So. Marc Jacobs. Where to begin? I don’t have extensive experience with the Marc Jacobs makeup line as a whole, but I have to say, most of the items in the line seem perfectly fine, but boring and a bit basic and not interesting enough to warrant the rather hefty price tags. My personal experience with the Spotlight Glow Stick Highlight really reinforces this opinion.

From the Marc Jacobs website:

The Marc Jacobs Glow Stick Spotlight delivers instant dewiness in one universal shade. A sheer, pearlized formula reflects light for flattering radiance. The cream formula glides on smoothly and the portable, roll on stick design lets you brighten up anywhere, anytime.

I hesitate to say that this is a universal shade. Maybe it is? I’m not a make up artist so I have no real experience working with skin tones other than my own but it seems pretty light and cool toned and that may make for a slightly ashy look on deep warm skin tones.

It is sheer, which honestly is a GOOD THING in a highlight.

It does glide on smoothly. And I guess you could take this with you in your bag fairly easily. Not sure that you should really need to do that? Especially if a product lasts for more than a few hours on the skin? But yes, it’s portable.

Top swatch is applied directly from the stick with multiple passes of product. It’s built up to maximum intensity. Second swatch is a single pass directly from the stick. Third (and nearly invisible) swatch is done by swiping my finger once across the stick and then once across my hand. Realistically, that’s the best way to apply this product.

With flash

Indirect sunlight

indoors indirect sunlight

more indirect lighting because I like taking pictures of swatches

direct sunlight

Let’s talk about application. You can definitely apply this directly from the stick but if you have foundation or powder on, you’ll pick up a bit of that product and it will stay in the highlighter stick forever. Kind of gross really.

I’ve also applied this with a brush but that made for such a sheer application that it wasn’t worth it.

I prefer to apply this with my fingers using a patting motion. It’s easy to build up to the desired opacity and it doesn’t disturb my face makeup.

Indoor lighting. Check out that glow!

Natural light

Indirect natural light

Yes it IS totally necessary to have four pictures of my face here. This might be one of the only times I’ve EVER managed to get photos of a face product in action. Also, I can only imagine how shiny I must have been the day of that first photo for it to show up so well in a photograph.

The Spotlight Glow Stick gives a fairly natural glow. There aren’t particles of glitter and it isn’t necessarily shimmery, but it looks like your skin is naturally dewy. It’s a good look, but it’s also a look that can straddle the line between “dewy” and “sweaty” so I prefer a light application.

I find that this wears for most of the day. I haven’t any fading.

So what’s the verdict? This is a nice product! It really is! BUT…is it $42.00 nice? Absolutely not. You can most definitely get the same look for much less, there is not a damn thing that’s special about this highlight. It’s very pretty. Just like lots of other highlight products.

If you think that $42.00 for .49 oz. is bananas (and you’re not wrong), I recommend checking out the L’Oreal Light Infusing Primer. It’s a liquid not a cream but it gives the same overall effect when applied like a highlight. Bonus, you can actually use it as a primer if you need some extra all over glow. And it’s only $12.99 for .68oz. BAM! (If you’re reading this on or near November 20th, 2016 you can find the L’Oreal primer here with a buy 2 get 1 free and then you never have to buy highlighter ever again for as long as you live. Or you could give them as Christmas presents. Giving presents is good.)

What’s your experience with the Marc Jacobs line? I have two of the gel eyeliners from the brand and they’re actually pretty darn nice. Nothing else really interests me though. It’s all pretty and I’m sure it’s good quality, but it isn’t new or different or special and I feel like I can dupe most of the products from my existing stash. Am I totally wrong? Is there anything I need to take a closer look at?

Tidbits:

• Yesterday I made granola from a recipe that my mom gave me and it turned out so good! But the best part is that all day long my house smelled like toasty coconut and vanilla baked goods. It was fantastic!
• Tell me if this ever happens to you: I sometimes get it into my head that I need to “treat myself” to some luxury makeup item (this is obviously exactly what happened in the case of the Marc Jacobs Highlight). If that impulse isn’t related to a specific thing that I’ve been dying to have, then normally that whole feeling is indicative of neglect of my mental state. If I haven’t been taking time to just BE without DOING something, then I start getting that fidgety feeling of “must buy…I deserve it” which isn’t really a nice feeling at all. So all of that to say that if you get this feeling too, take a little time to take care of yourself. Make a cup of tea, sit down in a quiet place and just let your brain rest. Don’t plug into facebook, don’t check instagram or read a book, just let your mind wander and just BE for a few minutes. It’s good for you!
• THANKSGIVING IS COMING!