Review | Iconic London Illuminators


Founded by makeup-artist Jade Elliot, beauty brand Iconic London has become famed for their Illuminators. These highlighter drops have been featured in just about every beauty magazine you can imagine and Kim Kardashian, Amber Rose and Makeupdoll are just a few big names amongst their growing fanbase. With highlighters being my favourite type of makeup product to use currently, it was only a matter of time until I got my hands on the Iconic London Illuminators to test them out for myself. So with so much hype around this brand do these Illuminators live up to expectations?

Shades: Left - Original, Right - Glow 

I have two of the three available shades - Original and Glow (£29.99 each) - which were sent over by the brand last month*. Original is described as a champagne shimmer to add a golden shine whereas Glow is a terracotta shimmer for a deep golden shine. The first thing to note is that these Illuminators are not for the faint-hearted. They give a serious glow which you can of course tone down but each drop is very concentrated. It's a fine shimmery liquid but it's not quite glittery. I have a lot of highlighters - liquid especially - but none that are quite like these.

Original is probably the most universal of the two shades and is more of a true highlight for me. As Glow is deeper in tone it looks more like a bronzer on my skin and seems more suited to darker skintones. Of the two I reach for the Original shade most or I'll apply them both together with the Original on the high points of my face (cheekbones, brow bone, cupid's bow) and Glow just on my cheeks in place of blush.


Shades: Left - Original, Right - Glow


Above I've applied mostly the Original shade just on my cheek and brow bones with a little of the glow shade dabbed on the cheek. You can apply these illuminators both under and above foundation, though I mostly tend to apply on top of foundation. With liquid highlighters in general the product can lift foundation depending on how you apply it but as I tend to use a damp beauty sponge to blend these into the skin I haven't had any problems.

In terms of wear I've been using these on and off for the past few weeks and the product tends to last all day without any touchups. It's been pretty humid in London and I have oily skin so I've been impressed with the longevity of these. They're a bit pricey in comparison to some other highlighters but factoring in how little you need and the staying power I'd say they're worth it.


You can get them from the Iconic London website here


*samples - read my disclaimer here.

Do you use highlighters?

Lesley x