Highlighters are the perfect finishing touch to any make up, in fact they can be your only make up.

I have beeen using regularly 2 different highlighters, the Artdeco anti aging concealer (don't be misguided by the name, it's a good highlighter, on the pattern of the Touche Eclat) and the Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up. I also recently added to my make up bag the Touche Eclat by YSL not because I needed it but it was a gift.

There is a difference between the benefit Watt's Up and the other two as this one is a more traditional highlighter, in that that you cannot use it as a concealer as well. I heard about it first from an interview that Sara Sampaio gave to Nylon magazine (spoiler alert: she's such a babe!) where she said she used it as a finishing touch for her every-day non-makeup makeup look. I was really curious for a couple of reasons:
1) I never used a proper highlighter before
2) Non-makeup looks are my favourite thing right now
3) I fell instantly in love with Sara after her Victoria's Secret fashion segments and I really think she has a very healthy look

So I got the highlighter with an amazing deal on Ebay. This kind of product, a creamy stick, is quite shimmery so it cannot be used as a concealer as it will leave sparkles on your skin, very suble ones, but still sparkles.

The Benefit highlighter can be used:

• in the inner corner of the eye, a little touch is perfect
• on cupid's bow
• down the bridge of your nose
• over your brows in a little line
• on your cheek bones

Generally the guide line is use it where light would hit your face or to get a nice point of line to redifine makeup (lipstick and eye make up). A trick that I discovered while playing with it and testing it on my face is: put a little dab on your eyelid, it gives your eye a real shine that can be achieved only with very good lights or  lot of champagne coloured eyeshadow; but this is less drastic and more natural looking, making your eyes instantly luminous, but without any make up being visible.

Touche Eclat and Artdeco are on the other hand, liquid makeup in a pencil that facilitates distribution. Both f them are really good products and quite pricy (if you want a good price of the Artdeco try to buy it in Germany, there the whole line can be found at a fraction of the Uk price, mainly because the brand is German itself).

Since this is  more a tutorial-kind of post I will generally tell you the application for both products as it is the same. These liquid concealers/highlighter do not contain shimmer or sparkles, their aim is more to give you a rested look than a glowy skin, which means that there are other focal points for their application.

These products can be used:

• over your brows, or just under for a little contour
• down the bridge of your nose
• on the cheeck bones
• on the sides on your nose
• on your dark circles
• around your lips again for a little contour
• on your forehead
• on the nasal-mouth lines (just to be understandable by everyone, on those big line that form when you smile from your nose to your mouth)

As you can see these products play with light in a different way, if the Benefit cosmetics works to attract and reflect light, these work on minimizing the shadows on your face.

Generally it could be argued that the Touche Eclat/Artdeco formula is well adapted for slightly older skins were it can minimize wrinkles and work as a eye area lifter when put around the eyes, while the Benefit one is more aimed at a yourger skin as wrinkles are not a problem and a glowy skin is required. Let's not forget though that these products can be combined when we are dealing with a more complete makeup look. If we want a full Oscar red-carpet look than together these formulas work wonders. With Touche Eclat on the sides on your nose, around lips and on your forehead and Watt's Up on yuor eyes, nose bridge and cheeckbones you can achieve a complete killer look.

I would like to finish off this post with a quote from Blair Waters, a Nylon magazine executive producer and contributor, about Touche Eclat: "A magical product. A couple days a week I’ll just wear this, without anything else—because If you look too pretty all the time, people don’t trust you."