Product Review: Laura Geller Makeup Studio Baked Highlighter

One of the ways I love to freshen up my skin in the Spring and Summer is to use a highlighter. I know many people use these as a part of their daily makeup routines regardless of the season, but I always gravitate more to them in the warmer months,, as they add some life and dewiness to my pale complexion without me having to fake a tan. Over the years, one of my favorite highlighting products has been Laura Geller Makeup Studio's Baked Highlighter, and my color of choice is French Vanilla.

At first glance, the Baked Highlighter may seem like nothing more than an off-white powder that looks more like a setting powder than anything that will impart a glow. But applying it to the face, it is magic. It provides the softest, most delicate sheen to the face I have ever seen from any product I've tried. And because it is a face powder, I do not have to worry about any sticky or tacky feel left on the skin. This, I think, also really broadens the range of skin types who would enjoy this product both for the soft tactile texture and also the subtlety of the glow you get from it, making it a perfect accent to both oily and dry skin types and everyone in between. The powder feels smooth and creamy and it never cakes up on the skin, no matter how much you layer it on, This product is especially great at carving out the cheek bones, as, since it is a powder it melds beautifully to the planes of the face and really accentuates the shape of the face as opposed to just adding mere glow to the face. In a sense, it very much as the effect of highlighting and contouring in one step but with just using a pale highlight shade.

The color of the Baked French Vanilla Highlighter is very aptly named, appearing just like a creamy white French vanilla ice cream with the slightest yellow twinge. Though I have very cool-undertoned, pink-tinged skin, I am pleased to say that the yellow in this shade does not clash with my coloring at all. I think that is due to that the powder is so finely milled and diffuses very well across the skin and the fact that there are absolutely no glitter or shimmer particles detectable of the face at all to skew the color in any obvious color direction, warm or cool. The powder itself is just luminescent and makes the overall effect very believable. I have seen this product modeled on many skintones and undertones from watching Laura Geller herself present it on live QVC, and it looks wonderful on all skin tones and textures, imparting a harmonizing, believable glow and added dimension to faces of any age and every ethnicity across the board.

For application, I think this product performs the best when applied with a stiff flat paddle brush that allows the powder to apply evenly with no streaks. Laura Geller makes a dual-ended brush with this kind of brush on one end, and a beautiful angled blush brush on the other for $25 USD.

The Baked French Vanilla Highlighter retails for $24 dollars USD and is available on the Laura Geller Makeup Studio website, and it is also regularly featured on QVC and QVC.com, sometimes available at discounted prices, curated sets, or on auto-delivery subscriptions if you so choose. You get a generous amount of product, and a little goes a long way, and one pan easily lasted me two years. If you are looking for away to add some soft dewiness to your skin , and especially, if you are looking for the effect within a powder formula. I think this is a truly beautiful option.

*Item contains talc.