Ready to get your glow on? This post shares my honest thoughts about Beautycounter’s Cheeky Clean Highlighting Balms & why they will become a “can’t live without” addition to your makeup routine!
Before I chat all things Cheeky Clean Highlighting Balms, I want to give you a little back story. I started using Beautycounter’s makeup 4 years ago. Within the past 4 years, I’ve seen their makeup products evolve tremendously! I also began switching my makeup & skincare over to Beautycounter, even before I became a Brand Advocate. Because I appreciated their clean standards & ingredient transparency. Prior to that, I also struggled to find clean makeup that performed like my conventional favorites.
If you’re unfamiliar with Beautycounter, they have pioneered the clean beauty movement by banning thousands of ingredients, performing stringent 3rd party testing, & advocating in front of Congress for more health protective laws governing the beauty industry. What I love most about Beautycounter is the fact that I don’t have to sacrifice performance for safety.
Since working with Beautycounter, it has been so much fun to see the product innovation they’ve come up with. Each product continues to push the envelope when it comes to product performance, safety, & sustainability. Which also brings me to the Cheeky Clean Highlighting Balms! Below I’ll be sharing my honest review of these gorgeous balms & why I seriously can’t stop using them!
Beautycounter’s Cheeky Clean Highlighting Balm Review
Whether you’re familiar with cream products or not, these balms are multitasking & mistake-proof & will deliver the most beautiful sheen to your complexion. Let’s get right into it!
Up until trying this cream highlighter, I had never found a highlighter balm that I loved! I had previously tried one from RMS Beauty & Tower 28. I did enjoy lilah b’s cream highlighter for a while, but it had a few ingredients that Beautycounter has on their Never List. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I first received my Beautycounter highlighters. In fact, I think I was expecting them to offer a bold pop of color based on what they looked like in the pan. After I first swatched them, I realized that the color goes on dewy & although it was different from what I expected, I quickly fell in love!
To give you some context, Beautycounter launched these highlighter balms in early April 2023 & since then, I’ve use them almost every day. The creamy formula is a dream to apply. Even though the shades aren’t super pigmented, they are buildable, which is different from other highlighter balms I’ve tried. In my opinion, the fact that they are buildable while still feeling lightweight makes them even better!
My favorite thing about these gorgeous highlighting balms is the effortless sheen they give your skin. Each shade truly gives you a lit-from-within glow that I can’t get enough of! I also love wearing these balms with a full face of makeup or on bare skin!
Ingredients
This Cheeky Clean highlighting balm is not only free of 2,800 harmful or questionable ingredients, but it is also EWG verified & tested for heavy metals. The formula of this highlighter balm also features a variety of skin care ingredients to moisturize, soothe, & soften your skin as you wear it!
- Jojoba Esters – Provide a smooth glide for a soft, lightweight application.
- Squalane – Derived from sugarcane & sugar beets. Squalane is known to be an exceptional moisturizer. It provides a silky-smooth, luxurious texture without a greasy or heavy after-feel.
- Botanical-Derived Polymer – Helps provide even coverage, smooth wear, & makes blending a breeze. Plus, it protects from skin-drying environmental aggressors.
- Castor Oil – A known skin conditioner that provides a sheen-like finish for a lit-from-within glow.
Benefits
- Suitable for all skin types.
- Formula creates a soft-focus, youthful-looking sheen.
- Glides on seamlessly with a lightweight application.
- Provides luxurious non-greasy texture for dewy, supple-looking skin.
- Infused with skin care ingredients like squalane, jojoba esters, & castor oil.
- Buildable, easy-to-blend shades for cheeks & eyes.
- Responsibly sourced mica delivers a natural sheen & light-reflecting glow.
- EWG verified formula.
Texture
The texture of these highlighter balms is a dream! Each shade features a silky luxurious texture that blends seamlessly onto your complexion. Ingredients like skin-moisturizing squalene & jojoba esters help to melt the highlighter formula effortlessly onto the high points of your face. In fact, the squalene provides a silky finish that’s dewy, not greasy.
Packaging
Beautycounter’s Cheeky Clean Highlighting Balms feature some pretty cool packaging components! First of all, it’s refillable! By purchasing a refill pan without the compact, Beautycounter is able to reduce fossil fuel use & greenhouse gas emissions by ~86% & water use by ~83%. The highlighter refills are also packaged in a case made in part from sugarcane pulp! So whether you’re running low on your favorite shade or want to try a new one, you can simply purchase a refill of either the cream highlighter or cream blush & pop it right into your original compact!
The beautiful white compact itself is not only refillable but it’s also made of 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin! By using PCR to create the compact, Beautycounter was able to reduce its fossil fuel use by ~65%, greenhouse gas emissions by ~44%, & water use by ~78%.
How to Refill
Refilling your Cheeky Clean Highlighter is so easy! Beautycounter’s Cheeky Clean Cream Blush features the same PCR compact, which means both the highlighter & blush shades are interchangeable! Watch this reel for a tutorial on how to refill the highlighter or blush compact!
- Press the “b” button to open the compact.
- Flip the compact over & find the small hole.
- Using a small household item (like a bobby pin or safety pin), press into the hole. This will pop the pan out of the compact!
- Drop your new shade into the compact where the old pan once was! The compact is magnetic, so the new pan will securely click back in!
Price
The full size Highlighting Balm is $42 USD / $55 CAD & the refills are $28 USD / $36 CAD. Scroll to the bottom of this post for a code to save 20% off your first Beautycounter purchase!
Shades
This cream highlighter balm is available in 4 stunning shades (swatched below). You can apply all 4 shades on both your cheeks & your eyes! In fact, I especially love using Flare to contour – see how I do so in this reel! All of them are so beautiful, I can barely choose a favorite!
- Lunar – Sheer Pearl Shimmer
- Astro – Soft Gold Shimmer
- Cosmo – Rose Bronze Shimmer
- Flare – Bronze Gold Shimmer
How To Use The Beautycounter Cheeky Clean Highlighting Balm
This Cheeky Clean Highlighting Balm is extremely user friendly. To apply, simply swirl, pat, & blend the creamy formula onto the features you want to highlight. I’d also suggest applying this highlighting balm to your cheekbones, brow bones, eyelids, Cupid’s bow, bridge of your nose, & even your collar bone! Think high points of your face! You can see where I applied my highlighter balms in the photos below!
This is NOT a chalky highlighter, so you may need to build up the formula to achieve more pigment because the shades go on very dewy & sheer. Thankfully, the formula does have the ability to be built up without feeling greasy or heavy on your skin!
You can either use a brush or your fingers to apply this highlighter! I’d also recommend applying it with your fingers! The warmth of your fingers will help to melt the balm which creates an effortless application with a dewy smooth finish. Prefer a brush? Simply dab your favorite brush onto the balm & then sweep it over your desired features!
LUNAR
ASTRO
Watch me demo this look below in this reel!
COSMO
FLARE
Where To Buy Beautycounter Highlighter
The only place to purchase this Beautycounter cream highlighter is through the Beautycounter website! You can add it to your cart here & use code CLEANFORALL20 for 20% off your first Beautycounter order when you choose Madi Rowan as your Brand Advocate at checkout! The 20% off code is valid on anything site wide, including the highlighting balms & the highlighter refills!
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