Where to Apply Highlighter on Your Face: 5 Tricks Revealed
It’s not complicated, but it does take some insider knowledge, so let’s get going!
Highlighter 101
There are a few approaches when it comes to figuring out exactly where to apply highlighter on your face. One relies on contouring and the other on highlighting.
Full Frontal: Contouring Your Whole Face
Which parts of your face do you want to accentuate and which parts do you want to minimize? Contouring allows you to enhance features you love and downplay the ones you don’t.
All contouring has 4 basic steps — contour, highlight, bronze, blush — but it’s important to understand your face shape before you start so you can really make your features pop. Full-face contouring, while an essential trick of the highlighting trade, is more time-consuming and product-intensive than standard highlighting, so bookmark these pages for another day and keep scrolling for our 5 all-in-one highlighter tricks.
- How To Contour For Your Face Shape
Just A Touch: Spot-Highlighting with Glass Glow Shinelighter
There’s a reason Beautyblender only makes one highlighter: it’s all you need. The Glass Glow Crystal Clear Shinelighter is colorless and natural, giving you tasteful illumination without the sticky, sparkly, over-the-top shine other highlighters create.
Start with Selfie Shield™ Primer, which has built-in SPF 38 and goes on clear, and then wet, squeeze and bounce your foundation. Next, decide where to apply highlighter on your face.
If you’re worried about highlighting the wrong part, just remember: highlighter works in any spot on your face that naturally picks up light. For most of us, that includes:
- Apples of the cheeks
- Below the eyebrows
- Inner corners of the eye
- Bridge of nose
- Lower chin
- Cupid’s bow
- Collarbone
Are you a visual learner? SAME. Here’s our top-secret tip: Save these graphics to your phone’s photos and you’ll never be without your highlighter cheatsheet.
Once you’ve played around with where to apply highlighter on your face, try these 5 specific spots for a sophisticated, grown-up glow.
1. Eyes
For a luminous, glam eye, add Shinelighter on top of your eyeshadow. Squeeze a little onto the Beautyblender bounce pad on your foundation case, dab with an eyeliner brush and swipe on. Shinelighter is smooth and never sticky, so it creates a crease-proof shine every time.
You can also use Shinelighter on the inner corners of your eye and under your brow line for subtle reflectivity when creating the perfect smokey eye.
2. Nose
To elongate your face, highlight the bridge of your nose and add a little dot of Shinelighter to the tip. That will help the parts of your nose you want to accentuate catch the light. You can also put a little on the cupid’s bow right below your nose and above your upper lip to continue the long line.
3. Cheeks
If you’re hesitant about lighting up your whole face, start with your cheeks. The apples of the cheeks are the most beloved spot to wear highlighter because that’s where your face naturally catches a glow. To do it without overdoing it, think about it like this: on the apples of your cheeks, create a parenthesis to frame your eyes with two “C” shapes facing inward.
4. Lips
There are two ways to use Shinelighter on your lips:
1. Turn your favorite matte lipstick into a glossy game changer by swiping Shinelighter all over.
2. Dab a dot on your cupid’s bow, the very middle of your bottom lip and on your lower chin to elongate and brighten your face in a natural way.
5. Collarbone
It sounds weird, but trust us. Using a little Shinelighter on your collarbone is a great way to add sheen and glow to your overall look, especially in warmer months when you’re rocking tanks, swimsuits and strapless tops.
Ready to Go Pro?
- Check out How to Apply Highlighter Like a Pro.
- Dig into our Pro-File with Makeup Artist to the Stars D’Andre Michael to learn how he uses Shinelighter to keep everyone from L’il Kim to Mary J. Blige looking fresh, flashy and fly.
