How do you choose a highlighter for dark skin?

Ladies with dark skin tones deserve a royal and attractive look like anybody else. Well, using highlighters for dark skin tones can do the magic. The strokes need to be just right to blend the product evenly.

Did you know that there are shades especially made for dark skin tones like rose gold, metallic nudes, light and dark bronzes, etc. plus, all shades of browns? Here is a cumulation of the 9 best highlighters to give you the extra shine!

Top PicksCHECK PRICE
Best Highly Pigmented:Milani Baked Highlighter – Dolce Perla Price on Amazon
Best Affordable :Maybelline New York Master Chrome By Face Studio Metallic Highlighter – Molten Rose Gold Price on Amazon
Best For Smooth Application:Fenty Beauty By Rihanna Killawatt Foil Freestyle Highlighter Price on Amazon
Best Non-Cakey:Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed – Champagne Pop Price on Amazon
Best For Radiant Glow:Milk Makeup Highlighter – Champagne Pearl Price on Amazon
Best Blendable:Eddie Funkhouser Glow Drops Price on Amazon
Best Quick-Drying:e.l.f Jelly Highlighter – Bubbly Price on Amazon
Best Travel-Friendly:L’Oreal Paris True Match Lumi Glow Nude Highlighter Palette – Moon-Kissed Price on Amazon
Best For Sensitive Skin:Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Highlighter – Rose Gold
Price on Amazon

In This Article

  • 9 Best Highlighters For Dark Skin Tones
  • What To Look For In A Highlighter For Dark Skin Tones
  • Why Trust StyleCraze?
  • Frequently Asked Questions

1. Best Highly Pigmented:Milani Baked Highlighter – Dolce Perla

The super buildable Milani Baked Highlighter takes illumination to an all-new level. It is specially baked on Italian terracotta tiles and loved by dark-skinned women for its highly pigmented and light coverage formula. It is formulated with ultra-fine multi-tonal luminescent powders that leave a light shimmery finish. All it takes is a single swipe of the brush to give a high-impact natural glow for the evening. The highlighter is in powdered form and comes in a round compact that fits easily in your handbag for touch-ups.

Pros

  • Highly pigmented
  • Blends well
  • Oil-free
  • Paraben-free
  • Cruelty-free
  • Value for money

Cons

  • Not transfer-proof

Price at the time of publication: $10.95

2. Best Affordable:Maybelline New York Master Chrome By Face Studio Metallic Highlighter – Molten Rose Gold

The Molten Rose Gold metallic highlighter from Maybelline contains reflective pigments for a metallic sheen chrome effect. It spreads evenly across the skin and attracts light to accentuate and enhance your best facial features. The formula helps you customize your look just the way you want it. The powdered highlighter contains pearl pigments that reflect shimmer, accentuating the bridge of the nose, cheekbones, brow bone, and cupid’s bow. If you need further convincing, check out this YouTuber’s review.

Pros

  • Dermatologically tested
  • Seamless application
  • Metallic finish
  • Skin-friendly
  • Long-lasting
  • Value for money

Cons

None

Price at the time of publication: $4.86

3. Best For Smooth Application:Fenty Beauty By Rihanna Killawatt Foil Freestyle Highlighter

Make your skin tone pop with the Fenty Beauty Killawatt Foil Freestyle Highlighter that features rule-defying shades. This cream-powder hybrid palette offers seven must-have shades that can be applied solo or in duos. The hyper metallic finish accentuates your features with color and contours your face. The colorful range of highlighters ranges from subtle shades of icy blue, peach, and pink to darker lavender, metallic plum, and fiery copper. You can check this video out if you need to know more about the product.

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Long-lasting
  • Highly pigmented
  • Smooth application

Cons

  • Expensive

Price at the time of publication: $78.98

4. Best Non-Cakey:Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed – Champagne Pop

Champagne Pop from Becca is a mix of soft gold with peachy pink pearl. This highlighter offers basic coverage and has a buttery soft texture that glides seamlessly across the skin. Swipe with a brush to accentuate your best facial features. The micro-pigments melt into the skin and flawlessly complement your skin tone. Its unique formula blends pigments with liquids, creating a creamy feel. To find out more about this product, check this video review out.

Pros

  • Soft texture
  • Smooth application
  • Non-caking
  • Sulfate-free
  • Paraben-free

Cons

None

Price at the time of publication: $29.98

5. Best For Radiant Glow:Milk Makeup Highlighter – Champagne Pearl

The creamy pearlescent Milk Makeup Highlighter comes in a stick form for convenient application. The Champagne Pearl shade leaves a shimmery finish on dark skin tones and illuminates your favorite facial features. It features a blendable micro-shimmer for a fresh-faced dewiness that can be amplified with more layers. The highlighter is infused with coconut oil, mango butter, and avocado oil for lasting hydration. Your skin absorbs the formula instantly, exuding a radiant glow.

Pros

  • Creamy texture
  • Shimmery finish
  • Easy to apply
  • Vegan
  • Phthalate-free
  • Paraben-free
  • Sulfate-free
  • Gluten-free
  • Talc-free
  • Cruelty-free

Cons

  • Feels sticky

Price at the time of publication: $21.0

6. Best Blendable:Eddie Funkhouser Glow Drops

This liquid highlighter plus primer from Eddie Funkhouser accentuates your skin with a lit-from-within glow. It is one of the best drugstore highlighters for dark skin that delivers buildable coverage, letting you customize it from sheer to intense. It also serves as a diffuser to brighten up or even tone your skin. You can also use it solo or blend it with your moisturizer, liquid foundation, or other cosmetic products to create the look that you desire. This highlighter features a ball tip applicator to have better control over the drops and coverage.

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Blends easily
  • Travel-friendly
  • Cruelty-free
  • Paraben-free
  • Gluten-free
  • GMO-free
  • Soy-free
  • Vegan

Cons

None

Price at the time of publication: $16.98

7. Best Quick-Drying:e.l.f Jelly Highlighter – Bubbly

The smooth e.l.f Jelly Highlighter in the Bubbly shade comes with a white gold hue. It adds a luminous glowing effect with just one swipe, leaving behind a dewy look. The product applies wet and dries to a long-lasting glowy finish. It blends well into the skin and complements your skin tone. The versatile nature of this highlighter enables you to pull off multiple looks. You can wear it alone or mix it with makeup, lotion, moisturizer, or foundation.

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Long-lasting
  • Quick-drying
  • Vegan
  • Cruelty-free
  • Paraben-free
  • Phthalate-free
  • Nonylphenol-free
  • Ethoxylate-free
  • Triclosan-free
  • Triclocarban-free
  • Hydroquinone-free

Cons

  • Difficult to blend

Price at the time of publication: $9.99

8. Best Travel-Friendly:L’Oreal Paris True Match Lumi Glow Nude Highlighter Palette – Moon-Kissed

The highlighter palette from L’Oreal Paris offers four pearlescent, cool-toned nude shades that give you a multi-dimensional look. The shades include Moon for a glowing ivory with a pearl finish, Venus for a luminous rose with a radiant finish, Jupiter for radiant taupe with a natural finish, and Twilight for shimmery bronze. The mix and match highlighter makeup shades give you a naturally illuminated and sculpted look. The product features a magnetic cap closure that preserves the formula and keeps the vibrant shades intact.

Pros

  • Light coverage
  • Natural finish
  • Universal shade
  • Travel-friendly

Cons

  • Lightly pigmented

Price at the time of publication: $11.23

9. Best For Sensitive Skin:Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Highlighter – Rose Gold

4.5

Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Highlighter Powder Makeup Image: Physicians Formula

The Murumuru Butter Highlighter from Physicians Formula gives you a radiant Brazilian goddess glow while highlighting your best facial features. It is made with hydrating ingredients like murumuru, cupuaçu, and tucuma butters to nourish your skin. The multi-dimensional cream-to-powder formula feels soft and satiny as it glides across the skin. It offers light coverage with its soft-focus pigments. The fatty acids and pro-vitamins in the formula condition your skin and make it smooth. This highlighter helps contour your eyebrows’ curves, pop your cheekbones, and accentuate the nose bridge and Cupid’s bow.

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Mild fragrance
  • Hypoallergenic
  • Blends easily
  • Safe for sensitive skin
  • Natural finish

Cons

  • Not long-lasting

Price at the time of publication: $9.99

Highlighters are the number one beauty product when you want to achieve a dewy, dreamy look. Just a few swipes is all that it takes for warm glow to accentuate your best features. Today with the beauty industry being more inclusive, there are a variety of stunning highlighters available for dark skin tones. Just remember to keep in mind the following pointers while choosing the best highlighters for dark skin tones.

What To Look For In A Highlighter For Dark Skin Tones

  • Know Your Undertones

The color of your highlighter should match your undertone. Your undertone never changes even though your skin tone may change at different times of the year, depending on exposure to the sun. Shades like gold, copper, and bronze complement warm undertones while champagne and warm rose are good for cool undertones. It is advisable to go a couple of shades lighter than your own skin tone for a highlighter..

  • Types

There are various types of highlighters that suit different skin types. Powder highlighters deliver a sheer, shimmery finish and are suitable for oily skin types as they help to absorb excess oils. For dry skin types, liquid highlighters are a good option. They are easy to use and can be mixed with your foundation for a natural glow.

The other type of highlighter is the stick highlighter which is good for all skin types. They are travel-friendly and ideal for on-the-go touch-ups. Look for the ones that have hydrating ingredients like fatty acids and pro-vitamins along with SPF.

  • Degree Of Shine

Most highlighters offer a certain amount of shine. This shine comes from emollient oils or finely-milled shimmer flecks. For a dewy glow, choose a creamy formula enriched with oils, and for a shimmery look, opt for a powder highlight with flecks of glitter, mineral, or pearl pigment. .

  • Additional Features

A buildable formula sits easily on top of your base makeup to give a sparkly highlight. Look for this feature in your highlighter as it will allow you to apply just the right amount to various parts of your face. Powder highlighters have great buildable formulas. Smooth application also depends on the blendability of your highlighter. This is easy to achieve with a creamy wet formula.

  • Ingredients To Avoid

Choose a hypoallergenic highlighter that is free of parabens, phthalates, nonylphenol, ethoxylate, triclosan, triclocarban, and hydroquinone. A dermatologically-tested highlighter is ideal to keep your skin free of allergies and irritations.

Highlighters are a great way to provide a glow highlighting the high points. But only certain highlighters match your skin tone. A dark skin tone needs highlighters that blend well on the skin. From rose gold to metallic nudes, and from light brown shade to dark brown shade, the products listed above provide great finish, impart natural finish, and enhance the facial features. It would be best to invest in highlighters that are free from harmful chemicals, as chemicals like paraben and sulfate are harmful to the skin.

Why Trust StyleCraze?

Baishali Bhattacharya, the author of this article, is certified in makeup artistry and believes that highlighters create a great impact on your makeup. So, she browsed online reviews about highlighters and checked the user feedback from various sites and forums. Apart from providing instant glow and highlighting the high points, they enhance your facial features. Moreover, they come in a matte and shimmery finish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which highlight color is the best for dark skin?

Highlighters with a gold or bronze base look the best on dark complexion tones. Warm colors compliment dark complexion the best and don’t look ashy.

Do highlights look good on brown skin?

Yes. Highlighters with warm undertones look great on brown skin.

Do highlights make you look younger or older?

You can get younger-looking skin by applying highlighter to the high areas of your face, such as the cheekbones, nose bridge, cupid’s bow, and forehead temples. It draws light to your face and gives it more definition.

What kind of highlights make you look younger?

A highlighter that enriches your complexion, gives you brighter skin, and blends in flawlessly can make you look younger.

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  • Author

Baishali is a beauty and lifestyle writer and holds a master's degree in English from Assam University. She specializes in...

How do you know your shade of highlighter?

Consider your skin tone As a rule of thumb, Collazo suggests choosing a highlighter that is a shade or two lighter than your natural skin tone to give it that light and bright effect.

Which highlighter for my skin tone?

Pink tones work best for pale to light skin and even light to medium skin. Those with pale skin can also opt for highlighters with lilac tones, which will help brighten their natural skin colour. For medium skin tones, warm shades of peach and gold work best. “It's not easy to find a highlighter for duskier tones.

Which liquid highlighter is best for dark skin?

9 Best Highlighters For Dark Skin Tones.
Best Highly Pigmented:Milani Baked Highlighter – Dolce Perla. ... .
Best Affordable:Maybelline New York Master Chrome By Face Studio Metallic Highlighter – Molten Rose Gold. ... .
Best For Smooth Application:Fenty Beauty By Rihanna Killawatt Foil Freestyle Highlighter..