Feel simply radiant
Forget heavy foundation, or over the top highlighters - these clever buys are the only way to get perfect skin this season...
Want to know how to get glowing skin? Sitting somewhere between skincare and make-up, these illuminating, radiance-boosting complexion perfecters are your new best friend.
Illuminators are silky, light (much lighter than foundation) and quickly absorbed liquids that aim to give a radiance boost to the skin, at the same time as offering various skincare benefits to help you discover how to get glowing skin.
What sort of benefits? Whatever your complexion needs. Some of these beauty buys fight the signs of ageing, some fight the damaging effects of pollution and others simply hydrate tired and worn-out skin. There’s an illuminator designed to target any and all of your skin concerns. All of them, however, will boost your natural skin tone, giving you a radiant and brilliant glow. Your skin will look and feel silky smooth and exude good health. What more could you want?
In an ideal world, we would all get our eight hours of sleep, never feel stressed, live out in nature and have enough time and energy to treat our faces to a weekly facial. In the real world however, our skin often suffers from stress, lack of sleep, poor diet, environmental damage and more. But there’s no need to despair, it is possible to fake a perfect complexion. Want to look like you’ve had a decent night’s sleep? Or look like you’ve been on a winter holiday (without slathering fake tan on your face)? These illuminators are the key for a quick, natural-looking healthy glow.
Whatever your budget and skin type, there’s a gorgeous illuminator for you. Wear them alone, under or mixed with foundation for a naturally beautiful you.??
Discover your perfect illuminator here and find out how to get glowing skin…
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Diorskin Nude Air Care & Dare in Amber Tan, £40
Dior’s limited-edition summer launches sell like cold drinks on a hot beach, and this 2017 compact will be no different. The mix of warm tan and creamy white powders can be used all together as a highlighting bronzer or separately to contour and chisel those cheekbones. The texture is silky and light-reflecting, blends beautifully and the colours are spot-on for a realistic glowy finish. Plus, that weighty silver compact will make onlookers very jealous, which is half the fun of designer make-up right?
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Too Faced Love Light in You Light Up My Life, £25
If you’re a multi-tasking kind of gal, this blush-highlighter hybrid will be right up your street. The colour is a perfect perky pink for a youthful pop of colour, while the light-filled formula subtly shimmers away making cheeks look bouncy, healthy and juicy. The Polly Pocket like packaging caught our eye too.
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Smashbox Spotlight Palette, £26
One for the seasoned highlighting fan, this palette contains three creamy highlighters that can be picked from or mixed up to do everything from a champagne swoosh along your brow bone or a multi-tonal pop on the cheeks. The colours look a little bit intense at first, but this being Smashbox they blend right down to a natural hint of sheen. We found these also work nicely as a shimmery upper-lid liner, just dip in a skinny brush in and paint on for wide-awake eyes.
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Clinique Chubbystick Sculpting Highlight, £19
For an instant glow, dust a little highlighter onto the tops of your cheekbones to give blusher a 3D effect; try Clinique Chubbystick Sculpting Highlight. Not just for eyes and lips, the famous Chubbystick is also ideal for adding a healthy glow to your features. It’s formulated with light-reflecting optics to illuminate the face, and is oil-free, which means you can apply it over bare skin or foundation.
Buy now at debenhams.com for £19
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Mac Strobe Cream, £25
Used by make-up artists everywhere Mac’s Strobe Cream is fast becoming a cult beauty classic. Packed with essential vitamins and antioxidants this cream will revive dull looking skin in an instant.
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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette, £59
Cheat your way to glowing skin with this miracle palette by Hourglass. The high tech finishing powder will suit basically everyone – apply it to your cheekbones, browbones, and wherever your skin catches the light for a ‘selfie-ready’ finish.
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Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow, £38.50
If you haven’t yet dipped your toe into make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury’s new range, take the plunge with the amazing Wonderglow. The perfect choice for tired and lacklustre skin, Wonderglow uses a ‘Fluorescent Core Light Diffuser’ to make use of surrounding UV light and transfer it to the skin for a Hollywood-ready, ‘spotlight’ effect.
Buy now at charlottetilbury.com for £38.50
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Nars Illuminator, £23
Refresh your skin with this barely-there illuminator by Nars. Apply to bare skin this summer to see your natural tone brightened and improved – so much so you could dare to bare and leave the heavy foundation and powder at home. Look out for new shade Adelaide – a light-reflecting and flirty pink hue, perfect for creating a natural-looking flush on a spring morning.
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Giorgio Armani Fluid Sheer Skin Illuminator, £38
For a ‘my skin but better’ look, opt for the Giorgio Armani Fluid Sheer Skin Illuminator. A sheer, foolproof liquid that will sink into skin to leave an incandescent glow, this is a winter essential to help skin through to spring.
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Clarins Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base, £26.50
Clarins’s latest addition to the Instant Light range, the Radiance Boosting Complexion Base, is just what our skin needs on a drab day. Brightening, hydrating and protecting the skin, Clarins have developed their own ‘High-Lumitech Complex’ (to soften imperfections and fill your complexion with light-reflecting brilliance) and ‘Anti-Pollution Complex’ (to fight against the harmful effects of free radicals) to blend with Katafray for ultra-hydrated and beautiful skin. Apply alone or mix with your usual foundation. We applied it alone and then lightly dusted a sweep of Clarins Skin Illusion Loose Powder Foundation over the top for a velvety matte finish.
