Top Drugstore Highlighters

Highlighters are absolutely everywhere right now, with brands seemingly launching new highlighter formulas every other week with powders, liquids, gels and creams. There are a lot of cult favourite higher end highlighters, but I honestly believe you don't need to spend large amounts of money in order to find a fantastic quality highlighter. The drugstore makeup brands really are upping their game with innovative new formulas and packaging so I've rounded up my current favourite drugstore highlighters which are all under £10, proving there are some real budget gems waiting to be discovered.

Strobing Balm

Kicking things off we have the Makeup Revolution Ultra Strobe Balm which is a rather unique product, especially for the drugstore. The Ultra Strobe Balm is available in two shades; Euphoria and Hypnotic, both of which are illuminating balms with a duo-chrome effect. The Euphoria Ultra Strobe Balm is shown above, and is a light champagne shade with a striking pink duo-chrome shift whereas the Hypnotic shade is a light champagne shade with a warm gold duo-chrome shift. I've never seen duo-chrome highlighter balms within the drugstore so the Makeup Revolution Ultra Strobe Balms are a really innovative product.

I was a little worried that the balm might have had an oily or greasy consistency which would disturb my foundation when applied over the top, but I needn't have worried as it doesn't look or feel greasy on the skin. I'm not sure how it would work for those with oily skin, but it works perfectly with my dry skin and I like to apply it with my fingertips on my cheekbones. Due to the balmy texture, I wouldn't recommend applying anything over the top but it does impart an intense luminosity to the skin when worn alone. It's impossible to photograph the true intense duochrome effect of the Ultra Strobe Balm so my photos really don't do it justice but if you fancy trying a really unique highlighter, the Makeup Revolution Ultra Strobe Balms are for you.

Liquid Highlighter

From one of the most striking highlighters to one of the most subtle with the W7 Night Light. The W7 Night Light is one of W7's is a dupe of the Benefit Dandelion Shy Beam, and is a pale pink, matte liquid highlighter packaged within a glass bottle with a thin brush applicator. Highlighters typically mean shimmer and sheen, but the W7 Night Light is the total opposite as it doesn't contain any shimmer particles whatsoever. Instead Night Light imparts considerable brightness to the skin for a very natural highlight which is completely undetectable on the skin which is perfect for "no makeup" days.

My favourite places to apply the W7 Night Light Matte Liquid Highlighter is down the centre of my nose, the centre of my forehead, my brow-bones and cheekbones. The bottle looks similar to a nail polish with its brush within the lid which you can 'paint' directly on to the skin. I prefer to use the brush to apply the liquid highlighter and then blend it into the skin with a fluffy duo-fibre brush. If you like to contour, I think this is a great highlighter option especially when worn on the cheekbones as it will emphasise your contour for an intense sculpted look. I can't get my head around how affordable this particular highlighter is, especially as it's so effective and versatile as you could even use it on your eyelids prior to applying eyeshadow to even out any discolouration.

Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream

The Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream is a relatively new launch, and is available in two shades; Frost Pink (which I own) and Iced Bronze. There are many highlighter sticks in this format to choose from, but I feel that this one stands out against the likes of Maybelline, Revlon and Clinique as it has a cream to powder formulation which melts into the skin for the most beautiful highlighted effect. The design is the same as others with a plastic stick containing a domed cream highlighter stick which can be twisted up and down by turning the base, and you simply apply directly to the skin and blend with either your fingertips or a brush.

Frost Pink is a beautiful pinky toned champagne shade which isn't overloaded with shimmer or sparkle and imparts somewhat of a satin glow to the skin which looks relatively subtle compared to other highlighter sticks. The satin finish is quite flattering on the skin, and I think this shade would work with any skintone. What I really like about the Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream is that you can do one swipe for a subtle luminous sheen, or you can build it up should you want a more intense highlight. The stick format is so convenient as you literally swipe and blend, so it'd be a good makeup bag option especially as you don't have to use a makeup brush to apply it.

Illuminating Palette

I love a good dupe, and the W7 Glow for Glory Illuminating Palette is a dupe for the Laura Mercier Candleglow Luminizing Palette in terms of the layout of the palette as well as the shades. The palette contains six different powder highlighters with both warm and cool highlighter shades. I really like the London skyline inspired design on the front of the palette, and it's relatively compact considering it contains six highlighters and a large mirror. There are four smaller powder pans which are the more intense highlighter shades, and two larger pans which are a little more subtle and could be used as a blush and bronzer.

Shade wise there is a lavender toned highlight, a peach toned highlight, a cool champagne highlight and a yellow gold highlight on the top row. The bottom row features a peach shade as well as a bronze shade which as I said could be used as a blush and bronzer depending on your skintone. The powders are all very soft and easy to blend, and I like that they vary in tone so much making it very versatile, and great value for money if you want to experiment with your highlighter shades.

Sleek MakeUP Highlighter Palette

The Sleek highlighter palettes have gone viral worldwide since their launch with everyone trying to get their hands on them. The Precious Metals Palette was the first Sleek highlighter palette, and contains four metallic highlighters in both cream and powder formulas. The packaging is really pretty considering how affordable it is with a gunmetal, mirrored casing and a magnetic closure. The palette contains a sizeable mirror as well as a small brush which works well for the application of the powders, but not with the cream. I'm not normally a fan of palettes which combine both cream and powders as the creams can get a little messy with fallout from the powders but the powder shade is very smooth with very little fallout so it's not caused any issues so far.

Inside the palette there is; Platinum (a cool toned silver cream highlighter), Antique Bronze (a pale gold cream highlighter with sparkle), Royal Gold (a gold cream highlighter) and Renaissance Gold (a deep bronze powder highlight with a gold shift). I really like that the three powder shades don't contain any sparkle as I personally don't like wearing sparkly highlighters, but the cream shade can be worn as a cream eyeshadow too. I understand why the Sleek Highlighter Palettes are so hyped as the creaminess, pigmentation and longevity is really impressive and I like that you can mix or layer the shades together should you wish to. It's such a great price for a palette, especially when you consider you get four large highlighters and a brush, and is well worth trying if you like cream and powder highlighters.

We really hope you've enjoyed our top drugstore highlighter roundup. We'd love to know your favourite drugstore highlighter?