Lip Oil Sticks and Highlighter Sticks Are the Multitasking Beauty Essentials Every Makeup Bag Needs

The one-two stick combo every makeup bag deserves

Multipurpose stick products are twist-up cream formulas designed to work across lips, cheeks, and eyes, streamlining your routine by combining colour, care, and radiance in one easy step while delivering a natural, glowing finish that suits everyday makeup and on-the-go touch-ups alike. If you want the best simple upgrade to your makeup bag, start with e.l.f.’s Glow Reviver Slipstick on the lips and Westman Atelier’s Lit Up Highlight Stick on the face. Together, they cover hydration, soft colour and glassy radiance with minimal effort. The Slipstick lip oil stick wins as the top pick for most people, because it replaces lipstick, gloss and balm in a single swipe while staying comfortable and low-maintenance. Pairing it with Cat Deeley’s favourite highlighter stick elevates your look from fresh to luminous in seconds.

Top pick: e.l.f. Glow Reviver Slipstick lip oil stick

The e.l.f. Glow Reviver Slipstick is the lip oil stick that should live in every everyday makeup bag. Its formula combines the slick feel of a lip oil with the colour payoff of a lipstick, creating a hybrid that sits between the two. You get medium, buildable colour with a soft, natural-looking shine and none of the sticky finish associated with many glossy lip products. The shade range focuses on complementing your natural lip tone, and reviewers praise its sheer colour, hydrating feel and smooth, mirror-free application. A skincare-inspired blend of squalane, shea butter and jojoba oil helps hydrate, smooth and soften the lips, so it feels more like treatment than traditional lipstick. This is the clear choice if you prefer pared-back makeup: it replaces balm, tint and gloss and is designed to give colour and shine in one swipe.

Radiance essential: Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick

If glow is your priority, Westman Atelier’s Lit Up Highlight Stick is the radiance makeup essential to invest in. This highlighter stick is available in a range of dewy and rosy shades and delivers a sheer wash of radiance to the skin. It is buildable and conditioning, with ingredients like grape extract and ayurvedic oil that work to hydrate and firm the skin while adding a natural-looking glow. You can use it on cheeks, lips and eyes, and wear it under or over your favourite foundation for layered dimension. In Cat Deeley’s routine, this multipurpose stick is a go-to for a dewy complexion in moments, and her makeup artist Lindsay Bown also keeps it in her professional kit. According to Lindsay Bown, the Lit Up Highlight Stick was part of the product haul used to create Deeley’s on-screen glow. This makes it a reliable choice if you want a makeup-artist-approved glow without complex techniques.

Why multipurpose stick products belong in every routine

Multipurpose stick products are ideal for anyone wanting faster makeup that still looks polished. A single makeup stick can combine elements of bronzer, cream blush and glassy highlighter, and be applied not just to cheeks but lips and eyelids too. The Glow Reviver Slipstick shows this principle for lips: instead of layering several formulas to get a hint of colour and a glossy finish, it is designed to do both at once. The Lit Up Highlight Stick does the same for radiance, bringing dewy glow to cheeks, lids and lips in a swipe-and-go format. These formulas prioritise ease of use and natural, glowing finishes; the Slipstick is especially suited to anyone who prefers a pared-back look, while the highlighter’s creamy, sheer texture lets you dab and go without needing brushes or precision blending. Together, they cover multiple steps with minimal effort.

Buy if / Skip if

• Buy the e.l.f. Glow Reviver Slipstick if you want low-effort lip colour, hydration and shine in a single lip oil stick hybrid.
• Skip the e.l.f. Glow Reviver Slipstick if you prefer fully opaque, matte lipstick over sheer, buildable colour and a natural-looking shine.
• Buy the Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick if you want a highlighter stick that adds sheer, buildable radiance to cheeks, lips and eyes.
• Skip the Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick if you do not like dewy or glassy finishes and prefer powder highlighters over creamy textures.
• Buy the Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick if you like multi-tasking radiance makeup essentials that hydrate and firm the skin while glowing.
• Buy the e.l.f. Glow Reviver Slipstick if you favour pared-back, low-maintenance makeup where one product delivers colour and gloss in one swipe.
• Skip the e.l.f. Glow Reviver Slipstick if you enjoy using separate balm, liner, lipstick and gloss steps rather than combining them in a single multipurpose stick product.