Hello Loves!
I've come to tell you of the wondrous tales of highlighting your skin. No, I don't mean the fluorescent yellow or neon pink kind!
high·light (
hī′līt′)
noun
1. To make prominent; emphasize.
-
One of my all time favourite makeup steps is highlighting. It's so simple and quick and gives a lot of dimension to your face. Highlighting is basically playing light tricks with your skin. There are tons of different kinds of highlighters; powder, liquid, gel, and cream. They all tend to be light tones, more often then not a champagne colour, and vary in different degrees of iridescent particles. (shimmer.) It's these particles that reflect light and cause the area you place them on to become more prominent.
Here’s a picture of my all time favourite kind of highlighter, MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish's. They sell 2 permanently, but constantly have different ones that are limited edition in collections that they release.
They all have veining throughout them, most are one solid colour with varying veining of lighter or darker versions of the same shade:
Or some are 3 or more bars of colour.:
A lot of MAC's skinfinishes have colour to them so you can use them as blush or to enhance your blush as well as to highlight. The ones with different bars of colour are meant to be used as individual colours, or all together in one sweep. There are certain colours that you don't want to use in certain areas..for instance, a pink or coral based highlighter will look fabulous as a cheek highlight, but will not look so hot as a brow highlight. Pink right under your eyebrows is a no go. Unless you wanna hit the fashion runways. Start with a champagne coloured highlight because that is universally flattering on all highlight areas. Then, once you feel confident in playing with different shades, invest in one with lots of bars of colour!
To apply a highlighter you want to use a medium sized fluffy brush for big areas, and a small fluffy brush for small areas.
Areas to highlight:
1.Cheekbones.
2.Bridge of nose.
3.Decolletage.
4.Brow Bone/Tear duct
5.Collarbones.
6.Shins.
7.Cupids bow
Cheekbones- Applying highlight to the tops of your cheekbones all the way to the hairline will make your cheekbones appear longer, thinner and more prominent, therefore also making your face look thinner.
Bridge of nose-Will bring light to the top of your nose, stay away from the tip, makes your nose look straighter and smaller/thinner.
Décolletage- Just the top of your cleavage, it will make them appear bigger and plumper..always a favourite highlight spot of mine ;)
Browbone/Tear duct-This you probably do anyways when you do your eye makeup. No one should leave their house without highlighting their brow bones and tear ducts(not IN your tear duct, just in that area beside your nose.) Even if you don't wear any other makeup, this will bring light to those areas and make your eyes look bigger and make you look more awake.
Collarbones- This will make your collarbones stand out which is just sexy in general. Makes your chest look very sculpted and feminine.
Shins- Clearly this is a summer thing, but running some highlighter down the front of your shins will make your legs appear longer and even bronzy/sexy for those summer dresses.
Cupids Bow- This is that area on the very top of your lips where they make that bow shape. Directly under your nose. Put a tiny bit of highlight in that little pocket and your lips will look bigger and plumper.
One quick tip about applying blush/bronzer/highlight to your cheeks. You NEVER want to put anything shiny under your eyes. It will look terrible and ridiculous. To find the proper area to place colour on your cheeks, take your index finger and middle finger together, place them vertically beside your nose. You do not want any colour in the area that your fingers cover. Now take your index finger and place it horizontally under your eye, right under your lower lash line. You do not want any colour or shimmer there either. Remember how I said putting shimmer on an area brings attention to it? You do not want any attention given to your under eye area. I promise. Also that shimmer will enhance the wrinkles and dark circles you have there.
That being said, go and highlight! You will love the definition and dimension it will bring to your face, especially when you combine it with contouring which I will talk to you about soon!
If you have any requests or questions leave them in the comments! Don't forget to share this blog with your friends!
<3
