Highlighter Placement Is Moving Away from the Cheekbone

Highlighter's default placement for years has been the top of the cheekbone, applied in a defined swipe meant to catch light from a specific angle. The technique gaining traction now spreads product more broadly across the center of the face — down the bridge of the nose, across the cupid's bow, lightly over the chin — chasing a more diffuse, all-over glow rather than a single strategic highlight point.

The shift pairs with the broader move toward softer, less-constructed makeup generally, where a single sharp highlight point can read as too deliberate next to a blurred, natural base. Distributing the product more widely, in smaller amounts per area, produces a glow that looks more like skin than like makeup.

It's also changed which formulas perform best for the technique — a heavier, more metallic highlighter suited to a single precise point tends to look overdone spread across a wider area, pushing demand toward lighter, more skin-like liquid and cream formulas.

The cheekbone strobe isn't gone, but it's now one placement option among several rather than the default the whole category was built around.