Product Review -- Tarte Skin Twinkle Lighting Palette

I'm always on the hunt for the perfect highlighter.

Over the years, I've found quite a few that I love, but none that have made it to holy grail status. They're usually just a little too warm or dark for my pale, mostly neutral skin, so I just keep looking.

That's why I was interested in trying the Tarte Skin Twinkle Lighting Palette -- it offers up a couple of highlight shades, so I figured I had a better chance of finding that perfect glow.

The palette comes in a rectangular plastic compact that features a lovely blue wave-like pattern. There's a good size mirror on the inside that's ideal for touch-ups too.

Tarte Skin Twinkle Lighting Palette

The palette contains three powder products for highlighting the skin: Sunlight, a shimmery pale gold; Filtered Light, a matte sand; and Moonlight, a shimmery pale bronze.

Tarte Skin Twinkle Lighting Palette (l. to r.): Sunlight, Filtered Light, Moonlight

The two shimmery highlight shades have a nice, creamy consistency, so they blend easily into the skin. While they're a pretty obvious highlight, they're not obnoxious in their shimmer, so you can definitely wear them during the day.

The shades are both warm, but even the bronze shade is light enough for my pale skin.

The middle matte sand shade, Filtered Light, is meant for setting concealer under the eyes and brightening up that area. While the shade is nice for brightening, the powder has a very strange texture -- it's almost too dry or hard.  It looks fine when applied, but I have under eye setting powders that feel much nicer that I prefer.

From l. to r.: Sunlight, Filtered Light, Moonlight

I love both of the highlighters -- they don't reach holy grail status, but I don't hold that against them given that no highlighter has yet -- and think they look beautiful on the skin, but the shades aren't particularly special or unique.

That, coupled with the fact that the setting powder isn't as creamy as I'd like, makes me feel like the $42 price tag is a little steep for this palette.

So while I like it just fine, I wouldn't recommend running out to purchase it. If you love one of the highlighter shades and don't already have something like it in your collection, then I might check it out. Otherwise, you can find other nice highlighters that are a little more budget-friendly.

You can purchase the palette on the Tarte website or at Sephora.

Have you tried the Tarte Skin Twinkle Lighting Palette? What's your favorite highlighter at the moment?