Five ways to get a lit-from-within glow
- Choose Peach & Lily’s stick for sheer, buildable luminosity on bare skin or over makeup.
- Pick L’Oréal Lumi Glotion for a soft tint, or e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter for sheer coverage and soft-focus radiance.
- Choose Saie Glowy Super Gel for a gel you can wear alone, mix, or spread across face and body.
- Pick Rhode Highlight Milk for a soft pearly finish, with four shades spanning sheer shimmer to warm tint.
For a lit-from-within look, Peach & Lily’s Glass Skin Luminizing Stick is a format fit if you want sheer, buildable luminosity on bare skin or layered under or over makeup. Choose L’Oréal’s Lumi Glotion when a luminous tint suits your whole complexion, Saie’s Glowy Super Gel for all-over or mix-in wear, Rhode’s Highlight Milk for pearly shimmer, and e.l.f.’s Halo Glow Liquid Filter for soft-focus radiance with sheer coverage when worn alone.
This five-option guide compares each maker’s published finish and wear directions, coverage information where provided, and makeup-artist guidance on placement.
Choose the glow area before the formula
First decide whether you want a glow across much of the complexion or a highlight on selected features. For an all-over dewy effect, Trinny London’s highlighter guide suggests mixing a little highlighter with base. For a more focused highlight, makeup artist Manu Horn’s Vogue India guide advises placing pigment only where you want emphasis.
For a natural-looking glow, L’Oréal’s application guide recommends a pearlescent finish over glitter and says finer shimmer tends to look more natural. Trinny London recommends satin, luminous, or iridescent finishes for a grown-up look and advises against overly shimmery or heavy-glitter formulas. Trinny London quotes professional makeup artist Katie Levy saying cream highlighter blends easily into skin for a soft, believable finish and makes the complexion look fresher.
Treat coverage and reflectivity as separate choices: a product may tint a broad area, add sheer coverage, or simply catch light on selected features. L’Oréal describes Lumi Glotion as a luminous tint, while e.l.f. specifies sheer coverage for Halo Glow Liquid Filter when worn alone, giving you two clear complexion-effect cues.
Peach & Lily Glass Skin Luminizing Stick: sheer glow in a balm
Peach & Lily describes Glass Skin Luminizing Stick as a skincare-meets-highlighting balm. Its sheer, buildable formula glides onto bare skin or layers under or over makeup for lit-from-within luminosity.
The product description also lists 40+ ingredients, including antioxidants, vitamins, and peptides, and says the formula visibly hydrates skin.
For an everyday look, try a small amount at the cheekbones and blend the edge with rounded motions, following Horn’s makeup-artist guidance for a diffused result.
L’Oréal True Match Lumi Glotion: a luminous tint for an all-over look
L’Oréal’s U.S. product page describes Lumi Glotion as a natural luminous tint on bare skin, a glowing primer under makeup, a mixer for liquid foundation, a highlighter, and a face-and-body glow product. The brand’s application guide calls the finish illuminating with a soft hint of color, making it a fit for someone who wants a tint alongside the glow.
This liquid works when you want luminosity over more of the face, including on a day you skip foundation. L’Oréal also gives a targeted option: use a small synthetic brush for controlled highlighting on the cheekbones or nose bridge. For a more diffused look, its guide recommends a damp sponge; fingers warm and blend the product for a subtle, natural-looking glow.
The product page also lists glycerin and describes it as a humectant that attracts moisture to help maintain hydration.
L’Oréal lists the collarbones and shoulders for body glow, and its FAQ also names the legs; the directions say to apply with gentle strokes. For a traditional highlight, the brand recommends a shade lighter than your complexion and names the cheekbones, brow bones, forehead, nose bridge, Cupid’s bow, and chin as placement options. L’Oréal also describes a contour option: choose a shade one or two steps darker than your complexion and apply it to the cheek contours.
L’Oréal recommends setting with translucent powder if you have oily skin or want a longer-lasting finish. It suggests translucent powder over areas that tend to look shiny, while keeping powder light over the highlighted points. That gives you a way to keep some glow on cheekbones while setting areas such as the forehead and nose.
Saie Glowy Super Gel: a flexible gel for all-over or targeted glow
Saie’s Mini Glowy Super Gel directions recommend one to two pumps after serum, oil, or untinted moisturizer. The gel can be worn alone, used under foundation or tinted SPF, mixed into foundation, or applied over makeup. Saie also names the face, chest, collarbones, shoulders, and legs as places to use it for all-over glow.
Saie describes Mini Glowy Super Gel as water-based and says it works with most foundations when they are not too oily. Its Mini directions recommend testing a small amount on your hand if you are unsure about the pairing.
Saie’s 2026 Duo directions recommend using the gel as a spot highlight over a finished look, mixing it into cream makeup or skincare, and blending with fingertips or The Big Brush, which is sold separately.
Rhode Highlight Milk: pearly shimmer with shade options
Rhode’s Highlight Milk product page describes the formula as a hybrid luminizer for bare skin or makeup, with a naturally luminous, soft pearly finish. The maker suggests using it on bare skin, layering it with skincare and SPF, mixing it with foundation or tinted moisturizer for a natural pearly finish, or combining it with face or body moisturizer.
Rhode says shades 01 and 02 have sheer milky bases with soft shimmer, while 03 and 04 add tint for a warm, dimensional glow.
Rhode lists a ceramide trio, mineral complex, vitamin E, and glycerin among Highlight Milk’s key ingredients. The brand describes the ceramide trio as helping moisturize and smooth skin and reinforce its natural barrier, giving shoppers a formula detail to weigh alongside the pearly finish.
The brand also positions Highlight Milk for face and body, including the décolleté, chest, and legs.
e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter: soft-focus radiance, with sheer coverage when worn alone
The e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter product page describes soft-focus radiance and lists 15 flexible shades for a wider range of skin tones and undertones. If you wear it alone, compare shade and undertone for the whole face. It can be worn alone, under or over makeup, mixed with foundation, or used as a highlighter on the face’s high points. e.l.f. also lists dry, oily, and combination skin as suitable for the product.
When worn alone, the maker describes Halo Glow Liquid Filter as sheer coverage. e.l.f.’s four-ways-to-use guide also presents it as a luminous base under foundation.
e.l.f.’s U.S. product page lists Halo Glow Liquid Filter at $15 and offers a Shade Match Guarantee with a refund within 30 days if you are unhappy with the shade you chose; it also notes that the glass container is recyclable.
Place and blend a focused glow
Trinny London’s highlighter guide recommends patting highlighter onto the brow and cheekbones, then tapping with fingers or buffing with a brush until the edges look soft. The guide suggests using any product left on your finger or brush on the bridge of the nose, inner eye corners, and Cupid’s bow. Makeup artist Katie Levy cautions that highlighting the entire nose bridge can make it look longer or oilier, so a shorter touch gives a more natural placement. For your own placement check, Trinny London suggests sitting at a sunny window with a mirror and slowly turning your face to see which areas catch the light. For a special event, the guide suggests mixing highlighter with base and carrying it across the face, neck, chest, and arms.
For powder highlighter, e.l.f.’s application guide says pressed and baked formulas range from soft satin to reflective, with shimmer-particle size and blend shaping the finish. It recommends building the powder gradually from a barely-there sheen to a more noticeable pop. A clean, fluffy brush or soft sponge can diffuse shimmer and soften its edges. The guide also recommends a light dusting of setting powder on the area first, which helps the brush glide and prevents shimmer from clinging to pores or fine lines. It says powder highlighter tends to wear well over foundation and setting powder.