As beauty editors, we know the power of a good highlight better than anyone else. This glittering accent can breathe new life into a minimally made-up face or be the cherry on a full stroke, but either way it's a step you can't skip in a routine. With a wide range of pressed powder, liquid and cream options on the market, you would think that choosing the right highlighter would be as easy as taking the formula of your choice off the shelf at your favorite beauty spot. But for those of us with deeper skin tones, the burden of choosing is heavy, since a highlight can go all the way to the left if it's not handled properly.
We know a thing or two about a thing or two (you trust us, don't you?), But we thought it best to bring in the experts on the subject. That's why we just picked the game's most famous makeup artists to find the best highlighters for darker skin tones. This talented lot worked with black and brown stars from Lupita Nyong & # 39; o to America Ferrera, Gabrielle Union and all of our favorites in between and gave us all the information about the highlighters that best match deeper skin tones. And don't worry – they also spilled the tea, which we should definitely avoid. Check out the tips and tips approved by the red carpet.
"I love the Tom Ford Skin Illuminating Powder because it looks like butter. It looks almost like a liquid highlighter. It comes with a highlighter and a bronzer, but depending on your skin tone, you can use both as highlighters, but can have a natural glow also be buildable without looking chalky. "
"The Dior palette is also a staple in my kit because it has a variety of colors and is a compact quad palette. You can apply a single shade or mix them as you like. The highlighter gives a shiny, wet look without looking unnatural. It’s a healthy glow with no sparkle and glitter. I’d say it’s a strong highlight, but you can be totally frivolous if you want a subtle glow. ”
"I like liquid highlighters because they are versatile. You can pump some of the product and mix it with your foundation to get a completely wet look, or you can just apply it to the highlights of your face."
"Liquid highlighter radiates a very natural and radiant shine. It penetrates your skin and effortlessly radiates from the inside."
Prominent customers: Lupita Nyong & # 39; o, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Willow Smith
"Dark skin already has its own highlight, so everything that is too frosty or shimmering is simply too much. I prefer liquid highlighters that achieve a velvety finish with a soft sheen. They make the skin look radiant due to light reflection, but without being frosty or to be metallic, which is particularly evident on darker skin and makes it look dry and not shiny. "
"Avoid highlighters that are too light. Choose them according to their undertone to match your foundation. People tend to choose ones that are too light because it looks obvious, but a good highlight is gentler and don't cry for frost on the other side of the room. "
Prominent customers: Logan Browning, Alicia Keys, Regina Hall, Letitia Wright and Tracee Ellis Ross
"For extra deep skin tones, this is my first choice. The color has a hint of red-bronze to really highlight and accentuate the warmth in the red undertones. The texture is so smooth that you can skip a brush and your fingers can use pressed directly into the powder. "
"This color is ideal for real medium brown shades. It is the perfect bronze tone. The stick texture is smooth and buttery, so mixing is also easy for unsafe hands."
"For lighter caramel tones, it gives a believable, sunken shine. It is the perfect rose gold that is bright but does not turn into a frosty, unflattering pearl. This powder can be applied dry to achieve a subtle glow, or applied wet for an enhanced shine. "
Prominent customers: Laura Harrier, Naomi Scott and Lily-Rose Depp
"If I want to give my customers a shining light, I like to use this liquid highlighter from Flesh Beauty at the highlights beneath the primer. The reason why I do this is that the primer is mixed over it, there is a subtle indication of it Radiance that shines through without being overwhelming. I also like to mix a few drops into the foundation if I want to make the face or body glow all around. "
"If I want the skin to have a moist shine, I always go for Chanel Baume Essentiel in transparent. Often, highlighters can be too metallic or light. I love this one because it imitates the skin in a subtle way."
"If I want to create a bronze shimmer, the shadow Golden Light is the perfect warm highlighter for a radiant, sun-kissed effect. I put this balm on the top of my cheeks, over my eyebrow arch and bridge of my nose with This is usually my last step in applying make-up -up so I can highlight certain features like cheekbones or eyelids. "
"If I want a subdued, diffuse highlight, I grab a powder highlighter. I recently loved the Makeup Forever Pro Light Fusion highlighter in golden. I like to use a tapered blending brush and lightly slide it across the sides of Forehead, cheekbones and chin. For a more concentrated glow, I use a small, tapered eyeshadow mixing brush and build up the intensity. This powder highlighter also looks fantastic on the clavicle, wrists and forearms for every red carpet. "
Prominent customers: Yvette Noel-Schure, Teni Panosian, Elle Macpherson and Larsen Thompson
"For those with deeper skin tones, I would recommend looking for highlighters that contain warm undertones, such as gold and deep orange to red tones. I would recommend staying away from too icy or frosty highlighters that can often turn gray. I love Milanis Baked highlighters really because they are all warm tinted and offer a range of deep tones. They are also super finely ground so that there are no calcareous, powdery deposits on the skin. "
Prominent customers: Gabrielle Union, America Ferrera, Lilly Singh, Katherine Langford
"Highlighters on darker skin tones should be gold or bronze. Everything that is cool looks ashen on the skin. I prefer that my highlighters either have a silky sheen or are a very smooth highlighter, all with large, obvious particles of Shine or glitter drives me crazy because they don't feel seamless on the skin. Even if the makeup is greasy or borderline, it should still be integrated into the skin and feel like part of the face. "
When working with powder highlighters, Stiles notes that placement is key. She suggests stroking this beauty counter highlighter over the cheekbones to catch the light.
Barose told us that when working with darker skin, he stays away from metallic, frosty powders because they look too hard and don't look like real skin at all. We love this soft option, which has a deep tone and a soft texture so that it blends directly into the skin.
This champagne-colored highlighting gel is at the lighter end of the highlighting spectrum, but it's the soft, golden undertone that makes it darker skin tones. As Brown puts it: "I avoid highlighters with opal or pearlescent shades, because it is not a natural or complementary shade that appears in deeper tones and can be misread. It is literally at the opposite end of the color wheel."
Avendaño warns of powder highlighters with dense glitter. He not only says that they look unnatural, but also tend to have "failures" throughout the day. Brown agrees and explains: "For me, the perfect texture of the product is when the pearl particles are finely ground. So it's an elegant shine and not a glittering one."
"In general, the perfect highlighter for deep tones should have golden and warm undertones. Caramel, bronze, and chocolate tones with a golden pearl are ideal," said Brown. This liquid highlighter from NYX hits all markings.
This foolproof highlighter can be used anytime, anywhere. Simply stamp the smooth, shiny sheen on your skin and mix it with the attached brush or your fingers. This shade is really breathtaking on brown girls. Next, this random hair tool has 20,000 reviews on Amazon, so we tried it ourselves.
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