Product Reviews The Highlighter Chronicles

the highlighter chronicles: non-highlighter highlighters

April 27, 2015

As much as I love highlighters, the truth is they aren’t really necessary products to own. In a pinch (or if you’re on a budget), it’s worth remembering that there’s a huge range non-highlighter highlighters out there. Can you guess what I used here?

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Surprise! It’s cream eyeshadow!

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Apprehensive? Don’t be – if an eyeshadow is safe enough for your eye area, chances are it’ll be just fine on your cheekbones. Using eyeshadow as a highlighter is a great trick for when you’re travelling and need to pack light, or if you’re on a budget and trying to get more out of products you already own.

Inspired by Becca’s new Poured Shimmering Skin Perfecters, I thought I’d try out Maybelline 24h Colour Tattoos in Barely Branded (a light champagne) and Too Cool (a cool white) as highlighters. Compared to Becca these had a drier and faster-drying formula, and were more shimmery.

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I used a mix of Barely Branded and Too Cool in these photos.

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You’ll need to work fast with these because they dry pretty quickly. I happen to like that about the formula as it makes layering/building up very easy, and doesn’t budge through blotting and touch-ups.

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If you have dry skin, these might work better on you if you dug a bit of this out of the pot and mixed it with moisturiser. Alternatively, you could try NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencils which are creamier. Cottage Cheese and Cashmere are pretty close in colour to Too Cool and Barely Branded respectively, and also work great as highlighters – especially for smaller areas like your cupid’s bow and the inner corners of eyes.