Ultimate Guide to Highlighter

Are you learning more about makeup and wondering to yourself, what is highlighter and how do I use it?! You aren’t alone! Check out this ultimate guide to highlighter and learn everything you need to know about this glimmering makeup product.

In the Ultimate Guide to Highlighter for beginners, we will cover what highlighter is, where you apply it on your face, tools and techniques used to apply highlighter, and the best highlighter options for beginners.

What is Highlighter?

Highlighter is a makeup product that creates the illusion of light falling onto high points of the face. This is in contrast with contour, which is used to create the illusion of shadows on the face. Contour and highlighter can be used together to enhance, define, and shape facial features.

Typically, highlighters have glowy finishes, which effectively reflect light on your skin and give dimension.

When looking for a highlighter for your skin tone, choose a shade that is lighter than your skin and has a complementing undertone.

Highlighters, like many other makeup products, come in a variety of textures and finishes.

Powder Highlighters

The majority of highlighters on the market come in a powder form. This includes both pressed powder and loose powder highlighters.

Powder highlighters are applied with makeup brushes, and typically come in all types of finishes, shades, and qualities.

When looking for a high quality powder highlighter, you want the texture to feel somewhat creamy and blendable when applied to the skin. If the powder is too dry, it can give a “chalky” finish, which does not look great.

For people who have very dry or textured skin, powder highlights can negatively draw attention to those “problem” areas more than liquid or cream highlighters. On the flip side, powder highlighters are often preferred by people who have oily skin.

Here are some examples of my favorite powder highlighters:

Liquid and Cream Highlighters

Liquid and cream highlighters have a higher water content and often appear more dewy on the skin than powder highlighters.

Because they are creamier than a powder, they can blend into the skin more seamlessly, creating a more natural look than many powder highlighters. They can be applied with a variety of makeup brushes, sponges, or fingers, making liquid/cream highlighters quite versatile.

Liquid and cream highlighters may also perform better for people with dry and textured skin. However, because of their increased moisture, they can potentially appear greasy or seem to “slide” off the skin of a person who has oily skin. I have found that this depends greatly on the specific product’s formulation – if you have this experience with one liquid or cream highlighter, don’t write them all off, but try others with different ingredients.

While liquid and creams have the ability to appear more natural on the skin, some liquid highlighters are incredibly pigmented and shimmery, creating an extremely bold highlighter. Once again, it depends on the specific formulation.

Here are some more natural looking cream and liquid highlighters:

Here are some bolder, brighter cream and liquid highlighters:

Strobing Highlighters

While many highlighters are marketed as “strobing” the term doesn’t really mean that they’re different – all highlighters have strobing effects, and in fact, what we call “highlighters” today were often called “strobers” or “strobing cream” by makeup artists in the past.

That said, most highlighters labeled as strobing don’t have a ton of glitter in them, and are just highly reflective products that give a glowy, glass-like finish.

Examples of strobing highlighters:

Shimmer Highlighters

A lot of highlighters contain slight shimmer particles in them. I would go as far as to say that all powder highlighters contain some amount of shimmer, and most cream and liquid highlighters do, too.

Don’t be afraid of shimmery highlighters! Remember, shimmer is different than glitter.

The amount of shimmer within a highlighter has a big impact on how it looks. A highlighter with a smaller amount of very fine shimmer particles will look more natural and less “bright” than a highlighter with a larger amount of the same shimmer.

The shimmer gives a bolder, more reflective effect to the highlighter. It makes it glisten on your skin and look glowy. If the shimmer is intense, it can give the illusion that the product is metallic or wet on the skin.

Examples of highlighters that are shimmery:

Glitter Highlighters

As the name suggests, this type of highlighter has glitter in the formula. The glitter reflects light even more than shimmer, and causes your skin to appear sparkly wherever it is applied.

For most people, a glitter highlighter is too intense and glam for everyday wear. But if you love glitter, you might love a glitter highlighter in your routine!

Even if you don’t want to appear like a disco ball, a glitter highlighter can be a great addition to your makeup collection. They are perfect for costumes, raves, parties, and can even be used as eyeshadow toppers if you desire.

Example of glitter highlighters:

Think you’ve already learned a lot in this ultimate guide to highlighter? We are just getting started!

Where to Apply Highlighter

When thinking about where on your face you should apply highlighter, imagine where the sunlight hits your face when you’re outside on a sunny day!

Highlighter should be applied at the highest parts of the face, the places you would like to bring “forward” and not have shadowed.

Applying highlighter to the top of your cheek bones, underneath your outer eyebrow on the brow bone, and down the center of the face on the forehead, nose, cupid’s bow (on the upper lip) and chin will give you an illuminated, glowy look.

Just like contour and blush application, the exact application spots might depend on your face shape. Finding a beauty guru with a similar face shape to yourself is a great way to figure out how to apply a multitude of makeup products to flatter you best!

The dots in this image give an idea of where highlighter is most often applied:

Where to Apply Highlighter – beautybrainsblush.com

How to Apply Highlighter

Similar to other makeup products, the method of application depends on the product and your personal preferences.

Powder highlighters are most often applied with small, fluffy makeup brushes. The shape and style of these brushes helps to blend out the product perfectly. Another popular brush shape for highlighter application is the fan brush, however this style isn’t helpful when applying to more precise areas.

Liquid and cream highlighters can be applied with a wider variety of makeup tools. These include brushes, typically denser than powder highlighter brushes, sponges, silicone applicators, and your fingers!

I find that dense cream eyeshadow brushes work well for liquid and cream highlighters, but I personally prefer to apply them with my fingers and then blend it out with a makeup sponge.

Best Highlighters for Beginners

When recommending a category of makeup products for a beginner, I usually try to recommend affordable drugstore products to try!

e.l.f. Cosmetics Baked Highlighter

Shop at e.l.f. Cosmetics | Ulta | Target

This is a gorgeous pressed powder highlighter that comes in multiple shades. Moonlight Pearls is my favorite, especially for my light skin tone.

If you choose to purchase this highlighter, follow this pro tip: scrape off the top layer of product before you use it! I know it seems weird and wasteful, but because of the baked formula, the top layer has very literally been “baked” and is harder than the softer product underneath. Trust me, after you remove the top layer, it is the most beautiful affordable highlighter I’ve tried.

Colourpop Cosmetics Super Shock Highlighter

Shop at Colourpop | Ulta

This is a cream to powder type of highlighter that is absolutely stunning! I find that they are best applied with your fingers or a small makeup sponge.

I own multiple shades of this formula, from gorgeous light golds to a fun glittery purple highlighter. Make sure you read the description of the shade you’re looking at to make sure it has the undertone you want!

Glossier Haloscope

Shop at Glossier

This cream stick highlighter gives the most natural, dewy glow that looks like you’re shining from within. It contains a small amount of glitter within it’s balm-y texture that reflects light beautifully and makes you look awake and healthy. It’s my favorite “natural” highlighter!

Glossier is a bit more expensive than the drugstore brands mentioned here, however this product is very high quality and should last you quite a long time. I think it’s worth the price!

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Ultimate guide to highlighter

I hope this ultimate guide to highlighter helped you learn more about this shimmering makeup product!

Do you enjoy using highlighter? If so, what is your favorite one? Share in a comment below, I am always looking for great new products to try! My favorite changes often, but right now I am loving Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders from their recent holiday collection.