Let it Glow

There’s something about being away from school and work on this beautiful little island, when you frequent the beach and acquire a sun-kissed glow. Or around Christmas time, you might sport a candlelit glow, which looks lovely under the Christmas tree lights.

So, in the spirit of the coming season, let’s learn how to highlight our best features, and master our “lit from within” glow. I think some people can forget that highlighting doesn’t mean using only shimmery products, so they shy away from it, for fear of it aging them or making them appear oily.

To highlight is to draw special attention to something. It can be either bright, reflective or simply defined. There are a few different ways that you can highlight your face.

Today, we will be talking about using both shimmer and matte types of makeup, as well as liquid and powder luminizers. You can combine these options for a more dramatic effect. Feel free to mix and match, and see what you like. That’s the beauty of makeup; if you don’t like something, simply wash it off.

Liquid Highlight A product such as Josie Maran’s Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer can be used to get your glow going. You can wear it under your makeup as a moisturizer or mix it into your liquid makeup to create a subtle, luminous, highlighted finish.

Concealer Apply a concealer two to three shades lighter than your foundation through the centre of your face. That is, the centre of your forehead, down the bridge of your nose, under your eyes and on the chin. Using either a brush or sponge, pat to blend the concealer into your foundation.

This trick adds brightness and a natural highlight to your face without sparkle. This is excellent if your skin is oily, and you find that shimmery highlighters can sometimes make you look greasy. It can be used in conjunction with contouring for a more slimming, defined and dramatic effect.

Matte Powder You can “bake” your makeup with a loose translucent powder. Use a shade slightly lighter than your skin tone to highlight and brighten your complexion, while simultaneously setting your makeup in place.

This technique is best done by applying a heavy amount of loose powder with a sponge to the areas of your face that you want to highlight. Areas such as the centre of the forehead, down the bridge of the nose, under the eyes and onto the cheekbones, above the lip, on the nasolabial folds (or smile lines), on the centre of the chin and under the hollows of the cheekbones.

Leave the loose powder on your face for about ten minutes, then dust the excess away with a large, fluffy face brush. This technique is especially great for those with oily skin. The heat from your face works with the powder to “bake” and set your makeup, leaving you with a flawless, poreless, creaseless finish. I don’t, however, recommend using this technique during the day, as it can look quite unnatural in daylight. If you find that it makes your skin look dry, you can mist your face with a finishing spray such as Urban Decay’s All Nighter Setting Spray, which should soften the overly powdered, cakey look.

If baking seems too daunting for your liking, there’s a simpler option. After your foundation and concealer are on and set, you can highlight your face using a tapered fluffy brush to dust a powder a few shades lighter than your skin to whatever areas you want to highlight.

A product such as Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit will be a great choice, since you have three highlight shades, and three contour shades to choose from. Dust a little matte highlight powder underneath the hollows of your cheekbones. This is called reversed contouring, since you’re not using an actual contour shade. You’re only highlighting, but this gives your face a more structured, defined appearance.

Shimmer Powder The final option is using a traditional shimmering highlight powder. An affordable highlight powder would be ELF’s Studio Baked Highlighter, and a more luxurious option could be Hourglass Strobe Lighting powders which can be used wet or dry depending on how intense you want the finish to be. Simply apply your highlight powder to the areas of your face that you want to glow.

I like to apply it to the cheekbones, lightly on the brow bone, down the nose, on the inner corners of the eyes, on the cupid’s bow, and with whatever is left on the brush, I sweep over the temples, chin and neck. If your shoulders and d?colletage are showing, be sure to bring your shimmering highlight to these areas, as it can look quite silly to have such a luminous face and a matte body.