illamasqua highlighter in 'slay'

I'd never used a highlighter, but I was actively looking for an affordable one to try out when I came across Illamasqua's Illuminator in Slay (this product has now been discontinued). This is a silver, pearly, shimmer which applies wet, but dries quickly. Very quickly. That's a massive flaw in this product.

When doing my highlighter, I like to make sure I'm applying it in exactly the same place on each side but I'm unable to do it with this product, you have to blend it as soon as you've applied it otherwise it dries and when you try to blend it goes patchy and pulls up your foundation - disaster.

On the Illamasqua website, their 'Artist Tips' suggests that you apply this/blend this with a blending/highlighter  brush. This also didn't work for me, again it dried up and pulled my foundation. I much prefer to apply this product in small sections and press or dab it onto my cheekbones. I find this gives a much more natural sheen as you can control easier how much you apply and you're not pulling it along your skin so it won't pull off. I do find though if it does dry, if you lightly dampen your finger you can just work with it a little more to blend, but not much. In the swatch above, I didn't blend as much as I usually do so you could see the pearly colour more, but usually blended well it looks really natural and has a lovely sheen to it.

I love applying this on my cheekbones to highlight, in the corner of my eyes to make them pop, on my cupids bow when wearing lipstick to make it stand out more and a little bit down the centre of my nose to create a thinner appearance.
If I do find the shimmer is a bit too much, applying a little powder settles it down a bit, but it carries on highlighting really nicely.

Another little grumble with the product is the packaging. If you're opening and closing it so much (which you have too when applying it in small amounts) the product comes up the top when you're closing it, if that makes sense, and when it's fully closed you have product coming out the sides which is a huge waste. I've only used the about 6-7 times and you can see how much product is dried around the top. It's really annoying!
I'll be showing this product in a What I'm Wearing post soon, so keep an eye out!

What's your favourite highlighter? Since this has been discontinued I'm looking for more!