Hue Light Up My Life: I Tried 5 Colourpop Lavender Highlighters and This Is My Fave

I hoard lavender highlighters like they’re the last northern white rhino on earth. (Sorry, too soon?)

Lucky for my obsessed self, brands are releasing lavender highlighter faster than you can say “unicorn.” Unlucky for me, the hunt for the right one almost feels like searching for a unicorn.

My purrroblem: I have light but very yellow skin (NC15 right now, NC20 in summer). Oftentimes the lavender ends up simply neutralizing my undertones (like a color corrector or one of those Korean tone-up products), making the highlighter look white or baby pink.

The solution: Buy 5 purrrples from Colourpop!

I picked Whirl and Swirl (Winging It duo), Hippo, Rocket Science, and Trickles.

I also swatched Flexitarian, a blinding icy champagne I bought solely on Karima McKimmie’s recommendation, so you can judge how purple the others are in comparison.

Tl;dr: Trickles was my surprise favorite. I’m keeping Whirl and Swirl as pretty pinks. Giving away Hippo and Rocket Science to the fairer MsMerriam (fellow catless catlady beauty blogger).

Colourpop Winging It Duo (Whirl & Swirl) Review and Swatches

Colourpop says: Soft lilac blush and icy metallic lilac highlighter. $16 here.

Angela says: Skip unless you’re looking for a pretty pink combo. This duo is the most pink-toned of everything in this post–not as cool-toned as Colourpop’s website shows.

Whirl blush is a bright violet-toned pink with a satin sheen. Swirl highlighter is a shimmery pinkish lavender that easily builds up to a smooth metallic gleam. The powders are on the soft side and strongly pigmented.

They look gorg on my arm, but cheeks are a whole other story. *HUFF* Disappointingly, the highlighter settles into a soft, pale cream-pink. Pretty but ordinary and definitely not purple.

Colourpop Hippo and Rocket Science Super Shock Highlighters Review & Swatches

Colourpop says: Hippo is soft, cool-toned icy lavender. Rocket Science is pastel purple with silver sheen. $8 each.

Angela says: Skip unless you want an icy, frosty look (or are pale or pink-toned enough that they actually show up lavender). Despite Rocket Science appearing distinctly MOAR purple in the pan, both shades are just variations of icy white on me.

The extra purple in Rocket Science does give a brightening effect a la tone-up cream or color corrector. My cheekbones looked brighter and higher (and kind of sweaty tbh). But purple? Afurrrraid not.

Because of the soft putty consistency, I like using my fingers to pat these on. They build up easily into a high-frost, high-shine finish (although Hippo is the less shiny of the two).

Colourpop Trickles Highlighter Review & Swatches

Colourpop says: Lavender with pink opal duochrome flip. Limited edition from the My Little Pony collab that launched in October 2017. $8 here.

Angela says: I surprised myself the most when Trickles turned out to be my fave. The reviews were tepid–the powder is too hard and applies sheerly–and swatches done with my finger backed them up. Where was the lavender? All I saw was blue glitter.

However! Buffed on with a dense brush, the powder applies smoothly and the glitter just…disappears. Result (after several layers because the powder is hard): pinkish lavender base color with a blue flash for an overall ~blurple~ effect.

Here it is compared to Milani Beaming Light ($13), also blurple. (These are the only swatches in this post done with brushes.) I would distinguish them this way: Beaming Light puts the “blu” in blurple whereas Trickles puts the “urple” in blurple. You can see how Trickles’s base color comes through its blue flash, creating a more complex/duochrome effect.

Trickles does NOT surpass my all-time favorite lavender highlighter–Kevyn Aucoin Ibiza (swatched here by Temptalia)–but come on, it’s $8 vs. $58.

 Colourpop Lavenders I Passed On

If you’re interested in MOAR lavenders from Colourpop, here are some that I obsessively casually researched but passed on.

• Angel Food (pale lavender with a subtle turqouise flip): Swatches looked pink.
• Monster (light pink with opalescent duo chrome flip): Swatches looked more pink than purple.
• Over the Moon (sheer opalescent pearl with hot pink and violet glitters): Swatches looked deliciously purple…but too heavy on the glitter.