After trying all of the cheek and lip stains as quickly as Benefit could churn them out, I decided to start raiding the highlighters as well. There are two highlighters that you will most probably have heard of as they are quite famous - High Beam and Sun Beam. The first is 'satin pink' toned and the other is more 'sun kissed' and glowing. I never really used a highlighter in my day to day make up routine - or at all! The reason being, I didn't actually know how to use them or why to use them. So they were not something that my make up bag missed. I didn't pay them much notice until I received a small tester pot of Highbeam free with a magazine, quite a while ago. It would be rude not to have tried it - so I thought I would do some Googling and find out what exactly it is supposed to do!

Benefit claim that it 'creates that natural radiant glow you have always desired' - it makes your complexion fresh, young and radiant and is perfect for all skin tones and skin types. They also say that 'no self respecting make up artist would be without it' ooh that told us! But you may still be wondering what its job is, let me enlighten you on how it lightens you. A highlighter is used to accentuate your cheekbones and brow bones by having a shimmery and often pale consistency, so that when hit by light it glistens in all the right places. Think of a yellow highlighter felt tip you use to make sentences stand out from the rest - it's the same concept, just on your face. And not yellow! Benefit Highbeam is known as the 'supermodel in a bottle!' - Well we all want to be a supermodel!

Like I said earlier, I got a free sample of this product but I only used it once and couldn't get on with it, so I gave it to a friend who loved it! But recently I was getting rather intrigued at how it would give me a healthy glow and seeing so many good reviews I thought it would be a good investment to buy myself a bottle of this supermodel super stuff. It was £18.50 from Boots which seemed VERY steep for only 15ml of product - not much bigger than the tester I got for free! That was the first disadvantage as for that money I would have expected Kate Moss herself to be in it! Nevertheless, I wanted my skin to look good so I rather reluctantly and guiltily handed over the credit card and went home hoping it was worth it.

The packaging is quite girly and very pink! The whole thing is pink which I love! It comes in a rectangular baby pink box with a faded white circle in the middle adorning the brand name and product name. On the back are the ingredients and the weight. Once you open the box you find the highlighter in a little bottle similar to a nail varnish or a lip and cheek tint. The bottle is dusty pink in colour and has 'Highbeam' wrote across the front in black lettering. When you take off the white, plastic lid you see that the similarities to the nail varnish and tints does not stop there - as the brush applicator is exactly the same design. Overall I like the design as it is very simple but chic and also a lovely colour!

There are a few ways to use this product as I have now found out after a few weeks of experiemting. The first one is the 'foundation-helper-outer' as I like to call it. What you do is pump out some of your foundation that you will be wearing onto a lid or a palette and then mix in a blob or two of Highbeam and mix in well! Then simply apply your foundation as you normally would and take a look at the fantastic all over glow that you now have! The pros of this would be that its not concentrated in one place so you can be greedy, but the cons would be if you put too much in you may find you take on a rather pink hue and appear as shiny as a disco ball!

Another way to wear this is mixed in with your concealer in the same way as the foundation to give your eyes a little extra brightness. Just make sure you don't use it to cover acne as shimmery spots are never ideal!

You can also wear this over foundation - just apply it as normal and then using the brush applicator on the lid draw a line on your cheekbones, on your brow bone, the side of your nose and even your cupids bow. Then using circular motions blend in until you are happy with the result. This is the way I chose to wear it as it is the most flattering and natural looking for me personally. You have to be quick when blending in as it can becomes quite sticky and non movable if you leave it unblended for too long - however once blended it gives your face a nice glittery glow.

If you have good skin and don't wear a lot of foundation - maybe only concealer, you may want to try just wearing this on its own. Prime your skin and apply your concealer if you wish then add Highbeam to the places you want the light to hit - just be careful when wearing it on its own that you don't end up looking like you are wearing a pink foundation!

Whatever way you chose to wear it, I think this will definitely be a cliché marmite product. You will either love it or hate it and I am still quite undecided here on the fence. Although I do like the effect it gives me, I find that it is too pink for me and ends up taking over my foundation sometimes even if I don't put too much on. Also the shimmer is very high and I sometimes feel very made up when I wear it! I don't think it was worth the high price tag as for me I don't tend to wear it that much as I don't like the pasty colour against my fair skin. However I think on other skin tones this would look amazing or if you have fake tan this would go very well!

If your interested have a look online for the little tester ones you can try or go to your local Benefit counter or Boots and try before you buy!