My makeup life has been pretty boring lately, but I continue to get excited about highlighters!! 2 caught my eye when I saw them on Sephora - NUDESTIX Skin Glossing Pencil and the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hr Highlighter in Exposed Highlight. 

NUDESTIX Skin Glossing Pencil, $24/.10oz

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hr Highlighter in Exposed Highlight, $28/.20oz

The NUDESTIX Skin Glossing Pencil unfortunately was mostly a dud. While I really like the color and convenience of a stick, it forever remained tacky and would never set. As a highlighter this didn't work, so I had fingers crossed it would at least make a nice faux-gloss. Again, I quite liked the color - at first it looked a tad frosty, but it warmed up and gave my lips a nice punch of shimmer. But it moved around a lot and would pool its way into every nook and cranny of my lips. Not a good look, especially with shimmer. This is getting returned. 

Now, the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hr Highlighter in Exposed Highlight is another story entirely...it instantly became my new favorite highlighter, ousting my old (& long standing) favorite Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked in Highlight 01!! First off, the texture is amazing...so creamy it almost doesn't feel like a powder. It can go from super subtle to WOWZA, and the color is really flattering for my skin tone - it's slightly more pink/peach than the Laura Mercier. I absolutely love it, and it has taken up permanent residence in my makeup bag!! 

Here are some swatches!! Sunlight swatches are on the left, indoor swatches on the right - all heavily swatched. Even in the swatches you can tell how much more smooth and creamy the Tarte looks compared to the Becca and Laura Mercier. 

Even though I didn't care for the NUDESTIX, the Tarte more than made up for it! Have you tried either one of these highlighters? What do you think?