Let's talk about Highlighting!

Hi Everyone! So today I will talk about highlighting!

What is highlighting?
Highlighting is a makeup technique that is designed to make physical features stand out or appear more so. This can be anywhere on the face and body. Most people highlight the nose bridge to make it look taller and straighter, under the brows to give a kind of brow lift, on the cheekbones to lift the cheeks, in the inner corners of the eyes to look more bright and awake, on the collar bone, on the top of the bust area to make them look bigger of course, and down the top of the legs and shins to give the legs a slimmer and longer appearance. I have seen people use it on the center of the forehead and the chin to make the face look longer.

Do I need to highlight?
If you would like to make a feature stand out more or appear more defined, you can highlight if you want. I personally like highlighting better than contouring or bronzing but it's really your preference. You don't have to highlight if you don't want to. =)

What should I use to highlight?
A highlight must be 1-2 shades lighter than your skin tone, this will make your features pop out more. There are powder and liquid highlighters that you can buy, specifically made to do this. However, you can use eyeshadow, concealer, body shimmer (or any light shimmer blush or bronzer depending on your skin tone and color) In my concealer post I did mention about concealers doubling up as a highlight. So if you have a concealer 1-2 shades lighter than  your skin tone, you can use it as a highlighter in the areas I talked about.
There is highlighting with and without shimmer. Shimmer makes things stand out even more. However, a warning, do not over highlight when you use shimmer, you are gonna look shiny/glittery and weird and people will definitely tell that you have highlight on, which is not the point. The point is to make features stand out in a more subtle manner.
If you want a more natural look with highlighting, go for highlighters, concealers, and eyeshadows with no shimmer.

Highlighting application techniques:
Depending on the type of product you are using, you can use your hands or a brush.A brush is good for larger skin areas like your cheekbones, and body areas.
I don't really advise a sponge, it doesn't apply as well. Your fingers are more precise for smaller areas such as the noses or eye corners. I like to use a Q-tip for my eye corners, but whatever you know XP, whatever you feel comfortable using.
You should start off light and slowly layer the highlight, especially if it's shimmery, because it tends to reflect light alot so too much of it will make it an eyesore on you.
Don't forget to blend it well, otherwise you'll have whitish areas on your skin...which is weird..


So, rather quick and straightfoward post today! I hope this helped some people who are new to makeup about highlighting.
Thanks for reading and I will talk to you soon! =)