Heads up, friends! Some of the links on this blog are affiliate links, meaning we might earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no cost to you. But don’t worry, we promise to only promote products that we truly believe in and think you’ll love too.
For that dewy, lit-from-within glow, nothing beats a good highlighter. Whether you opt for a cream, powder, or liquid highlighter, this luminous staple belongs in everyone’s makeup bag.
Unfortunately, some conventional highlighters use yucky chemicals and synthetic additives that can be harmful to your skin and health long-term. Opting for a natural highlighter can help you avoid the bad stuff while still achieving a gorgeous glow.
Read on for more on natural highlighters, including which ingredients to look for (and avoid) and our top picks for the best natural highlighters.
What Ingredients Can You Find in a Natural Highlighter?
Natural highlighters use botanical extracts, nourishing oils, and other skin-loving ingredients to give you a radiant, light-reflecting glow while prioritizing the well-being of your skin.
Some of these ingredients include:
- Plant-based oils: These often include nourishing oils like jojoba, argan, coconut, or avocado oil. Natural oils provide hydration, promote a healthy glow, and keep your skin looking radiant.
- Botanical extracts: Extracts like chamomile, green tea, aloe vera, or rosehip offer antioxidant properties and help soothe and rejuvenate the skin.
- Mineral pigments: Look for mineral pigments derived from sources like mica, titanium dioxide, or iron oxide. These minerals can provide shimmer without artificial dyes or harmful chemicals.
- Natural waxes: Beeswax, carnauba wax, or candelilla wax are great alternatives to synthetic waxes commonly found in conventional highlighters. They help to create a smooth and blendable texture without clogging your pores.
Ingredients to Avoid in Your Highlighter
On the flip side, many conventional highlighters use chemicals and synthetic additives. While this makeup might look good on the outside, it’s not so pretty when you take a closer look.
Here are some ingredients to watch out for in your makeup:
- Synthetic fragrances: These can contain potentially harmful chemicals and can irritate your skin. Look for highlighters that are fragrance-free or use natural essential oils.
- Parabens: These preservatives have been linked to hormonal disruption.
- Phthalates: Phthalates are often used as plasticizers in cosmetics and have been associated with adverse health effects.
- Artificial dyes: These dyes can cause skin irritation and may contain ingredients derived from coal tar. Look for highlighters that use natural pigments or colorants derived from minerals.
By being mindful of these ingredients, you can select a natural highlighter that enhances your complexion while supporting the health and well-being of your skin.
11 Best Natural Highlighters for a Luminous Glow
Here are our top picks for the best natural highlighters to add to your makeup collection. All of these products use safe and natural ingredients.
They’re also either verified by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) or have a low EWG rating, meaning they’re among the safest makeup products around.
1. Well People Supernatural Stick Highlighter
- EWG verified
There’s just something about Well People’s simple and clean packaging that I can’t get enough of. Their prettily-packaged Supernatural Stick Highlighter is a cream highlighter that creates an instant hydrated and happy glow.
It has a satin, smooth, weightless texture and is hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic, so you don’t have to worry about it clogging your pores. Plus, this EWG verified highlighter is formulated without harsh chemicals or petroleum-based synthetics.
It comes in three yummy shades: golden glow, rose glow, and universal glow.
2. Mineral Fusion Radiance Illuminating Powder
- EWG verified
If you’re looking for a powder highlighter, check out Mineral Fusion’s Radiance Illuminating Powder. This is another safe natural highlighter that’s made with natural ingredients and is free of gluten, parabens, talc, artificial colors, synthetic fragrances, SLS and phthalates.
Its soothing botanicals and aloe vera hydrate the skin, and the minerals even provide some natural SPF sun protection for your skin (though it’s always a good idea to use a good face sunscreen every day). This natural powder highlighter has a shimmery finish and is made in the USA.
You can use each shade in this palette on its own or blend them together to create highlights on your cheekbones, chin, and the bridge of your nose.
3. Cover FX Glitter Drops
- EWG rating: 1
If you’re looking for a natural liquid highlighter, Cover FX Glitter Drops is a great option. You can use this highlighter on its own or add a few drops to your favorite foundation or moisturizer to give your face a luminous boost.
It’s formulated with skin-safe ingredients you can use every day. A little goes a long way with this high-impact highlighter. The glowy color choices include blossom, celestial, halo, rose gold, and moonlight.
4. Iconic London Illuminator
- EWG rating: 1
Iconic London’s Illuminator is a liquid natural highlighter with a shimmer finish. You can get it in peach (pictured above) or its original champagne shade.
Wear this liquid drop highlighter on its own or mix it with your organic BB cream, foundation, primer, or moisturizer to add radiance to your complexion.
5. Beauty Bakerie Milk & Honey Highlighting Palette
- EWG rating: 3
Beauty Bakerie embraces the fact that some makeup products look delicious enough to eat. According to the company, its Milk & Honey highlighter palette is “so creamy you don’t need butter.”
It comes in four highly pigmented shades to complement a variety of skin tones and suit any look. This natural highlighter is cruelty-free, vegan, and doesn’t contain parabens.
For extra color, you can pair it with Beauty Bakerie’s Cotton Candy Champagne Blush palette.
6. Ilia DayLite Highlighting Powder
- EWG rating: 3
Ilia offers several natural highlighters, including the powder highlighter pictured above, a liquid serum highlighter, and a creamy highlighter stick.
The powder version has a metallic finish and a buttery soft texture that blends easily. You can use it to create a subtle shimmer or a more dramatic highlight, depending on the look you’re going for. It comes in four shades: Decades (a soft gold), Fame (a warm copper), Showdown (a golden bronze), and Starstruck (a deep rose gold).
Ilia’s highlighters are vegan and free of talc, fragrances, and gluten. They’re also cruelty-free and come in recyclable packaging.
7. Beautycounter Illuminating Cream Highlighter
- EWG verified
Beautycounter offers a creamy highlighter that’s formulated with responsibly sourced mica. It imparts a subtle sheen that’s shimmery, never glittery, in four dreamy shades: Astro (soft gold), Lunar (sheer pearl), Flare (bronze gold), and Cosmo (rose bronze).
This hydrating highlighter uses moisturizing ingredients like squalane, jojoba estors, and castor oil. It glides on seamlessly and feels lightweight. Beautycounter also gets bonus points for sustainability, since it’s clutch-friendly compact is refillable, so you can simply purchase a refill of highlighter when you run out.
8. Noto Botanics Highlighter Stick
- EWG rating: 1
Noto’s natural highlighter stick offers a sheer, dewy glow with “skincare-first” organic ingredients, including organic jojoba oil, organic olive oil, fair trade mica, lavender oil, and organic neem seed oil.
Noto Botanics specializes in gender-inclusive and multi-purpose beauty products that are designed for everybody. You can use this shimmer stick anywhere, including on your temples, eyelids, cupid’s bow, collar bones, shoulders, and legs.
You can also use it on your lips for a shimmery balm or under your eyes to brighten up dark circles. While you’re at it, you can apply some natural mascara to complete the look.
9. Beauty Care Naturals Dewy Highlighter
- EWG rating: 1
Beauty Care Naturals Dewy Highlighter is a buildable cream-to-powder highlighter that’s soft and easy to use. Its three shades — dewy gold, dewy champagne, and dewy pearl — are universal to all skin tones.
You can dab it on the tops of your cheekbones, brow bone, Cupid’s bow, the inner corners of your eyes, or wherever else you want to add some glow.
Reviewers say this highlighter is effortless to apply and offers a subtle yet substantial color and glow. Besides highlighter, you can also use this makeup as eye shadow.
10. Florence by Mills Self-Reflecting Highlighter Stick
- EWG rating: 1
Stranger Things fans may appreciate this clean makeup brand from actress Millie Bobby Brown. When she’s not busy saving Hawkins from the Upside Down, Brown is making natural and vegan makeup, like this Self-Reflecting Highlighter Stick.
Florence and Mills’s highlighter is a cruelty-free and dermatologist-tested creamy stick that’s buildable, blendable, and glowy. You can apply it right to your skin or over foundation to illuminate the high points of your face.
This oil-free, multi-tasking natural highlighter stick comes in three shades: Self-Love (champagne), Self-Worth (bronze), and Self-Respect (pink).
11. Blissful Organix Natural Luminizer Summer Glow
- EWG rating: 1
For a luminous, sun-kissed glow, check out Blissful Organix Natural Luminizer Summer Glow. This soft, natural cream gel is loaded with skin-healthy ingredients, including certified organic coconut oil and fruit oils.
You can use this organic highlighter on your cheek bones, eyelids, lips, or pretty much anywhere else you want to up-level your luminosity. It’s a sheer, hydrating, buildable luminizer formulated with hydrating botanicals.
For a pearlescent sheen, you can also get this highlighter in winter frost pearl.
Up Your Glow With a Natural Highlighter
By choosing a natural highlighter, you can embrace a clean beauty routine and treat your skin with the care it deserves. Whether you’re looking for a dewy finish, subtle glow, or intense radiance, you can find a natural highlighter that fits your makeup preferences. So, go ahead and treat yourself to clean makeup that’s nourishing to your skin and powered by nature’s ingredients!
Ready to continue your journey into clean cosmetics? Check out our guide on the best natural blushes (you can pair them with your new highlighter!).
