There’s nothing like buying drugstore makeup in Japan, and my Highlighter Chronicles were a great excuse to hit up the shops almost immediately after landing! After testing my way through several brands, I settled on Canmake because their highlighters were the whitest and also the least glittery. (And then I tossed in a red cream blush for good luck.)
I picked up two Canmake Highlighters in Milky White and Baby Beige, plus a Glow Twin Color in 01 (which is technically an eyeshadow/eye-area highlighter according to the diagram on the back).
Since I decided to review all these consecutively, I thought I’d first establish a baseline. This is what I look like with no highlighter on.
Glow Twin Color was definitely the sparkliest of the lot. It contained a white-leaning-pink colour which had a fine, scattered glitter and a pale peachy colour that was frosty with no glitter. The latter reminded me a lot of Physician’s Formula Translucent Pearl…which I really need to get around to reviewing.
I swirled the two colours together for this look, and was rewarded with a very dramatic, shimmery highlight that reflected bright white. I thought the glitter would be really obvious, but it wasn’t at all.
Milky White looked the most matte in the pan, so I was surprised at how visible of a sheen it had.
This turned out to be a highly pigmented white highlighter that didn’t contain any glitter particles. It gave my skin a frosted sheen that reflected a fairly opaque white.
Baby Beige was the most natural looking of the lot. If you look really, REALLY closely at a thick swatch (in real life) it has the tiniest hint of fine pink glitter in it, but this wasn’t noticeable at all on my face.
This gave me a really natural, luminous glow. I was surprised at how refined the effect was, especially considering it’s a drugstore product. This was definitely the crowd-pleaser of the group.
In the interest of being thorough, here’s all the photos side by side. The order is as above: Glow Twin Color, Milky White, Baby Beige (click to enlarge).
And here’s all the products swatched side by side.
In summary:
Glow Twin Color is a really great drugstore option if you like strong, shimmery highlighter. Milky White would be perfect for you if you’re very pale and want a highlight that’s more noticeable. And Baby Beige is an excellent “everyday” highlighter for a luminous sheen that’s very flattering and natural.
For my Singapore readers, Canmake products are available at Watsons stores across the island.
