The Skinny on Highlighting

We can appreciate a good highlight, thanks to Kim Kardashian. Some time ago, the reality star posted a picture of her make-up before it was complete. The picture revealed dark product across her cheekbones and jawline, light product above her cheeks and on her forehead.

The picture basically shed light on the contour and highlighting process. Now, contour and highlight are huge in the beauty world! Everyone is using the processes to create a flawless beauty look. The CGS Team is sharing the skinny on highlighting and how to achieve the look. Be sure to check out the 2 Minute Contouring article for the lowdown on contouring!

Breaking down the highlighting technique

Highlighting your make-up is a newly popular technique used to shade and enhance your facial features. For basic highlighting, you want to put emphasis just above your cheekbones, in the middle of your forehead directly above your nose, and right under the chin. For more intense highlighting, also include your nose, under your eyebrows, and above your upper lip. See the picture below for a better idea.

Photo courtesy of: The Beauty Junkie by Anne

When you highlight your face it tricks the naked eye into seeing slimmer facial features. Isn’t make-up awesome?! With highlighting and contouring, you’ll be able to achieve this look in full. You usually don’t want to have one without the other. You’ll only need two products to complete contouring.

They include a highlighter and a matte cream or powder, depending on your product preference. Whatever your preference, it’s important to be mindful of what you’re using and stick with the same formula. Using different textures can cause a cake like face, which is a major, no-no in the make-up world. Check out our CGS Beauty Picks for Contouring!

It’s also very important to blend when highlighting. Blending is important because you want your make-up to look natural, not just placed on your face. If you’re new to highlighting, try starting off with the Senna Face Sculpting Kit, pictured above. It comes with the necessary product and a make-up brush to help you achieve the easiest highlight and contour look. The kit includes a palette of three creamy shades that blend easily on the skin, and a soft tapered foundation brush, ideal for creating lines and blending.

Highlighting isn’t as tough at it seems on the YouTube tutorial videos. In fact, it just requires repetition and accurate application. The right product never hurts too! Are you a fan of contouring your make-up? What products do you recommend to someone just starting out? What products aren’t worth the money? We want to hear your contour and highlight product recommendations, so leave a comment below to share with the CGS community!

-The CGS Team