I initially talked about this highlighter and shared a swatch in my Sephora Friends and Family Sale Haul, but I hadn’t used it yet. Now that I’ve had time to play around with it, I’m back with my thoughts.

LYS Aim High Liquid Highlighter in Brave, $19.00

This formula gave me some problems. Despite that, it is a flattering shade for me, it is kind to my texture, and once finessed it has a beautiful finish. I would definitely call this a finicky product. It is quite liquidy and a little bit goes a long way, so you have to be careful not to squeeze out too much product. Also, you have to make sure to shake it well before using it (which isn’t a big deal). The problem is that when blended over certain foundations it can leave harsh lines around the edges and disturb the product underneath.

Once it sets (and it sets quicker if using powder foundation), blending the harsh edges gets difficult without causing some patchiness. It is hard to get a feel for when to stop blending before it starts to pick up the foundation, but also make sure it blends into the rest of my makeup. Because of this, it hasn’t always been possible to get a seamless blend.

I found that I didn’t have this problem at all when I used the LYS Liquid Highlighter with Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation. However, as I mentioned it was worse over powder foundations. I tried it with the Estee Lauder Double Wear Powder Foundation and the bareMinerals Bare Pro Powder Foundation. Not only did it dry faster over the powder foundations, but it started to pick up some of the highlight that had already dried down and my foundation. That same thing also happened when I tried this over MAC Studio Fix Fluid. I tried applying the LYS highlighter without setting the MAC foundation to see if it worked better over a more tacky base. Unfortunately, it picked up even more foundation than when I used the powder foundations. It did end up working nicely with the MAC foundation when it was lightly set it with powder.

Although you can build the LYS Aim High Liquid Highlighter, it doesn’t ever look blinding. It applied best for me with a brush rather than my fingers. Using my fingers, I had more problems with patchiness that needed to be smoothed out, which I did not experience when using a brush. I liked using both the Smashbox blurring concealer brush and the MAC 127S to apply this. It is much easier to get a seamless blend using a brush and you get a more intense color payoff without needing to build. The Smashbox blurring concealer brush gives more intensity and allows for a more targeted application, but it does disturb my foundation more than the MAC 127S.

I wouldn’t personally recommend the LYS Liquid Highlighter. I just think there are easier products to use. Now that I know how to use it and what foundation to pair it with, I’m happy with it. It is beautiful and it does not accentuate texture. But how many people are going to have the patience to give it so many tries? Something to consider is that I do not typically use liquid products. So maybe I struggled with it because I’m used to powders. I have seen nothing but rave reviews from other people, so as we all know, things can vary.

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Have you given the LYS Liquid Highlighters a try and had a different experience? I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for reading 😀

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