A legit drugstore highlighter: The Sleek Highlighting Palette in Solstice

Relevant question: are highlighters just glorified eyeshadows? The answer is, yes, they can be used as eyeshadows but they are so much more. A good highlighter can brighten your face instantly but the best ones look like there's this pretty light coming from your skin! They must adhere almost invisibly and should show up only in certain angles. That, for me, is the best way to find out if a highlighter is worth the money.

I've found amazing ones this year. My favorite is the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal since it's like having powdered light in a compact, but I am also loving the Bobbi Brown Highlighting Powder in Afternoon Glow and the Victoria Beckham x Estee Lauder Highlighter in Modern Mercury for their warmth and sophisticated color. They are, however, quite expensive. They're nice to have but I know that P2,000-P3,000 is quite a bit of commitment if you're not into glowy things in the first place.

Before, I haven't really found anything that matches the fine shimmer these highlighters have but I've recently dug into my stash and "discovered" the Sleek Highlighting Palette in Solstice (P875). I can see why there are so many raves about this online!

This particular palette is popular among beauty gurus and true enough, it's always out of stock locally. What makes it special? Well, the most remarkable thing is that it's in a metallic rose gold palette. Most Sleek products are in black compacts, but this one immediately stands out. It also has four pans inside - a cream and three powders, two of which seem baked at least basing on the texture.

Each highlighter in the palette is ultra smooth and adheres to the skin flat. There are no spackles or loose powder to be found! Like the expensive highlighters I mentioned above, they also flash in certain angles to reveal their true brightness. 

Ecliptic is a sort of pinky champagne. Hemisphere is a cool lilac while Subsolar is a white gold with a slight greenish tint. Equinox, my favorite and the most wearable, is a cool champagne. I love the colors by themselves but they are not as warm as I would like. They're fun though! Hemisphere is an interesting choice and does look intriguing on the skin especially in dim lighting (as in a club or romantic restaurant).

Here's a comparison swatch of Equinox with Becca's Opal. Observe how both highlighters adhere to skin almost the same way, and have that same ultra-fine texture. They're not the same color at all though, as Opal is warmer and has less of that white shimmer.

In this look, I wore Equinox on my cheekbones and nose bridge. It's pretty but the champagne tint doesn't really show up on my skin. When blended, the white shimmer shows up more than the base color on my medium yellow skin.

There are a couple of caveats. The colors in the Sleek Solstice palette are too cool for morena skin tones and they don't stick for very long. They fade and smear in a couple of hours so, yes, if you're oily everywhere, this might not be the best idea. It's okay on combination skin though as we are less oily on the cheekbone area anyway.

Nevertheless, the Sleek Highlighting Palette in Solstice is a good buy if you want to try a highlighter that approaches what high-end brands could do. It's not quite there but it makes an admirable effort considering it's only P875 for four colors. Not bad at all! It's a nice starter palette before committing to the pricier brands. ^_^ What do you think, does this palette look like something you'd try? If you've tried it, how was it?

Photography by Samantha Gonzales