A bomb highlighter is the embodiment of black girl magic. The shades, accents and sizes are endless but sometimes finding the one for you can be a struggle. For us brown skin girls, the key is to choose illuminators that are on the warmer side and stay away from whites and pinks. We are so thankful for products that instantly brighten our faces and lights up our lives.
We want the sun and the stars to see our highlighter so we found eight fire products that will make certain the world sees your phosphorescence. Keep reading for more.
*This list is specially curated by the xoNecole team and some links are affiliate links. If you purchase an item from an affiliate link, xoNecole might earn a small commission.
TOM FORD Skin Illuminating Powder Duo
Saks Fifth Avenue
Alexa, play "Tom Ford" by Jay-Z. Not only is the song a bop, this highlighter will have you glowing like the top of the Chrysler building. The application is as smooth as cocoa butter. It captures the two most flattering parts of your face that catches natural light.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Sun Dipped Glow Kit®
Macy's
Anastasia Beverly Hills' Glow Kit should low-key be renamed "Ultralight Beam" because the glow is just different. If you're a beauty buff, you know these are in high demand and it's because it is unmatched.
The shades in this kit include:
- Bronzed (Amber with a penny metal finish)
- Tourmaline (Warm taupe with a rose gold finish)
- Moonstone (Radiant quartz with a pearl finish)
- Summer (Luminous sand with a white gold finish)
Black Radiance Artisan Color Baked Bronzer
Target
Black Radiance was designed for our skin so we absolutely love to see it! Their Artisan Color Baked Bronzer makes you radiate from the inside out. What more can you ask for at this price point?
BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid Highlighter, 1.7 fl oz
QVC.com
Liquid highlighter can be tricky but this Becca formula has luminous pearl pigments which makes for a beautiful blend. The product is great to use for a natural look and you can also build on it for a super beat.
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Gold Deposit
MAC Cosmetics
The OG of makeup brands, MAC, has a slow-baked highlighter destined to give you that sun-kissed luminosity. The skin-finish is both natural and dimensional.
Milani Baked Highlighter
Milani Cosmetics
Between the pigmentation and the price, we can't help but be here for this highlighter. The warm undertones make it ideal for melanin. For the best look, grab your fan brush and sweep the product across your cheekbones, cupid's bow and bridge of the nose.
black Up Sublime Light Compact Powder
Macy's
You already know that when it's by us it's most definitely for us. black|Up is the first French beauty brand dedicated to women of color. If you're going for a natural shimmer, this compact powder will get you together.
e.l.f. Jelly Highlighter
e.l.f.
e.l.f.'s Jelly Highlighter is one of my favorites because it can be used in various ways. I use it mostly on days when I don't feel like doing makeup so it serves as a standalone glow-getter.
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Featured image by Joce Blake/xoNecole
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“During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been,” she says in an xoNecole exclusive.
Still, as Mandi worked to get to know herself and her needs during this new phase of life, she realized the home she’d purchased wasn’t a good fit. Overwhelmed by the echoing of her voice in the spacious home, she had a breakdown and called her cousin, who immediately suggested she lease the home and live somewhere else. “I woke up in my house, and I was like, ‘This is not it for me,” she says. “All those years, I had been accustomed to living a certain way [and] in a certain house, so I bought myself a house like [my old home]. But my family was not the same. Waking up in that house by myself, it highlighted the divorce. I was like, ‘Oh, no, we can’t do this. This is not it.’ My life has changed, so my choices need to change.” At that moment, Mandi became open to the idea that there wasn’t one set way to achieve ownership on her own.
“I feel so much better. I’m in a smaller place. My best friend lives a minute from me and I can walk to her house,” she tells me during a Zoom interview from her home one recent afternoon in early February. In the past two years, she hasn’t just been advising other people on varying circumstances, she’s also been healing herself.
"During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been."
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If supporters began following Nazanin Mandi because of her conventional beauty or the contagious, bright, white smile she often wears in many of her photos, that’s likely not the reason they’ve stuck around. Instead, she’s amassed a following based on her transparency about her own anxiety and depression, along with the encouraging messages of self-acceptance, gratitude, ambition, and humility that are often sprinkled into her social media posts.
In an era where looking at Instagram photos of models can often lead to feelings of self-doubt and insecurity, Nazanin Mandi is determined to be more than eye candy. She’s food for her follower’s souls, too.
Since being recruited to model while dining at an In-N-Out at 10 years old, Mandi has worked in many areas of entertainment. The Valencia, California native has modeled for brands such as Olay, Savage X Fenty, and Good American. As a teen, she sang at Carnegie Hall and auditioned for season 1 of American Idol, making it all the way to Hollywood before producers disqualified her for lying about her age. (Mandi was 15 at the time, and contestants had to be at least 16 years old.) Mandi has acted, too, including appearing on Disney’s That’s So Raven as a teenager and on the BET+ series Games People Play and the Prime series Á La Carte in more recent years.
In recent years, though, she’s also expanded her professional goals outside of entertainment, too. After becoming a certified life coach in 2020, Mandi launched the membership platform You Bloome in 2022 with the hopes of providing wellness services to others, including her self-published gratitude journal. “I wish I had access to something like You Bloome earlier in my own life,” she writes on the company’s website. The actress, who has been forthcoming about her struggles with anxiety and depression, has never had a life coach, but credits therapy as a tool that “really, really saved me and it laid the foundation to who I am becoming.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
"I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself."
While she’s always had a nurturing personality, Mandi says her interest in becoming a life coach was inspired by the women who would message her for advice on social media. “I would answer them back. It really sparked a fire within myself to help people,” she says.
You Bloome currently has three membership tiers, ranging in price from $2.99 to $39.99 per month. The highest tier offers a motivational text message twice a week, two live, group coaching sessions per month, and more. “We get emotional. We cry. We laugh. It’s really beautiful. I’ve built close relationships with my members through this. It’s been inspiring both ways,” Mandi says of the sessions. Still, the founder says she hopes to take on more motivational and keynote speaking opportunities in the future with the hopes of impacting as many people as possible.
And, she’s hoping to do all of this while continuing to explore a career as an entertainer.
At this point in her life, Mandi says she’s gained enough perspective on modeling, music, and acting to realize what she wants to prioritize moving forward. “We are going full force with acting,” she says, noting her goal is “to book a series regular or a film that impacts my career and the world.” She plans to continue to model, too, but has no desire to pursue music.
“I don’t want any part of that because I know what that life entails,” she says. “I don’t want to tour. I don’t want to do any of that. That is not where my heart is at.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If you ask Mandi, she’ll tell you she feels most comfortable in front of a camera, but she’ll also admit that she’s recently experienced a lot of imposter syndrome when thinking about her acting career. “I think it’s a fear of not succeeding,” she says. If anything, she adds, she’s harder on herself now than she’s ever been. “There were distractions before. There’s no distractions now,” she says. “I’m putting pressure on myself for no reason.”
This is where the life coach’s own personal healing comes into play. Mandi says she’s learning recently that “slow progress is still big progress at the end of the day.”
“Currently, I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself,” she adds.
Still, one of Mandi’s strengths is that she doesn’t feel the pressure to limit herself to just one passion. From working as a life coach to pursuing acting, she has given herself grace to explore all other dreams.
“We can be allowed to be many different things in this lifetime,” she says. “As people, our identities are allowed to expand. Don’t put us in a fucking box. I cannot live that way anymore.”
For more of Nazanin, follow her on Instagram @nazaninmandi.
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Featured image by Solmaz Saberi
