Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Glow Highlighter Oyster: Review & Swatches

I was so in love with the swatches I saw online of the new Anastasia Liquid Glow Highlighter in Oyster. It looked like the pearly beige version of Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops in Blossom. Details per Sephora:

What it is:
A weightless liquid highlighter that imparts an intense glow with lustrous finishes.

What it does:
Liquid Glow Highlighter is a concentrated, fill-pigment liquid formula that effortlessly blends into skin and with your favorite complexion products. Just layer it with Glow Kit for a high-impact, radiant sheen.

This liquid highlighter feels very similar to the Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops in the buildable high pearl finish. You can get both to a pretty reflective high pearl coverage. Oyster is described as a sparkling rose gold. It’s a high pearl warm beige pink with gold micro glitter. The base color is absolutely perfect I love it. It’s unique and shifts in the light. It’s makes me want to cry that they put gold micro glitter in it. It ruins it for me. The gold micro glitter is only apparent when you start to sheer out the formula and blend it in. It really takes over the look of the product. If you like micro glitter and glittery highlighters you’ll be fine with this highlighter. If you’re like me and hate glitter, even micro glitter, than it will ruin this for you.

The packaging is simple with a plastic tube with a thin tip so you don’t over do squeezing out the right amount. It’s reasonable at $25 so nothing major to empty the wallet. The formula is buildable and you can get a light coverage to some degree but it can go medium to heavy quite easy. You will get a major glow with this one. The formula blends easy and is super smooth. It dries down to a powder like finish, lasts most the day with no issues and survived the heat and humidity for me. The beige pink base is so perfect if you like highlighter shades with that tone. Shame it has to be filled with micro glitter.

Compared with Top to Bottom: Cover FX Blossom which is cooler and pinker, Anastasia Oyster which is warmer and more beige:

Anastasia Beverly Hills Starlight Illuminator: Review & Swatches

Anastasia Beverly Hills is a brand I haven’t really used a lot from. I had heard great things about their new Illuminators so I went to a Macy’s to check them out. I will say Starlight is quite stunning and deserves the hype. The other shades were nice but not colors I typically use for highlighting. I have way too many highlighters and didn’t need another, but Starlight was way too pretty to pass up, especially for the price compared to a lot of other pricey highlighters, it’s pretty reasonable.

Per Anastasia’s website: “Like a filter for your complexion, this brush-on highlighter contains a mosaic of brightening powders that impart a lit-from-within glow. The mirrored compact makes on-the-go touch ups easy and fail-safe.” The retail is $28 for a 9g compact. Starlight is described as a “white gold”. It’s a luminous white that had both gold and pink in it. It’s neither warm nor cool, it’s pretty neutral. Starlight is complex, it looks different depending on the light. At first it looks almost beige or dirty white in inside light, but outside it becomes more white.

It’s not a finely milled as say Chanel, but it’s not glittery. It does have a good punch, it’s not a sheer or really subtle highlighter. However, you can control how much impact depending on the brush you use. This is kind of like my MAC Lightscapade on steroids. For the price it’s worth checking out. It’s currently sold only at Macy’s, besides online at Macy’s and Anastasia’s website.

Compared to Chanel Camelia de Plumes Highlighter, which is a silver gold, Starlight has no silver so it’s warmer and has a pink tint to it. Starlight is less finely milled than Chanel, both the Chanel and Anastasia are more potent highlighters, but again that can be controlled with application and the brush you use.

Sunlight:

Compared with Chanel Camelia de Plumes:

Swatches: Top Chanel(Blended then Heavy), Bottom Anastasia(Heavy then Blended):

Sunlight:

Anastasia Brow Primer Review

I use clear brow wax as a way to keep my brows in place after brow color. The two I was using the most was MAC’s Clear Brow Finisher and Surratt’s Expressioniste Brow Pomade. I received this Anastasia Brow Primer in a Cultbeauty gift bag and decided to try it. It’s very similar to the MAC Brow Finisher except maybe a bit softer. It’s a clear wax chunky pencil that you sharpen. The retail for this is $21.  

There is a few ways you can apply this. You can apply it after color, such as powder, gels and pencils, to hold the brow hairs in place. This is how I use it. The Anastasia site says you use it as a primer for powder brow color. “This soft, colorless wax pencil creates a smooth, even canvas onto which powder can adhere. Like a styling aid for your brows, it also helps tame, groom, and position wayward or in-between stage hairs.” I tested this method, and it does work for powders only, not for pencils. It makes the powder apply darker, yet it made the pencil apply lighter.

Tested on my arm below, the left side is without the Anastasia Brow Primer, the right side is using the Brow Primer first. Top is the pencil, bottom is Bobbi Brown’s Blonde eyeshadow/brow powder.

I use pencils and not powder so the second method I never use, but I see it’s benefit. I find a clear brow wax to be a daily essential for me to keep the hairs in place. This is a good pencil for that purpose. I like it better than MAC’s because it pulls less hairs out being a touch softer.