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With the introduction of out-of-the-box highlighters like Anastasia Beverly Hill’s coveted Moonchild Glow Kit or Jeffree Star’s popular Mint Condition highlighter, rainbow highlighter colors are not nearly as unheard of as they used to be. However, it can still be scary to think of swiping bright purple or blue highlighter across your cheekbones. If you want to try out this adventurous beauty trend but aren’t sure where to start, keep reading to learn how to rock unique highlighter colors.

1. Keep Your Skin Tone In Mind

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It’s important to consider your skin tone before you buy a unique highlighter color. Just because blue is your favorite color doesn’t mean that blue highlighter will jibe with your skin tone.

If you have warm-toned skin, stick with warm-toned colors, like gold or a bright pink. On the other hand, if your skin is cool-toned, try cooler highlighter shades, such as blue or lavender. To determine your skin tone if you don’t know it, look at the veins on the inside of your wrist. If they appear blue, your skin is probably cool-toned. If they look green, you likely have warm-toned skin.

2. Keep It Subtle

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Don’t dip your brush in water before you apply bright purple highlighter and don’t swipe on several coats either. Any amount of a unique highlighter color on your skin is enough of a statement. Applying too much of the product can create an overdone look that is definitely not what you hoped to achieve.

3. Stick With Powder

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As a general rule, stay away from unique highlighter shades available in liquid formulas. Powder highlighters absorb into your skin less easily and are less likely to blend with the undertones of your skin in an unpleasant way.

It’s always important to keep your skin tone in mind before you buy a shade of highlighter, but powder formulas help prevent unnecessary color clashing.

4. Stay At Your Cheekbones

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Most of the time, you should feel free to spread your highlighter to the bridge of your nose or your brow bones. However, when wearing a unique shade of highlighter, it’s best to stay within the region of your cheekbones to avoid taking on an extraterrestrial appearance.

5. Look For Shimmer

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It’s important to strike a balance when it comes to shimmer in highlighter colors that are out of the ordinary. Make sure that you find a highlighter with enough shimmer to add glow to your skin. However, stay away from highlighters that have noticeable chunks of glitter or sparkle; they’ll just make you look tacky.

6. Consider Your Imperfections

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If you don’t want all of your coworkers to notice that your skin is breaking out or looking blotchy on a certain day, it’s probably not the best morning to swipe on some baby blue highlighter.

Highlighter in general, and especially brightly-colored highlighter, has a tendency to emphasize flaws and imperfections in your skin. It’s best to save your unique highlighter for a time when you’re feeling at peace with your skin.

7. Be Confident

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The most important thing to remember when wearing a unique highlighter shade is that you must remain confident. Your mother, your boyfriend, or your best friend might not love your mint green highlighter like you do, but it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that you feel good and hold your head high to let your glow show.

Highlighters are available in every color of the rainbow from some of the most popular beauty brands on the market. Now is the time to take the plunge and see how a lavender glow might look on you. If you’re still a little hesitant, use the tips in this post on how to rock unique highlighter colors to get you started.