sephora)

I’m starting off with this palette because I think a lot of people either love or hate it. It is marketed as an eye and cheek palette, and like the name suggests, can be used to transform other products into a shimmery duochrome masterpiece. What makes people frustrated with this palette though is the pan size – the pans are the size of a typical eyeshadow pan, and many people (myself included) think that if it was marketed to also be worn on the face that the pans should have been bigger.,

Either way, this is a gorgeous palette with an incredibly smooth, finely milled, and buttery formula. Nothing (in my opinion) beats KVD formulas. Even though my swatches are terrible, hopefully you can still see how pigmented these shadows/highlighters are.

I am going to be honest though, I rarely use this as a face palette just because of the size of the pans, and instead tend to use it on the eyes (and lips!). If the pan size doesn’t bother you, though, and maybe you wouldn’t be using these as everyday face highlights anyway – then it might be worth it to grab! Please do not fall for the limited edition hype, though, if you’re only just considering this palette as a “maybe”, because there are other alternatives you might like better!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in Moonchild
Available from Anastasia Beverly Hills – $40

This palette often gets compared to the Alchemist palette, and honestly if you were going to pick between the two, as much as it kills me, I would suggest this one over KVD for two reasons: you get two more pans and the pans themselves are bigger (you are getting much more product in this palette). HOWEVER – I have a bone to pick with this palette: 3 of the shades (blue ice, pink heart, & purple horseshoe) have CHUNKY GLITTER in them! During this whole post I’ve been commenting on how awesome it is that none of these highlighters have glitter, and you might be thinking “why the beef with glitter?” – my personal problem with glitter is that it tends to get all over your face when applying the product. A good way to try and prevent this, though, is to tap off your brush well before applying.

Ignoring the glitter, this is yet again another buttery, soft and silky formula that feels totally luxurious. Forty bucks seems like a lot, but you are getting six pans, which might be worth investing in for you. Like any palette, though, if you know you aren’t going to use most of the shades, please don’t bother and instead grab a single highlighter instead. For more info on smart palette shopping, check out my Palette Mayhem post!

BH Cosmetics Blacklight Highlight 6 Color Palette
Available from BH Cosmetics – $17

THIS. PALETTE. IS. AMAZING!!! Yet again, saving the best for last here, but this is the palette I would honestly, truly, 100%, over all the other expensive highlighters, recommend to you if you want good, fun, intense colorful highlighters.When I ordered this, because of the affordable price point, I honestly expected it to be dry and stiff, but this formula feels identical to the KVD palette, but at almost half the price and more than double the product.

I cannot get over how “high-end” this palette feels. It is all the above mentioned incredible adjectives (buttery, smooth, almost wet feeling). The colors are blinding, they have no kick-up, they aren’t powdery at all: I can’t say enough good things about them.

If you have been waiting for my number one “ethereal” highlighter, it’s this whole palette. You cannot beat the price, and the formula is so outrageously impressive that I cannot stop raving about it. If nothing else in this whole post got your attention, I hope this one did. You get a lavender and a green like those mentioned above – and you also get a blinding silver which is good to mix with other colors to “tone them down” if they are too unwearable for you. I honestly don’t know why more people aren’t flipping tables over this palette, it is so good and beats out (as you can see) its high-end competitors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus Honorable Mention:

Nyx Strobe of Genius Palette
Available from Ulta and Nyx Cosmetics – $19

This is an honorable mention only because it is not truly a crazy colored or duochrome palette, but it has a fun lavender and a fun gold in it, so overall if you’re trying to get into highlighting this is a great little palette with lots of colors for a good price, and like the other Nyx highlighters, it is a great formula!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phew! We made it! Again, I am so sorry my swatches kind-of sucked, but I hope my point got across with every item and my descriptions were okay at the very least! I love fun colored highlights and my friends always ask me which ones I would recommend, so I hope this helped somehow. Obviously I don’t own every ridiculously colored highlighter in the world, but I think I own enough to merit a whole blog post!

I really want to emphasize, though, that I didn’t want this post to come off as bragging about my collection in any way, I just really wanted to share something I love with you guys. I’m not really a “lipstick person” or anything like that, I pretty much love eyes and cheeks the most, so this is just what I think I know best and could talk about the best for you guys.

Anyway, like always I hope this post was at least somewhat helpful in some way! If you have any questions on how to best apply these products (since I know I didn’t get into great detail) please let me know! Also, if you like my blog posts and want to support me please subscribe or sign up for email alerts. I am going to try my hardest to continue to get two posts a week up. As always I will also be doing MOTD and mini product reviews on my instagram as well.

I hope you have a great end of the weekend and a great week to come!

-Lacie ❤︎❤︎❤︎