Highlighters….get your JLo on!

One thing I cannot do without anymore in my make up routine….is my highlighter! I love to get my sparkle on….where I hope they can see me from the moon 🙂 Who doesn’t think JLo is the epitome of perfect sun kissed glowy bronzer and highligter goodness? I’m truly going to miss looking at her stunning makeup on America Idol every week ????

Highlighting is a great technique to brighten and lift the face, by strategically placing your highlight on areas that you want to emphasise. For me, to create the illusion of higher or actual cheekbones, at the top of my cheekbones, the arches of my brows and my cupids bow. You want a glowy, dewy kind of highlight (think JLo), nothing that looks chalky or like cheap glitter slapped on your face.

I don’t have a huge highlighter collection (unfortunately), but I thought I’d run through what I do have.

Colourpop – Lunch money

So if you know me, you know I’m kind of obsessed with Colourpop. This is a champagne shade and it has a pearlised finish. The consistency of Colourpop’s products is amazing. This is soft and creamy to the touch, but it doesn’t apply like a cream. I usually dab this on with my fingers and try to blend it properly. You always want to blend so it doesn’t look like your highlight stops here and your blush starts there.

This is not glittery at all, but it honestly provides the most beautiful highlight with super fine sparkle, nothing chunky or unnatural. This is my absolute FAVE highlighter and I will repurchase it when this one even threatens to be close to pan.

Benefit – Shy Beam 

This is like a baby pink shimmerless highlight. I got it as part of an anti shine kit I bought from Benefit, and in Summer I really enjoyed using this. It’s a matt finish, so it’s not really a highlight as such. It’s difficult to explain. It supposedly contains a light reflecting formula, so inside the house you won’t be shining all the way to space, but out in the sun you’ll notice this subtle under-cover highlighter. In Summer I tend to be shiny, so I reach for this on those super hot day where I want something subtle, because the shine will come….just not in the way I want it. ha ha. I will experiment with this and try it under my foundation, as I’ve seen some vloggers use it that way. Then I’ll add Lunch Money on top of that….how amazing does that sound??? Why didn’t I think of that sooner??? ???? That’s a brilliant idea me thinks!

Essences Merry Berry Collection – I love my golden pumps 

This was so beautiful when I bought it. The embossed stars made me not want to touch it at all!! For the price, this highlighter is AMAZING! It’s light and so shimmery, but it’s buildable. If you blend it, it will become so subtle, but add more, depending how much highlight you want, and it will build up to shimmer and shine where you want to shimmer and shine. Unfortunately this was a limited edition release, so it’s not available anymore 🙁 I believe Catrice has a lovely one that is available at Dischem that ranks really close to this one.

So I did some swatches for you. As you can see, Lunch Money and I love my golden pumps are really similar in colour. Shy beam is really not what you’d typically expect of a highlighter as you can see, it’s a liquid consistency and a lovely subtle baby pink colour.

In the bottom swatch I blended it out and here you can see the Essence highlight disappears more compared to the Colourpop one.

Then Shy Beam, you’re thinking…Seriously Simone, that’s a highlight? It is, but it isn’t, you just have to find a way to use it that works for you. Like I say, in Summer this will be more useful. It’s not ‘unicorns farted on my face highlight material’, but it is the highlighter that got me to fall in love with highlighters…because I wouldn’t have known how to work with a shimmer straight off the bat. So I’m grateful for the lessons it taught me.

Some tips

– Oily or combination skin

Before going in with your highlighter, dust some translucent powder on the areas where you tend to get shiny (LA Girl (available at Dischem) has an affordable one), and then apply your highlighter. 

– Dry skin

Mix a liquid highlighter in with your foundation or even your moisturiser. This will give you a lovely natural and dewy sort of finish.

Lastly…my wishlist highlighter is Becca’s Champagne Pop which is a collaboration they did with Jaclyn Hill ???? I’d really love to get my hands on that…One day…. If I was a rich girl….na na na na na na na na na na….

Do you use highlighters? What’s your favourite one?

Until next time ladies. xxxxx