liquid highlighters. I: Benefit HighBeam.

i have acquired some liquid highlighters that i want to show you in a mini-series in the next short time. there are still some drugstore items missing in this overview, but those were limited editions or products i'm not positive with, so they are in the "to go"-bin now.
the 3 that are free to stay are:

• Benefit HighBeam
• Rouge Bunny Rouge Seas of Illumination Highlighting Liquid in Sea Of Showers
• Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl

i like to use this kind of product in the summer as a highlighter dabbed on the high points of the face. but when the weather get's cold again, i love to mix a drop of these into my foundation and give it an extra portion of glow to keep the luminous and healthy appearance of my summer complexion.

the first one i want to swatch for you is

Benefit High Beam

this is the infamous High Beam highlighter by Benefit. long ago, i bought one in original size on ebay, but it was a FAKE. 

i didn't rebuy it, because then it seemed to be ridiculous to buy such a big bottle that i would probably never finish the rare occasions i tended to grab for a cream highlighter. but when i browsed the sephora website about a year later and saw they had a Sephora Exclusive Benefit High Beam To Go in a lipgloss-like tube and only 3.9ml, it appeared much more reasonable to me. it would cost only 10$, an affordable amount to try out or for seldom-users like me. 

so this time i managed to buy an original one on ebay (luckily this offer was so new that the counterfeit industries still haven't caught up at that time).

like i said before this comes in a sturdy acrylic lip gloss tube with a small flocked doe foot applicator. the consistency is liquidy-creamy and it smoothes out easily with a slight silicone feel, leaving a dry (non-sticky) finish. 

it's a pale pink with white pearl and tiny multicolour sparkles. it can have a subtle effect if you sheer it out well, but is easily buildable to a higher shimmer for the evening. i find the shimmer most times "too much". in bad-skin times i avoid to use it because it can emphasize bumpies and large pores quite effective ;)

because it is rather watery at first, be careful to only dab but not rub it onto your face make up, so you avoid it messing with your foundation. i often use a small skunk brush or the Blusher Brush #1 by Illamasqua, but fingers are fine, too.  

i usually only use this in a c-shape on the top of my cheeks and periorbital, but sometimes i also apply a teeeny tiny amount underneath my eyes before under-eye concealer to brighten up this area.

i can imagine that this can look too whitish/greyish on a darker complexion (MAC NC40+).

i will update with an on-face picture soon.

do you have it? do you regularly use liquid/cream highlighters generally?

next time i'll show you the Rouge Bunny Rouge one.

UPDATE:

this is how the HighBeam looks worn as cheek-highlight.

without highlighter (only foundation & under-eye concealer) - with Benefit HighBeam