What is a highlighter and how do you apply it on your face?

Make-up aesthetics is the result of a well-chosen make-up style and products that can correct minor imperfections and highlight the most striking and expressive facial features. Highlighter, which has taken its pride of place in a modern beauty case, is one of such products. Mark Wirlen consultants will introduce you to this shimmering wonder and share professional tips on how to apply it.

What’s a highlighter?

A foundation and a powder cover minor skin imperfections pretty well, smooth down the skin structure and make its tone more even and healthy-looking. However, to make the contours of your face stand out and enhance its features, you’ll need a highlighter. It contains microscopic light-reflecting particles, creating a glowing effect on the areas you choose to apply the product on. This allows you to strategically highlight the cheekbones, ridge of the nose, etc., visually correcting facial features and giving the skin a fresh and radiant look.

How to apply a highlighter: basic application schemes

The technique of applying highlighter uses classic artistic methods based on the principles of light and shadow, and the ability of lighter shades to emphasize volume and contour.

Depending on the aim of the highlighter application, there are several basic techniques:

• Undefined facial contours. Highlighter is applied to the most prominent part of the cheekbones (apply it in an arc, starting from the temple and sweeping down); to the center of the forehead (from the bridge of the nose upward, widening the application area in a fan shape); and to the prominent part of the chin.
• Deep-set eyes, hooded eyelids. The product is applied in a thin line directly under the eyebrows and dabbed on the inner corners of the eyes.
• Thin/flat lips. The emphasis is placed on the philtrum (the dip above the upper lip) and the prominent area below the lower lip, in the center.
• Wide nose. Highlighter is applied in a thin line from the bridge of the nose along the nose ridge, and a small amount is dabbed on the tip of the nose.
• Wide face. To visually narrow the face shape, apply the highlighter vertically down the center of the forehead, on the cheekbones, and on the prominent part of the chin.

Despite the simplicity of highlighter application techniques, it’s important to remember that the goal is to create a healthy, 'inner' glow to the skin, not excessive shine. Therefore, it’s crucial to choose the right highlighter and blend it harmoniously with other makeup.

How to choose a highlighter

When buying a highlighter, several factors should be considered, as they play a significant role in choosing the right product.

• Skin type: For dry and mature skin, liquid and cream-textured highlighters are recommended, as they provide additional hydration. For normal, oily, and combination skin, dry formulas such as stick, powder, or baked highlighters with a particularly delicate and fine structure are preferable.
• Skin phototype: Skin tone is an especially important criterion, as the correct highlighter selection allows for the illusion of a natural glow without a shiny effect. Peach and pink shades of highlighter are considered universal and, depending on the intensity, can be used on fair or medium skin tones. Meanwhile, golden and copper shades are preferable for darker or tanned skin.
• Purpose of the highlighter: To enhance facial contours on the cheekbones, nose ridge, chin, and forehead, a highlighter that is half to one shade lighter than the natural skin tone should be applied. For a soft shimmer or a dewy skin effect, choose a highlighter as close to your natural skin tone as possible, but with a subtle glow effect.
• Time of day: The intensity of the shimmering effect determines whether the makeup is suitable for the time of day or event. For evening events, highlighters with a higher concentration of light-reflecting particles that provide an intense shine are ideal. For daytime looks, opt for a product with a more subtle shimmer, which will appear natural in daylight.

The recommendations suggest that the most practical option is to stock your makeup bag with several highlighters, which you can use for different purposes, at different times of the day, and for various makeup styles — subtle and natural, nude, as well as bolder or even glamorous evening looks.

Types of highlighters

Texture-wise highlighters can be divided into two groups – dry and wet. Dry ones include compact powder, loose and baked. You’ll need a highlighter brush to apply the product evenly and seamlessly.

Wet highlighters include cream and jelly-like products, which you can apply using sponges or even your fingers.

Highlighters also differ in shimmer particles concentration and, thus, in intensity of radiance, which is important to consider while choosing the product for an evening or everyday look.

Tips from professional make-up artists

Several professional tips will help use a highlighter more effectively and create various looks.

• Make a proper base for a highlighter. Use preferred selection of skin care products – hydrating, tinted, mattifying or any other base. Moisturizing will help avoid skin tightness or discomfort and will provide healthy look. Tinted product will let you cover any structural defects and even the skin tone, while mattifying will make a highlighter become a distinguished accent instead of being lost amidst the glossy skin.
• Do not rely on a highlighter only. This product has really impressive possibilities but it’s not almighty. To sculp your face use contouring products and apply a highlighter to create the right light accents. This will be easier with a sculpting palette, which includes different shades and textures of highlighters and bronzers. It’s a collection set together and all you need is to use the combinations relevant to the event or time of day. Using such a palette, follow the same principle as you follow choosing a mono-product, i.e. considering the skin tone, skin type, and the purpose of a make-up.
• Give it a test. You can get a better definition of a make-up by mixing highlighters of different shades and different intensity of glow. However, at your first “experiment” you need to test the mixture. Most importantly, try to create the same light as you expect at an event you’re creating your make-up for.
• Bother to have the right tools. You might be disappointed with even the best highlighter if you apply it without the right brushes or sponges. These instruments let you exactly regulate the coverage and its evenness, creating the effect of the natural skin “inner” glow.
• Follow your skin peculiarities. Dry highlighter is considered universal. You can apply it even on dry and thin skin, given you’ve prepared your skin properly. If there are imperfections (wide pores, pitted acne etc.), you need to be very careful using cream and jelly-like highlighters and blend them thoroughly. Otherwise, it might highlight the unevenness, depressed scars and wide pores.
• Control the intensity of shimmer. While using just one product, you can get different effects, depending on the quantity of layers of a highlighter or a foundation beneath it. Thin and well-blended layer will create a tender subtle glow. Applying another layer on top of the first one or applying a highlighter over the foundation without it being set with powder, you can get an effect of wet skin and mirror-like gloss.

We will be particularly happy if our tips will assist you in choosing a highlighter and enhancing your skills in the art of make-up. You can buy Mark Wirlen highlighters and other high-quality cosmetic products of this brand in our online store.