Holiday Party Glow: Anastasia Beverly Hills Illuminator in Starlight

I'm really sticking to that wishlist, you guys, and it's working for me - all of my purchases so far have been great successes, knock on wood! One of those is Anastasia Beverly Hills Illuminator in Starlight ($28 for 0.32 oz/ 9 g), a beautiful powder highlight in the 'gelee'/ MAC Extra Dimension type of formula. I'd never had a powder product with that texture before, so I was excited to play around with Anastasia's version.

I was also right to wait it out and see if Anastasia's own website would have any Black Friday/ Cyber Monday deals on this product, and while the sale wasn't super amazing, I managed to get my Starlight plus their A23 Highlighter brush (pictured) in a set for $26 with free shipping. I'm not going to review the brush right now - first impressions are that it isn't anything special - but still, the combo was just a little bit cheaper than the full price of one Illuminator.

I've read somewhere that the Illuminator's packaging looks cheap and doesn't go well with the rest of Anastasia's make-up line, but I don't really find any problems with it. Sure, it's just black plastic, but it seems sturdy and comes with a large mirror inside the compact.

Word on the street is that the pretty art deco-inspired embossing on the powder was chosen not just for visual impact, but for how increases powder pick-up on the brush. Hmm, maybe - I haven't really noticed anything different about that, but then again I normally use a very soft highlighter brush (Zoeva 105 Luxe Highlight, here) that allows me to precisely control the amount of product on the bristles. Either way, I think it's a beautiful design that adds a special something something to this highlighter.

Now, as for the gelee formula... I guess if I wasn't told before that it was a special type of formulation, I probably wouldn't have noticed all that much - sorry. The product is pressed quite firmy in the pan, which I like as it diminishes the amount of fly-away dust all over the compact like in the other two powder highlighters in my stash. Despite that firmness, it's easy to pick up quite a bit on the brush, and it's nicely pigmented - definitely not sheer, but not fully opaque either (that would be terrible for a luminizing product, don't you think?). Anastasia's Illuminator has a nice slip to it as well, which makes blending out a breeze - it definitely feels creamier/ less dry than my two baked highlighters, shown below for comparison.

The other significant difference between Anastasia's powder highlighter and the other two that I own is that the Illuminator has a lot more, well, glow to it. It's more reflective, and when applied heavily, can even verge on that metallic/ wet look that I usually avoid. However, it doesn't exaggerate pores too much, and it's quite easy to sheer out for daytime, so I'm happy to at least have the option of a heavier highlight if I want - it'd be really pretty for a Holiday party look, for example.

As for the shade, Starlight is the perfect highlight for fair to light skintones. I've heard it described two ways - either as a very pale white gold, or as a very pale pink, which seemed quite confusing to me; is it warm or cool-toned then? Well, it's a little bit of both. In artificial lighting, it definitely has more of that white gold iridescence, but in daylight, I see more of the baby pink, so I believe it's a white gold/ pale pink duochrome on a white base. Either way, I would describe its tone as neutral, so it should suit a variety of lighter skintones - it also compliments just about any blush shade. Compared to my other highlighters, Laura Mercier Baked Powder in Highlight 01 (click) is more champagne/ beige, while Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter in Radiant Lights (click) is significantly darker and more peachy pink. I'm sorry these swatches are not more visible, but truth be told all three of these products are rather close to my skintone.

L-R: (far left) Anastasia Beverly Hills Illuminator in Starlight blended out, then swatched heavily, Laura Mercier Baked Highlight 01, Makeup Revolution Baked Vivid Highlighter in Radiant Lights

I took a whole bunch of face shots to try and show you Starlight in action, but I think winter afternoon light isn't bright enough to pick up on the glow - the only thing it managed to pick up on was my dry and flaky skin (I also didn't apply the Illuminator heavily on my cheeks because I was heading out to work). You can see it concentrated more in the inner corners of my eyes, but uhm, yeah - well I guess this picture shows that you really can apply this highlighter more sheer and subtle for daytime.

Anastasia's Starlight rounds up my powder highlighter collection very nicely, and I'm happy that I pulled the trigger on it. I really love all three of the luminizing powders I now have in my stash, and I don't think I'll be adding another one any time soon - I feel that three is a really good number to have some variety but still be able to regularly use all of them. What was the last powder highlighter that you've bought? How many do you have in your stash?