Mostly used by makeup professionals back in the day, highlighters are now considered an essential that every makeup enthusiast must have in her makeup pouch. Its popularity can also be easily seen on Instagram feeds where influencers show off their blinding highlight.
Other than blinding everyone with its gleam, highlighters can also help create the look of healthy, glowing skin. If you’re just getting started with highlighter, we have the perfect list of recommendations for you.
Some of our picks retail at just under SGD 30 – relatively affordable, compared to many popular options out there – so you can build up your stash and preference at a comfortable rate. And for highlighting pros, well, you wouldn’t say no to affordable highlighters that actually work too, would you?
- 1. Colourpop Super Shock Highlighter
- 2. Wet N Wild Color Icon Rainbow Highlighter
- 3. NYX Born To Glow Liquid Illuminator
- 4. Fenty Beauty Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter Duo
- 5. NYX Professional Makeup Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder
- 6. Maybelline Gigi Liquid Strobe in Iridescent
- 7. Anastasia Beverly Hills Highlighter Pressed Powder
- 8. MAC Cosmetics Extra Dimension Skinfinish Highlighter
- 9. Hourglass Ambient™ Lighting Infinity Powder
- 10. Clinique Powder Pop™ Flower Highlighter
- 11. Zoeva Strobe Gel
- 12. Dear Dahlia Eternal Shine Illuminating Palette
- 13. Sephora Collection Face Shimmering Pressed Powder
- 14. Benefit Cosmetics Dandelion Twinkle Powder Highlighter
- 15. Tartiest PRO Glow to Go Palette
- 16. 3CE Back to Baby Glow Beam
- 17. theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer
1. Colourpop Super Shock Highlighter
Perhaps one of the most talked-about brands when it comes to affordable makeup, Colourpop makes it right at the top of our list, for its affordability and its quality.
Colourpop’s Super Shock Highlighter is a compact powder highlighter that can give you that Instagrammer blinding highlight and is only USD 8 – that’s only SGD 10.90!
Plus, with 21 different shades to choose from, you’re definitely spoilt for choice.
Price: SGD 10.90
Where to get: Colourpop is an online-only makeup brand, so check it out here.
2. Wet N Wild Color Icon Rainbow Highlighter
Step aside Too Faced, Wet N Wild now has their own version of the unicorn, rainbow-coloured highlighter that’ll have your friends knotted up in envy, but at a fraction of the price at SGD 12.90, compared to Too Faced’s SGD 45.
Get this highlighter for a high impact, rainbow sheen to impress your gal pals.
Price: SGD 12.90
Where to buy: Available at Metro
Related read: Where to buy Wet n Wild products in Singapore and the bestsellers you should try
3. NYX Born To Glow Liquid Illuminator
A liquid highlighter that comes in two shades – the appropriately named Sun Goddess, and Pure Gold, this NYX highlighter is raved by reviewers as giving an intense blinding (depending on how you adjust it!) glow that will have you looking like a real Sun Goddess.
Price: SGD 14.50
Where to get: Available at LookFantastic
4. Fenty Beauty Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter Duo
The crowning jewel of Rihanna’s collection, in our opinion, are the Killawatt highlighters. Available in singles, or in two shades, this creamy powder formula is so finely-milled, one application gives you that wet-look, glossy highlight that Rihanna flaunts on the regular.
Price: SGD 57
Where to get: Available at Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
5. NYX Professional Makeup Duo Chromatic Illuminating Powder
Despite its rather plain packaging, this duo chromatic highlighter really packs a punch with its use of holographic colours that will have your shine look different from every angle.
Holo-queens, this is where it’s at.
Price: SGD 10.74
Where to get: Available at Amazon.sg
6. Maybelline Gigi Liquid Strobe in Iridescent
A collaboration between Maybelline and super-model Gigi Hadid, the liquid highlighter promises to give you the perfect, iridescent glow-from-within skin that’ll get everyone talking.
Just mix the highlighter into your foundation, and dab away for an illuminating, all-over strobing effect.
Price: SGD 9.30
Where to get: Available at Amazon.sg
7. Anastasia Beverly Hills Highlighter Pressed Powder
Designed with all skin tones in mind, the Iced Out highlighter from Anastasia Beverly Hills is here to deliver a multi-dimensional glow. Built with the high reflectivity of a liquid and the weightlessness of a powder, the luminous and universal formula delivers a wet-effect shine that’s buildable and helps to amplify skin.
The results? Lit-from-within radiance finished with an ultra-beam effect. It certainly gets our seal of approval.
Price: SGD 55
Where to get: Available at Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
8. MAC Cosmetics Extra Dimension Skinfinish Highlighter
The Extra Dimension Skinfinish from MAC Cosmetics adds the perfect glow to the skin. This liquid-powder highlighter with prismatic reflections is designed to sculpt and highlight your face, leaving a luminous, well-defined finish. The creamy powder formula lasts up to ten hours.
Price: SGD 57
Where to get: Available at MAC counters, stores, and at Sephora.sg
9. Hourglass Ambient™ Lighting Infinity Powder
Hourglass’ Ambient Lighting Infinity Powder grants a seamless, multidimensional highlight that illuminates and softens your complexion. The vegan and cruelty-free powder is hand-blended using an advanced mixing technique – no two look the same – so that you’re left with a beautifully marbled, glow-boosting powder.
Designed to work in harmony with any formula from the Ambient Lighting range, this enchanting finishing powder delivers a radiant, soft-focus effect to rival your favourite photographic filter.
Price: SGD 84
Where to get: Available at Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
10. Clinique Powder Pop™ Flower Highlighter
A long-wearing, silky-smooth highlighter, Clinique’s weightless powder goes on smooth and lasts all day. Enriched with luminescent pearls to adjust to your skin’s undertone, it leaves skin with buildable, natural-looking colour and a dewy finish.
Price: SGD 45
Where to get: Available at Clinique counters and Sephora.sg
11. Zoeva Strobe Gel
A bit less conventional than the usual powder or liquid formula highlighters tend to be, Zoeva’s Strobe Gel comes in a gel formula that melds seamlessly into the skin for a natural, wearable, everyday look.
You could choose to adjust the varying level of intensity you want, from a natural, translucent finish, to a more vivid, dramatic look in the evening.
Price: SGD 28
Where to get: Available in Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
12. Dear Dahlia Eternal Shine Illuminating Palette
Featuring four essential luminous highlighters, this illuminating palette lets you build your glow from a healthy to intense radiance. The ultrafine textures concentrated with multi-dimensional shimmery pigments can be worn alone or blended together to create customized looks.
The weightless, long-wearing wet-powder formula is infused with shea butter and other natural ingredients to blend effortlessly without clumping.
Price: SGD 93
Where to get: Available at Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
13. Sephora Collection Face Shimmering Pressed Powder
Thanks to its lightweight, easy-to-blend texture, and fine pearlescent particles, the Face Shimmering Pressed Powder lets you highlight the high points of your face effortlessly. This invisible, silky powder leaves a veil of light with a weightless feel.
Price: SGD 26
Where to get: Available at Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
14. Benefit Cosmetics Dandelion Twinkle Powder Highlighter
A cult classic, Benefit is another surprising brand on the under SGD 30 list. While it retails at SGD 53 for its full-sized highlighter, its mini version, at 1.5g, retails only at SGD 30. This is perfect for you to try out the formula before committing to the full-sized one.
For those wanting a reliable highlighter that’ll be sure to give you the winning radiant glow that’ll have looks of envy coming your way, this is it.
Price: SGD 30 (1.5g), SGD 53 (3g)
Where to get: Available at Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
15. Tartiest PRO Glow to Go Palette
Just barely making the cut for our list of SGD 30 and under highlights, Tarte’s Tarteist PRO Glow to Glow Palette is the palette you can reach for to do the entire she-bang – of choosing between a pearly or a sandier highlight from that lit-from-within glow you want to achieve, and a matte contour to complete the entire look.
Price: SGD 30
Where to get: Available at Sephora stores and Sephora.sg
16. 3CE Back to Baby Glow Beam
Always admired the natural glow that 3CE models all seem to have? Apply this together or beneath foundation to achieve that dewy, glass skin look.
Price: SGD 30.66
Where to get: Available at YesStyle
17. theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer
Considered a holy grail amongst many, the Mary Lou highlighter is a champagne coloured powder formula that is intense, pigmented, and most importantly, flattering on all skin colours.
Price: SGD 22
Where to get: Available at Sephora.sg
