Glowing up with Zoeva

Summer weather has been pretty underwhelming where I live. There's been some rain and lot's of cloudy days. I haven't had many chances to wear my summer clothes! In fact, my most worn article of clothing in June was a long sleeved knit sweater. I've been trying to compensate the lack of sun with my makeup: a touch of bronzer, a pop of bright color on the lip, glowy cheeks and cupid's bow. I've been using Zoeva's Spring Strobe Spectrum palette for highlighting recently. I purchased it at the beginning of last month and I've been very into it so far! I'm in the process of replacing my old face brushes, so I also got their 105 Luxe Highlight brush too.

The palette comes with four highlighters with a kind of a metallic/pearlescent finish in pastel green, violet, pink and yellow. They are definitely the kind of mermaid or unicorn colors that have been trending recently. Not going to lie, I think the powders look pretty odd in the pan: they seem kind of chalky and washed out in pictures. When applied, however, they are absolutely lovely! The formula has a velvety texture and it feels pretty buildable. The highlighters are a bit powdery and kick up a little when I pick them up with a brush, but they apply and blend out well. I'm not sure if you can achieve a blinding tin man -level highlight with these, but you can definitely create a beautiful glow-from-within look.

From left: SP010, SP020, SP030, SP040. Finger swatches on bare skin.

SP010 is my very favorite of the four. It's a duochrome green with a slightly teal-ish shift. It kind of reminds me of shiny insects. SP020 is an interesting blue-violet shift. It almost has a blacklight-effect kind of a look to it, it's pretty fluorescent. SP030 is a light pastel pink. I don't think it works the best as a highlight on my skin tone, but I like to wear it over my blusher for some extra glow. SP040 is a very wearable light yellow with a golden reflect, and my second favorite of the bunch.

If I have one complaint about the palette, it's the packaging. The design itself nice enough. I like the holographic detail and metallic lettering against the dark background. The (very satisfying) magnetic closure feels pretty secure too. But the surface of the cardboard palette has some sort of a waxy treatment that sucks up all and any oil that touches it, so it gets easily covered in fingerprints. It starts to look really messy really fast. I had to wipe the cover of my palette down with a damp microfiber cloth several times before it looked presentable.

As for the brush, it's a very soft blend of natural and synthetic hair. I haven't had problems with picking up powder or blending with it. I really like the size and tapered shape. The very tip of the brush is great for highlighting my cupid's bow and the bridge of my nose and the sides are a nice fit for the tops of my cheeks. I haven't noticed it disturbing the makeup underneath when I use it, but it does gradually build up on foundation/blusher. It might just be the nature of the beast, or maybe I need to use a lighter hand when I'm blending. In any case, it's definitely a step up from the old EcoTools eyeshadow brush I was using to apply highlighter before, haha.

What's your favorite highlighter?