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Does anyone remember what life was like before highlighters? To be completely honest, when the highlighter trend first started taking off a few years ago, I thought it was a weird, unnecessary concept. But it only took trying a single one at Sephora to fall head over heels in love! Today, I can’t finish a makeup look without that glow—it’s like my skin is dull and boring without it!
Highlighters can be intimidating to people who aren’t used to them. With so many options and finishes in the market, it can be so hard to choose! Not to mention the fear of ending up looking like a sweaty disco ball, covered in glitter. Today I’ll share with you the different finishes, the pros and cons of each, and share my favorite products in each category.
(A quick note: I’m not a fan of glittery highlighters, those with big chunks of glitter. I much prefer those that really illuminate the skin and reflect light without glitter.)
Where and how should it be applied?
Highlighters are incredibly versatile products, because they can be used in many different ways and in many different parts of the face. Conceptually, it should be applied on the high points of the face, where light naturally hits it. If you remember your art classes from way back when, everything that is lighter in color is brought up and forward—so applying highlighter will emphasize those parts of the face.
The most popular application for highlighters is on the cheekbones, from the hairline heading down the bone. Sunlight will naturally hit this area, and it looks even more amazing with a subtle glow! I also like applying a little bit on the inner corner of the eyes, since it makes me look less tired (always a plus) and gives an overall refreshed and awake look. Other common spots are the cupid’s bow, brow bone, and, in the warmer months, on the collarbones and shoulders. Part of the fun is playing around with highlighters and finding out how to best apply it to suit your features.
Liquid Highlighters:
For those who don’t use highlighters, these are probably the scariest! It can be hard to figure out how much to apply, and if you’re as clumsy as me, there’s always that perpetual fear of spilling the bottle. Luckily, liquid highlighters tend to be more viscous, and they come in packages that don’t allow them to leak. Clumsy girls rejoice!
Liquid highlighters are easy to apply with a brush or with your fingers, and tend to look more natural on the skin. You only need a tiny bit to give you a beautiful glow! A little drop applied with your ring fingers and blended out looks gorgeous.
Liquid highlighters I love:
Marc Jacobs Dew Drops Coconut Gel Highlighter
- This is a fairly recent discovery, and one of those “why didn’t I try this sooner?!” products. There’s really nothing to not love about it! The texture is viscous but easy to blend—it’s like liquid gold. The coconut smell is divine without being overpowering, and the product is highly pigmented. Because its packaging is such a hefty glass bottle it’s not the best travel companion, but that’s precisely why it looks amazing on a vanity.
Urban Decay Naked Skin Highlighting Fluid in Sin
- The texture of this highlighter is a little thicker than the Dew Drops, but it’s still just as easy to blend and looks very natural on the skin. The shade Sin pulls a little more pink, and is much more of a cool tone than the Dew Drops. I have a mini that is always in my travel bag!
Cream Highlighters:
An excellent option for beginners! Cream highlighters are easier to handle and easier to apply. It’s also easier to control the quantity and apply more precisely. I like warming these up a little with my fingers before applying. With these, it’s important to tap repeatedly with your ring finger to blend out the edges so it doesn’t look streaky.
Cream highlighters are also perfect for travel or for your gym bag! After all, there’s no way it will spill in your bag like a liquid or break and spread everywhere like a powder.
Cream highlighters I love:
NARS The Multiple stick, in Copacabana
- This was my first love, about three or four years ago! I love it for being so easy to apply and for having a very subtle glow. It’s practically impossible to overdo it! It’s lovely for traveling, and feels so buttery on the skin. The only downside to the packaging (which is also the case with most NARS products) is that it gets dirty pretty easily. The matte black picks up any product you touched while doing your makeup—foundation, powders, etc.
Powder Highlighters:
Powder highlighters are a wonderful day-to-day option, and they’re easy to apply with a brush. I usually one bigger powder brush to apply it on the cheekbones and an eyeshadow brush or my finger to apply it on the inner corner of my eyes.
What I love about powder highlighters is that you can amp up the intensity by applying it in layers. It’s easy to, as the hosts of the Full Coverage podcast (which I love and *highly* recommend!) would say, create a “sexy robot” look that beams up to the moon and back.
Powder highlighters I love:
Tarte Skin Twinkle Palette, Vol. I
- I have a love/hate relationship with Tarte, but this palette is EVERYTHING. Mine is already so beat up, but I keep using it everyday with love! The setting powder in the middle is absolutely useless—it feels like sandpaper, and the finish is awful—so much so that I just threw it away because it kept breaking into smaller pieces. Still, this palette is the one I use the most often, because the highlighters are stunning! Sunlight is a pearly gold, which is a more subtle and versatile day-to-day shade. Moonlight, on the other hand, is a ridiculously beautiful share that pulls more towards rose gold, and looks beautiful both on lighter (or in my case, translucent) and darker skin tones.
BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector, in Moonstone
- This definitely earned its status as a cult product! All of BECCA’s highlighters are incredible, but Moonstone looks the most natural on my Casper skin, haha. Even though it’s a powder formula, it’s incredibly buttery and pigmented. I feel like I’ll never hit pan on it!
Mix it up
For those who really like having fun with makeup, it’s also fun to mix products of different formulas or use highlighters in different ways:
Using glowy primers as highlighters
If you’re in a rush or don’t have space for bringing lots of products with you, you can definitely use a glowy primer as a highlighter. Both MAC’s Strobe Cream and Charlotte Tilbury’s Wonderglow double wonderfully as highlighters! Strobe cream is a cooler tone that pulls pink, while Wonderglow is warmer and pulls bronze.
Using highlighters as eyeshadow
There’s no quicker hack for day-to-day makeup! I love applying the same highlighter on the cheekbones, cupid’s bow, inner corner of the eye, and a little bit on my eyelids.
Mixing textures
One of the ways to drive up the drama of your highlight is to layer highlighters of different textures. For example, if you apply a liquid or cream highlighter, let it set for a few minutes, and then go over it with a powder highlighter, the effect will be so much more intense!
I hope these tips are useful! What are your favorite highlighters, and what tips do you have? Share your thoughts in the comments!