My Favorite Highlighter Isn’t a Highlighter at All

Picture this: You’re out to brunch, you turn your head and blind everyone around you with your colorless, sun-kissed highlight. Everyone, surprised by its sheen, stares at you in awe and immediately asks what you’re wearing. Your response? Nothing, just moisturizer. Everyone stares back in awe and proceeds to compliment you on your flawless skin and natural glow. Welcome to my life.

While I love a good highlighter as much as the next enthusiast, my favorite highlighter actually isn’t a highlighter at all — it’s a thick moisturizer that happens to create an awe-inducing glow. The product in question is the Kiehl’s Ultra Moisturizing Cream, a thick formula that offers continuous moisture and leaves skin looking healthy and nourished. Formulated with nature-powered ingredients like Antarcticine (which is straight from Antarctica!), Imperata Cylindrica and squalane, it’s designed to keep skin moisturized all day long. You can snag this anywhere Kiehl’s is available, and it retails at $36 a tub.

Now onto the highlight. While wearing this product all over will give skin a healthy sheen, the key to really getting that glow is applying a little extra where you would regularly highlight and tapping it into the skin. You want to rub it in so that it settles into skin but not until it disappears completely. This will ensure you get the maximum benefits of the cream while still achieving a popping highlight.

This hack is perfect for those no-makeup makeup days when you want to pop on sunscreen and go because you don’t have time to add new steps to your routine. It probably won’t replace your beloved highlighters (I definitely keep my Maybelline Master Chrome close), but it will definitely add to a bare face or light makeup look.

Will you be trying this hack? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo: Courtesy of Tembe Denton-Hurst