If you’re looking to create the appearance of juicy, glowing skin, highlighter is a must have in your beauty arsenal. Full glam or naturally beautiful bridal makeup, using highlighter is key to achieving a radiant look. Perfectly placed, highlighter can instantly refresh your skin, open up the look of your eyes and accentuate your features.

Not sure where to start when it comes to this illuminating hero? From choosing the best highlighter make up to achieving flawless application, we’ve pulled together everything you need to know. Keep scrolling for our top tips on how to use highlighter makeup.

Using Highlighter Makeup Step #1: Prep the Skin

We love to use highlighter to emulate how fresh, healthy and plump skin would naturally look when the sunlight bounces off it. To do this, you need to build up from the base.

Refresh your skin with a mist that’ll hold your makeup in place, like our Everyday Vacay Setting Spray. Shake well, hold the bottle away from the face and gently mist over the skin, keeping your eyes and mouth closed. Playing a valuable part in your luminous look, the ultra-fine spray will give you a subtle radiant glow while helping your makeup last throughout the day.

Using Highlighter Makeup Step #2: Apply your Foundation

You don’t need to wear foundation to wear highlighter, but if you like a little coverage, now’s the best time to apply it. Choose a weightless foundation with a second-skin finish, like our bestselling Extraordinary Foundation.

Blurring pores and imperfections, the buildable formula provides a healthy glow and can be buffed into the skin, applied just where needed or layered all over for a fuller coverage. Its Mimosa and Arctic Rose extracts help to instantly lift and energize skin, leaving it soft and radiant.

Using Highlighter Makeup Step #3: Choosing a Highlighter

Choosing highlighter makeup is entirely personal preference; it depends on your skin type and the overall look you’re after. We think highlighter creams and balms give more of a natural finish whereas highlighter powders are great for show-stopping beauty.

Highlighter Stick

Looking for a wet look highlighter? Our Dewy Stix highlighting balm creates the ultimate dewy skin complexion, with minimal shimmer. Its gel-like formulation leaves a beautiful second skin finish and is available in three key shades.

Glow creates low-key iridescent radiance, Gleam is a gold-hue of celestial duo-chrome pearls, and Lustre is a rose gold highlighter, perfect for a lit-from-within look.

For a really subtle highlight, Dewy Stix works well on bare skin – just sweep over the cheekbones and let your beauty shine. Our shortcut to well slept skin? Combining the highlighter stick with our best-loved Dewy Blush.

Highlighter Powder

When it comes to highlighter powder, there’s two beauty kits essentials we always turn to. For a stunning sun-kissed glow, we rely on our Confetti Highlighter. Featuring a mix of golden, champagne and pearlescent shades – carefully pressed together for a radiant highlight in one sweep – the ultra-creamy formula leaves a soft-focused, spot lit finish.

Our Glow-To Highlighter is a must for show-stopping cheek bones and ultimate shimmer. Its super soft and creamy, and formulated with patented spherical coated pigments, which create a weightless, long-wear finish. Plus, it comes in chic rose gold compact with a touch-up mirror.

Choose from four illuminating shades: Starburst: a creamy champagne, Moondust: a glistening pearlescent oyster tone, Celestial: warm peach gold, and Solstice: an eye-catching pink and purple powder. For a striking makeup look, use one as the final step – after setting your foundation with a light setting powder and applying blusher and bronzer.

Using Highlighter Makeup Step #4: Applying your Highlighter

The best way to apply highlighter depends on the texture; we recommend using your fingertips to highlighter cream or a highlighter stick. For accuracy and a streak-free finish, tap it gently onto and over the skin so that it really sinks in and looks lit from within.

But there are many ways to apply highlighter. Highlighter powder is best applied with a brush as it helps to create a dusting effect. Our four-in-one Multi Brush is the best highlighter brush – and that’s not just because of its perfect on-the-go size.

Featuring super soft bristles, the tapered powder brush handle contains three smaller brushes for targeted application. Our top tip? Use the oval eyeshadow brush to achieve a soft finish in the nooks and crannies.

Whatever texture of highlighter you’re using, make sure to really blend it in. We’re striving to emulate a natural sheen on the skin, so we shouldn’t be able to see where the product starts or finishes.

Where to Apply Highlighter

The opposite of contouring, the purpose of highlighting is to bring the high points of your face forward and make them stand out. Now that you know how to apply both formulas flawlessly, here are seven places to highlight your face.

1. Highlight your cheekbones
Cheekbones are the most common place for people to apply highlighter. It creates a more defined facial structure and gives skin a more youthful appearance.

2. Highlight the tip or bridge of your nose
Adding a touch of highlighter makeup on the tip of your nose will help accentuate it. Or you can apply it down the bridge of your nose to make it appear thinner.

3. Highlight above your cupid’s bow
Using your highlighter makeup above your cupid’s bow will draw the eye to your lips.

4. Highlight beneath the arch of your eyebrows
By highlighting beneath the arch of your eyebrows, your eyes will appear more awake, and your eyebrow shape will be more defined.

5. Highlight above the arch of your eyebrows
Using highlighter above the arch of your eyebrow is just as important as applying it below. This will define the shape of your brows and allow your eyes to be accentuated.

6. Highlight the centre of your forehead
Applying highlighter to the centre of your forehead will create a more contoured face, especially if you apply bronzer to your temples.

7. Highlight the centre of your chin
Brightening up this area may seem unnecessary, but it can help you achieve a more defined, contoured appearance.

Create radiant, healthy-looking skin in seconds with our effortless Ciaté London highlighters. Buildable and transformative, they’re thoughtfully formulated to suit every shade of skin. Keep an eye on our Instagram and Facebook accounts to see how we’re wearing them now.