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The Best Highlighter Blush For Year-Round Radiance

As someone with skin that leans slightly on the dryer side, there’s one thing I know to be true: a bit of glow is the key to a healthy-looking complexion.

The second I start applying too many powders to my skin, my makeup looks heavier, less skin-like and completely flat.

However, toeing the line between glowy and greasy can sometimes be a challenge — especially throughout the day as oil naturally builds up. 

To keep things simple, and to avoid overloading my face with product, I like to use a highlighter blush hybrid: all the pigment from a blush, with the glow of a highlighter. 

The Best Multipurpose Blush and Highlighter Picks for a Radiant Complexion

As a big lover of this category of blush, I’ve tried a fair few different formulas and rounded up the very best of the best to share with you. Here are my favorite blush and highlighter hybrids.

Milani Baked Blush

For most products in this category, you can think of them as pigmented highlighters, usually coming in a baked formula; they have that smooth, velvety texture that glides over the cheeks with a shimmer that doesn’t mean compromising on color payoff.

The Milani Baked Blushes have been around for a long time, while many brands are only just jumping on the baked blush bandwagon. And this product has been popular for a long time for good reason – it’s great.

I’ve waxed on about Luminoso enough times in my blush roundup articles, so this time I want to ‘highlight’ some of their newer shades, which are just as beautiful. In particular, Ciao Bella and Sparkling Rose, two shades that offer buildable pigment and a pretty, natural-looking glow. 

Saie SuperSuede Radiant Blush 

I would put Saie down as being one of my favorite brands, and it’s newest range of SuperSuede products (a bronzer and this powder blush) had been on my to-try list for some time before I finally picked them up — and I wish I had done it sooner.

Unlike the Saie Dew Blush – a cream blush that’s extra dewy – the SuperSuede Blush Powder is silky smooth with a flattering, shimmery glow rather than the almost wet look you’d get with Dew Blush. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of the formulas, but I do think the SuperSuede is longer-lasting and more pigmented. 

I use the shade Ciao, a warm golden brown that has all the terracotta tones that I love in any of my blush shades.

RMS Beauty ReDimension Hydrating Blush

RMS is a brand that flies pretty under the radar for me; I just don’t hear many people talking about their new launches. Which is a shame, because every time I try one of their products, I fall in love.

Case in point, the RMS Beauty ReDimension Hydra Blush, particularly in the shade Maiden’s Blush. You really get the best of both worlds between the best blush and a highlight. They also do this same formula in a powder bronzer and highlight if you want an, almost, full RMS face.

I love this blush color too for my skin tone, it’s the perfect natural flush that gives a pop of color to my cheeks without looking too much. It’s a great shade for fair skin tones that want a natural look rather than a bold color.

COVERGIRL TruBlend Skin Enhancer Baked Luminous Blush

Following in Milani’s footsteps, the COVERGIRL TruBlend Skin Enhancer Baked Luminous Blush is another great drugstore baked blush. It promises a multidimensional finish that seamlessly builds and blends – and I’d say that it lives up to the promise. I just apply with my usual blush brush on the apples of my cheeks and up the cheekbone for a slight contour effect. 

In true Volumes of Beauty fashion, I headed straight for the warm rose brown shade, Rose Latte. It’s a beautiful nude shade that looks natural on the skin, with a sun-kissed finish thanks to the warmer tones. Although I think this shade is pretty universal, they do have shades for every skin tone despite the small run of colors.

BareMinerals Gen Nude Blonzer

If you can never decide between blush and bronzer, the bareMinerals GEN NUDE Blonzer completely solves the problem.

It has the warmth of a bronzer with the rosy flush of a blush, all wrapped up in a formula that gives the skin a naturally sun-kissed glow. 

The texture is smooth, finely milled and never powdery, which makes it especially flattering on dry or textured skin. I love using Kiss of Copper when I want that effortless summer makeup look without layering multiple cheek products. It adds warmth, subtle sheen and just enough color to make the complexion look healthy, fresh and glowy in seconds.

Kosas Blush Is Life Baked Dimensional + Brightening Blush

Kosas really understands how to make makeup look like skin, and the Blush Is Life Baked Dimensional + Brightening Blush is no exception.

Like the name suggests, this formula gives a dimensional finish that adds both color and light to the cheeks without ever looking glittery or overdone.

The baked texture feels silky and lightweight, blending seamlessly even over drier areas of skin. I’ve been loving the shade Butterflies lately, a soft warm pink that gives that fresh, healthy glow you usually only get after being out in the sun. It’s radiant, flattering and incredibly easy to wear every day.

Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush

Finally, we have the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Luminous Blush. Out of all the options, I would say that this is the closest you’ll get to a true glow highlighter. It definitely is a highlighting blush with a good amount of pigmentation, but it’s more in the shimmer than the glow category – if that makes sense.

I like to use this as a topper over my Rare Beauty liquid blush. I use the shade Hope in their highly pigmented, iconic blush, and they have a matching shade in this product. Paired together, you get an intense wash of pigment and glow that I love.

The Best Highlighter Bronzer and Glow Highlighter 

As much as I love a glowy blush, sometimes I want to take things one step further with a proper glow highlighter or bronzer. The right products used in combination are the key to perfect face makeup that doesn’t look overly shiny or heavy on the skin.

I’ve found that cream formulas, like a good blush stick or highlighter stick, tend to work best for my drier skin. That said, there are some beautiful powder bronzers and illuminating powders that give that same skin-like finish too, like the iconic Hourglass Ambient Lighting highlighter palette products that are some of the most flattering if you want a soft-focus glow rather than chunky shimmer.

A good makeup artist or cosmetic enthusiast will always tell you that placement is everything when it comes to glow. I like to sculpt the cheekbones slightly with bronzer, then add a glowy highlighters across the tops of the cheeks, temples and even a little on the bridge of the nose for that lit-from-within look. Whether you’re shopping at Sephora or the drugstore, there are so many gorgeous formulas available now.