Like everything else in my life, I am perpetually late to the beauty party. In fact, it’s so consistent that I can almost predict when I will finally understand how to use something based on the time it gets released. About six months after some 13 year old on Instagram gets a beauty line for the look she perfected, I’m learning what the products are and where they go on my face.
Nevertheless, I am definitely drinking the highlighter kool-aid. Finally, it’s socially acceptable to be as shiny as possible! I like when light reflects off my skin because it gives it the illusion of some kind of firm smoothness that it has never, ever had. Plus, when I catch myself in the mirror I feel like a space princess.
Recently, I bought the NYX Strobe of Genius palette and I’m pretty damn happy with it. That being said, the colors of the highlighters are all mostly skin-toned, or at least flattering with the browns, tans, pinks, and yellows that are most commonly found in skin. The weirdest that palette gets is a warming yellow and an icy lavender.
Now I’m catching up again, because everyone on the internet is now talking about a new rainbow highlight. Not for your hair, but for your face. Rainbow!? Yes, rainbow.
Turns out, an indie company called Bitter Lace Beauty came out with a highlight pan that broke the beauty internet thanks to its natural ability to make it look like someone spit a prism onto your cheekbones.
Now, like I said, in the past I have dusted a super-pastel lavender onto my cheekbones, layered over some warmer neutral toned highlights, but I’m looking at this Prism Rainbow Highlight and I see… colors. Orange. Green. Blue. Purple. When you’re putting high pigment blue onto your cheekbones, you’re not f@#king around.
Flash vs. no flash (via Bitter Lace Beauty’s Instagram)
But what does it actually look like on a face? Well, it looks like a rainbow. More accurately, it looks like sheer, shimmery rainbow temporary tattoo onto your cheeks. In a way, it’s really artful. In another way, it’s really… well, two rainbows on your face.
via Bowie Broadway, J Kissa Makeup (video review)
Luckily, the darker colors like blue and purple kind of naturally end up falling into the hollows of the cheeks since there’s kind of only one way to apply it. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call it a flattering look, but it’s definitely fun.
Some people experienced a more controlled, shorter rainbow highlight by applying with their fingers as opposed to the stipple brush displayed in pretty much every photo of this highlight.
If you were going to do an artistic photoshoot or some kind of dramatic character fashion, this is probably going to be something worth trying, but I’ll probably stay away from it because I can’t think of a single time that I would want to rock a rainbow. I’m just not a rainbow girl, you know? Once they make a cool highlight that’s like tough with skulls and stuff, I’ll be all over it.
This highlight took over the internet after it was posted to Reddit, now the shop is on hiatus due to being sold out a thousand times over and likely very, very tired. Getting internet-famous is exhausting! …Or so I’m told. But don’t worry, our fellow broke beauty queens are finding ways to DIY your own rainbow highlight and you know every brand under the sun is about to be all over this. Nothing looks better than a “sold out, on hiatus” sign on the door of a major beauty trend creator!
Would you wear a rainbow highlight?
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