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7 Reasons Why You Should Use A Highlighter

By Samantha Goodwin

If you're familiar with applying makeup, you will understand the importance of a highlighter. While each product you use in your makeup routine has a specific role, a highlighter enhances your beauty in multiple ways. It can be used on the cheeks, the nose, the forehead, eyelids and even on the lips.

Basically, highlighter is face makeup that attracts light, creating the illusion of brightness and height, hence that lit-from-within look. Celebs often use it in addition to contouring to lift and push features back. Contouring is an art in itself, but you don't need to master that in order to use highlighter.

Why You Should Use A Highlighter

Choosing the right highlighter based on your complexion is very important. You can always use the gold-silver jewellery method to make the right choice. If you find that gold earrings flatter your complexion, look for highlighters that have a warm bronze, gold or copper tonality.

If silver or platinum jewellery is best for you, find a highlighter that has flecks of silver or pale pink in it. A warm-pink is neutral and works on most people. Applying a highlighter correctly is also important if you want to reap the maximum benefits.

Even though it may be pretty tempting to use your hands while applying highlighter, a brush allows for a more controlled application. For larger areas of the face such as your cheeks, use a flat, slightly-angled brush.

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A soft and dense blender brush is better for smaller areas and cream formulas. You'll lose the benefits of highlighter if you use it all over, since your whole face will be illuminated and you won't show off specific features. Too much highlighter can make you look like you're sweating, not glowing.

To make your cheekbones look higher, use highlighter on the top just off to the side of your under-eye area. Be sure to keep very shimmery highlighter on the cheek at least a finger's width away from your eyes.

Read on for some more useful tips and seven reasons why you should use a highlighter.

Opens Up Your Eyes

How to use a highlighter? When you dot a tiny bit of highlighter to the inner corners of your eyes, it will instantly brighten up the whole eye area, make you look more awake and open up your eyes. This is a great tip if you have small or droopy eyes. Your face tends to brighten up when your eyes look bigger and brighter.

Highlighter Will Help You To Look Younger

To spice up your everyday look, add a highlighter on top of your cheekbones. It will add dimension and create a beautiful reflection; it only will be visible when you turn. This trick will help you to look younger and fresher.

Make Your Forehead Look Polished

If you apply a little bit of highlighter on your forehead above your brows, this will also add dimension to your face and the skin on your forehead will look like it has been polished. (This is not recommended if you have oily skin or pimples on your forehead).

Smaller Nose With The Help Of Highlighter

If you would like to correct the shape of your nose, make it smaller or thinner, you don't need to get a plastic surgery, just use makeup. Apply a highlighter down the bridge of your nose and a matt colour that is 1 or 2 shades darker than your skin tone on the sides of your nose.

With this tip you can easily make your nose look thinner and smaller, but be careful when you use it during the day, remember to blend everything very well, so that nobody can spot any lines along your nose. All this should look smooth and well blended, just like natural shading of the face.

Gives Your Features A Facelift

Use a highlighter under your eyebrows and above them after you filled them in; this makeup trick will give you a visible lift, will emphasize the shape of your brows, give them a clean look and accentuate your eyes.

Only, pay attention to use the highlighter sparingly, no need of a big brush. Use a tiny thin brush to get more sophisticated result. For an instant brow lift, dab highlighter under the arch of your eyebrows. To fake the appearance of a slimmer nose, swipe it down the centre of the bridge.

Plump Up Your Lips

You can easily do it with a highlighter - just dab it on your cupid's bow (which is the middle of your upper lip) and onto the centre of your lower lip (you can apply a highlighter on top of the lipstick or just on bare lips).

This way your lips will appear larger and fuller. If you don't have a highlighter, use any white shimmery eyeshadow instead, a shimmery lip gloss also will do.

Say No To Dark Circles Around Your Eyes

Here is an easy and simple make up trick to quickly neutralize dark circles around your eyes: mix your creamy highlighter with an under eye concealer in propositions that you like and apply it (sparingly) under your eyes; this will lighten and brighten your eye area and will erase the signs of fatigue.

Always remember, a highlighter attracts light to your skin. Applying it to the high points of your face (where light will hit) creates dimension and a glow. These high points are the bridge of the nose, brow bone, tops of the cheekbones, centre of the forehead, inner corners of the eyes and cupid's bow.

If you have extra texture on your skin, highlighter can bring attention to it. To avoid that, simply skip the more textured areas. There is no makeup artist who doesn't have a highlighter in their kit, but it's not very popular amongst the people who are not acquainted with the makeup world.

All this is because the highlighter has a small secret to it which can be explained in one word - "moderation". Generous amount of highlighter on the face can make it look greasy and gross, but skillful use of it can make you look fabulous!

Story first published: Wednesday, July 11, 2018, 14:04 [IST]
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