Best Summer Glow Highlighters

ByCordelia

Best Summer Glow Highlighters - Phyrra.net

Happy Makeup Wars Monday and Memorial Day too! Today we’ve got our best summer glow highlighters to share with you. All swatches are on my pale skin. Real talk here – I rarely use self-tanner or bronzer. I embrace my moonlit glow rather than sunkissed skin. Some people use bronzer daily, I feel incomplete without a highlighter on. I’ve still got plenty of beauty products to share, regardless!

PR + purchased by me.

Best Summer Glow Highlighters

If you’re looking to get a healthy faux tan, I recommend the self-tanner by Beautisol.It’s vegan. (see me with a tan)

I’ve got liquid highlighters to share with you first. These tend to be on the more subtle side to me, so I don’t reach for them as often as I do powders. A few of these make nice blushes on my skintone.

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfectors
Pearl – white pearl (so subtle it’s really hard to see on my skintone, way too subtle for my taste)
Opal – golden opal pearl (peachy gold)
Champagne Gold – yellow gold

Life’s Entropy Galaxy Glow Illuminators (vegan)
Light Year – bright pearl white (barely visible on me)
Celestial – pearl white with gold/copper/red shift
Nebula – pearl white with pink/silver/green shift
Comet – opal peach
Aurora – a pale pink

NARS Illuminators
Copacabana – glistening pearl
Hot Sand – peach champagne

Cruelty Free Cream and Liquid Highlighters - Phyrra.net

The above shot is slightly blurred to show Pearl a bit, you can just barely see it on my skin.

Cruelty Free Cream and Liquid Highlighters - Phyrra.net

BECCA Pearl is whiter than Life’s Entropy Light Year and far more subtle (seriously it looks like I swatched NOTHING where I swatched Pearl). Nebula has a pretty pink shift. Celestial has a pretty red shift. Comet is a gorgeous opalescent peach that I actually like to use as a blush. Aurora would work as subtle blush on me too. BECCA Opal is similar to Life’s Entropy Comet. NARS Copacabana is a gorgeous pale pink with white iridescence that really catches the light. NARS Hot Sand is a pretty peach that is similar to Life’s Entropy Comet and BECCA Opal.

Of these shades, Copacabana, Celestial, Nebula, Comet and Aurora are the  most obvious, and they’re my favorites. I definitely feel like the Life’s Entropy Galaxy Glow Illuminators are better for me than the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfectors because they’re more obvious on the skin, less subtle.

Now on to the powders! I typically prefer powders because they’re more obvious on my skin.

Notoriously Morbid Highlighters (vegan)
Osteomancy – white with silvery blue shimmer
Power of the Fae – white with golden shimmer

Dose of Colors Highlighters
Pearl Dust – ethereal pink

Too Faced Highlighter
Candlelight Glow Duo – white with golden sheen, golden rose

Best Summer Glow Highlighters - Phyrrra.net

Pearl Dust – Osteomancy – Power of the Fae – Glow Duo (rose top / gold bottom) – Glow Duo (blended)

Pearl Dust is a new highlighter that I bought recently but fell in love with immediately. I just find it so alluring. Osteomancy is my perfect cool-toned ethereal silvery-white-blue highlighter. I have worn it for weeks straight because I just think it’s stunning. Power of the Fae is a pretty white with yellow gold sheen. Candlelight Glow Duo has been my holy grail highlighter for years. It’s a white-golden-pink that I find utterly beautiful.

Colour Pop Highlighters (vegan)
Stole the Show – Light cool-toned gold with luminous flashes of pink, silver and gold.
Spoon – A light silver champagne with multi-dimensional silver flecks
Monster – light pink with highly opalescent duo chrome finish
Butterfly Beach – Soft peach with highlights of gold and silver

Too Faced Sweethearts Blush (vegan)
Peach Beach – shimmering peach/ rosy pink/ shimmering light golden bronze

Cover FX Highlighters (vegan)
Moonlight – peachy beige with silver shift
Sunkissed – golden glow

Laura Geller Balance-n-Brighten
Porcelain – pale beige with soft pink glow

Golden Glowing Blushes and Foundation - Phyrra.net

I love Porcelain as a foundation mixed with Cover FX Pressed Mineral Foundation in N10. On its own, Porcelain is too pink, but mixed with N10 it gives my skin a gorgeous glow. I love this for a glowy complexion. If you’re adamantly against powders, you can achieve a similar glow by using the Cover FX Illuminating Primer.

While the Colour Pop shades are new to me, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to fall in love with Monster (it is similar to Nebula). I love Peach Beach as a blush to give me a bit of a golden glow without going overboard on my complexion. I think Butterfly Beach will work in a similar way. Moonlight is really pretty, and it can be worn on its own or paired with Hot Sand to really amp up the shine. Of all the shades I’ve shown, Spoon is the only one with glitter, though it’s very fine glitter.

Wearing Colour Pop Stole the Show
Wearing Colour Pop Stole the Show
Wearing Too Faced Peach Beach & Glow Duo
Wearing Too Faced Peach Beach & Glow Duo
Wearing Notoriously Morbid Osteomancy
Wearing Notoriously Morbid Osteomancy
Wearing Notoriously Morbid Osteomancy
Wearing Notoriously Morbid Osteomancy
Wearing Dose of Colors Pearl Dust
Wearing Dose of Colors Pearl Dust
Wearing Dose of Colors Pearl Dust
Wearing Dose of Colors Pearl Dust

Shades like Peach Beach, Hot Sand, Butterfly Beach, and Comet really work best as blushes that fake a summer golden glow on me rather than me wearing bronzer all over, which just looks unnatural.

How do you prefer to get your glow on – powder, liquid or cream? What are your favorite products for getting a glow?

Looking for more? Check out the Pale Girl’s Guide to Highlighting & Contouring.

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Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

61 Comments

  1. Laura Geller is cruelty free? I know it says on their website but i read on a blog that they still tested raw ingredients on animals. I hope this sin’t true because I really want that highlighter!

  2. I just found your blog and have subscribed to all your social media. I love your work this post is stunning <3 so excited to purchase some of Notoriously morbid and life's enthropy products, thanks for introducing me to the brand

  3. NARS sure does make amazing illuminators! I don’t currently have any in my collection and am going to have to fix that! Copacabana has long been a favorite of mine! I have that TF Sweethearts blush, too and love it (can’t remember which shade I have). You look lovely here! Great pics!

  4. I don’t use bronzer that often either, but I do love a good highlight. Osteomancy is a stunner!

  10. After watching your Cover FX Custom Cover Drops tutorial video, I have been digging on Copacabana mixed with my moisturizer. Such a happy combo! I definitely need to check out those Notoriously Morbid highlighters.

  14. Great swatches as always. I love how they all look, especially Cover FX’s Moonlight and Sunkissed – I’m writing those two on my list to get next.

  15. Well, that’s it, I had to test out samples of the Notoriously Morbid highlighters…then I saw they have a little blogger deal to try out 5 samples…so I ordered that too…OH NO new obsession started OOPS.

      1. Certainly! I hope their turnaround isn’t too long; I had forgotten that indie companies can’t ship immediately, heh!

  19. SO many gorgeous highlighters, and photos, I’ve been eyeballing the Too Faced Candlelight and I’m now thinking about picking it up.

  20. These are beautiful. I want some of those ColourPop ones. The Life’s Entropy ones look gorgeous.

  22. I love highlighters, and I love your swatches! They make me want the ones I don’t have. I love Butterfly Beach and have that one. 🙂

  24. I think I’m better at blending with creams which is why I made mine all about cream products. I love your choices but even more how you use them.

  26. I’ve never heard of Notoriously Morbid, but I think those highlighters are a MUST! I’ve been eyeing Dose of Colors for a while, and will have to add that highlight to my list – it’s gorgeous. Great picks!

  27. I believe Too Faced is having a sale going on right now so it would be a great time to pick up the Candlelight Glow Duo!

  28. I think I’m in love with the Life’s Entropy Galaxy Glow Illuminator in Aurora. SO gorgeous! Pearl Dust from Dose of Colors is also really pretty! My favorite highlight is the Gressa Illuminating Serum but I might have to check some of these out!

  29. I bought the role gold Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector back in December, and I put it someplace, and I have been searching but can’t find the darn thing. Love all the options you’ve shown us. I also like the Temptu highlighter in a pink pearl shade that I tried in a sample. I’d hoping to get a full size but maybe I’ll end up with those pretty and affordable Colour Pop highlighters instead

  30. What an amazing selection, and your swatches are absolutely fantastic! No shortage of ways to get your glow on here, Courtney!

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