Highlight for Korean Eye Shapes - And What Products to Use

The days when the *ultra bright inner corner highlight* was the finishing touch of every eyeshadow look have always haunted me. It’s still popular today because it’s very flattering if you have the right eye (lid) shape. Well, I don’t. I did eventually figure out that just shimmer can look really nice with my eyes, but I always wanted something fun besides just putting it on my lid. Since the inner corner highlight didn’t work for me (see the cover photo of this post for evidence), I found a popular K beauty technique that did - or at least an easy version of one!

I totally credit this “discovery“ to the Holika Holika Jewel Light Under Eye Maker. It’s a 2 sided product - one side is a shimmer shadow stick and the other is much like a lightly pigmented eyebrow pen, but you actually use it under your eye (-swatches and better sense of the glitter effect towards the bottom of the post). The product looks like this:

Holika Holika Jewel Light Under Eye Maker with caps off

Here are the instructions how to use it from the description on YesStyle

“1. Apply the eyeliner end under your natural under eye poof.
2. Use the shimmery cream eyeshadow end on the actual poof to enhance it.“ (Web Source 1)

And here is what it looks like in action:

I believe that by defining the lower lid, it makes the eye look bigger. I don’t always do this step, but it may really make a difference for some people. Adding shimmer along the entire lower lash line really helps make my dark eyes pop and satisfies all my shimmer needs.

Here’s the thing about the Under Eye Maker- I found it online at Ulta on super sale and customer service has stated they don’t plan to restock it. It’s also currently out of stock at Yes Style. If you can get your hands on one, I totally recommend the product, BUT I HAVE ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS!

As you can see, the Under Eye Maker is PACKED with a very pretty shimmer and fine light glitter. To find a replacement easily found in the US, I tried EVERY shadow stick I could think of. None of them have enough shimmer and the many glitter eyeliners I tried were too chunky and silver.

Then I found this one product that replicates the color and shimmer effect remarkably well AND also stays on the under eye all day: The Mac Dazzle Shadow Liquid Eyeshadow in the shade “Every Day is Sunshine” (Web source 2). A few places you can find it are at Mac, Nordstrom and Macy’s. Here’s what it looks like:

The Mac Dazzle Shadow Liquid Eyeshadow in the shade “Every Day is Sunshine”

As you can see, the applicator may be too big for this look, but it turns out there’s at least one way the inner corner highlight trend can work for you - You can apply the product with the same brush you’d use to do the inner corner highlight! I happened to have the “Morphe X Jaclyn Hill JH39 Inner Corner Highlight Brush“ (Web source 3). This can be found at Morphe and Ulta. It looks like this:

Morphe X Jaclyn Hill JH39 Inner Corner Highlight Brush

A replacement for the eyeliner side was a little tricky because it’s light in pigment and not meant to leave a dark line. Turns out I already had something that would work: The Colourpop Freckle Pen in “Soft Brown“ (Web Source 4). You can find this one at Colourpop online, but any freckle pen should work since they’re made to be smudged. Here’s what it looks like: