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If you’re looking for an easy way to give your makeup routine a glow up, all it takes is a little highlighter!
Highlighter is a surprisingly versatile makeup product that can be used to level-up your look in many ways: to show-off your complexion with that lit-from-within glow, enhance your bone structure and skin tone, or to brighten up your face and create a naturally-dewy finish. But before you get glowing and swipe on product, there are a few things to consider—like what kind of glow you're after, where you want to apply highlighter (and where you don’t), plus what formulas may work best for you, depending on your skin.
Read on to learn all about highlighter and how to use it to (ahem) highlight your features in the best way possible. Plus, we’ll help you discover your new fave e.l.f. highlighter product!
Highlighter is a makeup product that reflects light to help create depth and give your overall look a glowy, luminous finish.
Highlighter makeup comes in a variety of formulas and formats, from powder, to liquid, cream, jelly and sticks. It’s also available in a range of finishes (like shimmery and pearlescent) and shades (like bronze, champagne, gold and pink).
When it comes to choosing what type of highlighter makeup you should use, it really comes down to personal preference. At e.l.f., we offer a wide range of highlighter products, including powder, liquid and stick highlighters. Each one offers a unique formula and format with a different finish, feel, and application technique to help you accentuate your best features.
If you’re a highlighter newbie, our Halo Glow Liquid Highlighter Wand features a cushion tip applicator, making it easy as e.l.f. to give your skin a radiant, lit-from-within glow. Liquid formulas are ideal for those who want instant radiance.
Use our Daily Dew Highlighter Stick to enhance your complexion with a sheer wash of color, a pearlescent, dewy finish and a refreshing cooling sensation. It comes in four blendable shades, and each one is infused with a star nourishing ingredient.
Our Bite Size Blush & Highlighter Duo is lightly pigmented with a mix of matte and shimmer shades. The powder formula is ideal for those who want to build a natural-looking glow and is best applied with your favorite Highlighter Brush.
To achieve your best glow, you also want to make sure you select the best shade match for your skin tone. Here’s a quick guide to help you glow off:
Fair to tan skin: Light champagne hues
Fair to deep skin: Hints of rosy pink
Medium to rich skin: Golds and bronzes
If you’ve ever wondered “where do I apply highlighter?”, a good rule of thumb is to apply it to the high points of your face—aka, everywhere the sun would naturally hit. This will help you enhance your best features and get glowing in all the right places:
Upper Cheekbones: Right above your cheekbones is the most popular place to apply highlighter—it helps create a beautiful glow while sculpting your bone structure and creating an overall lifted look.
Brow Bone: Add highlighter to your brow bone, right under where your eyebrows arch, which lifts the appearance of your brows and creates an eye-opening look.
Bridge of Your Nose: Apply and blend out a thin line of highlighter on the bridge of your nose to create an elongating, narrowing effect.
Cupid’s Bow: Highlighting your cupid’s bow can help plump the appearance of your lips and make them look more defined.
Inner Corner of Your Eyes: While your eyes are not a high point of your face, a small touch of highlighter right by your tear ducts creates a bright-eyed look.
Collarbones: Highlighter isn’t just for your face! If you’re rocking a top that shows off your décolletage, follow the curve of your collarbone and apply highlighter right above and below it to enhance your bone structure and bask in that iridescent glow.
While we all love a glowy complexion, applying highlighter all over your face will give you an unnatural, glowstick-like appearance. For a natural-looking radiance, knowing which areas of your face you should avoid applying highlighter to is just as important.
Don’t apply highlighter on your forehead, chin, center of your cheeks and other t-zone areas, which can have the unwanted effect of making your complexion look oily.
While your upper cheekbones are a prime spot for highlighter, don’t apply it under your cheekbones— save that spot for your contour makeup.
Skip highlighting under your eyes. If you already applied under eye concealer, adding highlighter will only draw attention to the dark undereye circles you tried to cover. Plus, loading up more product can cause your makeup to crease.
Are you ready to master your glow and learn how to apply highlighter like an e.l.f.ing pro? Here’s your official highlighter how-to—and don’t worry, it’s only five steps!
Prep Your Skin: To create a smooth base for makeup, always start with a face primer like our holy grail Power Grip Primer to help grip makeup for long-lasting wear.
Apply Your Base Makeup: Apply your favorite foundation (like our Camo Hydrating CC Cream for a full-coverage finish and SPF protection, or our Soft Glam Satin Foundation for medium buildable coverage) to create a smooth canvas. You can also mix in a little Halo Glow Liquid Filter for an all-over dewy glow. Or, you can skip this step and wear a bit of highlighter on its own for just a touch of radiance on those makeup-free days.
Highlight your features: Grab your go-to highlighter and apply it to the high points of your face. Pro tip: Don’t use a heavy hand—it’s much easier to add more shimmer and glow, than it is to take it away!
Blend and glow: To finish and achieve that natural-looking radiance, blend out your highlighter using the best tool for your chosen formula. Our Tapered Highlighter Brush is ideal for precise highlighting and blending of powder and liquid formulas. You can also use our Blending & Highlighting Sponge Duo to create a diffused glow with liquid or stick highlighter formulas.
How to Use a Highlight Wand