Happy Friday, guys! I have for you today a collection, with swatches, of some of my favourite highlighters/illuminators/luminizers/whatever you want to call them.

You may or may not know that I am a total illuminator-fiend. I buy them when I need them, I buy them when I don't need them, and I think no makeup look is complete without them. I am constantly on the lookout for more highlighters, even though my makeup drawers are chock full of them, and I have enough for an entire lifetime's worth of use, and then some.

I put together a few of my absolute favourites, for anyone out there looking for a great highlighter. Just for reference, I am between an NC 20 and 25 (I think?).

Here are swatches of the various illuminators in natural light, against my skin. The numbers correspond to the numbers on the products in the picture above.


And below is a list of the products:

1. Benefit Girl Meets Pearl
2. Estée Lauder Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator
3. Face of Australia Mineral Therapy Liquid Illuminator in Angel Blush
4. INIKA Light Reflect Highlighting Crème
5. Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow All-Over Radiance Creme in Rose Gold
6. JK Jemma Kidd Mannequin Skin Perfector
7. TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer
8. Sleek Contour Kit in Medium
9. St Tropez Violet Skin Illuminator
10. Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate in Intensity One

As you can see, the most subtle of the highlighters is the Estée Lauder one, followed by the Tom Ford. The Tom Ford is not so much subtle as it is dewy. The effect you get with the Tom Ford one is quite different from all the other highlighters - it adds a beautiful, pearly glow to the face. The product that provides a finish most similar to the Tom Ford highlighter is the Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow. Check out my review of the Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate on ThePlasticDiaries.com!

I find the St Tropez illuminator the most unique, but this is more suited to both very light and very dark skin tones (basically very cool skintones).

If you're looking for more frosty, glittery illuminators, your go-to products would be the Face of Australia and TheBalm. If you're going for finer particles of shimmer for a more subtle glow, I love the INIKA, and the JK Skin Perfector. Most of these products (save for the St Tropez one) match neutral, slightly warm, and very warm skin tones. If you are cool-toned, aside from the obvious St Tropez, I suggest using the Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow, the INIKA, and the Tom Ford, as all these have multi-coloured shimmer that work well on all skin tones.

The crème de la crème of this collection have to be the INIKA and the Tom Ford - if I had to give up my entire highlighter collection, I'd hang on to these with much ferocity. They contain multi-coloured shimmer, and make my face light up in a non-glitterbomby-yet-entirely-glam way that I (obviously) can't quite explain.

I hope this post has helped anyone looking to get some highlighters. These babies are a must have for party or dinner makeup!

Hi guys! I'm super excited to share with you all what I think is INIKA's star product: the INIKA Light Reflect Highlighting Crème. I was sent a selection of products to try and this is by far my absolute favourite!

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of highlighters/illuminators. I love that dewy, glowy look, especially for nighttime.

What INIKA say:

All-natural illuminating mineral crème that can be used to highlight the cheek and brow bones as well as the eyelid area for a natural luminous look. The combination of natural mineral pigments and mica capture the light, highlighting and brightening the skin giving it a youthful glow. It has a non-oily fluid with a satiny-smooth consistency that melts into the skin seamlessly giving a natural, soft, radiant glow

You might remember my Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Creme - this is similar, except it is less subtle and perfect for a more glowy look that lights up beautifully in flash photography.

The product dispenses from a small 8g bottle, with a narrow mouth to prevent wastage. The liquid is of a more thick, viscous consistency, which I love, because I feel it delivers more pigment and is more controllable (that's just what I feel, anyway).

Here are a couple of swatches of the product, with flash and in natural light:



I think this is the best highlighting product I've trialled so far, and I am probably not the only one - this product was awarded Best New Illuminator at the Beauty Heaven 2010 Glosscars.

And here are a couple of pictures where you can really see the product in action - I wore it to my birthday party last week and I love how it held up, and how it photographed!



The INIKA Light Reflect Highlighting Crème retails for AUD 39 per 8g tube. I highly, highly recommend it!

This product was provided for review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.

I am a very impressionable person. If I like you, and you like something - well, I like it too. After hearing about this Jemma Kidd Make Up School Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Creme from Pixiwoo, I simply had to get it. They come in two colours - Ice Gold and Rose Gold. I decided to get the Rose Gold, because I was looking for a nice golden highlighter - the ones I already have are very cool toned.


This creme comes in a gorgeous sleek compact case. The outer packaging is a little rubbery, so it picks up dust and stains pretty easily, but otherwise it looks lovely. It has a mirror, something I always like in a product's packaging, and comes with a little instruction booklet with tips on how to use the highlighter.


The creme itself I can probably best describe as waxy, but it melts to the touch into an easily blendable creamy shimmer. It's winter here in Australia at the moment, and this still melts when my cold bony fingers touch it, so that's a major plus.

This highlighter isn't as strong or as pigmented as a lot of other highlighters I've tried, but it is buildable, and very forgiving on the heavy-handed. I like my highlighters strong, especially on the cheekbones, so I tend to get overzealous when applying. With this creme, I don't have to worry at all about slopping it on, because it blends like a dream and sheers out into a gorgeous subtle shimmer.


These pictures are the perfect illustration of just how subtle the shimmer is, whilst still imparting this splendid glow to the skin.


I am in the midst of exams, as you may already know, so I haven't gotten the chance to photograph a look with this creme on, but I will get right on it as soon as I can!

Has anyone else tried Jemma Kidd products? They're all I want to buy nowadays - these and Beaute lip products, that is. Any recommendations as to products I should try from these brands?

I read this list on I am Nymphette and I really wanted to do it too. Don't ask me why - I don't really know.

I actually wanted to post a tutorial for everyone today, and take some pictures for my Chanel Pro Lumiere foundation review, but my sister took the camera to uni today :(

So I thought I'd do something a little more fun today - I have always wanted to do that old school, red lip, hair-in-a-bun type glam makeup, but never got a chance to do it until today.

Happy Monday, everyone! At least, I hope you're having a happy Monday :)

I have another simple post to add to my Makeup Basics series. This one is about contouring and highlighting your face.

Edit:

Please note that I have updated my contouring routine, and have filmed a YouTube tutorial for it. See below for the embedded video!

Contouring and highlighting can really add dimension to your face, not to mention conceal areas that you want hidden and brighten areas you want highlighted. It also helps you fake a healthy, sunkissed glow.

Contouring the Face


I'm starting here with a blank canvas - pictured below is a picture of my face which hasn't been contoured yet.


The most basic step to contouring is the "3" shape. As shown by the darker shading in the picture below, use a contour shade to form a "3" shape, framing your face. It basically starts from the forehead down to the temples, then underneath your cheekbones, and then down to your jawline. This will define your cheekbones and also make your face appear slimmer.

The light yellow shades indicate the places where you should highlight your face. The highlight under the eye and on the inner corners of the eyes are meant to lift the eye and open up the eye, respectively. The highlight on the cupid's bow is meant to define your lips.


Below is the 'after' picture - with contouring.


You can also add the contour colour underneath your bottom lip. This gives the illusion of fuller lips.

A few things to note when choosing your contour and highlight shades:

• The colour of your contour shade should be the colour of your skin where the shadow falls on your face
• The shade should be matte - shimmery shades tend to make you look 'dirty'
• You can use a foundation that is a shade or two darker than your skin tone, or a bronzer is a great contouring tool
• Your highlight shade is ideally shimmery and frosty
• For highlighting your cheekbones and the tip of your nose, use a large fluffy brush to spread out the pigment evenly
• For contouring your cheeks and face, you can use an angled contour brush, or a small fluffy brush to concentrate the shade
• For contouring your nose, I highly recommend a blending brush, so the lines don't come out too harsh - remember to blend very well!

If you have a relatively small tip, then you want to wing the contour shade outwards at the tip, forming a sort of upside-down V.

This is largely trial and error, because some noses are best left alone, otherwise you might make your problem area more prominent instead. Try these techniques at home with a flash camera. If the contouring is doing nothing for you, then skip it.

Below is the final picture, after contouring and highlighting.


A few contouring palettes and shades that I recommend are:


Benefit's Hoola Bronzer - a matte, one shade fits (almost) all bronzer. Great for contouring
Stila's Highlighting and Contouring Trio - a great palette for beginners. It comes with an instruction booklet teaching you the contouring basics
Sleek Contour palette - a great, more affordable version of the Benefit Hoola bronzer

A few wonderful highlighters are:

TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer
Benefit Moonbeam, Girl Meets Pearl
Stila All Over Liquid Illuminator


I hope this helps! Check out my previous post for tips on how to contour your eye area.

And as promised, here is my new contouring routine (it is perfect for both Caucasian and Asian features, but has extra tips for Asian features).

What it claims to do


This product is meant to be used as a makeup base to create an all-over shimmery glow. It claims to moisturize the skin and create the effect of luminous skin. It can also be used over makeup as a highlighter.

Appearance
The product comes in a tall-ish bottle, with a tulip-like cover. It has a pump dispenser, which is convenient, but pumps way more than you would need for a single application.

It comes in only 1 colour - which is a white-pearl colour with a slight purplish tinge. There are very minuscule flecks of purple and white shimmer in it, which is mostly where the purple tinge comes from.


Texture

This base is really lightweight, which kind of surprised me at the beginning. It is almost watery, and really much lighter than any other product I've ever tried. Think lighter than Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel.
It is not at all greasy, so once smoothed out, the skin is silky to the touch.

Fragrance
There is a very pleasant, but strong fragrance in this product. It smells very flowery, and the smell stays on throughout the night, so those with sensitive noses should be weary of this. It didn't bother me at all, and I actually liked it. The only issue I had was that it masked the smell of my perfume :)

Effect


I really liked the overall appearance of my skin after applying this product. I didn't think there would be much of a difference once I applied my foundation, but there is a noticeable difference in the luminosity of my skin.

It is also amazing if used as a highlighter, because it is so lightweight, and will not mess up the application of the rest of your makeup. I use it on my cheekbones, and it looks amazing. It does rub off, though, like almost all makeup does. Thankfully, the shimmer is very finely milled and subtle, so there's no need to worry too much about whatever it has rubbed off on.

Here is a look I did using this makeup base.

I bought this quite a while back, but now that I've been doing all these FOTDs and makeup tutorials, I find I've been reaching for this more and more. It provides a really good base for foundation to stick to. I've worn this makeup base out on a number of occasions, and it has helped my foundation stay well and put throughout the night, no matter how much dancing or drinking I did. It didn't help much with the staying power of my blush, so if anyone has any product recommendations that will help me do that, please, help! :)

I was looking through some pictures of Korean skincare campaigns and was struck how beautiful their skin was. The pictures were simple, not much focus on the make up, but the skin was beautiful!

I decided to attempt that luminous, glowing skin and minimal make up, and here's my take.


The products I used were:

The Face Shop Flower Shimmering Pearl Base in No. 01
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in #4
Bare Minerals Foundation in Fairly Light (as concealer)
Revlon Illuminance Cream Shadows in Skinlights (second shade from the left, on the inner half of my eye, all the way up to the brow bone)
Rimmel 8Hr Mousse Bronzer in Medium Glow
Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Illuminator (patted on with a sponge, all over face)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer (on tops of cheekbones, bridge of nose, forehead, and brow bone)


For the lips, I used NYX Round Lipstick in Circe, and a little bit of NYX Round Lipstick in Fig on the inner part of the bottom lip, and blended out slightly.


Here are a couple of pictures with flash, just to round up the illustration of the look.




I hope I didn't spam you with too many of my pictures (oh, who am I kidding, this is a total face spam, sorry!)

I'm off to send my sister to the airport. After about 5 days of stuffing face and shopping, she's going home :( I'm so sad to see her go, but at least I'll be joining her in about 2 weeks! I hope everyone's having an awesome weekend!

Hey guys!

Yesterday, I was looking through some photos online, and started noticing these really beautiful, contoured cheeks. My cheeks are usually pretty standard, pink blush on the apples of my cheeks and a little bit of bronzer underneath.

But since noticing these beautiful sculpted cheeks, I thought I'd try them out too, and share the tutorial with anyone who might be interested in re-creating this look.


So what you'll need is a Kabuki brush and a blush brush. The cheek products you'll need are a pinky blush (mine is really light, but you can use something slightly darker for a more glamorous look), a bronzer (matte is much better), and a luminizer.


How to:

Prep your face. Use a good moisturizer.

Do your eye makeup.

Put on your foundation, then set it with a loose powder.

Swirl a Kabuki brush into your bronzer, tap off the excess, then blend it onto your cheek, underneath your cheekbone. Remember to blend it out!

Sweep your bronzer onto your temples, closer to your hairline, and underneath your jaw.

Swirl a blush brush into your blush, tap off the excess, then lightly buff into the apples of your cheeks. Do not bring up to your temples. Concentrate the colour onto your cheekbones.

Take your luminizer, and sweep onto the tops of your cheekbones, up to the inner part of your temple, outside your eye. Then, highlight underneath your brow.

Finish with a coat of nude lipstick. Top it off with lipgloss (optional).


Here are the products I used:

i.d. Bare Minerals Foundation in Fairly Light (though I'm considering changing to Light now)
Rimmer 8Hr Mousse Bronzer in Medium Glow
Elianto blush
TheBalm Mary Lou-manizer (luminizer)
NYX Round Lipstick in Circe

If you liked the eye makeup look in this makeup tutorial, I will be posting about it soon, so stay tuned!

As part of the post 'What I'm Coveting for Summer', I mentioned that TheBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer is delivers killer dewy shimmer.


I've just started using mine, and I wanted to share my opinion on the product with you.

First of all, like all the other reviewers out there, I have to comment on the cute packaging! The compact itself is also really sturdy; it looks like you could drop it again and again and it wouldn't even chip! The mirror comes in handy too, and you don't see many products with compact mirrors these days.


The powder itself is really densely packed, just one swipe will give you a really pigmented, brilliant shimmer.

It's a golden-pearl colour - which I didn't expect at all, because it looks more white in the compact. I think it's a great colour, because when the camera flash hits your face, the pearly colour doesn't wash out.

Below are a couple of swatches of the Mary-Lou Manizer - under natural light and with camera flash. It looks much brighter in person, but these are just so you get the general idea about colour and how it photographs. I'll post some pictures of it on my face once I get around to dolling up and going out!


You have to be pretty careful when using this product, because it delivers such strong shimmer with just one swipe. If you're using a brush, just swirl once, and tap off the excess. If you're using your finger, be sure to use a light touch.


This luminizer is great for creating a look like Sandra Oh's above. Just swipe the tops of your cheekbones, your brow bone (right underneath your eyebrow), the inner corners of your eyes, and on the bridge of your nose for a great, healthy, dewy shimmer.

Also great when you're using a luminizer, dab a little on your cupid's bow (the middle of your top lip) to create the illusion of more supple lips.

TheBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer retails on StrawberryNet on eBay for USD 23