This year the majority of my Christmas presents were make up and beauty related and the one that I was perhaps most excited about was this item. Highlighters or skin illuminates have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years and has been largely supported by celebrities along with the likes of contouring. I had previously tried Benefits High Beam highlighter and although I had really enjoyedit, I couldn't quite justify the price knowing there are other similar items on the market at a much more affordable price, so couldn't wait to see how this one would compare.


==~~Price and Availibility~~==
This item is considerably cheaper than some of the higher brands highlighters in the market, yet is still not the cheapest priced at £11; although I do find that No 7 often have offers on their products such as 3 for 2 or their £3 off make up vouchers.

As this is a No 7 it is limited in its avalilibilty to Boots stores; both instore and online. Although I have found tha some beauty websites, such as that of Feel Unique have began to stock some No 7 products, though this may perhaps be old stock or if the product packaging has been changed. There are two colour variants in this highlighter; peach and pink. Luckily I received the pink one as I have more pink tones in my skin, therefore this would look more natural on my skin, although if you are unsure there is usually someone at the No 7 counter to help.


==~~Application~~==
One of the first thing I noticed about this product which I really like was the 'lock' system, in which you have to twist the tube to on to use the product. I really like this as I often carry around my make up in my bag and with this I worry much less about the product being squeezed out- just a question of being able to remember to lock it! As stated this product comes in a squeeze tube with a brush applicator in one end, personally I am not too keen on this as you are not able to clean the brush properly meaning germs could gather, so I normally apply a little to my hand and then go on to use my own brushes; that being said the bristles are very soft, however I do feel the brush is a little too large for precise application.

I apply this skin illuminator to where the sun would normally hit my face, mainly being just above my cheekbones, but also sometimes subtly down my nose and the brow bone. I did find the consistency of this a little thicker than I had originally expected it to be and is someways it was almost greasy. Although I did find that as I started to work the product into the skin, the texture did become much less greasy and even began to feel fairly light; although I could definitely feel that it was still there which I wasn't too keen on. I actually found this product quite hard to apply and blend when using a brush (particularly when using the brush it came with!) as I found it tended to move the product around my face rather than actually blending it in. I actually found the beast way was to use my fingers in a dotting like motion along my cheekbone (as if I was applying eye cream) and found that he product stayed put much better like this and at the same time was able to blend it out to ensure it still looked 'natural'.


==~~Results~~==
Despite the fact I originally found this skin illuminator a little difficult to apply and did not particularly like the texture, I was thoroughly impressed with the results. The highlighter has a lovely pearl like sheen to it and although it is link toned I found that it wasn't overly so and because of this it looked more natural than if it had been a white based highlighter, but also wasn't too pink so that it looked like I had applied blusher in an odd place. It added a lovely 'glow' to the top of natural bones and in such highlighted them and made them look a little more prominent and my face more structured. I really liked that this highlighter catches and reflects the very well, yet not in a way that looks shiny or oily.

What I really liked about this product is that it did not seem to have any glitter particles in it which I know some highlighters can have as I often believe that this can be too much and can often look cheap. I'm not sure where I would go quite as far as calling it a 'natural' looking finish (as I have never met anyone with this much of a glow!) it is definitely more subtle than other highlighters and I like the fact that you can sheer it ou or build it up. I find that once blended in it did no longer feel heavy or greasy in my skin and sat well all day. I decided I didn't want to powder over the top of this as I thought it would defeat the point of having a glow, though despite the fact I did not powder it did not turn shiny nor greasy in the skin.

I have also tried both mixing this with a moisturiser and my foundation for when I still want my skin to look healthy and glowy, but not necessarily to highlight and also enjoy using this product to do so. When using the product this way I find that it leaves my skin with a very subtle glow which really awakens my skin. Though I did find I only needed an extremely tiny amount when mixing with foundation as a little of this can go a long way and it can look a bit too full in when using together.


==~~Overall~~==
Overall I have been very impressed with this skin illuminator and actually believe I prefer it to Benefit. Although it is not the cheapest highlighter on the market, I believe it does everything I would wish for a highlighter to do and due to the fact a little really does go a far way I can see this lasting me a very long time, making it good value for money.

The fact that it is has the 'lock' system also is extremely useful for anyone who carries their make up around with them as you can travel with much more ease that your make up isn't going to explode everywhere, which is perfect for someone like me as a training make up artist. Although I am not overly keen in the way in which this applies and blends, I feel that the results of this far outway this and would be happy to apply £11 for this; hence me giving it 5 stars.


**Again apologies for anyone spelling/grammar mistakes as I am on my tablet due to my laptop being broken, but will go through all my reviews and correct everything when the laptop is up & running!!**