The $11 Highlighter Our Beauty Experts Swear By (2024)

Highlighter may be hot right now, but it has long been a makeup artist and beauty insider secret weapon. These cosmetics formulas contain shimmer particles that reflect light, making skin instantly look radiant, glowing, and refreshed, and even helping sculpt features like cheekbones.

When shopping for a face highlighter, first consider the best formula for you:

• Creams are often better for normal to dry skin and can be applied to specific areas of the face without makeup tools.
• Powders are great for combination to oily skin and can be dusted on to finish your look.
• Liquids can be mixed with foundation or primer for use all over the face.

Then, choose your shade: If you have fair or light skin, try a pearl or champagne color; for medium skin, one with gold or rose gold tones; and dark skin, a hue that's bronze-based.

Here, Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab experts share the best face highlighters and skin illuminators for a lit-from-within glow, including drugstore buys, easy-applying sticks, multi-shade palettes, the most pigmented formulas, and options for strobing and all skin tones.

This coconut oil-based champagne-colored cream highlighter from RMS Beauty is an all-time GH Beauty Lab favorite for giving cheeks and even eyelids a flattering glow. "I love its dewiness and subtle golden sheen,” says GH Beauty Lab senior chemist Sabina Wizemann. “It’s super easy to apply by tapping it with a finger, and it truly melts into skin—it also looks natural on and doesn’t dehydrated my dry skin.”

Another GH Beauty Lab go-to highlighter, this bargain Physicians Formula cream lives up to the "butter" in its name with a silky, rich texture in six shades for a variety of skin tones, from light pearl to dark mauve (shown). "It glides onto skin like a dream and really lights up your face," GH's beauty editor says. "Plus, it smells faintly sweet like tropical coconut!" The pot also lasts forever, making it an even more amazing buy.

For a "no-makeup" highlighter look, turn to Tom Ford's sophisticated liquid highlighter, which also comes in a rose gold shade for darker skin tones. “I love this highlighter because it gives you very controlled glow,” says GH beauty assistant Katie Berohn. “My skin always looks dewier and more radiant when I use it, but not in a way where you can tell I’m wearing highlighter – more so like I just got a facial and I look glowy and fresh-faced."

This highlighter stick created by makeup artist Laura Geller is basically foolproof: Just swipe the cream along cheekbones or other high points of the face (you barely need to blend!). "This gleamy formula isn't overpowering, yet gives you cheekbones you never thought you had and makes skin look healthy," GH's beauty director says.

High-end quality at a bargain price, this GH Beauty Award-winning Flower shimmer palette gives your complexion a glow with three shades: Champagne, rose gold (which can double as blush), and warm gold (which can function as bronzer). The generously-sized compact also includes an angled applicator brush. “The powders are so velvety and luxurious," a tester said.

This beautiful deep bronze powder highlighter with cocoa hints was specially created to illuminate dark skin tones. "Very pigmented with little fallout and easy to blend," an Ulta reviewer raved. "Love the vibrancy of the color."

Not your basic highlighter, this unique Revlon cream, a GH Beauty Award winner, has a fun Jello-like texture that melds into skin to give a fresh-faced glow. The warmth of this peachy-gold shade flatters medium skin tones such as Indian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Hispanic. “The color made my medium skin tone looked sun-lit and revived in seconds, and the subdued shimmer didn’t appear fake like some highlighters can,” a tester noted.

If you have a porcelain or fair complexion, look no further than this MAC Cosmetics powder highlighter, swirled with pastel pigments to illuminate lighter skin tones. GH's beauty director loves dusting this all over her face as a last step for "an ethereal glow".

Pacifica's super iridescent liquid highlighter was created for strobing, or strategically highlighting the high points of the face. The wand helps target and deposit the formula on specific areas, such as tops of cheekbones, the bridge of the nose, inner corners of eyes, and more. "This highlighter really delivers an out-of-this-world shimmer," GH's beauty director says.

For a poreless finish, editor Jessica Teich says this is "the creamiest finish you’ll find in a powder formula. It glides onto skin without settling into pores and the superfine shimmer catches the light in the most elegant way. Plus, the peachy gold hue is so flattering."

This glimmery Hourglass highlighter powder is true to its "Ambient Lighting" name. "I’ve been using this highlighter for years — it’s perfect for every day, and I use it whenever I want a really 'lit from within' glow that’s subtle but radiant,” Berohn says. “I’m normally not a fan of powder highlighters, but this one will always be in my rotation."

A true eye-catcher, this striking Maybelline highlighter powder packs maximum pigment in metallic shades from gold to rose gold, peach, and bronze. Amazon reviewers noted that the "very pigmented" formula truly pops with a "blinding" chrome effect that "brightens skin".

From the maker of the iconic shimmer powders, Bobbi Brown's luxe highlighter is the best-seller at Sephora. "It’s a subtle, buildable glow with no chunky glitter," a reviewer reported. "I have used this on my mother-in-law who has rather mature skin and this works beautifully on her as well."

Highlighters can work for oily and acne-prone skin, too. Case in point: This Laura Mercier powder, which is GH Beauty Lab chemist Danusia Wnek's go-to for her oily complexion.“Many highlighters make me look like a greasy, shiny mess and this one doesn’t — the finely-milled powder adds a nice sheen to skin while looking matte somehow," she marvels.

A GH Beauty Award winner, this weightless, bouncy shimmer cream can be used as highlighter on cheekbones, eye shadow, or on top of lip color. “Foolproof application with fingers, and the subtle shimmer enlivened my face,” a tester reported. It also comes in three shades laced with sparkle: gold, rose gold, and silvery pearl.

Black Radiance's powder does double duty both as a bronzer and highlighter on darker skin tones. "It compares to more expensive makeup," an Amazon reviewer noted.

A hybrid of a balm and a highlighter, this Chanel stick gives skin a slightly glisteny, barely-there radiance. "I love that you can swipe this on your cheeks, lips, or eyes without blending for a minimalist-chic look that just enhances your natural skin," GH's beauty director says. Editor's note: It also comes in a bronze shade for deeper skin tones or for more warmth.

Created by the famed runway makeup artist, Pat McGrath Labs' dual-ended cream highlighter stick has quickly earned cult classic status. One end contains a color highlighter (in champagne, bronze, or gold) and the other a clear balm, so you can choose between a bolder or more bare look — or a little of both.