Highlighters for Fair Skin

So, when I say I'm "fair," what I mean is I'm pale. Very pale. Having to mix white pigment into most foundations in order to make them work.

This post was inspired by an Instagram back and forth between one of the beautiful women I follow @cherryvixen89 and myself, where she posted a question asking about highlighters for the fairer flesh. And I proceeded to probably overwhelm her with my response, but hopefully it wasn't too overwhelming. 

I love highlighters. Since I've been employed with Benefit Cosmetics for almost three years now, this affinity has just grown. I came into this job with my favorite product, ever, being a pretty little highlighter called High Beam. So in honor  of Instagram and @cherryvixen89 and highlighter lovers everywhere, here is a post about my favorites!

On my arm(left side, with flash, right side without, and going left to right/top to bottom) I swarched Nars "Copacabana," Benefit Cosmetics "High Beam," also by Benefit (and a tie for my absolute favorite,) "Watts Up" (other tie for favorite,) Too Faced's "Candlelight Glow," one of my very first pieces of makeup ever, MAC mineralized skin finish in "Porcelain Pink," and last but not least, a forever favorite and now discontinued high-lighter, bronzer duo by Benefit "10." (Also pictured is Benefit's "One Hot Minute" loose powder bronzer)

Creamy liquid base:

Nars "Copacabana" is very similar in both texture and color to Benefit's "High Beam." Copacabana is a bit more of a liquid and High Beam a bit more of a gel with a slightly thicker texture. Both are great when you need a buffer to blend a cheek stain, my current favorite being Lollitint, into. Copacabana definitely dries more silver and High Beam more pink. 

Cream-to-powder:

Watts Up by Benefit. Cream to powder stick. A soft champagne color. Gorgeous on almost all skintones, so easy to use. Has a blendy sponge on one side if you don't feel like blending with your fingers, because that's crazy... 

Powder:

Generally, when I'm doing a full face of makeup on someone and I want to add a bit of highlight, I find powder to be the easiest to work with. You just sorta throw it on le face with a brush and you don't have to really worry about the application. Whereas with a more liquid base, you sorta have to press it on so as not to smudge off the face you just made. 

Anyway!

Two Faced, "candlelight glow" is radiant. It has a bit of a gold finish, one side is white and one side is pink, but it is nowhere near to a rosey blush. This was basically everything I was looking for. I wanted a damn powder highlighter that didn't have a bronzer attached. 

"Porcelain Pink" skinfinish by MAC was honestly one of the first makeup purchased I ever made, outside of lipsticks. I was led to this product, about ten years ago (yikes) by someone I ghost-followed on livejournal, who is still one of my favorite bloggers Keiko, who I still stalk, ten years later, on http://www.keikolynn.com if you aren't already following her, I suggest it. She's pretty famous now, but still sweet and humble. Anyway! I think the product she used was called "petticoat"(maybe?) and as I've always been more of a highlighter gal than a bronzey gal, I gravitated towards porcelain pink instead. Now, she is very very subtle, a very very soft pink that is a wonderful first piece of face makeup! It definitely has a warmer tone to it, in my professional opinion. 

And last but not least, Benefit Cosmetic's now discontinued "10." Powder soft silvery pink on one side, and a VERY VERY light bronzer on the other. To quote Benefit, "a highlighter and bronzer in one sexy swoop!" 

Next on my blog to do list is a post on bronzers and how to contour fairer skin without looking dirty! However I always just want to find a bronzer that is grey so that I may have Lilly Munster cheekbones! 

Lollitint

Thank you benefit cosmetics, you hit one out of the park with this new tint!

Lollitint is benefit cosmetics new cheek and lipstain, it happens to be that amazing color that was all over fashion week as well as Pantone's color for 2014, RADIANT ORCHID!! Yes, it was completely necessary for me to capitalize that!

So this stain is gel based, so I feel like it wears better than Benetint, however if you are wearing it on your cheeks, it is best to blend it into a highlighter so that you aren't left with casual color blotches on your cheeks. My personal favorite highlighters to blend it with are Benefit's Watts Up, a champagne colored cream to powder stick you can smear on your face (and I do love the ease of smear technique,) and Nars copacabana illuminator. The latter of which I am wearing in the photo of me. I also accidentally dyed my hair purple this week...

Sister Turquoisehair

So, I'm ever so sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this blog. I'd like to say that I've been busy, but it really doesn't seem like I have. Just a whole lotta bad things, mixed with a whole lotta good things. Not a lot of in between time, and if there is, you bet your buttons you would find me napping.

All that aside, I'm here to discuss Benefit Cosmetic's new line of eyeshadows and a little more of my makeup routine, and just briefly how I've found THE ONE in regards to lipstains.

So in these photos I am wearing two of Benefit's new cream shadows: "blue my mind" and "holy smokes" and on top I am using their "magic ink" liner, which I've oddly grown very fond of. As for mascara I'm still using that leopard print one. My brows are done with Benefit's "browzings" which is my second favorite Benefit product and the one product I could probably not live without..




For my complexion I'm wearing my face armor. LORAC full coverage liquid foundation and MAC's full coverage studio fix powder.

An aside... Although my breakouts have become under control, my face is now red and blotchy from scars :( for that, I spent a million dollars on this product by Dr. Gross that has retinol in it. Which I am very pleased to say is working wonders.

As for cheeks, I've fallen in love with a product called "candlelight glow" by Two Faced. This is really something I've been looking for for a long time. A powder highlighter and blush duo. Most makeup people know that generally ALL highlighters seem to come equipped with a bronzer. And, frankly, that ain't what I want. Unless the bronzer is whatever contour Lilly Munster uses. So to find a powder highlighter of this nature has pleased me greatly. And the blush side is still mostly just a different shade of highlighter. On top of that, I throw on some Super Orgasm.

The lips are Firm Form by MAC. And NYX eyeliner used as a lipliner. I swoon over these lips.

Oh and yes, my hair is currently turquoise. And the cut (I was aiming for a blue Louise Brooks) done by my lovely friend Kris. She nailed it.

Oh and the cream lipstain that is... The one... Is the Lip Maestro by Armani..  Expect me to eventually post something entirely on how awesome that is.

Sephora's cream lipstain review !

So I mostly bought this lipstain because my twinfriend had it, and after I swatch'd it on the back of my hand, I fell in love with the color. And what really had me sold... the next day the color was still there.

In my last post I talked about the MAC liquid last liner and how it was like sharpie, well this lipstick is like red sharpie. An if you haven't noticed, I am a big fan of things that will actually stay on and (in the case of lipsticks) not bleed.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

So immediately I had to run to Sephora to pick up this gem ! And this was.... A leetle less than a year ago, and around that time this baby was featured in a magazine, and as such all of the Sephora's of SF were sold out of it. If anyone uses/used NARS "dragon girl," you feel my pain.

Soooo what's a girl to do? Luckily, I developed a crush on the Novato Sephora, possibly because their customer service is lovely and possibly because they actually have the products I want.

Anyway.. That was some backstory, here's some more review...

Lip liners are definitely needed for this bad boy, unless you are a very talented painter because this lipstain application requires some skills. Or patience. I generally don't have either so I stick to a lip liner. Then you just paint in the lines and you've got a lip color that will really last you all freakin' day.

It has a matte finish, but occasionally I like to switch it up and put Benefit's "California kissin'" gloss on top because it can be a bit on the drying side.

Other than that, four thumbs up for the sephora cream lipstain! I think the color I'm using is either color "0" or color "1" they have a strawberry kind of red that is also pretty, but this one is the red-red one.

What's in my makeup bag!

Now, keep in mind this is excluding lipsticks.

First I would like to give thanks to my favorite makeup bag, the 'Gabby" bag by Benefit Cosmetics. It has pockets for brushes. Pockets. For brushes. And if you've ever had the pleasure of using brushes with your makeup you will understand how lovely this addition is. And if you don't use brushes, you should probably start.




So this is being told in the order in which I put my makeup on...



(After moisturizing..)







I start with my eyes. I have MAC's "painterly" paint pot as my base.

The shadows I keep with me are MAC's  "phloof!" "copperplate" and "naked lunch." Naked Lunch is easily one of my favorite shadow colors. It is a soft nude with some shimmer... so simple and so lovely. There really is no reasoning behind the other colors I have chosen to carry with me..




  I carry around three different types of eyeliner, all very necessary. Two are by MAC: their "liquid last" liner, which stays on like nothing I have ever seen before. And my general favorite; blacktrack fluidline gel liner. And last but certainly not least, Benefit's waterproof badgal pencil liner. I love this liner because it will stay in my upper waterline. Which is quite spectacular.

Then, time for zee lashes. So I have a small confession.. In addition to my lipstick addiction, I also am a ridiculous connoisseur of mascara's. What I'm using right this minute is Maybelline's "the colossal volum' express." But I always curl my lashes with my shiseido lashcurler. Definitely my favorite lash curler, even compared to the shumemora one.

So the issue with my lashes is they tend to stick straight out. So my goal is always to find a mascara that does not weigh them down, and right now this is hands down the winner.

I also carry around some very important GLITTER. Because I freakin love glitter. Urban Decay's heavy metal called "midnight cowboy," a lovely gold liner. And LORAC's "3D liquid lustre" which is pretty much liquid glitter you can put wherever. I tend to use it as an eyeshadow but it is in a cute little bottle with a little tincture and so very very versatile.

 Onto another obsession... Eyebrowz. So my general look is blonde hair, red lips, and dark brows. So I carry around three different products solely for my brows. First ! All time favorite: Benefit's "browzings" in deep. It is a wax and powder. The wax gives the brows their shape, and allows something for the powder to adhere to. Then you throw on the powder and you've got yourself some brows! Then I have MAC's brow pencil on "stud" that I use to get a really sharp line for under my brows, this I also sometimes use to draw on a fake mole (shhhh, secretsss.) And a newby to my collection: Makeup For Ever's "waterproof eyebrow corrector" Now this is an interesting one. This is a gel for the brows. And I am still trying to get the hang of it, because it can be purrrrfect, or completely tragic. For people who actually have brows this probably wouldn't be an issue.

Now for da face! Right now I've been using Givenchy's "photo'perfexion" as my foundation, which blends beautifully but gives medium coverage. My skin is still in a state of recovery, so when I'm out of this I think I will try out this oil free foundation by "LORAC" that my coworker uses. And by that I mean we only use Benefit products all the time and stuff. Then I throw some of MAC's "studio fix" powder on top. And if I'm feeling particularly tired or broken out, I use Stila's "perfecting concealer"

Cheeky time! One of my favorite times :) I'm currently packing NARS "super orgasm" as my blush. Always a beautiful color. And constantly I have (well mini versions) of the tie for my favorite Benefit product: "high beam" and "watts up" both fantastic highlighters. Because I like to look luminous rather than bronzey, as I am the palest person in the world.

Others: I have quite the collection of mini things from Benefit: all three cheek and lipstains: cha cha (coral,) posie(pinky) and the classic benetint(rosy.) I also have "sun beam" a beautiful bronzey highlighter that looks absolutely beautiful on everyone except for me and "stay don't stray," which is a fantastic shadow primer.







And once again, keep in mind this is excluding lipsticks. Because I carry like ten hundred with me at all times. And they are all completely necessary.