This week I had the opportunity to try some highlighters from a new indie brand called, Vanessa’s Vanity. She was generous enough to provide our readers with an additional discount on top of her already low prices. The code is OURBEAUTYCULT and it will save you an additional 20%. Currently her store includes pressed highlighters in various sizes (with a compact or in pan form), loose highlighters and lip glazes. But she has a lot of new products in the works that we’ll be seeing very soon. Also important to note, her entire line is vegan and of course cruelty free!

The first thing I noticed was how well pressed that they were. The stamps were absolutely perfect.

Then I started working on swatches. All five highlighters were extremely pigmented and they adhered well to my skin. Swatches were done with a flat shader brush and bare but freshly moisturized skin.

The formula is very finely milled, which I quite liked. So many highlighters now have that really dense creamy texture, kind of like a foiled eyeshadow. I like that type of formula too and it’s great for younger girls but when you’re over 30 (like myself) that type of texture can be hard to pull off. It has the potential to settle into fine lines and emphasize pores. I’ll still use these type of highlighters occasionally on myself and all the time on clients but for the most part I prefer a thinner formula like the highlighters from Vanessa’s Vanity.
Blended out swatches

I recommend using a VERY light hand with Vanessa highlighters because it’s very easy to pick up too much product. A little goes a LONG way. They’re very pigmented but as long as I tapped off my brush first, I was able to get a subtle highlight as well. Because they’re so finely milled, they are a little on the powdery side. It doesn’t affect the application but I did have some kick up in the pans. Overall the texture is silky smooth and wore really nicely for the entire day and night.
Lavender Ice has a purple base with blue iridescence. It’s really a quite versatile product. It can be used as a subtle or very dramatic highlighter and also as an eyeshadow. I wore the tiniest bit on my cheekbones yesterday and it gave me a just a hint of bluish lavender shimmer.

Silver lining is an ultra metallic pure silver that will be a perfect cool toned highlighter for pale skin. When applied full strength, it has a bit of a bluish cast.

Rose Gold looks more like a rosey copper on my skin. This is pretty much my all time favorite eyeshadow color! This one is going to be more geared towards POC or tan skin, when used as a highlighter. Which is great! Even though I’m quite fair, I appreciate when brands consider all ethnicities when creating products. For pale girls and boys, it will be an incredible blush topper and eyeshadow. I absolutely love this color and I’m sure I’ll hit pan soon

White Gold is my favorite highlighter out of these five. I love the colored highlighters that are so trendy now but in my day to day life, I keep it pretty simple. It’s exactly what it’s name suggests, a very pale shimmery gold. I took a super close up shot of the pan so that you could appreciate the intricate hand pressed design.

Electricity is another show stopper! It has a white base with strong lime green reflects but also more subtle hints of blue and pink. The same as with lavender ice, I found that I could make it wearable with a gentle touch. If you’re more daring than myself, you could go ham and get a crazy intense mermaid highlight. I’m dying to use this one on my eyes. I might have to use it today!

Overall I’m very happy with all the highlighters that I received from Vanessa’s Vanity and I look forward to trying more of her products in the future!