Beauty

Mastering Highlighter: Tips and Tricks for a Radiant Glow

Mastering Highlighter: Tips and Tricks for a Radiant Glow

Illuminating cosmetics not only add a radiant glow and beautifully accentuate a tan, but also allow for elegant facial contouring. However, knowing where to apply highlighter is key to achieving the best results.

What is Highlighter?

Highlighter is a cosmetic product that can and should be used year-round, but it is especially popular during the summer months. This is because, in the summer, we emphasize our tan and the freshness of our skin in our makeup, and no other cosmetic does this as successfully as highlighter.

For many years, we have had a wide range of illuminating products at our disposal, and it can often be challenging to choose the right one from this vast array. Another question is its proper application.

What is Highlighter Really For?

Illuminating cosmetics are mainly associated with more or less noticeable shimmering particles. But before highlighters started to shimmer (mainly due to the mica and tin oxide they contained), they were matte cosmetics used alongside bronzers for facial contouring.

By modeling the face with bronzer and highlighter, makeup artists drew inspiration from artists who used chiaroscuro in drawing, painting, or graphics—the distribution and interpenetration of light and shadow—to achieve a three-dimensional effect. The principle is simple: what is brighter appears closer, and what is darker seems further away.

Through the skillful use of dark and light colors, an apple painted on canvas looks convex and round, and a face contoured with bronzer and highlighter appears slimmer, more oval, and with more pronounced cheekbones.

One of the most famous cosmetic products used for such facial contouring is the iconic Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat concealer. It is used not to conceal skin imperfections (as is sometimes mistakenly believed), but to smooth out facial features, visually reduce the hollows in the tear trough area, i.e., the places where the so-called bags under the eyes form, accentuate the lips, nose, and brow arches.

Where to Apply Highlighter

Apply highlighter moderately and gradually, building up the desired effect. If you are using a powder or stone highlighter, shake off the brush before touching the skin to get rid of excess product. If you have applied too much product or have smudges, remove the highlighter with a makeup sponge or a foundation brush, which you previously used to apply fluid to the skin.