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How To Get A (Subtle) Glow

How to Get a Subtle Glow

Y'all know that I LOVE a good glow.  I'm obsessed with glowy skin and intense highlighters, but during the winter sometimes it's nice to try a different look.  But, check out this post on more intense highlighters just in case.

These four highlighters are products that give a much more subtle highlight.  This is great if you want a more low-key makeup look.  These highlighters are also good if you have skin texture issues.  A very intense highlight can emphasize pores or blemishes, so something with a subtle gleam will still give you the look you want without over doing it.

Here are some swatches of my favorite subtle highlighters:

subtle-highlight-swatches

{L to R: ColourPop Cosmetics Super Shock Cheek in Most Necessary; Anastasia Beverly Hills Illuminator in So Hollywood; Sephora Collection Radiant Luminizing Drops in Starlight and Nars The Multiple in South Beach}

ColourPop Cosmetics Most Necessary

I'm a huge ColourPop fan, but after I bought a couple of their cream highlighters last summer, I tried them a few times and put them aside.  I think it was because I was going through my crazy highlighter phase.  Now that I'm into more low-key highlighters, I really love this peachy cream highlighter.  I shows up more peachy on this swatch than when it's on my face, but it gives a very subtle glow.  It's super pretty and easy to throw on my face with my fingers.  Plus it's only $6 at colourpop.co

Anastasia Beverly Hills So Hollywood Illuminator

This highlighter is very finely milled and smooth.  It's a very pretty white gold color that would probably be really flattering on lots of different skin tones.  At first, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't that intense, but now I can appreciate that it is more subtle.  If I want intense highlight, I can reach for my Champagne Pop, but otherwise this is still really pretty.  This also comes in Peach Nectar (light peach), Riviera (cool pink) and Starlight (iridescent silver).  It's available at Anastasia Beverly Hills and Macy's for $28.

Sephora Collection Radiant Luminizing Drops in Starlight

So, I definitely bought this as a total whim while browsing through Sephora.  I saw the pink bottle and thought it looked interesting, but I wasn't expecting much.  Side note: I think Sephora's brand is totally underrated.  I have never been disappointed with anything from  the Sephora brand (Exhibit 1: this foundation.  Still love it.).

Anyways, I like to apply this all over my face before adding whatever foundation that I'm wearing.  I have worn this alone on the weekends and it is so pretty.  It sort of has a blurring effect, and the pink color really brightens the face.  This also comes in a pretty bronze color called Ultralight.  It's available at Sephora for $14.

NARS The Multiple in South Beach

I think this product is one of my first cream highlighter products.  I like the convenience of the twist up tube because you can just dab it directly onto the cheekbones.  The ColourPop highlighter is more pink, but this one is more peachy/bronze.  On my arm it looks way more pigmented than it does on my face, but it does add a little color.  This is really pretty alone when you want to add a little bronze glow.  The Multiple is supposed to work on eyes, lips and cheeks, but I only wear it on my cheeks.  It comes in 9 other shades (some more bold and some are shimmery colors) and is available at Nordstrom for $39.

subtle-highlighters            Shop these plus other subtle highlighters in the widget below:[xyz-ihs snippet="subtle-highlighters"]