13 Best Drugstore Highlighters: Your Buyer’s Guide

For your money, this is one of the best drugstore highlighter palettes out there.

You get four different colors with slightly different finishes to play around with. Each one is so intensely pigmented and concentrated that a tiny bit goes a long way so you can get a lot of use out of it.

These are fun, frosty shimmers that work perfectly for fair skin tones but the bright undertones mean that people of color also look amazing in these as you can see in the demo video below.

It comes with an iridescent peach, shimmering purple-blue, metallic yellow-green gold, and a more subtle pink tone with a sparkle. The first two are much bolder while the gold and pink have a more natural finish.

The consistency of the product is amazing, especially considering it’s a drugstore brand. The powder blends well and melts right onto your skin to stay in place.

It’s a limited edition vegan palette so grab one before they get scarce.

I like stick highlighters because there’s nothing easier than just drawing it on your face and blending The Master Strobing Stick from Maybelline goes on smooth and creamy and blends to a powder finish.

This one has a much more natural look to it so you get that glow without looking like you’re part unicorn (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It’s buildable as well so if you first apply it and it’s too subtle for you, you can add another layer to pump up the shimmer.

For those of us with sensitive skin, cream makeup can make us wary, but this one is non-comedogenic, meaning it’s formulated to not clog your pores and trigger acne issues.

The one misleading thing is that it looks like you get a whole long tube of product, but the actual highlighter stick is much smaller than the tube it comes in.

This one comes in Light Iridescent and Medium Nude Glow.

A lot of highlighters nail that shimmering glow, but this one is downright reflective.

When left full force you get an extreme bounce of light. At the same time it’s easy to soften it up so that the sheen stays but is muted to a gorgeous glow that brightens your whole look.

They are super easy to work with and blend seamlessly with very little effort. The sticks go on creamy enough that you can use them over powder without any issues but won’t leave you feeling heavy.

The Nyx Bright Idea Illuminating Stick comes in over 10 colors. Four of those are dedicated highlighters, four are blushes, and four are bronzers. They all have a very luminescent glow when the light hits them just right so I think depending on your skin tone you could work with any of these as a highlight.

The highlighters are Pink Pearl Lace, Lavender Lust, Pinkie Dust, and Chardonnay Shimmer

Not everyone likes working with loose powders but they are more pigmented and versatile than creams.

The Lumi Shimmerista does not disappoint here. There are two shades in the collection, Sunlight and Moonlight, which are formulated to universally work on all skin tones and, surprisingly, that seems to bear out.

Sunlight is a warm, golden glow and Moonlight is a cooler, opalescent shade.

If you’re looking to make an entrance, this highlighter can really wow you. Just the tiniest bit of powder is all you need for an illuminating glow. It blends down easily to a more natural, everyday makeup glow but this highlighter really shines (get it) when you’re looking for something more dramatic.

You can see what a soft, blended version of the Lumi Shimmerista would look like on you by uploading a photo of yourself on L’Oreal’s website.

For a unique take on highlight check out Almay’s Make Them Jelly collection of gel highlighters. 

The gel consistency is easy to control and simple to apply. It gets its iridescent shimmer from tiny flecks of micro-glitter. In the jar it looks like a tinted cream, but it’s really a clear gel packed with shimmering particles.

There’s a magical look to highlighting with glitter but it isn’t for everyone so just be aware. You can also tone down the glitter by adding a little of the gel to your foundation for an all-over brightening look.

It comes in 24k Dreams (gold) and Unicorn Light (pink).

With 100 percent natural ingredients, it’s a product you can trust to put on your skin.

I’ve seen minimal press on Burt’s Bees’ line of makeup, but this new highlighter deserves to be talked about. Brand new this month (August 2018) the All Aglow Highlighter Stick is an ultra-hydrating stick with a pearly finish.

It’s packed with deep moisturizing oils like jojoba, coconut, beeswax, and cupuaçu butter which makes this one great for dry skin but it could be too thick for those of us with oily or sensitive skin. Extracts of rosemary and daikon radish seed help to balance that out.

It’s a subtle highlighter so if you love that blinding strobe effect, this isn’t for you. There’s only one color option and it’s a translucent opal color that is easy to blend out. It’s buildable to get a little bit more drama out of it, but it’s really meant for a very natural, dewy finish. This highlighter is sheer enough that it could work on a wide range of skin tones.

The Butter Highlighter from Physicians Formula is a cream to powder formula full of hydrating butters like murumuru, shea, cupuaçu, and tucuma. It’s lightweight and won’t leave you feeling greasy, but it still might not be the best formula for someone with extremely oily or sensitive skin.

If that’s you, I would point you toward their oil-free highlighter.

The line comes in four different colors: Pearl, Champagne, Pink, and Rose Gold. The last two will be too dark for fair-skinned folks, but the product is blendable enough that all of the colors could work for people with more melanated skin. It goes on smoothly with just your fingers or a blending sponge.

Pink does edge over into blush territory but Pearl and Champagne are undeniably highlighters. There is a shimmer of tiny glitter in this one but it’s much more visible in the pot than when it’s applied. The highlighters are coconut-scented so it can smell a little artificial but that’s really only an issue if you’re sniffing the container.

The product name Dewy Drops describes this liquid highlighter perfectly. It has a shiny, dewy finish that is very natural.

It is super important that you shake this tube before you use it though. It’s an oil-based highlighter so if you don’t shake it up, you can end up getting some of naturally separated oils instead of the pigment. Not ideal.

This one is an oil-based product and if feels like an oil-based product. If you have dry skin, this will feel amazing and give you that luminous glow that you’re looking for. But if you have oily skin, this probably isn’t the best drugstore highlighter for you.

Dewy Drops only comes in one color which is a champagne gold glow that works for a wide range of skin tones. I love that according to the E.L.F. site that this is vegan and cruelty-free.

If you’re looking for that creamy stick highlighter that goes on buttery but feels incredibly light, this might be for you. Like the entire Infallible Longwear line, these highlighters are super smooth and easy to blend.

There are two shades: Slay in Rose, which is an icy pink iridescent, and Gold is Cold which is an odd name since it’s the warmer shade of the two.

Neither is too highly pigmented which makes for a natural, glowing finish. They have decent staying power, but they’re not going to last 24 hours like they’re claiming.

They don’t dry to a powder finish but they also don’t stay sticky. It’s a true cream so you’ll want to set this.

If you have oily skin, this creamy finish can end up looking too greasy by the end of the day, so this is better for normal to dry skin.

Finally, we have these two palettes from Revlon’s PhotoReady line which is one of my favorite drugstore collections to pick up for myself.

The first palette, Galaxy Dream, has four frosty iridescent shades in peach, green, pinky-lavender, and icy blue. The first three have a strong duo-chrome shift with their iridescent so the color slightly changes depending on the angle of the light. This creates a sort of blurring glow that softens your features like a filter.

These are good colors for everyone. People with darker skin will want to use a lighter hand with these to keep it looking natural. Fair-skinned folks can use one layer for a natural look or build it up to a blinding glare.

The second palette is Sunlit Dream, a set of four warmer shades including golden peach, warm beige, rose gold, and warm bronze. Some of these will be too dark to work as a highlight for fair-skinned people, but they are perfect for people of color.

The warm shades create that flawless golden goddess look. These don’t have the same iridescence as the Galaxy palette and instead have a slight glittery shimmer to them.

Both palettes have a nice texture and the powder just melts into your skin and is easy to blend out.

If you have acne-prone skin that is also prone to drying out, this might be the one for you.

It can be tough to find makeup that won’t make your skin look flaky but also won’t upset your skin’s overload your skin with oils. This oil-free cream from Neutrogena in noncomedogenic meaning it is less likely to trigger acne. It contains hyaluronic acid which holds onto moisture, plumping up the skin and giving it a firmer appearance while keeping skin hydrated without oils.

The highlighter blends smoothly and easily, both with blending sponges and just your fingers. It has a bit of sparkle to it to give you that inner glow, but if you’re looking for a very subtle, natural-looking highlighter this probably won’t fit the bill.

If you love chrome and gold sheen looks, then you’ll love this Insta Strobing by Rimmel. 

It has that metallic look to it without sliding into glittery which is a hard line to walk. The effect is a warm, bronzy illumination when added to your foundation and a striking warm contour when used to strobe.

The formula is closer to a liquid than a cream and is very easy to spread and blend. 

This highlighter best compliments more melanated skin, giving a warm luminescence without being overwhelming.

A lot of highlighter work for darker skin tones, but we need more highlighters like this that work perfectly with to bring out the glow of more melanated folks. It’s not an overwhelming shimmer, but Born to Glow brightens and blurs making it nice for contouring, strobing, and mixing into your foundation for subtle luminescence.

It’s also great for adding to your body lotion, making it look like you’ve always got that just-left-the-beach glow. 

For those with lighter skin tones, this highlighter will work for many of us but chances are it will be too light or too dark. There are so many other highlighters more suited to us so go for one of those.