The 15 Best Highlighters of 2022

CPB is the top-notch brand under the Shiseido Group of Japan founded in 1982, which has developed in 23 countries and regions around the world up to now. CPB is a well-known luxury brand not only for its price, but for extraordinary texture, satisfying skin feeling, and good reputation. Although CPB hit the market not by makeup products, the CPB highlighters also have high quality like its other products.

The official name of CPB highlighting powder is LUMINIZING FACE ENHANCER, which has a special design with a shiny diamond-cut shell and a rose fragrance. Each one is packed with a brush, allowing you to blend the fine powder seamlessly to hide skin blemishes, leaving a long-lasting finish. CPB highlighter palette has 5 color series, which is popular with a natural finish. Among them, #11 has been discontinued, and now only #15, #16, #17, #18 are on sale.  Moreover, #15 are sometimes out of stock.

CPB highlighter is also a concealer that brightens skin tone and blurs spots. There are many skills to apply highlighters, and it can be the final touch for your makeup routine.

Charlotte Tilbury (CT) is a British makeup brand founded in 2013. Its founder was Tom Ford's (TF) chief makeup artist, so CT is similar to TF in some aspects. However, compared with TF, CT is gentler and more elegant in colors, and its makeup series specializes in practicality and texture.

The FILMSTAR BRONZE & GLOW is one of the bestsellers among the whole CT series and is highly praised by people. As a two-color palette, it combines repairing and highlighting benefits into one that is very versatile. You can blend the fine powder easily, because it is highly pigmented; and it can conceal skin blemishes visually, suitable for daily use. FILMSTAR BRONZE & GLOW can create a shiny finish without greasy, and you will look more translucent and three-dimensional with sheen.

CT also launched a liquid highlighter—Hollywood beauty light wand, and also a contour fluid—Spot light, which is suitable for all skin tones. The liquid highlighter is finer than the powder one, so it can bring a more satisfying experience without a greasy feeling. The liquid highlighter is packed with a golden tube. And when it comes to texture, it is not as good as powder highlighter. However, you can take it for daily outings or attending parties as it is travel-friendly. It helps create a natural finish, leaving you more three-dimensional with a sheen hue.

Laura Mercier (LM) is a brand named after its founder in 1996. The founder, Laura Mercier, was born in Provence, France, who enrolled at the French painting school for advanced studies at 17. The brand’s simple concept is a “flawless face”with a lightweight skin feeling.

LM Matte Radiance Baked Powder, a baked contouring powder, is convenient to take it out. But it is easy to fallout for its less water content. You’d better take powder by highlighter brush, and then shake off the floating powder. Besides, it is highly pigmented and is easy to color. Matte Radiance Baked Powder has 5 shades. Except for highlight-01 is a highlighter, all other shades are contours. The silky, lightweight LM Matte Radiance Baked Powder is fine and supple when applying rather than rough as it looks. Moreover, it will not enlarge pores and blemishes.

LM released another highlighter in 2016-Face Illuminator Highlighting Powder. Compared with Matte Radiance Baked Powder, Face Illminator Highlighter Powder uses an improved formula that is long lasting without any fallout. And there are 5 shades available in North America.

Hourglass is a luxury makeup brand in the United States, which is very popular among people and favored by Hollywood actresses and makeup experts. Hourglass makeup products are exquisite and delicate and feel comfortable on the skin, while adhere to the brand's advantages: excellent staying power.

Hourglass powder highlighter is called Ambient Strobe Lighting that has a fine texture adopted the baking process. But it may slight fallout when applying. Ambient Strobe Lighting has three shades, namely Incandescent, Iridescent, and Brilliant. Incandescent and Iridescent are white, and Brilliant is champagne, but it may highlight the pores when wearing.

The creamy Vanish Flash Highlighting Stick can be used before and after setting makeup. Available in 5 shades, the moisturizing, smooth highlighting stick with a good bendability is easy to apply for a long-lasting look. Moreover, it melts into your foundation for a translucent and gentle finish. And it looks natural even on bare skin.

Hourglass comes in powder and stick highlighters. The powder highlighter is dry, more suitable for oily skin. The highlighter stick with a moist texture contains more oil, which is more suitable for dry skin and normal skin. Therefore, people of any skin type can find right one in Hourglass.

Shiseido is a well-known Japanese makeup brand founded in 1872 that specialized in combining Eastern aesthetics and Western technology to develop new products with distinctive features.

Shiseido PK107 plays an important role in highlighting industry. This highlighting blush can make the sunken areas plumper. Be sure to take the sufficient amount of the powder for a natural look. The smooth powder with slight shimmers effectively conceals imperfections and controls shine, leaving a long lasting finish. When it comes to the bridge of the nose or forehead and other parts, pick WT905 instead of PK107. The top-selling WT905 is white in powder with subtle shimmers and satin sheen which is glossier than PK107, delivering a natural look, more suitable for light skin. We highly recommend you to apply WT905 on chin, forehead and the bridge of the nose to make your face more three-dimensional.

Shiseido highlighter is available in many shades, but most of them are more like blushes with moderate brightening and contouring benefits. With the capacity of 6.5g, the durable Shiseido Luminizing Satin Face Color is packed with a brush and mirror for touch-ups on-the-go.

BECCA is a brand established in 2001 and was acquired by Estée Lauder in 2016. Positioned as a mid-end makeup line, BECCA specializes in base makeup products, including liquid foundations, concealers, blushes and highlighters for facial repairing.

BECCA highlighters’ shades are close to the skin tone while bringing comfortable experience. They don’t contain bold glitters for a natural finish. BECCA highlighters are divided into three textures: Poured highlighter, Pressed highlighter, and Liquid highlighter. Among them, Pressed highlighter is the most popular. One of its advantages is that it is beginners friendly. Its fine texture with moisture goes onto the skin smoothly and seamlessly. BECCA Poured highlighter with a soft gloss contains oily moisturizing ingredients, which is more suitable for dry skin. And the dewy, lightweight Liquid highlighter texture can create a three-dimensional and bright pearlescent finish. But it has strong fluidity and is difficult to blend properly. Each texture of BECCA highlighter has six shades, namely Pearl, Moonstone, Opal, Champagne pop, Rose gold and Topaz. Normal shades are designed for different skin tones. Moonstone and Opal are always out-of-stock. Opal is the darker one that can be applied to cheekbones, forehead, etc., or used to brighten nasal bones and cheeks. That is really useful.

Highlighter runs out slowly, because it is applied on few facial parts. It is more cost-effective to purchase BECCA highlighters in mini packages, sets, or comprehensive palettes.

MAC is a brand under the Estée Lauder Cosmetics Group founded in Toronto, Canada in 1985. As an international artistic makeup brand, MAC has established its position in the makeup industry with its full range of products and outstanding bold colors.

MAC DIMENSION SKINFINISH with fine sparkles helps create a light and translucent makeup, making the face more three-dimensional. Featuring great bendability and staying power, the highly-pigmented MAC EXTRA DIMENSION SKINFINISH is suitable for beginners. But many people complained that The MAC EXTRA DIMENSION SKINFINISH is easy to break during delivery. So, you’d better store it carefully. The translucent highlighter can be applied to the bridge of the nose, chin, forehead and other parts for a more three-dimensional and fuller face. Double gleam, Beaming blush, Show gold are all very popular among people for it can create a natural finish.

MAC Hyper Real Glow Palette is a brand-new highlighter packed three shades with a smooth and silky texture that glides seamlessly onto the face. There are two types: Get it glowin and Flash and awe. An both of them can create natural makeup.

Bobbi Brown was named after its founder, a famous international makeup artist, established in New York in 1991. Bobbi Brown is known as the "Hollywood no-makeup look queen" who pursues natural and simple style. Moreover, Bobbi Brown is a good choice for beginners because the color is easy to matched. And it is also more suitable for people who want to create natural makeup.

The highly-pigmented Bobbi Brown Highlighter Powder features fine and smooth texture, delivering a finish that lasts throughout the day after setting. And it will never smudge even if the face is slightly oily. Additionally, the practical Bobbi Brown Highlighter Powder has five shades.

The moisturizing and smooth All over glow is a liquid highlighter that is easy to apply, creating a natural, translucent and slightly shimmering finish. However, it is a little bit sticky due to the texture. There are positive and negative reviews about Bobbi Brown Highlighters. In general, this product is more suitable for dry skin. For oily skin or combination oily skin? Please think twice before purchasing.

Dior is a well-known brand named after its founder established in Paris, France in 1947. Whether fashion, cosmetics, or other products, Dior has always been a symbol of gorgeous and elegant since it hit the market.

Diorskin Nude Luminizer is from the Nude Air collection which focuses on a lightweight, natural, refreshing style. The package of Diorskin Nude Luminizer is gorgeous and is easy to carry out, but the brush is relative normal. Its fine powder with a slight pearly shimmer glides seamlessly onto the skin. Diorskin Nude Luminizer is available in various shades for different skin tones.

In the spring and summer of 2019, Dior launched two limited edition highlighters, namely Diorskin Nude Luminizer Lolli Glow and Diorskin Nude Luminzer Rising Stars. The former one has two shades: #007peach delight and #008 Pink delight. Both of them help create shimmering finish, suitable for young girls. The latter one is specially designed for Valentine's Day with a cute plate pattern and bright colors. It is more suitable to be applied as a blush instead of a highlighter.

Nars is an American professional makeup brand founded by French makeup master Francois Nars in 1994. It adopts classic black and a personalized logo to express the minimalist spirit of the brand. It is quite fashionable in terms of color, creativity, color rendering and packaging. Nars has various highlighters, including powder and stick ones. The powders are divided into single-color, multi-color and comprehensive palette.

In 2018, Nars's new powder highlighter collection combines Seamless glow technology with even pearlescent particles, leaving a beautiful and seamless finish. Moreover, its fine powder won’t highlight your pores. This collection contains six colors, of which the Capri is versatile, regardless of skin tones and seasons without heavy feeling, making the skin shiny and glossy. The Maldives has a dark bronze tone, but the official defined it as a rose. You can pair it with blush for a surprising effect.

Nars has always stood for unique makeup aesthetics: bold colors, high-key, shining, which is deeply favored by beauty professionals. Nars also comes in a lot of highlighters worth purchasing.

Giorgio Armani is a famous Italian fashion designer who founded Giorgio Armani in 1975. George Armani is deeply loved by Hollywood movie stars. Former President Clinton and Bill Gates is also his customer. His picture was once on the cover of Time Magazine. Before that, only Dior in the fashion industry had accomplished this.

Belladonna Highlighting Palette is a legend in the makeup industry, which is still popular even was discontinued many years ago. This highlighter features a unique texture between cream and powder that feels smooth on the skin. It is very expansive and difficult to purchase.

The moisturizing Armani NEO NUDE A- HIGHLIGHT is easy to apply. And its sparkling champagne gold is perfect for a gorgeous and natural makeup.

What's more, Armani also released the Chinese New Year Highlighting Palette with a festive packaging. The smooth texture is suitable for various makeup styles.

Chanel is a French luxury brand founded by Coco Chanel in 1910. It started with high fashion. Chanel retains the tonality with innate French elegance and delicacy to makeup products. Although Chanel's makeup products are often criticized, many people still choose them.

In recent years, Chanel has launched a lot of limited-edition powder highlighter. They are often have specially designed to be more eye-catching than the traditional items. Camelia De CHANEL Illuminating Powder and Le Signe du Lion Illuminating Powder are the well-known products. Camelia De CHANEL Illuminating Powder is highly-pigmented light champagne, which is suitable for most skin tones. But you may feel heavy when wearing. Le Signe du Lion Illuminating Powder is available in two shades: White gold and Rose gold. Both are in a natural and simple style, more suitable for beginners to create a low-key finish. However, it may fallout sometime.

The moisturizing Chanel Baume Essentiel is highly-pigmented with a smooth texture, which is easy to apply. But you may feel slightly sticky, not suitable for oily skin. And its staying power is not so great.

Chanel pursues innovation and a unique style. Whether it is fashion, perfume, jewelry or cosmetics, it shapes a free, elegant and distinctive style, and is also the flag of modern feminist aesthetics.

Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH) was founded by Hollywood "Cheif Brow Master" Anastasia Soare, and became popular with eyebrow makeup products. And ABH's eye shadow, highlighter and other makeup items are all well-received and highly recommended.

ABH's highlighter palettes are divided into the singles palette, four-color palette, and six-shade palette with rich shades. The bestseller Amrezy Highlighter is a limited monochromatic palette that ABH collaborated with well-known blogger Amra Olević. The fine product is highly pigmented and glides seamlessly onto the skin for a long-lasting look. You can apply multi-layer for a bold makeup, which is suitable for parties, bars and the like.

Glow kit adds high-key glitters for sexy, featured, and shiny makeup. It is highly pigmented and has a good staying power. You are easy to apply the comfortable makeup that glides seamlessly onto your skin. However, its packaging is heavy and big, so it is not convenient to be carried around.

ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS is one of the fastest-growing brands in the global beauty industry, with tens of millions of fans so far.

Fenty Beauty is a makeup brand founded by well-known pop singer Rihanna in 2017. Although it has not been established for a long time, it has achieved excellent results. The star products Highlighters can be divided into two types: powder highlighter and highlighter sticker. And the former one is available in solos and duos. Fenty beauty highlighters have rich and unique shades, and some bold colors are really the benefits for makeup experts.

Fenty beauty highlighting pressed powder is very popular for its fine texture and high pigment. It can be applied evenly, but cannot last long. Highlighting powders are available in six types, two of which are in soles and four are in duos. The hot monochrome Trophy wife is a must-buy item for beauty masters. Moreover, this versatile palette is not only a highlighter, but also an eye shadow.

The ultra-soft Diamond bomb is very shiny yet relatively coarse with large silver-white glitter particles. It is suitable for parties for it is dazzling at night or in dim light. But people with flawed skin should think twice before purchasing.

Although Fenty beauty is high-key and bold, it is more friendly  for its full range of shades, showing that Fenty beauty is not just for some certain people, but for us all with various skin tones.  

Colourpop is a drugstore makeup brand from Los Angeles with the alias of "ZARA in the makeup industry". It features an affordable price, satisfying use feeling, quick upgrade, and high performance. ColourPop comes with various highlighters, like cream and powder highlighters with a full range of shades.

The ultra-soft Colourpop super shock highlighter likes mashed potatoes. You can easily apply for its extraordinary bendability and staying power, leaving a fine and delicate finish. Flexitarian contains larger pearlescent particles, with excellent gloss, and it is high-key and bright yet not too bold. In addition, Monster and Over the moon are also worth recommending.

Pressed powder highlighter also is highly pigmented and can last long. Here kitty kitty is one of the favorite highlighters of well-known beauty blogger kathleenlights. It is golden with small pearlescent particles, and you may feel slightly rough when touching. Moreover, it is not bold to apply the highlighter repeatedly.

Colorpop highlighters are full of charming that helps take your makeup to the next level and make your face more three-dimensional.