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e.l.f.

e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter.

About this product

A lightweight liquid primer from e.l.f. Cosmetics designed to add a sheer, natural glow to the skin, worn alone or under and over foundation.

Full ingredients

Water (Aqua), Hydrogenated Didecene, Squalane, Propylene Glycol, Glycerin, Octyldodecanol, Cetyl PEG/​PPG-10/​1 Dimethicone, Dimethicone, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Isoamyl Laurate, Hydrogenated Styrene/​Isoprene Copolymer, Sodium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylic/​Capric Triglyceride, Ethylhexyl Hydroxystearate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Propylene Carbonate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Caprylyl Glycol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Disodium EDTA, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Tocopherol, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Tin Oxide, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Yellow Iron Oxide (Ci 77492), Red Iron Oxide (Ci 77491), Black Iron Oxide (Ci 77499), Bismuth Oxychloride (Ci 77163)

More from e.l.f. 58 products · Guru Score 89% →

Guru Score

82%

Yay

10 experts · Strong agreement

What the gurus are saying

Its sheer, natural sheen keeps coming up, with gurus describing a soft glow that blurs skin without any glitter. Many call it a close match for Charlotte Tilbury's Flawless Filter at a fraction of the price, but it gives little coverage, so it is more of a glow than a cover-up. Those with mature skin may want to wear it alone, since blending it with a powder looked a little dry.
Synthesized from 10 expert reviews · most recent take December 2025

What they liked

  • Sheer, natural glow without glitter
  • Works under or over foundation
  • Blends easily and doesn't streak

What they flagged

  • Shade zero runs noticeably orange

Type

PrimerLiquid

Key actives

Formula notes

Fragrance-freeNo drying alcohol

Where to buy

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What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored
✓Yay
"This is a beautiful [...] luminizer. [...] Very, very, very, very, very pretty. Just sort of softens everything, you know, very nice and sheer."
All 3 takes from Alexandra Anele
Holiday Glam using ALL Drugstore Makeup
"This is a beautiful [...] luminizer. [...] Very, very, very, very, very pretty. Just sort of softens everything, you know, very nice and sheer."
How to achieve long lasting MATTE base makeup
"To set my under eyes, I've been recently mixing the elf Halo Glow with this Huda Beauty powder. I'm experimenting a little bit so I'll keep you posted on that, but I thought it looked pretty decent, maybe a little bit dry. These do really, really, really set. If you have more mature skin, you might want to just use the elf Halo Glow. I've heard from a lot of you that you love it, so keep it up."
Answering Reddit’s Makeup Questions
"This is the e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter, which is really beautiful. [...] This is the shade zero, which is supposed to be like the fairest shade or the palest shade, and it's like pretty orange and it's definitely darker than me, but it does like mix into foundation really well if [...] you're looking for [...] something to mix into your foundation or apply before foundation. When you sheer it out, it does have a really beautiful like sheen."
✓Yay
"Everything else I really liked."
✓Yay
"The Halo Glow Liquid Filter, which is seen as a dupe of Charlotte Tilbury's Flawless Filter."
✓Yay
"I was going to buy the milk makeup hydrogrip, but you guys mentioned these and I have both of these and I really didn't need that one. I'm going with the e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter. They're dupes, except the elf one is way way way more affordable, so that's what I'm going to go with."
✓Yay
"I always prep my skin with this product after moisturizing for the perfect base to start my face makeup. I love the tint and glow it gives my skin. I've never had it sit badly underneath foundation. It really is such a good one."
Top Pick: luminizer
All 4 takes from Allie Glines
UPDATED: The BEST Primers ACCORDING TO YOU 😱
"I always prep my skin with this product after moisturizing for the perfect base to start my face makeup. I love the tint and glow it gives my skin. I've never had it sit badly underneath foundation. It really is such a good one."
Trying ALL Drugstore ALLURE WINNERS 2023..
"This one overall won an award which I feel like it's well deserved, the elf Halo Glow Liquid Filter. This stuff went viral this year or was it last year, I don't know, recently. I'm just gonna put that on the outside of the face and blend it out with my brush."
Drugstore Makeup That Outperforms High-End with MARLENA STELL!!
"I compare it to the Charlotte Tilbury one and in my opinion I feel like this one's better. It's better than high-end, it's one-third of the price, and I like this one more because it still gives you the glow but it's very natural. As I've gotten older I get really dry so I need something that's hydrating, and I like a good liquid highlighter but that doesn't look glittery and this isn't that. It just gives you a very natural glow, not that streak of glitter."
We Need to Talk About e.l.f. (& try their new makeup)
"I did a video where I tried this side by side with the Charlotte Tilbury one and it is indeed a dupe. I feel like e.l.f. obviously takes the cake for duping viral products really really well. [...] Some of these formulas I feel like do end up being a little bit different and some of them I like better than the original, this being a good example of that."
✓Yay
"The e.l.f one is beautiful, Halo Glow"
All 3 takes from Robert Welsh
This Brand Takes Duping WAY TOO FAR! | Dupe Or COPY? Mco's infamous Imitations .
"You can't afford the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood filter thing. Fine, grab the e.l.f one."
People Are LYING About liking these products!
"The e.l.f one is beautiful, Halo Glow"
Charlotte Tilbury Is DONE With Dupes!!
"Whereas this Emco one, you would look at that very briefly, very quickly and I think that's Charlotte Tilbury. That's where I'm like, no, you better stop."
✓Yay
"I have been trying the elf 30 tint face tint that just came out it's good lightweight liking wear it as like a foundation and liking it so far"
✓Yay
"The e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter [...] is a complexion [...] booster. [...] I put a bunch of it onto my hand and apply it with a foundation brush. [...] People thought this was a foundation when it first launched, but it's really not. It gives a serious glow to the skin but it does not give a lot of coverage. [...] What I want is a nice healthy glow, and if you can just blur it a little bit then I'm happy."
✓Yay
"This is awesome, this is a dupe for a much much more expensive highlighter and I love this highlighter. I wear it anytime that I want my cheeks to really pop. It doesn't have any glitter in it. It gives your skin like a glow from within and it's so pretty. If you just put a little bit like on the fronts of your cheeks and up here on your cheekbones it just makes your skin come alive. It just makes your cheeks look really plump and juicy. I wear this in shade two."
All 4 takes from HotandFlashy
Beauty Faves + Fails! Makeup, Skincare, Self Tanners! May 2023
"The elf Halo Glow Liquid Filter is a dupe for the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter. This really is like a perfect dupe for this. I wear shade two in the elf and I wear shade four in the Charlotte Tilbury, but they both are so so so very beautiful."
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"This is awesome, this is a dupe for a much much more expensive highlighter and I love this highlighter. I wear it anytime that I want my cheeks to really pop. It doesn't have any glitter in it. It gives your skin like a glow from within and it's so pretty. If you just put a little bit like on the fronts of your cheeks and up here on your cheekbones it just makes your skin come alive. It just makes your cheeks look really plump and juicy. I wear this in shade two."
BEST Makeup of 2023! Drugstore + High End | Mature Beauty!
"A dupe for the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter, which she also loves, but for the price and the amount of product you get, she calls the e.l.f. version a no-brainer. Comes with a giant doe foot applicator and a lot of product; she wears it in the shade Light."
Full Face of DRUGSTORE Makeup DUPES With All Day Wear Test!
"I almost like the e.l.f. a little bit better because I feel like it's not quite so icy of a sheen as the Charlotte Tilbury. If you're the kind of person who likes a highlight but you don't like a real obvious, real blingy highlight, you might actually prefer the e.l.f. to the Charlotte Tilbury. The e.l.f. is one third of the price. This [...] gives you the same amount if not more, about 31 and a half mil versus 30 mil, so just about one ounce for both."
✓Mixed
"I find that I'm using it underneath my foundation, on top of my foundation. It's just so easy to use because it's not overly luminescent, and so I love it. I think it looks really great. I actually have tried it without any foundation on and just put that on, a little bit of concealer, some blush, maybe, and then I go, and I think it's just really easy to use. It's like 15 dollars, so you might as well give it a try because it's pretty great."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Sunscreen filters

Sun protection is the best evidenced way to slow visible ageing, and the filters are what does the work. Mineral and chemical filters both protect when a product is applied thickly enough and often enough, which is where most people fall short rather than on the choice of filter.

Source: DermNet

Humectants and emollients

Ingredients like these draw water into the surface layers and slow how fast it leaves. The evidence is for comfort, softness and hydration rather than for changing the structure of the skin.

Source: DermNet

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, and it is often in a formula to keep the other ingredients stable rather than as the active itself. It pairs well with vitamin C, though on its own the evidence for visible change is limited.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Frequently asked.

What is e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter?

A lightweight liquid primer from e.l.f. Cosmetics designed to add a sheer, natural glow to the skin, worn alone or under and over foundation.

Is e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter worth it?

Mostly yes. 9 of the 10 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 82%.

What is e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter's Guru Score?

e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter holds a Guru Score of 82%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 10 expert reviewers we have collected. At least one expert has named it a Top Pick in its category.

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