The Glow Up
How I stay more fresh-faced than a newborn baby
Eleven beauty products in and my face still isn’t done. I grab my Anastasia Glow Kit, dab the hell out of my Elf Cosmetics brush into the shimmering shade “Sunburst,” and I swipe that highlighter across the top of my cheekbones like it’s my job. The finished result? A bomb pregnancy glow — and I’m not even pregnant.
Highlighter, and no, not the neon-yellow marker, has become the key to success for makeup geeks all across the planet. It’s that pigmented, glistening glow that makes highlighter the current and hottest trend in the makeup industry.
From Becca’s Champagne Pop to Urban Decay’s Naked Illuminating Shimmering Powder to Laura Geller’s Gilded Honey, all these prime highlighters are surely capable to make one feel like a shining star.
Sabella Moreno, 21, English major, is obsessed with the way her face looks after she applies a highlighting glow. “I want my highlight to be so strong that you can see your reflection in it,” Moreno said. “I want to be so glow-y and highlight-y that, like, the tin man asks me how I got that highlight, you know? I want to bathe in gold shimmer for the rest of my life.”
It’s simple. Without highlighter, I feel incomplete. But with those beautiful shades of rose gold mixed with undertones of pearlescent sparkles illuminating my face, I swear I am immortal. Just one stroke of my favorite highlighter dusted upon my face turns me into a glowing goddess who shines under the blistering sun. A simple touch of my very expensive Anastasia highlighter can make my non-existent cheekbones suddenly become existent — an exhilarating feeling that only makeup freaks would understand. Highlighter is seriously the cherry on top; the icing on the cake, and I can’t get enough.
Before the highlighter, though, comes very crucial steps that ultimately make my face so fresh and so clean, clean. To look like a shining star, I must first apply dipbrow to my non-existent eyebrows, face primer, foundation, eye primer, eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, concealer, bronzer, contour, baking powder, and blush — all in that exact order. Then comes the perfect time to swoop on my highlighter with a fan or angled brush to complete my look. But I also can’t forget the second most important tool — setting spray, specifically Urban Decay’s All Nighter Setting Spray, which seriously makes my goddess-like face stay on all night. So that’s a total of 14 different products I use. Crazy? Yes, I know. Worth it? Hell yeah.
When searching for the perfect highlighter that will ultimately give you that shimmer and shine you deserve, it’s important to remember what kind of glow you are going for. Highlighter with gold pigments are perfect for the spring and summer time since the sun shines high in the sky and your highlighter will pop right off your face. However, highlighter with cooler tones will sparkle in the fall and winter and complement a snug beanie and a cute peacoat.
Although the best highlighters range from $30 to $150, I guarantee you the price is absolutely worth it if you want to look as fresh as a newborn baby. While searching and experimenting with makeup, don’t forget that you are in control of whatever products you use and how much of it you apply on your face. So ignore what everyone says and don’t forget to highlight those cheekbones for the God’s!
Photos by: Alex Herrera
