THE PERFECT HIGHLIGHTERS & HOW NOT TO USE THEM

Gorgeous glow

Blog regulars will know I'm obsessed about skincare, sometimes I feel like I don't talk enough about makeup considering I'm a makeup artist. Well not this post! I've talked before how I love the dewy skinned look and it's quite easy to get with the right products. Highlighters are fantastic for giving that extra 'wow' glow and done right they look beautiful but done wrong they look appalling, very unflattering and super tarty (sorry just my opinion). 

I have worked my way through a multitude of highlighters over my career, I was obsessed with a Revlon one that I bought in Canada donkeys years ago. I scraped every little bit out of that tube that I could, it never came out in the UK and then they discontinued it, devastating. I never really found another cream one that I liked to be honest. Cream ones don't really look good over makeup, they look much better applied on skin and other makeup built around it, but I never remember to do this. Also most cream highlighters are really only for the young, as soon as you throw fine lines and wrinkles into the mix it's not pleasant, they settle in the cracks and 'highlight' them making them appear much worse. They're also not that great for people with less than perfect skin, once you start applying creams over coverage you're wiping away foundation and concealer and again 'highlighting' things you don't want to. That's my little history with cream highlighters, obviously they work like a dream on gorgeous models and celebrities but as a general rule for the general public (and myself) I generally steer clear.

I do however love a powder highlighter. Again some can be truly awful, the colour makes a huge difference, too pearly is a massive no no whatever age (unflattering and tarty). A powder highlighter is just that bit easier to control than a cream one, it wont affect your immaculate base after you've covered all your spots and redness perfectly and, to be honest, I would skip highlighter all together any where there are wrinkles but it can be a bit easier to avoid the lines with a powder and a small brush. And best of all powder can be the last step in the makeup, it doesn't matter if I forget or decide I want to add a bit of highlighter after I've finished.

So after that massive rigmarole I'll tell you the two I adore. I've sworn by the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle (£21.50/$30) for ages, never using anything else but recently I tried the Laura Mercier Mineral Illuminating Powder in Candlelight (£26/$32) and it is stunning. The MAC is more of a glow and the Laura Mercier is more of a gold highlight but they're both amazing and quite frankly I'm set for highlighters now, I don't need to discover any more. 

Both the gorgeous highlighted looks in the top photos were done with the MAC Mineralise highlighter. If you want to see the full makeup tutorials for both looks you can watch them on my YouTube channel here.